ON TH E

STATE OF EU ROPE

IN JANUARY 1816.

BY G EO RG E EN S O R,E S Q .

STATE OF E U ROPE

I N J A N U A R Y 18 16.

A NOTH ER revolution being added to this eventfulaera

,many speculate on the past, deplore the present,

g‘g and wi th averted curiosi ty and startl ing forecas t:ponder their own fortunes and the destiny of Europe.3 1 al so share i n the general i nt erest, and I shal l

gs proceed to m ake som e observations on the s ad peenfid l iari ty ,

o f the tim e and th e ex igency o f public affai rs .Wi thout scrutinizing original m otives , or dwel l ing on‘

past ci rcum s tances, I shal l firs t relate som e factswh i ch pre pared the subsequent convul sions ; and

w i thout intending a connec ted series or a syste;

m atic e xe m pl ifica t ion of causes and effects,I shal l

,

by a sum m ary retrospect, endeavour to quickeng the recol l ec t ion, and i f possible stim ulate the atten225 tion, of the reader. For som e am ong ,

u s,who would

3 : be esteem ed thinking m en, e ntertai n‘the

'

m ost m o;

3 6 1099125

m entons

OA

m entous occurrences w i th the sam e levi ty that Boccac io

’

s coterie did the reciprocal tal e which was tobegu il e the passing hour of i ts tediousness ; and thu si t happens that

,wh i l e the propensi ty to hear i s in

creased,fac ts are repeated to l i ttl e purpose

,m em ory

col lec ts few material s,and experience affords no

know ledge .I shal l speak ‘

w i thou' t subterfuge or disguise con

cerning the pol i ti cal world,concerning m in is ters andple nipo t e nt iai i e s , appal l ing"as they are ; and evencrowned heads (saving courtesy) shal l fi nd in m e a

d irect in terpreter of thei r language and actions .Truth

,i t i s known

,has long been denounced

,and i t

h as been prohibi ted and persecuted w i th trem endouspenal ties by tribunal s es teem ed the sanctuari es of

j ustice . Yet I m ust s ay that truth i s a w i se couns e llor

,wh i le flattery - panders to every bad passion .

So pernicious i s flattery to good governm ent, that w erethe quanti ty of thi s al loy of language in any

‘

s tat e

ascertained,and a pol i ti cal scal e graduated w i th bad,

w orse,and wors t

,the m ediocri ty or baseness of i ts

laws and adm i n i stration would be capable of an eas yand scien tific solution .

Even the flattery of poets, those chartered counterfe i t s , prom otes extravagan t pretensions and law l es sam bi t i on . \Vhen Horace becam e laureat, the Juliun iS idus shone brightes t in thefirm am cn t ; and Augustu swhi le l iving was honoured w i th vows and al tars m anyhai led hi s m atchles s heroism and Atlantean pol icy ;and as the poet sang the prince pre s um e d, and thepeopl e shouted . Flattery

,the Attic d ialec t of courts,

t h e cardinal vi ce of m onarchies, i ncreased in im per ia lRom e

Rom e-4 a louder yet and yet a l ouder strain , and

Dom i tian prefaced h i s ed icts Dom inus e t Deusnoster si c fie ri ju s s i t .

” Al l acqui esced m si l ence orsadness

,

’

or i n j oy and loyal ty. Nor were the i m perialRom ans alone d i stingu is hed for thi s abje c t adm i rat ion i i t i s~ by no m eans pecul iar to them ,

or to anycoun try b r p rofess ion , though h i s m ost agreeable tom ighty captai ns, as

“ Holofernes w ho exclaim ed t o

i s God but Nabuchodono zor .

Though there are no kings 111 after ages who havespaces al lo tted

.

to them i n heaven,for the Georgium

S idus i s only honoured by'

a phi losopher w i th a k ing’snam e

,yet

A t h ous and flat t e re rs s i t wi th in t hy crown,

Wh o s e com pas s i s no b ig g e r t h an t hy h e ad .

And though poets are rather m ore reserved thanform erly

,yet they are so compl im entary as to alarm

a thinker in m ere prose . Boileau w i th no Pindari cexcuse glorified Louis XIV . ti l l he outraged the k ingwi th h i s adulati on ye t he added

G rand ro i , c’

e s t m on défau t , je ne s auro i s flat t e r .

Yes truly, a plain chronicler of m atters of fact l

i

l ike

the pens ioned ri m ers of other countrie s . In cousequence of th i s im provem ent

,our bi rth-day odes and

loval effusions recal l the m em ory of th e water—poets ;and as our princes pledge the i r heral ds

,they have

d i lu ted the proof-sp i ri t of the prerogative royal w i thprom i ses which the y have forgotten to keep

,i f inde e d

they e ver dcmgncd to keep th em .

K ings now do not claim the rank Of godsh ip , ‘

o‘

ra

ki ndred w i th the god s ; s om e have even renouncedth e righ t d iv ine, as an essence co ncrete -in king Adam ,

and

4

and discre te in al l the k ings of"the earth,wh 1ch , while

i t prom ote s the m etaphysics of royal ty,im pai rs in no

degree the king’s inheri tance, asBurke has rhetorical ly

proved . This new r ight, which i s nei ther divine norhum an, has since the restoration of Louis XV II I .

obtai ned a nam e,that i s a being

,as accord ing to

Locke a nam eless m ixed m ode i s l i ttl e m ore than a

c rotchet of the brain thi s right i s term ed the leg i t im acy of kings .Unde r thi s t i tular regeneration of royal rights, kings

are only re puted the vicegerents of God , the Lord'

s

anoin ted , kings by the grace of God ; though , w i threverence be i t said, hum anly speaking

,som e of them

shoul d rather substi tute for God’s grace Bonaparte'

sm ercy . K ings al so continue to enjoy superhum anattributes they are im pe ccable, irr esponsi b l e ; and

the dogm a that - the k ing can do no wrong, i s in te rpre t e d by an easy inversion—the king and the princem ust always ac t righ t. From the s e posi tions I di ssent ; sim ply, because m e n and thei r insti tutions are imperfec t. I t i s sai d that the im m aculate puri ty of

i

t he

k ing i s referable to the law. I t i s perfec tly known thata Platonic affec tion and m ystic m atrim ony sub s i s tbetwe en the king and the law ; and i t i s obvious tha t,when the law says—the law can do no wrong

,the

m ode sty of i ts pretensions equal s i t s own i nfal l ibi l i ty .

But i t i s clear that k ings assum e in thei r own persons

q ual i ties wh ich the law ,when m ost overwee ning, doe s

not exceed. From thi s al so I dissen t. Nor le t sovereigns be alarm ed this i s not the first tim e that truthh as been addressed to them .

“ T hen the king and the

princes l ooked upon one another : so he began tospeak

5,

s peak the truth The se quel i s sti l l m ore rem arkable ;as both king and peopl e declared , Great i s truth

,

and m ighty above al l th ings ! ’T This, I should observe,i s in the -Apocrypha would i t were canonical !That kings and princes in thei r proper pe rsons exhibi t

t h e m ost ingenuous egoti sm ,nay, that for actions of no

doubtful m eri t they have assum ed such condescensionand benevo lence, that [

truth '

and candour m ust havebeen ban i shed from m ankind

“

if they fol lowed the exam ple of their rulers—m ark in the am i cabl e courtesy ‘

w i th which a Briti sh so vereign seized Barbadoes .The paten t to the earl ofCarl i sl e in 16Q7 states,We al so of our princely grace, for us , .our heirs and

s ucce s so rs,w i l l straightly charge m ake and ordain

that t h e s ai d province be of our al legiance, &c .

Wh en I a pproach neare r to the legi tim acy of kings,

e xceeding goodness the high contracting powersl opped the extrem i ties of Poland in 1772 ! to w hichboon of dism em berm ent they added in 1792 a

s econd spol iation . Catherine, wh o t l ans ce nde d h e r

a ssociates i n b e nefice nce , a1rogat e d on th i s occasions uperlative v i rtue . Hav ing distracted the countryand m angled l ts people, she 01de1ed whil e they were.w e l te 1 ing m their blood, a thanksgiving to be offeredi n all the churches of Poland for th e happine sssh e confe 1red on them ; and at th e sam e tim e add 1és s e d to the Poles, even when she m edi tate d the

pe rdi tion of the nam e of Poland, a proclam ation,

whi ch sh e ca ll ed he 1 wzizcrs al . 1n thi s im pe i ialcat /2 01130072 s h e profess e d for the Poles the sol i citudeof a tender m other

,who only wis hes for the happines s

of her ch i ldren. A tender m other ! H er dee ds gouatenance

t e nance Mede a’

s legend, and add credibi li ty to Herod’

s

m as’sacre . After thi s i t woul d be tautology to 1 e m indth e ‘

1'

e adc1 of the bczzzg zzzty o f Ferdinand 8 heart.Thus s ove re igns

'

pr'

oclaim thei r own prai s e sfandheaven '

and earth are forced to respond to their crim esand blasphem y wh i le a peopl e ’s shrinking from i riIsufferable oppression i s term ed a fal l ing off from duty;and the anxiety o f a i iol

‘

at e d nation to l es um e i ts lnt egri ty i s r

u

e pi obat ed as Ith e eexcess of t1eache1y andrebell i on . If the s tate m achine stop unde1 the hando f the ch ief ruler ; i f m nn s t e i s 'of vai ious preten sion sand d ifferent countrie s are t1 1ed to no pu i po s e , and i tcannot proceed ; if i n

‘

thi s extrem i ty the k ing for‘lorri

i nvoke the people ; and they, obedient to h iscal l ; “

at ;

tem pt to repai1 what has been injured, and 1eproduce

what has been des t i dyed‘

,the cry i s All kings

echo the om en,and they coal esce heart and haind for

the re s t01at 10n of a l egi timate k ing and w‘orse gove1 11

m ent . If a king afte 1'

twe n ty t- wo yea1 s of p1obat ioua1y rej ecti on , an m auspic ious return , and a baseadm 1n1s t 1anon ,

abd i cate w i thou t hav ing a w i i s t ba‘

1 edi n h is defence

,the soverei g ns of Europe - im pute 'thé

cause and consequence to the vi ce and l evi ty o f the

peopl e . Let these potentates le a1 11 from a con tempora1y prince, whose terri tory and i ts population e xc e e d th ei 1 s taken collectively , a d 1ffe 1e n t l es sen . Two

1ns ur1e c t 1ons had reached in Ch ina, a few yearsago, a form idable height . On their suppression th eem per0 1 publ i shed a m anifesto, i n whi ch he

’ im pu tedthe calam i ty t o own ho us e , add i ng, i n 1efere 11ce tothe 1ch e llion and h im self, I t m ust ar i

'se fror'n‘th e state‘

of m y v irthe and m y accum ulated im pe i fe c tionsal though this rebell ion has brokcn~ fo 1 th m a m om en t,

the

7T

th e evi l has been long col lecting : four words, supine11ess, i ndulgence, slo th, contem pt, express the sourceswhence thi s great crim e has a1 i sen : and hence al so i ti s that afi ai i s

,whether at hom e

,about coui t , 01

abroad in the e m pi1 e , a1 e equal ly in a bad state .Though I have again and a th i rd tim e gi ven wai nm gtil l m y tongue i s blunted and m y l ips

b

parched wi thfrequent 1 e pe t ition,

yet none of m y m ini s t e 1 s havebeen able to com p1 e h e nd 1t ; they have ruled carelessly,and th ereby caused the present occur1 ence,

’

&c

Th i s th e e n1pe r01 of China avowed hi s own and ln s

m in i s t e 1 s’

dem e 1 i t s . To be sure,th e ,Ch ine s e

, si nceth ey refused the English a footing in China equivalen tto thei r O i iginal establi shm ent in Hindostan, haveproved them sel ves som ething worse than ba1barou s ;and certainly thi s im pe l ial docum ent i s g i e a t ly defe ct ive i n the august exorbi tancy of European proclam at ions

If one em peror have spoken w i th 1 e pre s s e d m ajesty,

there are al so som e royal i sts, fri ends of church ands tate

,who do not refer every e ff0 1 t towards re f01m to

original s in,and the gratui tous w i ckedness of the

people ; and som e of them have conj ectured t hato ther causes

,proxim ate o1 rem ote

, pi inc ipal or anc i lla1y

,m ay have prom oted the s t i ugorle s and convulsi ons

which latter 'ly ha1as s ed and deg1ade d the world .

Such di ssenters are no t m any ; for all good papi sts,fi om Innocent the Th i 1d to Chai le s the f ifth and

Fe 1dinand the Beloved, have declared that th e wayw ardne s s of the people, and thei1 pe 1 t111ac1ty towardsreform ati on , ‘ have been the pregnan t source of eve rym i sfortune . Burke touched the s am e chord as forciblyas he dared, respecting at the s am e t lm e h i sfi

i

own

expec tancy,

é

e xpectancy, and the zeal of a pro testant king, when

h e pronounced h i s funeral panegyric on m onasteries .He al so deplored at th e sam e tim e a co-operatingcause of the French revolution

,the extincti on of

chivalry . This was truly searching deep into then ature of things ; for chival ry flouri shed during t h ec rusades, after which pious achievem ents i t began t odecline : and as the duke of Alva

,i n hi s final e xpe

d i tion to Portugal in h i s o ld age , was the las t herowh o devoted the glory of an enterpri se to a youngm i stress, t h e g lory of E urope was wan ing for m any ayear. In the present tim es i t i s reported—bu t cert ainly i n tim es not long past heroes ha

’ve h ad m i s

t resses . Marshal Saxe i s m entioned ; and i t i s al sot rue that th e pol i ce, that guardian of good m oral s andt h e o ld m onarchy of France

,acted the confidante on

t h e occasio n , and actual ly forced a w i fe from theem braces of her husband in to the m arshal ’s arm s .Others have im puted the revolution of France to

a Confederacy of Encyclopedists, am ong whom Volt ai re perform ed the part o f G uy Faux ; others general ly to ph ilosophers, whom Lord Auckland in h i s

.

Mem orial to the S tates General in 1793 tre ate dw i th great contum ely .

-That there was a

(

l eagueb etween l i terary m e n to destroy all thrones and all

rel igions, has been strenuously denied by authors o fv ery d ifferent pol i ti cal principles ; yet m any continuet o doubt, thinking, to use Mrs . Candour

’s phras e ol ogy, “ that m atter was never entirely cl eared up .

”

Som e attribute the revolu tion to the transatlanti c war,and the l ibera tion of the Am erican colon ies . Theym igh t as wel l refer the exertions of the philanthropis tsi n England to a pe ti tion against the slave-trade by

th e

9

the Assem bly ofV irginia in 1772 (Steele and Dickson ,p . or the m ovem ents of the Am eri cans in th es outhern continent to the pi tiful indulgence of Spain totheir trade in 1778 or assert that the French i n 1790appointed thei r correspond ing com m i ttees in respec tto those of England in 1780, when the freeholdersthroughou t th e

'

k ingdom were convoked, and assoc iati ons and plans of reform generally

‘ i nsti tu ted.

These are not causes ; they scarcely deserve thereputation of c1rcum s tance s wh i ch luck i ly agreeingcasual ly intervene in the course of tim e .Yet som e have specula ted sti l l m ore fan tasti cal ly,

am ong whom Sir N . Wraxal l s tands faci le pr inceps .

H e seem s to regard in the yel low wai stcoat of

Charles Fox,and when i t was som ewhat dingy, as in

a propheti c m i rror,the sans-culottes and all their

horrors ; and having reproved the deshabil l e of thepatriots during the Am eri can war, he exclaim s, 2‘Butdress never total ly fel l ti l l the aera of Jacobinismand equal i ty in 1793 and 1794 . I t was then thatpantaloons

,cropped hai r and shoe-strings

, as wel l ast he to tal ab ol i t ion ' of buckles and ruffles togetherw i th the use of hai r-powde r l , characterized the m e n

,

while ladies,

”&c .

—Countesses,Si r Nathaniel

, e t

1 Did S ir N. eve r h e ar that Wilke s , a Jacob in , introduce db lue powde r for th e hai r in 1762 ? I t would b e t oo s e ve re on

S ir N. t o re que s t h im t o re ad Ar i s t o t le D e'

Repub .

‘

l ib . 5,

c . 2 3 , and Mach iave l on th e s ubj e c t of E qual i ty . H e m ayfind th e doc t rine of e qual i ty no t qu i t e s o new as h e im ag ine s .

Sh ould h e eve r b reak h i s Mem o i rs int o t h e form of a po li t i calclas s -b ook for s ch ools , I s ug g e s t a. pre fat o ry s en t e nc e on

’

t h e

dirty-wais t coat and no-b re e ch e s divi s ion.

of th e s ubj e c t , wh e n

nob le s are th e ir t ailors ’ tu t ors . —A s t o th e buckle s andNe s utor ul t ra crepidam is obvious .

10

v i res acquiri t e undo , duchesses , thou ch ival rous m e

m o rial is t o f m uch that shoul d be forgotten, I s ayduchesses .w i l l i t be cred i ted i i i future ages, tha tj u s t after the second restoration of Louis le De s ire

,

t h e duchess of Cum berland was m arr ied , for th efourth tim e and twi ce to h e r th ird lord, w i th a trainconsi sting only of fifteen feet

,wh i le the princess of

Bare i th in good o ld tim es, though not “when beaux

wore w igs,and ladies their own hai r

,was on h e r

w edding day succeeded by a train of forty-five fee t ?Consider al so the innovations in the parade of dipl om acy . S ir IVi ll iam Tem ple says

,that at the congress

of Nim eguen the coaches, l acqueys, and the l ike,som etim es reached further than th e .s pace betweenthe ir

,houses and that of the m inisters they w ere to

v isi t .” (Vol . I . p . The congress of Vi ennaexhibi ted no such im posing em barrassm ent . If thenp len ipo tentiari es contrac t their

,suites

, and ladies thei rtrains

,no wonder that the prerogatives

,the re igns and

t he l ives of kings are curtai led al so .

Should I indulge after th i s inauspic ious review of

fond curiosi ty into causes and consequences,I pro

b ably shoul d al so be num bered w i th the sh b t le'

and

abstruse . I decline i t : yet I cannot abstain fromshow ing a s trik ing coincidence between the c ircums tances of Loui s the S ixteenth and ofCharles t heFirst . In both periods the intel ligence of society hadadva nced

,w i thout a corresponding progress in the ap

prehension of th e court : i n both countrie s, property,from being l im i ted to a few

,had becom e com para

t ive ly diffused . The exchequers of both sovereignshad been exhausted

, and both sought suppl ies fromth eir respec tive subj ec ts . Charles appl ied to the par

l iam en t,

l l

l iam ent , Lou i s to the notables ; and both assem bl ies1 ej ected thei r appl i cations . Charles di ssolved the

pa1 liam en t ; Loui s di sm issed the notables . Both rei terated thei r efforts to obtai n m oney by publi c e uthori ty ; and again both were disappointed . Bothkings exhibi ted petulance and resen tm ent . Charlesfrequently dissolved the parl iam ent of England ;Loui s banished t he parliam ent from Pari s : Bothk ings pursued the sam e violent proceedings . Char le srai sed contributions by

'

forced loans,by benevolences

and general warrants, w i thou t the concurrence of th eparliam ent of England ; Loui s levied taxes by ed i c tsw i thout the registry of th e parl iam ent of Pari s . Again,

’

and“

for the las t tim e; these kings appeal ed to thei rpeople ; the parl iam ent was assem bled in England

,

and the states general m e t i n France. Lou i s andCharles equal ly attem pted to e or1upt

I

o 1 ove i awe

these national ass em bl ies, and they fai led . The di f

fe re n t cham be rs of each l egi slature -ul tim ately coal e sce d in to one body—After thi s, t o the tri a l andexecution of Charles and Louis

,the paral le l i s in).

perfec t, inconsequence of the d i fferent ci rcum s tancesof France,England, and Europe, wh e n t h e s e revola~

tions occurred . In the tim e of Charles,Europe h ad

been e xhau sted w i th wars, and France suffered a

m inori ty . Mazarin g, though alarm ed a t the esta

b l i s hm ent of a repub l ic'

in England,was o bl iged to

tem porize ; and tho'ugh the s ov e 1 e ign s of Europe fel tpersonal ly th e outrage of s ubj e c t s

CD

who dai e 1 e s i s t alawless prince, they wanted abi l i ty to chastise the

1 Se e Wh i t e lock , p. 3 9, and .V i e de Mirab e au.

9 Mably, Dro‘

i t Pub li qu e , &c., t . i i i . p . 66.

12

Engl ish rebel s . Besides, if England were of diffi cul tapproach , i ts i nsular si tuation al so r endered th e

e xam ple and principl es of l iberty less infectious . Inc onsequence. even i f the continental kings were di sposed to preach a crusade ’ agains t Bri ti sh freedom ,

t h e dange r to thei r despotism was not so intim ateand pressing as to bind them bl indly to col lect al ltheir m ight to force m onarchy and the Stuarts on th eEngl ish nation . On the contrary

,whil e France e n

j oyed the Med i terranean, the Atlan ti c, and the narrows eas , even to the northern ocean , as h e r m ari tim eb oundary, her terri torial frontier swept a c ircl e of

twelve hundred m i les,cutting through the heart of

Europe,and res ting on the confi nes of Spain , I taly,

Sw i tzerland,Germ any, and the Netherlands . Th e

despots perceived that, i f France coul d establ i sh a

republi c,she m ust

,were she disposed to v iolence,

b reak through their crazy bulwarks as easily as theTartars overleaped the wal l of China ; and that, ifh e r tem per were tranqu i ll i ty, the im provem ent of h e rnum erous active people in arts and i nstitutions m usti rresi s tibly work the restoration of lost righ ts

,and

l iberate their subjects from m i l i tary bondage . Thenceth e k ings of Europe com m unicated, assem bled

,and

b ound them selves in leagues too sacred for the worl d ’seye . Troops were rai sed, and hurried towards France ;and as al l shores were blockaded by England, fromth e Ionian isles to the Cat egat , so the provinces ofFrance were border-bound by troops, from Dunkirkto Genoa. This the confederate powers executedconfessedly to prevent the obtrusion of French princ iple s into their dom inions ; and we may, after thi s

device ,

13

devi ce,expec t to hear of their sons casting the equator

i nto a shade by an awning rai s ed'

on the m asts of t heBri ti sh navy .Leopold died ; and F1w a s and a reign of v igo ur

s ucceeded. The al l i es concentrated their forces .t 3

0 11

t h e 2 5 th July, 1792 , the duke of Brunsw i c k i ssuedh i s not orious m anifesto in thi s he avowed the se nti~m ents of the all ies , and of hi s arm y—that they w i lli nfl ic t on those who shal l deserve i t

,the m ost e x em

plary and ever-m em orable avenging puni shm ents,by

giving up the ci ty of Pari s to mi l i tary execution, and

expos ing i t to total de s truc t ionj’

850 . Wi th thesethreats he m arched forward , determ ined to re s torethe m onarchy of France, wi th all i ts pains and penalt i e s of ti th es and priests and nobles, and their exe m ptions . Th i s duke

,who has s ince pai d the forfei t

of his insol ence by the loss of a casual 1"e pu tat i on and

h i s l ife, thought that he could m aster Pari s as easi lyas he had gained Am sterdam ; but he s hould ratherhave estim ated h i s chance by the fai lure of Alva thanby his own facil i ty . I t was Holland redeem ed fromthe slavery of Ph i l ip, and not Holland gradual ly deg 1ade d by s tadtho lde i s , that should have affm ded aparal le l to France em anc ipated from Louis .This m anifesto, which the duke presented as Per

s eus the Gorgon’s head , paralysed no hand , di sm ayed

t h e hear t, prom oted no spleen,exas perated no anti

Th is duk e '

in a conve rs ation wi th Mirab eau s aid, Jam ai s

h om m e s e n s é , s urt ou t avan gan t e n ag e , ne com prom e t t ra s a ré

p u t at ion dans une carri ere si has ardeu s e ( la g u e rre ) s’

i l pe ut«

s’

e n d i spe ns e r.”Ye t e xac t ly t wen ty ye ars aft e r t h i s h e as a

s um e d t h e rank of g en e rali s s im o —th e defeat at J enawas t h e’

cons e quen ce .

141

pathy i t nei ther perverted the friendly, nor renderedthe wavering unkind. On the contrary,the wh olenation resented hi s m enaces w i th contum ely

,and

foreign war restored internal peace .This preface of the al l ies was not so m uch error‘

as i nfatuation , the creature of ignorance and scorn .

H ad they al lowed the French to regulate their ownaffairs, as the Engl i s h had been perm i tted, th e progress of events in England in the m iddle of the sev e n t e e nth century would probablv have been repeatedi n France at the close o f the century wh i ch s u

i

c

ce e de d . War,wh ich becam e universal

,would no t

have transgressed the bounds of France ; dom esti cenm i ty would have carri ed i ts own an tidote ; faction sw i th tim e would have abated the i r rancour ; partiesw ould have m ade rec iprocal concessions ; tranqu i l l i tywould have been restored ; and som e m ater ial s woul dnow rem ain

,w i th which a consti tution considerate

w i th respec t to prej udices, w i thou t com prom i singu ti l i ty and truth , m igh t be perm anently erec ted inFrance . But these senseless k ing s , pre c ipi tat e d by m a

l e vo le nce and insol ence, though t tha t the French m ustfal l an easy conquest in the cri s i s of the i r revol ut ion .

They ac ted as th e Vei i , who, perceiving that t he

patric ians and plebe ians w ere at variance,assai led

the Rom ans : they, re call ed to reason by their comm on danger

,d i scharged their m utual feroci ty on

the com m on enem y ; and the fate of the Vei i andof the al l ies exhibi ted a m i serable coincidence . H ad

none of all the cabinet 111ini s t e rs,and of all th e

crowned heads , read thi s h i s tori cal even t ? h ad noneheard of Machiavel ’s com m entary 9 E t pero se iV ci cn t i fus s ino s tati s av1, egl ino hare bbono , quan to

pi i i

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16

i t’

o th e rwi s e doub tful . There was no al ternati ve . Hewho has no h e pe soon becom es fearless, and couragechanges to desperation . Pressed by m i l i tary m yriadsabroad ; w i th treachery a t hom e ; the fortresses nuprovided ; the arm y disorganized ; what could th e

people do—what think ? They had no tim e to thinkthey were condem ned as rebel s, outlaws, and trai tors, .

for thei r treatm ent of Louis . Were the king dead,

they could suffer no m ore than t he m os t e remplaryand ever-m em orable aveng

'

ing puni s hm ent s . So longas potentates are subj ect to the vices of m ank ind, andthere exists no authenti c m ode for correcting thei r m l s

deeds, those who are i ntolerably affl ic ted, I do not s ayt h ey

l

m ay, but they m ust resi s t them : th i s all m en

i nheri t in righ t of the i r being . The fic t ion‘ that thek ing can do no wrong, m us t yield, as every other fiction when confronted w i th fact ; and to s ay that hewho does wrong i s i rresponsible, i s to give the pre ;em inence to m an ' s w ord above God ’s law

,and to

respec t figura tive flattery in defiance of the eternaldecrees . To tel l the k ing that by law he enj oys nul im i ted l i cen tiousness, i s to tel l the people, that wi thregard to law and k ing they enj oy a state o f nature .Equal ly reprobating the execu tions of Loui s and

Charles, I am ,however, m os t adverse to grant the

honorary ti tle of Martyr to the latter, which the h ighchurch party caught unw i ttingly from the puri tanicalex travagance of the tim e . I nei th er beli eve wi th

H e hath a doub le re lat ion , one as k ing , th e o th e r as a m an ;and th e un i t ing of b o th in one pe rs on h ath ch e at e d m any a m an

of h is judg e m e nt in cas e of pre rogat ive .

”N. Bacon on G ove rn

m en t , part 2 . p. 1 1.

Harrison

th e rs that ' i t was the worko t refrai n from s tating, tha tree nation s an expres s conand their rulers . In som e

le clared responsibl e by law ;so far were the speculation sing real i sed, t hat the fram e

s s o lve d 110 , nor does i t ape,society was i ncom m oded

1e royal person to law and

s supposed and suppose that,)le , he woul d be perpetual lyand tribunal : as if the publ icsh

,and

’ the king always sinh i s presum pti on ? Mini stersw i l l deny that m any offence sy them in this long reign, andrave b ee n t ried and convi cted

'

?

‘e ab Surd , -or m ore fal sified by1e i nviolabil i ty of the re igningre governm en t -

o f th e nation . _

pe can disprove the doctrine ;taine d that a kingdom can be

his nom inee ; w i tness Spain ,t i on wh i le Ferd inand the Bei i tne s s England , i n which or

i h the k ing’s nam e when theim s e lf and repe atedly nei thersided in Great Britai n

,’

yet th e

18

The i rrespon sibil i ty of kings i s a favourite dogm awi th royal i sts

,who would ex tend i t to al l cases

and ci rcum stances : yet why i s i t not as l ikely to ren( ler kings d issolute

,as that thei r respons ib i l i ty should

render the peopl e peevi sh and pragm ati cal ?Let us proceed to fac ts and author i ties . The k ing

o f England,l i ke other k ings of Europe

,takes an oath ‘

at h i s coronation,which i s no revolutionary device,

fo r the essential parts of the m odern coronation oathare detai l ed i n The M i rror (p . and the 1s t of VVi ll iam and Mary only renders the anci en t oath m orepreci se

,i n order to m ake i t m ore com pulsory on th e

party taking i t . By thi s oath the k ing binds him selfto ac t legal ly to the people

,and the king’s oath to

execute the laws p recedes thei r oath of obedience toh im . Besides

,h i s oath i s o f param oun t sancti ty, as

i ts appl ication i s uni versal and i n th i s opin ion TheMirror also concurs : “ the fi rst and sovereign abusei s f0 1 the k ing to be bpyond the law ,

wh e 1 e as h e

shoul d be subj ec t to h as contained ln hi s oath .

Again,i t does not appe a1 s o 1 e 1y m anifes t that t h e

k ing by the ancien t law was i rrespons ible . One rea-rson given for th e dogm a of i rrespons ibi l i ty i s trulylawyer-l i ke -tha t the king has no peer : bu t Brac tonsays

,Rex habet s upe rio re m Deum ,

i tem l egem perquam fac tus est. Rex : i tem cu i iam suam , v idel icetcom i tes barones, quia com i tes d icuntur quasi soci iregi s

, e t qui habe t s ocium l1ab e t m ag i s t ru’

m,St e . l i b . Q

c . 16 . If thi s be true,the friends of the i rre s pons i

b i li ty of kings i n all cases have no t even technical i ty,

wholly in favour of thei r opinion . Thi s however i scertain : the

,

king i s sworn to a specific discharge o f

parti cular

19

part i cular duties ; that to v iolate an oath i s perj ury ;and that a crim e i s aggravated

“ i n proportion to theoperation of the m i schi ef and the effect of the example and i t i s al so true that if t h e statute‘ law be sil ent

,thé custom ary law i s suffici en tly expli cit ; th e

cons ue tudo regni has becom e e lTe c tual ly a dm i t pub

Zigae for alm ost every kingdom i n Europe w i thinthese twen ty-five years has exhibi ted the substi tution,abdication

,or the dethronem ent of the reigning prince

And i t i s gratifying to reflect that, am ong those num erous v i ciss i tudes

,only one prince has been privately

assassinated, and one publi cly execu ted and I trus t

that Louis XV I .

‘

w i ll be the last sacrifice . But b efore I qu i t this subje c t l et m e observe that the example of regicide was not begun by the executioners ofCharles I .

,bu t by a q ue e n on a queen

,by Elizabeth

Mary queen of Scots . Nor was l ess m anagem en tand artifice practi sed by Elizabeth ’to destroy Mary

,

than by those who conducted th e trial s of Charles andLouis . Never was l ess j us tice done towom an than bythi s queen to ‘a si ster queen in a foreign land . Hatton,El i zabeth’s confidant

,advi sed Mary t o [my as ide h er

boot lcs s pr i vi leg e of royal dig ni ty . Never was trial s oextraordinary ; Mary was trepanned

,treated w i th

,

brutal i ty

,and her execution was prec ipi tated by tales of

pop i sh plots, and 'finally by a rum our that the Spam ards

w ere preparing to‘ land a t Mi lford . The puri tans ofEngland and the dem ocrats ofFrance did not originate

It i s s aid in Con s ide rat ion s on th e Law of Forfe i ture , re

s pe ct ing th e forfe i t ure of t h e Eng li sh king—Til e law w i ll m ake

no answer, but hi s tory wi ll g ive one.

Q0

the trial'

of crowned heads they fol lowed at a (li ;

s tance t h e exam pl e prepared for them by one whocould do no wrong .

Th e trial of Loui s XVI . was prepared by those ofCharles and Mary, and the denunciation of the al l iesw i th their confederate forces decided the king s fate .When th e duke of Brunswi ck publ ished hi s m ani afesto he di splayed a flag 1 e d wi th the blood of Poli shpau io t s , whose spiri ts the reckless parti tioners of

Poland s aw T€V i \ e i n the revolution of France . Thu sboth parties were exasperated agains t each other : theAustrian, Russian, and Prussian sovereigns fearedl es t the ir triple folds should '

b e unab le t o secure theirpre y , while the French read in the fate of Poland theprognos ti c oft heir own doom . If they shou ld escapet his catastrophe

,they were apprized of the enm i ty of

,

the king and of,

the nobles ; and m anv had fel t theirpar tial i ty

, Caprice , and consum ing terrors before therevolu tion h ad aggravated their suspicions and re

v enge . thus, as the danger pressed on the people and )

thei 1 enem ies thronged i ound them ,they h e cam e les s

considerate,l es s scrupulous . t h e declared opponents

o f the 1 evoluti on were swept away w i th sum m ary ven

ge ance ; the dangerou s i n the sequel al so suffered w i tho u t m ercy ; reserve was repute d contum acy, m oderation deep design, frankness an im provem en t on subt e rfuge , philanthropy a cu tting satire on th e wholes anguinary state faction ; and final ly

,no t to be m ad

w i th the insane was hel d to be treason agai nst th ereigning del i rium . S uch was t he governm en t o f

France when the Jacob in soc iety was the cabine t coun tci l

,

2 1

ci l ,’

and Robe spierre and hi s fe llows the back s tairs‘

i pfluence wh ich directed th e Conven tion .

The num ber, d is cipl ine, and appoin tm ent of thet1

'

00ps oppo s ed to t he French ; forced them t o adopt

prom pt m easure s to recrui t thei r arm i es and to supply the exchequer . Thence the conscription , thenceconfis cati ons ; an d as abdi ca tion o f governm en t washeld to be an abandonm ent of the 1oyal ofi i ce by theautho1 s of the Engl ish revolution, so was em i grationfrom France reputed by the French revolutionaryleaders a dereli ction of count1y : and as by th e Engli shlaw, to fly from justi ce

,though innocen t, was e xpi

ated by l oss of goods ; so by the custom of France th es am e act drew on the offender the fo1f e i t of h i s posses sions . Thus they puni shed thei r enem i es and

s upplied th ei r coti ers . Nor was thi s al together ine qui table : the noblesse and the clergy, t he

o

principale m ig1an t s , had for age s avoided the paym en t ofm any direct contribution s, and wh i le they e xone 1at edthem selve s, they im posed on the people a doubleburthen : these two orders, who were the richest int h e s tat e j and should have be en pr1nc1pally tawed,w ere therefore l iable in equity to a force d surrenderof that s hare of the publ i c incom e which they hads elfishly and iniqui tously w i thheld .

I t 15 am ong t h e ch i e f extravagancies of the tim e,and evinces t h e m addened state of the Engl i sh m m d

,

that the wors t pa1 t of the eccles iastical e s tabli shm en tin France found advocates am ong us ; and that whil ea catholi c prie st a native of the Bri ti sh em pire was:endured w i th difficul ty

, and cathol ic laym en were stigm ati zed by the Bri tish pai l iam ent as unworthy of

honour

honour'

or trust, cathol ic French em ig rants were raisedto im portan t offi ces, and a cons iderabl e fund estaibl i s h e d by parliam ent to support the em igrant clergyof the cathol i c persuasion . The conduc t of the na‘

tional assem bly toward the French clergy was extrem e,but the power of th e clergy was extrem e and theyprovoked the severi ty ; they had never exerted themselves for the hat ion under the old or the new order ofthings, nor had th e ir.dominio 11 and possessions beencurtai led in conform i ty to t h e po l icy of other nations ;In Ehg land,

‘ Henry the defender of the f ai th reducedt h e greater i ncum brances of

'

-

t h e .e s tab l i s hm e nt , and

the Long'Parh am en t confiécat e d the . lands of deans

and chapters;though these reduction s were e i ther

re s tore d' “or a re partial ly repai red by the increase of

the incom e of the church, which i s enhanced beyond i

that of any’

othe r order in the s tate, and by th e annual

grant from . parl iam ent of to the clergy .

Towards the close o f‘ the si xteenth cen tury

,and i n

163 3 , Sco t land re s um e d various possessions whichh ad been conferred on the church in barbarous ages .In Russia al so the pa triarchal

z ’

d ign i ty was ‘aboli shed

so early as the reign of Peter the G rea t ; and the c ivi lpower has been enabled , by this and o ther abatem ents of eccl es iastical pre tensions , to adm i t al l thesubjects of the em pi re whatever be thei r creed‘ toserve the state . Different “

s ove re igns“

of Germanyhave l ike w1s e appl ied the possess ions of the church

Ti th’

e from 175) t o 1804 incre as e d in Eng land 48 pe r cen t .S e e Com mun icat ions m ade t o th e Board of A g ri cult ure , vol . 5.

A t agreat fe as t in London , after th e Em pe ror’

s h eal th wasdrunk th e Pat riarch ’

s . Fine t’

s Am bas sadors , p. 110.

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2 4"

(BernieresV ues ,&c . p . The ancien t cons ti tutionofFrance presented a vio le nt con t ras t in all parti culars :i n i t the poor pai d all and the rich nothing ; m uch wasreceived for the exchequerand l i ttl ewas paid into i t ; thek i ng

,the m aster of hi s subj ec ts ’ l ives

,wanted the use of

h i s own fortune :he was a despo t ' enslaved ,and the crea;t ures ofhi s power w ere the enem i es of hi s dom inion .

I t i s repeated , that supposing vices and im pe rfe ctions had i ncreased duri ng the lapse of tim e, why weret hey not m oderately reform ed ? Does any Bri ton

‘

as k th i s question , and recollect the frui tl ess effortso f al l the ablest m en from Wi l l iam P i tt in 1782 toSir S . Rom i l ly in the las t year to reform our un

cou th code of laws ,'

and the i l l usory representationof the peopl e of England,by the m il des t process ?The French “ clergy and noble s would no t be reformed a thousand salutary schem es were proposed , evenfrom the age of Vauban to that of Necker, to am e

l iora te the consti tution ; yet the cl ergy and nobi l i tyrej ected them w i th i ndignation or disdain

,even when

they w ere vagabond through Europe ; and now whenth ey hold after a second return to France a doubtfultenure of thei r country, they speak and speculate ass cornful ly as were France i rre t l i e vab ly th e victim of

their pride and avarice: If the nobles were t re a te d‘

w i th

s everi ty, what enti tled them to tenderness and respec t ?Even Mr. Burke i s , scanty i n their com m endation .

Mr . Burke, whose eulogy em braces every thing clerical down t o lazy m en/rs s ing ing in t /ze c/zoi r (Refie c t .p . avo ids being thei r apologi st—Mr. Burk e

,

who would not deprive m onkery of i ts terri torial pos

QionGass ius'

speak s to th e s am e e ffe ct ofClaud ius ,l ib .60.

s ee swns ,

Q5

s e s s 1ons ; because the revenue arl sm g “

from them was

as wel l em ployed in t he cons t ruct ion and r epair of t he

m aj es t ic edifices of r e lig ion, as in t h e paint ed boot /13

and s ordid s t i es cf v ice and lux ury . Thi s, I m ustobserve; i s artless rh etori c yet was i t esteem ed,during the perdi tion of the Bri tish intel lect, bravelyeloquent. E s t e loque nt ia s icu t re l iquarum

‘

re rum

fundam entum sapi entia.

” ‘ Thus Ci cero w ro te b u t

' there was a n ew read ing of the passage4 J éeri s

e n in ’sensé,m ai s j

’

ée ris pour des fous .On qu i tting the subj ec t of the French revolution,we

m ay conclude general ly, that i n the beginning i t was l ih e1al ly in tended and necessary that:afte 1ward the

threats and the m i l i tary array of the al li ed kings imposed power on the rulers of France which t hey abuse d .

Yet i t m ust be adm i tte d that, i f they did much e vil ,none ever perform ed so m uch good in the sam e tim e '

w hich i s proved by the perm anency of then reform ation sunder every vici s si t ude and extrem e ; that if the re volut ionary governm ent, the creature of em ergency,enjoyedt h e shortes t exi stence , i t possessed the greatest energyfor what governm ent w i th suc h m eans ever perform edsuch explo i ts P—I t was a whirlpool , which shiftingw i th adverse s torm s and / con trary currents, swal lowedw hole ; and

,having , shattered and confounded ~ all

things i n 1t s c onvul s ions, di ssipated the fragm ents of acom m on ruin al ong the shores of the ocean .

Having dwel t so long on thi s part of the subjec t,I

s hal l di spatch the eventful period from the com

m ence m e n t of hostil i ties i n 1792 ,to t hei r conclusion

i n 18 14 . Coal i tion after coal i ti on was form ed, principally by the

'

e age rhe s s of England and her s eductivesubs idies

96

s ubsidies . They had '

al l the sam e i ssue : ‘

was te‘

of

m en and m oney, and l oss o f terri tory and reputation .

D uring these di sasters , the parl iam en t of Englands anctioned every m easure o f every m in is ter ; and an

im m aculate house of com m ons declared that th e exped i tion to W

'

al cheren was planned w i th skil l and

executed w i th abi l i ty . These rash confederaci es,

w i th whi ch the people of no country had any sym

pathy, and agains t which m any of them protested,

dism i ssed the S tadtholder from Holland ; and m anyelec tors, princes, and potentates eventual ly re sem bl edon ear th Regno Regmas Regnavi a mong the dram ati spersona:of an anci en t Moral i ty .

A t l ength fortune changed when discre t ion wasforgotten . To t h e Span i s h ‘

war Bonaparte superaddedth e invasion of Russia. In attem pting th i s com plexlabour he in som e m e as ure im i tate d the Bri ti sh m i

n i s try, w hose axiom i n warfare seem s to be, Destroyyour power by d ividing your m eans

,and add to your

e nem i es as your friends decrease . Bonaparte sough tto e ffect at the sam e tim e an establ i shm ent in Spai nand th e conquest o f Russ ia. The Rom ans taugh t nosuch lesson a nd hi s own success, when he was freet o choose, depended chiefly in abandoning all proj ectsfor one til l that was accom pl ished ; and thus he continned to figh t and conquer by directing a concentratedforce against the h eart of a single enterpri se . Yet, indespi te both of his success and of h i s fai l ures, b e e n

countered this double difficul ty . Spain he coul d notsubdue from the im possibi l i ty of sub 'si sting large arm i esi n that country and he had experienced the diffi cul tiesof a Pol ish cam paign

,when he exclaim ed, on seeing

the

2 7-3

th e Russians advance to that m ost trem endous confli ctOh

,sun of Austerl i tz ! fate drives them on

spoke hi s own infatuati on . Ye t’

w i th infin i te tr00ps,such as Europe never before s awim pelled in one dire c t 1on, he passed the Russian frOnt i ers ; and w i th hi s unm atched abi l i ty and the un

abated ardour ofh i s soldiers he fough t and conqueredt he Russians in repeated battles ye t h is victori es di dnot proce ed from s uperiori ty of courage or di scipl ine,bu t from superior num bers . As he conquered, h e

’

prepared the m eans of his own defeat ; as he ad.

ve nced,he retreated from hi s suppl ie s ; whi l e the re

pulses of the Russians quickened the junc t ion‘

of t heirrecrui ts ; and as they retired they approached the

centre of the i r s trength . Bonaparte pursued the enem yw i th assurance ; but-when he reached the goal of conquest

,whence the v i ctory im paradised was to di ctate

s ubm i s Sfiion to an abjec t world,h e beheld no troph ies,

nor’ did hi s follow ers find spoi l

,

~nor com fort, ~ nor re ~

pose,nor hope—Moscow,

in‘

flam es,was to them as

t lze 'co’

pe of h e ll t o t lze num ber les s dad ang e ls ,’Tw ix t

upper nether and surro unding fires .i

I should beex trem ely grieved to insinuate any thing w hich couldbe perverted into an innuendo unfriendly to the courageof t h e Russians i t would be th e worst slander. YetI cannot,in re spec t to l iberty, avoid m aking

,though

i t m ay appear ex t1a-judicial,an observation on a

spee ch ofMr . Canning to hi s electors at Live rpool onthi s sub ject . This gentl em an

,having eulogized the

prowess of the Russians,passed wi th

b

sneer i ng superc i liou sne s s and bickering exul tation to reprove thosewho had

‘

the tem eri ty to avow that freedom was ne‘

ce s s ary

ce s sa1y for pat 1 io ti c achievem ents . The chi efs of t hec01p01at 10n and the 1 e t ire d slave dealers heard and

we 1c cxh 1la1ated by thi s m an of infin1t e j est—i t co

inc ide d so patly w i th al l t he ir own spe culati ons—theypronounced h im w i tty indeed .

True w i t i s nat ure t o advantag e drcs s’

d,

Wh ich oft was th ough t, b ut ne ’

e r s o w e ll e xpre s s’

d.

I wonder that thi s popular cand idate did not add, thatwhen the Bri ti sh attem pted to destroy Constantinopl e,th e s hips of war i n the harbour were at once

m anned w i th a prom i scuous crowd of sold iers, sai lorsand ci tizens ; and that these slaves rendered aborti vethe attem pt of the Engl ish, the freest of m en . (Hobhouse’s Travels, p . According to Mr. Canning,we m ust conclude that the influence of l i berty on

hum an e xertion i s a vulgar error . And did no t

Suwarrow and the Russians conquer Kosciusko and

the Poles Thi s i s a noble them e, bu t i t i s no t entirelynew Xerxes had an ticipated Mr . Cannings discove ry : I al l ude to the col loquy of the g rea t kingw i th Dem aratus the Spartan, i n the seventh book ofHerodotus . Yet how does t hi s ex- secre tary's petulance d i sparage t he pre-em inence of l iberty ? What ifthe vassal s o f Alexander figh ting for their hom es

,re

s i s ted the vassal s of Bonaparte figh ting for the vani tyo f their general i n a far d istant land ?

~

Mr. Canning,

no doubt,h as i n reserve for the next corporation

dinner an ai1 t i-

j acobin sapphi c o n the enem ies of

s i necures and he m ay detai l e n the occasion hi s ownnon-servi ces to no court at a salary and perqui si tes of17 ,500l . a year,which cannot fai l to s e t the table in are ar.

To return :Bonaparte havi ng los t h is arm ies on the ir1 e t1 e at , resum ed the contes t in the fol lowing year ;

‘

and after / various changes and m igh ty exertion s hewas again overpowered . Final ly

,the al l ies entered

Pari s, and Bonapa1 te abd icated the throne . Th e

m agnanim ous al l i es, the l iberators of Europe, re ti redto Vi enna

,and the1 e they em ployed their w i sdom

and virtue in regulating the affai rs of Europe.’

Greatw ere the expectations of an overj oyed worl d whenthey rem em bered the de claration of the al l ie s fromFrankfort.Yet the1 e were som e who conjec tured that the

professed m oderation of the al l ies hi therto Was no t:

whol ly 1 e fe rab le to royal reform ation and progressiveh um ani ty ; bu t to 1oyal suffering and pressing exi ’

ge n’

cy—r paulat im que anim a calue rint m oll ia sax' a

and such Pyrrhonists in pol i tics d id s ds pe ct that whenthey had secured their power they would return totheir inveterate habi ts . Th i s was cal l ed petula ntim possible

, s la11de 1ous u

ye t between the signing o f

t he t1 eaty of Pani s and the determ ination of Cong1 e s sthe affairs of Spain afforded an om inous expectationo f th e resul t ; and think ing m en im agined

’

that if

A s trea had returned, s he'

did not intend to prolong hers tay on earth .

.Mark the particulars : Ferdinand,who for s om e

unknown virtue had been substi tu t ed for his fatheron the throne, visi ted France in s ubm i ssion to Bonaparte ; he was seized and he abdicated the Spanishm onarchy . \Vh i1e Ferdinan d drivel le 'd away his l ifeat Valency

,the French Overran S pain . The Bri ti s h »

assis ted the Spaniards wi th an arm y and suppl ie s of

G VCI'

y

3 0

e very kind s ubsidies of m en and arm s and ainrhuni ‘

t ion . Hope returned ; and the Cortes assem bl ed :w i tht hi s assem bly and i ts im med ia te organ the Br i tish m in i s try 1o r1ne d the s tri ctes t intim acy . The cortes wereBri tain ’s ac tual al ly ; they treated Bri tain w i th confid ence, and appoin ted the Bri t i sh general general i ss im o o f the Spanish forces . Ferdinand re turned toSpain ; and a Bri tish g ene ral and Bri ti sh m oney l it e rally conveyed h im to Madri d . Instantly Ferdinand and hi s counci l proclaim ed the cortes i l legaland their deeds crim inal ; and the m ost enl ightenedand s trenuous' patrio ts

,m em bers of that assem bly,

w ere persecu ted and im pri soned . Thus Ferdinandthe al ly o f France treated the

'

cortes the al l ies ofBri tain ; and they languished in pri son

,o r

,l i ke th e

good and great Arguelle s,su ffer a sold ier’s l ife in an

Afri can garri son . Observe,th i s outrage

,thi s h ideou s

barbari ty,does not depend on a s tory related by Mr.

Canning, founded on secre t articles and a nam elesstatler ; nor on l et ters produced by Lord Castlereaghfr om the sacred cab in e t o f Mons . Blacas —theworld speaks tru111p

'

e t ~ t ongue d th e deep dam nation oftheir tak ing o ff. What have England and her cantingegotis ts perform ed for her friends and hum an i ty ?There was a tim e when her am bas sador Mr . Wrough

.ton coul d give shrewd and spiri ted advice to a

igo t e d party in Poland ; bu t now l egi tim acy absorbsthe i n teres t of al l the cabinet .We are tol d i t i s no t decorous

,i t woul d be pre

s um ing , to interfere w i th the governm ent o f nati ons,s hould '

l

m ini s te rs utter a savi ng expression to t he

bases t tyran t i n favour of their m ost zealou s al l i es,associates

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3 9.

this country . Most of these events happened whileCongress was i n secret counci l on the l ife and de si thof nations : and these deeds by England and Spainwere reputed inauspici ous to their final d el iverance .I shal l now consider the deeds of Congress and

surely after the Declaration at Frankfort,

and “ theDeclarati on 0 11 the breaking off the negotiations atChati l lon,

”

m ankind liad reason to expec t a differen tresul t. This latter declaration has been frequentlyreferred to in subsequen t negotiation s ; and in onerespect i t i s rem arkable

,as i t holds as i ncontrovertible

t hat nat ions s hould r e spect t h e ir m ut ual independence .

Yet the high contracting powers violently annexedGenoa to P iedm on t, I s this respecting the independe nce of nati ons ? I t was a fraud on the prospectsof the Genoese i n variou s ways : Lord Wi l l iam Benfinc k in h is proclam ation ofMarch th e 14 th prom isedthat they should be restored to independence ; and

Lord Bathurs t, i n confo rm i ty to th i s proclam ation , i na dispatch to Lord W i l l iam Bentinck, w rote Dono t take possessi on o f Genoa w i thou t the consen t ofthe peopl e ye t Lord Castlereagh says that they wereconquered . I t i s fal se in every possibl e interpretation of language . He and h i s i m pl ici t fri ends m igh tbetter s ay that the Engl ish conquered Spain — th e

Engl i sh and Span iards rel i eved Spain from theFrench ; the Engl i sh and the Genoese rel ieved Genoafrom the sam e Oppressors . Lord Cas tlereagh , in thes equel o f hi s speech , waved the m oral i ty and . pure

j usti ce o f the transfer ; he founded i t expres sly onexpediency. This was expl ic i t, which we should l eas te xpe ct from hi s lords h ip,. i t was brave ; for though

m i n i s ters

as :

ministers, and t hose of. France al so, l ong since had :

thei r pretensions of dependencies and th e dro i t dc

biens éance,

”which S ir Wi l l iam Tem ple (hoiv unl ike

ourpresent nego tiat ors l)lam ented as m ost pernicious ; 1such‘ crim es were not publ icly

”

avdwe d,but were 1re - 1

served,

for the confi dential -i ntercourse of th e cabinetor coun‘

ci l 1 cham be r. Lord Castl ereagh i s the firs tm in i ster wh o a udac io u s ly avdwe d that i n h i s diplom atic creed expediency had displaced equi ty . Th e !

transfer of 1Norway,whi ch IS forgotten ‘

am idst th ee norm i ties

’

of Congress, was no t so defended . Allhave t reated w i th indignation necessi ty

,the tyran t’s

ple a. But exped i ency i s the sam e plea enlarged bya m ost com prehensive l i cen ti ousnessWhatk i s th i s e xpedie n

’

cy? That Genoa uni ted w ith

Piedm ont wi l l strengthen the It al ian frontier against"France . I f an union of these countri es be advi sable

,

why i s‘ no t Pie dm on t rather com bined Wi th i Genoa

than the contrary ?‘

Why do they not form-ah i‘n’cor

pe rate ari s tocracy ? Piedm on t had longi

los t i t'

s i ndependency when G enoa

‘

_

was free ; Genoa i s a farim ightier nam e '

in hi story than Piedm ont or Sardinia ;1101 do I pe i ce ive why a doge and senate m e not asl ikely to uphe ld the inviolabil i ty of a nation ’s s o i l asa m ere king . They enjoy ne l th er l ess powe1 nor lessre spect,‘ as was prove d i by the conduct of the French “

to these two gove rnm ent'

s . The French at th e com 4m ene e m en t of hostil i ties besieged and took Onegl ia,a town of the king of Sardinia , and though i t was alm ost 1nc01pora t e d w i th th e Genoese te rri torl e s , th eP1 euch did no t infrm ge them . This forced connex ionwi ll b e a tt ended w i th w eakness a11d‘-vexation 1Li‘

D guria

3 41

guria wi l l sink into im beci l i ty, i f i t be patie nt, and

become a pitiful province of a pi tiful k ingdom z—evennow the Barbary p i rate s plunder i ts shores ; and such ~

di straction harasses the hered i tary s tate s of the k ing,though he has publ i shed m ost ghostly ordinances and restored the Jesu i ts

,that by a decree of the 97th of June

al l Frenchm en se ttl ed in h i s dom in ions since 1799have been ordered to pass the frontiers in twenty .

days ; which i s contrary to the right of such settlers ases tabli shed by treaty .

H ow can th i s forced subj ection be productive of

s trength ? The elevation of a people to a m ore l iberalsociety i s seldom cord ial ly received

,m erely as i t

evinces their inferiori ty ; bu t subjec ting freem en to aforeign m onarchy aggravates every p rej udi ce, and

e a pe ra t e‘

s the s trongest antipat hies . The transferof Genoa to be pos s e s s ed in, f u ll s over e ig nty by t h e

Icing qf Sardinia was the firs t ac t whi ch announcedto . the world the prac ti cal v ir tue and w i sdom of the

Congress of Vienna and the l iberators of Europe—Iproceed to Aus t i ia .

Th i s cabinet 15 the de clai ed favouri te of St. Jam es’s .0 11 Au s t1 ia m any m i l l ions have been squandered byou r pi odigal governm en t. Beside m i l l ions g iven

,

m i l l ions have been len t to i t ; —these have been secured by the m ost ingenious suretyship im aginabl e ;for, says the treaty, should the em peror not pay theinteres t as i t becom es due, the em peror agrees to adm i t him self to be sued in any of h is own la‘

w courts .Nor is th i s the ex tent of the pl easantry, as . the e m

pe ror on another occasion prom i sed to pay an ad

vance m ade to h im ”by c ovcm m e n t ou t of h is nex tsubsidy

3 5

Subs idy fi om E 1'

1gland . Tl1u s a fine lady i n The CityW

'

ives Confe de 1acy pm pos e s to discharge her m i l l ine i s bil l i t s h e w i l l l end her fifty pounds . I t m aybe supposed by ordi nary m e n that the 1nte1 est onthese loans has been regularly pai d by Austria

,or

that th e prine i pal has been d i scharged ; yet not onepo und , h as been paid . This excel len t loan by ourgrea t m in i ster has perhaps been cheri shed as a foreignaux i l iary of hi s wonder-working sinking fund z—indeedthis Austrian branch of i t m ust becom e very operative ;for

,as Dr . Price has proved that the sm al lest savings

wi l l pay the largest debts, the Aus t i ian debt, as i taffm ds a m in im um of i 11c1 e as e , m ust pi odue e a

m axim um of accum ulation . In short,i t i s no t a

sinking-fund,i t i s sunk ; yet We m ust not s ay any

thing unkind of our good al ly Of Austria, of whom noone ever spoke wel l and expected to be believed .

By m eans of th e Congress the em peror of Austriah as m ade great . acquisi tions i n I taly

,and he i s i t i s

said to be crowned k ing of that country ; though t h ecoronation of Bonaparte was one of the grievanceswhich incensed Austria and alarm ed Europe . Yet

Austria’s am b i tion i s not dreaded,i s not noti ced

,i s

nouri shed l—Franci s enj oys -m ore e rowns'

than Bonaparte

,whose am bi tion was insatiabl e and m ortal .Ne e pr1us e s t e x t inct a s i t i s quam vi ta b ib endo .

Contrast the si tuation of the I tal ians—com parethe kingdom of I taly under Eugene Beauharnoi s andany l ieutenant-general that Austria can com m and .What are Madam e de Stael ’s sentim ents res pectingthe Austrians ? Wi th all her propensi ty to overratethe Germ ans

, s h e says, In Aus tria fthe re are m anyD 2 e xcellent

3

excel len t things, but few excel lent m e n ; i t answersl i ttl e purpose there to surpass another ; s ince thatsuperiori ty does not produce any thing but negl ect, asi f in order to discourage intrusion 0 11 rank ” St e . Andwha t plodding cerem ony and ostentatious osci tancydo the entertainm ent s of the Austrian nobles exhi bi t !Yet these las t of the Germ ans are to rule natural lyt he m os t ingen ious people of Europe, if we excep tthe Greeks . Germ ans and Ital ians have no com m oncharac ter in language, m anners, habi ts, or tem per ;they are adverse and of course unfri end ly to eachothe r

Ode run t h ilarem t ri s t e s , t ri s t em que JOCOS i

S edat um c e le re s , ag ilem gnavum qu e rem i s s i .

Bywhat righ t, original or derived, secret or proclaim ed ,has the Congress dared to invest Austria w i th m anytowns and terri tories in I taly ? or i s thi s age to becursed beyond any other ? and are gloriou s profe ss ions to . be constantly fol lowed w i th the m ostignom ini ous actions ? In the treaty of Chaum ont,dated March 18 14, i t i s stated in the six teentharticle

,

“

I t i s the obj ec t of the present treaty of defens ive al l iance to m ain tai n the balance of power inEurope

,to i nsure the re pose and independence of the

d ifferen t powers, and to preven t the arbi trary v iolat i ons of the righ ts and terri tori es of other states

,by

w hich the worl d ha s suffered for so m any years together

,St e . Yet these potentates in congress have re

peated spoliations in every d irec tion, th ey have addedconfusion to disorder

,and ba ni shed confidence and

happiness,which only can insure the repose of nations .What has becom e of th e repub l ics of I taly in th e

general

3 7

general wr’eck ? of Lucca ? -Do

‘

es S t . Marino survive,

whi ch Bonaparte honoured and confirm ed in 1797 ?

H as Austria’

s chief followed th e e xam pl e‘

ofAlberon i ?Thi s m an from being m in i ster of Spai n becam e v i cel egate ofRom agna s t i l l he was overruled by the sam erestles s spiri t which form erly im pel led h im to agi tateEurope ; he ove rtu1ne d th i s l i ttl e republic, wh i ch i nm y apprehension shou l d not be less sacred than them ightie st m i l i tary kingdom . Do the states and ci tie sof I taly seized by Austria enjoy a representativelegislature ? Have they any secur i ty again st oppre s

s i on ? Do they possess the m i serable privi lege of whichMartens speaks He says‘ concessions w ere m ade t oc ertain I tal ian /

and Spani sh ci ti es, qui sont en droi td

'

e nvoye r‘

a l eu r souverai n des député s qui on t l e

ti treP

d’

am bas s ade urs mai s sans pouvoi r pour cela e n

re clam e r le urs dro i ts . (Droi t des Gens,t .Beside the m anifold C1 im es whi ch attend the s e i

sam e of differen t portions of Italy, there i s som ethingpe e 1lia1 ly atrocious i n th e conduct of Austria toVenice . The Venetians had evinced a favourabl edi sposi tion to Austria

,-and great di ssati sfaction to th e

French during the re v o ldt ionary war. But th ey~ d i s e

played their partial i ty in the m ost deci sive , m annerw hen Bonaparte pursued the Austrians by the Tyrolin to

~

Germ any . On thi s the Venetian governm en ted th irty thousand peasants

,to Whom they added

ten regim ents of Sclavonians, in t e nding’

wi th the furthei ass i stance of som e A us tr1an t i oops to i nterceptand destroy the P1 euch arm i es, whi ch were em bani as s e d in thei1 advance by their enem ies and by t h ecountry. The people

-

were as zeal ous as their rulers ;they

3 8

they assassinated the wounded soldiers that could no tm arch w i th thei r com panions

,and they persecuted

t hose of the i r own countrym en w ho had shown any

i nterest towards the French . How did Austria afterw ard treat the Venet ians ? And le t i t seal the l ips ofthose for ever

,who s ay Genoa and I taly d id not de

serve independence because the people did not ri seas one m an at the cal l of an Engl i sh general w i th h i stwo or three thousand troops

,and encoun ter presen t

death and the danger of ul tim ate rebel l ion . Manydid assem ble and arm

,and

“

assi s t th e Bri ti sh ; and theBri ti sh and Austrian governm ents have spurned them ,

trod on them, as Austria h ad form erly the people and

s tate of Venice . For the transfer of Ven i ce original lyto Austria was no t am ong Bonaparte ’s m i sdeeds : h ehad form ed the c i ti es Wh i ch com posed that state intoa federal republi c

, and he certai nly fel t considerabl evexation a t the ruin of a consti tution of wh ich he wasthe author . Nor were the Ve ne t ians fre ely abandonedby the D i rectory

,bu t i n consequence of the im portu

ni ty of Austria,who thus treated her friends worse

than Bonaparte trea ted h is enem i es . Thus fel l oneo f the m os t cel ebrated s tates in anc ient o r m oderntim es

,wh ich fough t the Ottom ans and all thei r forces

by s e a and land , and wh ich by arresting the i r arm sprevented the conques t o f Chri s tendom . Ven i ce hascounted the dukes o f Savoy (Wi cque fort , p . and

even France am ong i ts pol i tical sons (Mach iavel ,D iscors i

,p . QS5 .) -Venice

,a s tate i n teres t ing in i ts

orig in,pecul iar in i ts si tuation , founded in the pe rfe cv

t ion of l i berty, wh i ch i t outran by the exceed ing increase of i ts people . Thus fe l l the s tate of Ven ice ,

which

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w hich h e' perform ed m igh t have com prom ised the

evil . But the proceedings of Saxony were j ust andgenerous he em braced the fortune of Pruss1a w 1thou tprospec t of reward, and i n consequence he forfeitedh i s dom in ions z—the conqueror re stored them to h im ,

trusted h im,and he was worthy o f hi s confi dence .

Thi s conduct, which should receive the gratulation sof all who were barely in itiated in virtue, has been thech ief cause of an inextingui shable resentm ent in LordCastlereagh

,who i n hi s notoriou s l etter to .Mon

P r ince thus sum s up hi s del i nquency He has beenno t only the m ost devoted bu t the m os t favoured ofBonaparte’s vassal s .”

Yet what i s the am oun t of hi s especial devo tionWhen Bonaparte waged war against Russia,

Saxonycontributed h is con tingent : so d id al l the princes ofthe confederacy of the Rhine : so did Austria, so d idPrussia ; and when D ’

Yorck,Pruss ia’s general , acted

doubtful ly towards Bonapartes i n terest, th i s king ofPrussia d i sm i ssed h im

,and appointed

'a110 ther com

m ander to hi s auxil iary contingent in t he servi ce ofBonaparte . Nor did Pruss ia dare to declare h im selfagains t Bonaparte til l he was rendered im pot ent, andrem oved from the poss ib il i ty of annoying the Prussianterri tories . Nor was Austria l e ss cau tious . Bavariaal so prevaricated ti l l Bonaparte’s defeat at Leip s i cd i sm i ssed the rem ains of h is arm ies fugi t ive to France .At no ti m e pr ior to the sam e battl e was Saxony l iberated from Bo naparte’s grasp he had retreated ; bu th i s advance fo l lowed rapidly, and Dresden becam ethe centre o f h i s s treng th . Had Saxony opposedBonaparte before Austria had declared, the conduc t

41

of Saxony woul d have been both treacherous andim becile .

- What says the king of Saxony on th i s subjec t ?Fi l led w i th confi dence in th e j usti ce and m agnan i

m i ty of the all ie d m onarchs, and w i l l ing to accede totheir al l iance , whil s t we had the m eans, we resolvedafte1 the battl e of \ Le i ps i c to attach ourselves to th ev ictors . But the sovereigns refused to hear us ; theyobliged us to leave ou r estates, and to repai r toBe1 l in . His m aj esty the e m pe i or of Russia, nevert h e le s s

,gave us to unde1 stand that ou1 i e m oval f1om

Saxony was connect ed w i th m i l i tary interests ; and

hi s m aj esty inci ted us at the sam e tim e to place inh im an enti re confidence . We received al so fromthei r m aj es t i e s the em peror of Austria and the k ingof Prussia touch ing proofs of in teres t and Sens ibi li ty,

”

th e . The world know s the sequel .Suppose the k ing of Saxony

,i nstead of hav ing

e v 111ce d superior inte g ri ty, had sunk the lowest am ongk ings —puni sh h im . But why for h i s sins crim inateh i s subjects ? I adm i t that the Congress has alway sregarded the people m erely in reference to th e prince .

Yet I m ust as k ,Why are the terri tories of Saxony div i ded ? why are the subj ects o f Saxony transferredto Prussia ? I s loyal ty ‘

to thei r k ing their offence ?Then grievously are they pun i shed by being wrestedfrom their own l iberal governm en t and consigned toPrussia. H ad the Saxons been Bonaparte s pai t is ans

, and were th i s treason,the puni shm en t would

e xceed their transgression . But th e people showedno attachm ent t o Bonaparte; the Saxon

”

troops , 0 11

the contrary, s e ized t he firs t oppor tuni ty to escape hi scom m and .

4 2

com m and . At Leipsi c they broke h is l ine of battleby passing over to the al l ies i n the cri si s of the cont es t : th i s, and the prom pti tude of the Crown Princeof Sweden in bringing them i n to action, determ inedt h e fortune of that m em orable day. These cons iderations I have advanced w i thou t supposing thatthey ever enter into the estim ate of kings or thei r m im sters .Lord Castl ereagh , when the m i sdeeds of Congress

w ere cri ti cized,daringly avowed i n the house of

com m ons that the great obj ects of that assem bly,

were to reestabl i sh the two m onarch i es of Austriaand Prussia

,which had suffered in their successive

conte sts w i th France ; and he stated that th ei r re ~

s pe c t i ve m onarchs were very m oderate in settl ing thei raccoun ts w i th Europe ; as that by the n ew arrangem ents Prussia woul d have soul s le ss

, a nd

Austria fi nd a defici t of Real ly ? At whattim e had these m onarch ies thei r proper com plem ent ?If a t the beginn ing of hosti l i ties in 1799, then th e finalparti tion of Poland had no t been effected . Do thei raccessions from Poland am oun t to nothing i n h i slordsh i p

’s cal culation ? But i t i s fal se that Prussia orAustria have fewer subjects now than they possesseda t any tim e during these fifty years ; and i f the grand obje c t s of Congress were to reswel l two uncou th m i li tarydespotism s, tha t assem bly could not be busi ed ineffec ting a m ore flagi tious purpose . And by whats ickening m eans have they accom pl i shed their design ?By separating the inheri tance o f fam i li es, curtai l ingprovinces

,transferring whole states, i n terrupting the

i ntercourse of friends, forcing an i n tim acy where e n-s

43

m i ty m ust prevail, m aking the natives o f th e soi ls trangers in the land, innovating or reversing laws andcustom s

,i ncorporating the m ost incongruous nations 5

d oing worse than all these together,by forcing the in

t e lle c tual to endure the dul les t of m ankind,and the

free to abide the Oppression of the enslaved .

Never were the rights and feel ings of m ankind socontem ptuously neglected as by the Congress at V i ;enna : the various annexati ons, cessions, transfers, re ~

n,unciat ions , w ere not effected even w i th a view pour

arrondir , and give a"graceful outl ine to the sweepingam b i tion of princes : they deal t i n the felonious s piri t of slave-dealers . Mark the follow ing specim ens ofseizure and repri sal s . “ As Hanover i s to obtain bythi s ce s s m n soul s

,and as the above-m entioned

places m ay no t contain such a num ber, the king of

Prussia engages to extend the l ine of dem arcation ,”

Ste.

The k ing of Hanover engages to procure for th eduke of Oldenburg a distric t contain ing a populationo f 5000 soul s . —Saxe lV e im ar obtains soul sin one place and ’

2 7’

,000 soul s in another: —The duke

'

o f Hesse cedes l Ve s tphalia to the king of Pruss ia, forwhich he obtains soul s e l s ewh e 1‘e .

-4—Congresswas but a great diplom ati c m art

,i n which the kings’

m ini s ters were brokers in the hum an race . No wonder

,truly

,that the cause of Africa and her sons was

j us t rem em bered a t a preceding negotiati on at “ Parisby the Bri tish m ini ster to b e '

nugator when not onevoi ce (at leas t none has transpi red) was rai sed in thepeople’s cause in Congress

,th i s o l igarchy of princes

,

i n wh ich the popula'

tion of all Europe had not onerepres entative. With regard to the l ibertie s of the

people

people of Europe, the al l ied s o'

ve re 1gns preserved a

dignified silence,while respecting the subjec t of ‘ th e

slave-trade they seem to have been happi ly reconci l ed ;for the plen ipotentiaries, after m any ostentatiou s prof e s sion s

,s tated that the parti cular ci rcum stances to

whi ch th i s traffi c owes i ts origin, and the d ifficul ty of

abruptly interrupting i ts progress, have to a certaindegree l essened the od ium of continu ing i t .”—VVhodoes no t read in these words the standard verbiage ofthat fam ous d iplom ati s t

,wh o always opposed the

abol i tion, and who divided w i th the sacred m i nori tyo f seventeen , when parl iamen t at last dam ned thatflag i t iou s traffi c for ever ? Norwould the l i ttl e ‘ whichhas been done a broad have been effec ted , e xc e pt ' for

the zeal ous ph i lan thropy of the peopl e ofGreat Bri tai nand I reland - thi s was th e people ’s t rium ph v a pureone , w i thout bl ood, w i thout tears, w i thou t expense,w i thout pagean try—a trium ph not over m e n, bu t overt heir m asters— a trium ph in wh ich the captives di dno t fol low the conqueror 's car, but outran hi s stateand ac ted the heralds of their com m on v i ctory . Bu t11 by have no t the sam e peopl e fel t and expressed thei rfeel ings for the fate of I tal ians, Saxons, Poles, whohave been sei zed

,sold and bartered w i th m ore faci l i ty

than captives in Ne gro land? and the y have been

sworn l iege subj ec ts to the violators of every inducem ent to feal ty and al legiance . The princes in Congress estim ated the am ount of their s overeignty by the

S t ill Portugal and Spain div ide th e s lave -coun t ry by line snorth and s ou th b e twe e n t h e m . -Ob s e rve , Eng land has only ab ol i s h e d th e fore ig n t rade of s lav e ry th e dom e s t ic trade in h e rWe s t

Indian pos s e s si ons flouri s h e s undim ini sh e d.

num ber

num b er of their subj ec ts , exactly as a Russian regardsh i s estate by the num ber of hi s boors . Bri tons

,for s

get not the cause of th e whi te m an your philan thropybeganwi th Africa, Europe al so claim s your atten t i on .

Next of Rus s s ia.- Russia had been di stinguished

by the devotion of her nobles, the attachm ent of

her people,and the unexpected deci sion of i ts prince .

Alexander was al so favou1ab ly cont i as t ed w i th an

Engli sh duke of uxorious m em ory,who 1m pe 1 t 1nen t ly

1nt e 1rupt ed Moreau dying 1n hi s cham ber of that '

wound whi ch he had received at the side of Alexanderin the field of battle. To Alexander princ ipal ly wasattributed the Declarati on of Frankfort and the safetyof Pari s : though indeed he los t som e credi t w i th ourarden t royal i sts by not firing Pari s by hi s own—sold iers

,because h i s own peopl e h ad burned Moscow .

He exci ted hopes for the res toration of Poland ; andh e seem s to have w i shed to sacrifice the Saxons forthe Pol es, as Las Casas did the Africans for the nativeAm ericans

,by confe 1 rin o Saxony

i

on Prussia, and

taking i n exchange Prussia s spoi l i n Poland, and

addino

g thi s to hi s own pillage by the parti tions .Certainly the utm os t d i ssati sfaction and 1 age was

som e of the high contracting pow ers repart of the arrangem ent . And i t i s

observabl e that Lord Castl ereagh h ad only j us t m adean unqual ified assertion in the house of com m ons, ofthe harm ony of Congress and h is own concord , whenhis o wn l etter to Prince Hardenberg was publi shed

,

by which h is own wri ting fal sified hi s o wn speech,

and Truth was avenged . In thi s letter,which tran

s ce nds t he egoti sm of Cardinal Wol s ey, for Eg o . i s no,

adj unc t,

46

adjunc t , nor i s i t e ven lackeyed by Re v m eas , h i s

l ordship speaks of t h e alarm ing and dang erous pre~

t ens ions of Rus s ia, al lud ing princi pally to Russ ia ’se ncroachm ent on Prussia

,inducing h er t o s ubm i t

tai l /10W af i ent z'

er qf defence.After thi s a ttend to Rus s l a’

s accoun t of h i s proce e ding s i n a m anifesto dated Pe te rs burgli , June 17,1 8 15 . I t i s no t a rain covetousness which has induce d us to such an extension of our frontiers . Sucha feeling would have been unnatural in one wh o hadtaken up arm s to defend the country

,but m dt to

make .conques ts . The unconquerable s tre ng th/

(i f thei u s s ian em p i re

,founded upon rel igion

,loyal ty

,and

prosperi ty, cannot

'

b e increased bv external acqu i s i‘tions .’ The union of far the greater part of the lateduchy of lVars aw under our sceptre has proved to beabsolu tely necessary for th e establ i shm en t of a general balance of power and o f order in Europe . Byth i s m easure the safety of our fron tiers i s insured, a

fi rm ‘ barrier i s erected agains t interruption of peaceand hostile attem pts, and the bonds of fraterni tyform ed between nations un i ted toge t her by one comm on origin .

” Th i s i s very l ike Jo s eph S urface'

s full'

accoztnz‘ on his eclairci sse m e nt of the screen scene . I t

would be unnatural , says the em peror, for one who hadarm ed in defence of his country to m ake conquestsye t I seize the duchy of ‘Warsaw . TheRuss ian e mp i re possesses unconquerable s trength , wh i ch cannOtbe i ncreased by external acqui s i tions ; yet the un ion oft h e ‘

gre at e r part o f the duchy of Warsaw under m y

sceptre i s proved to be absolu tely necessary for thes afety of m y fron tie rs and the establi shm ent of a

general

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world, and al l ourwoe au thorizing the depredationsthroughout Europe , wh ich we re continued by Fra ii cdand consum m ated by Congre s s . Go

,said O

-

xen ~

s ti ern to h i s son , who was preparing to repai r toa eon_ .

gress of am bassadors, go and s e e w i th your own eyesh ow l i t t le w i sdom those have 'who govern the worl d .

”

H ad he d irec ted h im to the Congress a t Vi enna, to the

pauc i ty

'

of the i r w i sdom he m igh t have added t henull i ty of the i r v irtue . ‘ O wre tched people

,

” sai dErasm us on a sim i lar occasion

,

“who subm i t to those

whom no hones t m an would -endu1 e am ong the servants of hi s household ! ”

W' e now approach the chef-d '

ce uvre of Congress, th etrans cende ntal '

po l icy, at once just,ingenious

,and

'

fortunate,the k ingdom of the Netherlands ! I t i s

necessary to ! pre ce de'

t h i s i nquiry by stat ing a'

few

l eading facts‘. T he Se ven Un i ted Provinces weredetache d from France at th e c lo s e ‘

of the year 18 13 .

The s tad tholder‘

th e n re turned to hi s country, aft er an

exil e of about nine teen years . Sca’rce ly had h etouched the soi l

,when in the extravagance bf

“thehour

, am idst ‘5 G raiy'

e Lament,” he was hai led Sove

reign Prince of the Netherlands"! And no ' doubf hi sreception in D e ceni b e r 181 3 was as cord ial as hi srejection in 1795 ; for, i f t he pe opl e had been d issati sfied w i th h im then , they had been m ore d i ssati sfi edw i th the French since hi s abdication . Yet who ' everheard of any nom ination com parable to thi s ofWi ll iam First Sovereign P1 ince of t h e Ne th e i lands .

3

Never le t any loxal i s t 1 e vi le a Bi i t i s h m ob . henceforwards, those who fol lowed Lord G em ge Gordonshall be hel d orthodox Christ ians

,and thos e 'who

broke

49

‘ broke windows during the las t session of parl iam entbe reputed absolute m asters of pol i ti cal oe conom y.

The persons who first announced by acclam ationl V ill iam

’

s ascen t to royal ty‘

we re the loo ses t m em bersof society—~ those who gaze because one

,

gazes,who

arres t thei r pace because another stops, who run b ecause '

another hastens- those who condem n by impulse

,and prai se by vibration—L such were they who

fi rst cried Prince of the Netherlands By what righ tdid Wi l l iam assum e the ti tl e of Prince of the Netherlands ? At that tim e i t was sai d thi s ti tl e induced a

bel ie f that h e should obtai n an increase of terri tory,

and that Brabant, and perhaps Flanders,should b e

added to h i s dom in ion . Th i s the m i ni s terial paperstreated as l ibel lousOn the 99th o f March 18 14 the Prince Sovereign

of the Netherlands m e t the notables a t Am sterdam,

who had been assem bled to di scu ss the new cons t i t u

ti on of‘ the Uni ted Provinces . The prince t hen i hform ed them tha t he would accept the sovereign tyon one condi t ion, v iz . t hat a cons t i t ut ionf ounded on

t he nece s s i t ies of H olland and on t h e ,pr e s ent s t at e ofE urope s hould duly ens ure t h e f r e er/0772 of pers ons ,

”

&c . that i s, Make m e m onarch : on ly m onarch ies su i tHolland and Europe . Since that tim e

,accord ing to

the doc trine of equivalents, thi s prlnce sovere ign hasgiven Eas t Friesland to Hanover, and obtained i nreturn the ! ten provi nces of Belgium ; wh i ch six teenprov inces are i n tended to s trengthen the frontieragains t France in th is d irection, as m uch as Genoaand Sardinia on the other .I t i s no secret that queenElizabeth and Henry IV.

E of

50

of France speculated on the union of the Netherlands

(Hum e, vol . 5, p . bu t i t never occurred to thoseprinces (wh o were not Jacobins, and none have sinceapproached them i n sagaci ty and decision,) that th es trength of their union woul d be confirm e d by converting them ‘ i n to one m onarchy : they designed t ocom bine them i n to a r epublic. Indeed no two reignsare m ore adverse than thi s of hi s present m aj es ty andElizabeth 's : she was offered the sovereign ty of th e

Netherlands,and decl ined i t ; while the king of

England would becom e king of Corsi ca, grandm as ter o f Mal ta

,and potentate of the Ionian Isl es .

Elizabeth at a sm al l expense m ai ntained her em pi reEngland ’s k ing

, after im m ens e expendi ture, los t a

world . The charac ter of her governm ent was oe co

h om y of th i s,unexam pled was te—was te o f m oney

,

waste o f honours—honours such as princes can confer.She doled ou t w i th the u tm ost reserve,while our princeexceeds all h i s predecessors . I t was sai d byWicquefort

,

“ Le roi d ’

Angle t e rre fai t seul pl us de cheval i ers quetous l es autres ro i s de la Ch re t ien té ensem bl e Ourprinc 'e since h is unres tri c ted regency h as dubbed m orekn igh ts than the m in t has coined gu ineas .If there be a contras t between thi s reign and t hat

o f El izabeth, th ere i s, however, in som e parti cularsa s trong coi ncidence be tween the re igns of George th eTh i rd and o f Charl es the Second . I sha l l m en t iononly a single instance . l V i ll iam prince o f Orangeob tai ned addi tional authori ty from the S tates-general ,on wh ich the m in is te r of Charle s w ro te to the prince

to tel l you h ow great an i nducem en t to the peaceyour highness ’s advancem ent to the heredi tary dign i ty

'

1

had be en, and w i th how m uch m ore confidence h ecould now fal l i nto good m easures w i th Hol land thanbefore .” And I have l i ttl e doub t bu t thi s prince’ss ui t respe cting the princess Mary was as m uch ad

vance d in'

the eye si

of king Charl es and the duke ofYo rk by thi s prom otion , as the Heredi tary Prince’ssui t to the prin cess Charlo tte was forwarded at

Carle ton House by the sovereign ty confe rred on h i s

father. ‘ And no doubt in as m uch as th i s com pressiono f provinces i n to a k ingdom .

'

111 igh t afford a sui tablem atch for a daughter of England , i t was a m iracle ofgood sense but as a pol i ti c es tablishm en t, to prom otei nternal happiness and external s trength, a favourableresul t i s no t so obvious .This question i s to be viewed in two points first

, as

to the change o f consti tution ; then,as to the un ion of

the northern and southern provinces into one kingdom .

Should the Un i ted Pi ovince s on 1 efle c t 1on cherish am onarchy

,thei1 people are greatly changed for s o

lately as 1787 they rebel led agai nst the i r S tadtholder,th inking h i s power excess ive . Their whole hi storyevinces thei r bias to l iberty . Tem ple says

,that on a

proposal o f giving Wi ll iam extraord inary powers,

3 00,000l . sterl ing w ere wi thdrawn from the bank ofAm sterdam ,

and that the actions fel l 3 0 per cent . ;adding that i t was a com m on voice in Hol land thatthey would rather be subjected to France than to adom es ti c sovereign . (vo l . 2 , p . Som e m ayim agine that the Dutch are com pletely al tered by thei rdi sasters, and that now they have learned by e xpe

f

rience the evil s of a consti tution bordering on republ ican l iberty . I do not perceive any reason why they

E 2 shoul d

52

should perm anently reverse their form er sentim ents .The Dutch are now si tuated as the Engl i sh were atthe Restorati on , at which tim e som e of those veryprerogatives, wh ich they at the expense ofa very longwar won from the k ing that claim ed them

,they offered

to Charles the Second w i thout res tri c tion ; yet soonafter the com m ons attem pted to trench on the ac

knowl edged prerogative of the crown, and th e Revolu t ion followed . In l ike m anner the Dutch expel ledt he S tadtholder in 1787, and i n 18 13 they woul dcrown 111m . WVhy should not tim e perfec t the paw h o! .

9 I t IS not probable that the Dutch w i l l rej o i cein the ir m ona1 chy —their affai i s w i l l no t 1 e s um e thaten terpri se nor the people their industry and thrift .Tem ple spe aks, frequently anticipating the change oftheir con sti t ution from a republ i c to a kingdom a

s overeign prince in Holland woul d certain ly soon rui nthe trade, and consequently the riches and greatnes sof the s tate, and l eave a prince ‘of i t w i thou t power orconsideration .

”

(vol . 1, p . The Dutch have no tas yet fully known t h e m anner of a h ing . The peopleo f \Vu1*te m b e rg have . They s ay, t hat wi t h t he at

t a inm ent of t h e royal dig n i ty and of a s orere ig nty h i s

m aj e s ty t h e hing (yn

q r t enzberg has aff ect ed a

t ot al abol i t ion of t h e cons t i t ut ion of t he count ry ,and

Germ any has been fi l l ed w i th their lam entati ons . Ishal l now consider the union of the Netherlands underth e sam e k ing .

By th i s arrangem en t the greater m ass i s m ade acc e s sary to the less ; for ten provinces which contai na greater com parative population , ai

‘

e added to ‘sevenw hich are reduced to six by the interlop ing am bi tion

of

53

o f the Bri ti sh governm ent . William , however, hasbeen crowned at Brussel s . Yet i t i s doubtful whetherthi s m easure w i l l l ess am use hi s new or h i s ol d subje c t s : by this the form er m us t feel that thei r princeby enlarging h is terri torie s has divided hi s affection ;while the people of Belgium w i l l repute hi s coronati on in thei r country a m ere ac t o f state pol i cy, and

that h e,while he . exerci ses the form s of royalty at

Brussel s,w i l l reserve h i s partial i ties and p atronagefo i the Hague .The 1 e un i on of the 1

Ie the 1 lands , whi ch wet e con

ne c t e d som e centuries age under the sam e prince, i sthe them e of the eulogists of the presen t m onarchyand ye t thi s should rath er seem to be an i nj un ous i h

nue ndo by the enem ie s of th e coal i ti on ; for i t recal l sno pleasing recol lections, i f inde ed the association i snot Om inous . —That connex ion of the Neth erlands i sh i stori cal , but thei1 i ntim acy w i th F1ance i s present ;whi le thei1 1nc01po1at ion had so long c ontm ue d

,that all

those who approach and who have j ust attained m an

hood have been bred and bom under the gove m m en t

of France . The change to these ten prov i nces i s anabsolute revolution , and i s part icula1 ly grievous . i tuni tes a cathol i c people unde1 a protes tant sovereigni t forces a peopl e who have always been unkindlytr eated by the Dutch, unde r

’

th e em pire of a Dutchprince z‘

i t forces them from their friends to thei r enem ies ; for the F rench opened the navigation of theScheld t to the Be lgians, whi ch thei r presen t fel lowcitizens

,i n pure selfishness, for m ore than a century

and a half rend ered to them the waters of Tantalus .This consti tution affords no prospect of strength, or

54

cordial i ty, or stabil i ty . The Belgian bi shops (July th e2 8th) inform ed the k ing in thei r rem onstrance, tha ti t j i lled eve ry hear t wi t h. cons t ernat ion ; and th e sovere ign i n h i s proclam ation , (95t h August,) al lud ing toth e southern provinces, says, t have learned wi t h

s orrow t hat our endeavours have been m i s t aken or m i s ~

unders t ood ; adding, that of the notables alm os t a s ix t h

par t of t he pers ons s um m oned have not appeared in t he

as s em blie s and observe, he speaks of the people s umm one d by him self, who of course were not selected fortheir hostile di sposi tion . I t al so appears by the sam e

proclam ation, t hat seven hundred,

and si x of th e notables present rej ec ted the consti tut ion ; and observea l so, that their negati ve did no t precede the battl e ofWVate rloo , bu t s ucceeded i t by m any w eeks they didnot

,therefore

,negati ve the prince ’s proposal pros pe c

t ive ly to the success of the Fren ch , but from an ab s o

lute avers ion to the whole proj ect .The union of a great province to any nation seldom

adds to the com m on s trength 0 11 the c ontrary , i t rather encum bers i ts operation or perverts i ts course,l ike the bias i n a bal l and i n no in stance has anyfie es tate by i ts transfer com m unicated power equ ival en tto what i t possessed during i t s i ndividua l indepe nde uce . Wh at did Tyre add to the conqueror’s m igh t ?or Carthage to Rom e ? or Athens to any of i ts num erous m asters—even to the present Sul tan, th ough i tenj oys a s ignal d istinction am ong Grecian ci ties

,

being patronized by the black eunuch of the palace P orVenice to Austria ? The union o f Pi stoia to Florence,though effec ted cheerfully by both

,in troduced w eak

ness and dissension : (Machiave l, D i scors i, p .

How

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56

should be honoured w i th the king’s paten t. This revelation equal ly escaped Ari sto tle’s logic and the rhetori c of Plato . And Mach iavel was so wh o lln no

ran t on th is top i c, that b e prai sed the l im i ted authori ty of the k ing of Sparta and of the doge of Venice

,

say ing , Non potevano usare m al e quel la autori ta.

”

Tem ple,as I have quoted

,m issed the secret

,when he

reflected on the evi l s which would resul t from raisingthe S tadholder to royal ty and al so when

,speak ing of

the revolution in Denm ark,he said

,for the las t

change of the governm en t from elective to h e re di taiyhas m ade i t seem h i therto of l ess force and unflt t e r for

action . (vol . i . p . Yet the k ing ofDenm ark and h i sm inis ter then thought nearly as do the princes and plen ipotent iari e s at Congress ; and Denm ark ’s m inisterat the congress of Nim egue n actually claim ed precedence o f the pl e nipotentiary of Lou i s XIV th , becauseh i s m as t er was m ore abs olu t e in h i s dom inions (p i 44 l ).Yet thi s absolute power was th e rui n ‘

of th ei r successors . Th i s doctrine and i t s consequences are not newi n England .

1

Sir T . Trevor, after discoursing on

Brute and k ing Luc ius, said, our k ing hath as m uchpower and prerogati ve as any k ing in Chri stendomhath .

” And Sir ‘V. Jones, in giv ing judgem ent onsh ip-m oney

,stated

,There i s a book wh i ch Mr . A t ~

torney rem em bers wel l, that the k ing of England hathm or e power than any other kingThe S tadtholder enjoyed am ple power to execute

the office of firs t m ag i s trate, and the Uni t ed Prov inceswere com posed , as Bentivogl io observed, of the three

Th is was more inim ical t o h i s au th ori ty in Norway than th eSwe di s h arm s and th e Eng li sh fle e t.

57

f orm s, cioé di m onarch ia, d’

ari s tocrat ia, Sc di democrat ia (lib . l . c . And when the S tad tholder wasm oderate

,peace at borne and power a‘broad gene

ral ly distingui shed thi s coun try . At one period thi sre publ i c possessed m ore shi pping than al l th e rest o fEurope ; ye t

' i t scarcely produced w i th in i tself one

arti cle for s hip-bui lding . This .republ i c al so whencom pel led contended successfully agains t Englandand France unh e d, zuul luul in 1666 bne hundn ai

m en-of-War at s e a, a m igh ty land arm y , and at thesam e tim e i t subsidized diflere nt na tions of Eur’ope .

W i l l the sovereign prince restore h i s un i ted k ingdomto i ts republ ican prosperi ty ? \V11e n Holland hadscarcely re lieved herself from th e

'

de s po t ism of Philip,and as an em blem of her m i sery exh ibi ted a sh ipw i thou t sai l s, and the m otto Jize e

'

r t am qaoj ataf er zi nt ,h e r wom en l is ting w i th the m i l i tary thronged to theb re ach e s a nd repelled th e assailants . “ 7ha t has sincehappened ? As the Stadtholder approached royal tythe abil i ty of the people decl ined . \Vhen . the duke ofBrunsw i ck advanced he trium phed over the arm edburghers after a sanguinary confl i c t ; but the i r resi stance then ceased , and t l1e

_

S tad tholde r returned i ntrium ph wh e n foreigners had conque re d hi s -people.After th i s, whoever attacked them succeeded wi thou teffort ; they suffered a spurious republ i c, a m onarch yunder Loui s Bonaparte

,an i ncorporate un ion w i th

France, all w i th th e -sam e apparent apathy ; Now all

t hi s i s forgotten , all i s reversed those who expatriated ,

W i ll iam hai l h i s j oy eus e ent ree , and those wh o coul dnot endure a stadtholder because he possessed som ewhat a too swell ing port

, now f i nd them selves m orethan

58

t han able‘

to bear the incum bency of a king, nay

every inch a king, crowned to th e sound of cannonand m i l i tary m us i c and Te D e um s —a royal sym

phony . That the sovereign of the Netherlands i s atru e king, read the fol low i ng particulars o f prorogative and dom inion . The eccles iastical e stabl i shm en tby th e /cons t i tu t ion extends to all sec tar ies and teachers

,

and provi si on shal l be m ade for those sects whi chhave as yet received 110 salaries from governm en tafter which im m ediately foll ows

,the sovereign i s

enti tl ed to exerci se over all form s of worshi p thes upe rint e ndance requi red by the publ i c interest, and

h e has besides a d irec t authori ty to inspec t the ar

rangem ents of those rel igi ou s com m uni ti es which euj oy any revenue from governm en t ;

”

i . e . the sovereignprince shal l touch every teache r of rel igion w i th awand of gold . And i t has operated surpri singly ; as t hepriest-orator at hi s coronation tol d the king that a tt hat ‘ m om en t h e becam e t ruly t h e im ag e (f t h e di e i

n i ty on ear t h . As thi s representative of t h e clergyh as evinced such sagaci ty in hi s inaugural oration

,

no doubt h i s fel low s w i l l be invi ted to assi s t the civi lauthori ties w i th thei r w i sdom : th i s fol low s of course

,

though i t was not l ess hosti le to the ancien t prepossessions of the Hol landers than their d i staste of kingshi p

,as Harrington says, that should a cl ergym an

am ong them m eddle w i th m atters of state, the m agistrate sends h im a pai r of shoes ; and should he nottake the hin t, he i s expel l ed from hi s charge (Oceana,p .

By this new consti tuti on the king declares peaceand war. The com m i ttee of revi sion in July 13 , 18 15,

anthan

59

authenti cate th i s prerogative by saying t h i s i s inh erenti n a we ll-cons t i t u t ed m onarchy . I t i s necessary todespoti sm s, and l eads to them . I t was one of th e

fi rs t prerogati ves conferred 0 11 Jul ius Cm s ar— tha t heshould have the power o f m ak ing pe ace and war

w i thou t c onsen t of the senate or pe e ple : (D ionCassius, l i b . 4 2 , .c . And how ever these dc gn1atical g entlem en m ay th ink, th e Swedes h ad a veryd ifferen t opin ion of the benefi t of th i s prerogat i ve inthe reign of Charles the Twelfth

,for 0 11 h i s death

t hey abol i shed i t (Mably,Dro i t Pub .

, t . 9, p .

If th e k ing w ere to figh t for al l,l ike David w i th

Gol iath,and if ou t of his o wn private revenue he

w e re to afford the suppl ies,and if he al one w ere t o

suffer by defeat, h e should enjoy thi s pre rogative ; bu tto subm i t the fortune and l i ves of m ank ind to theunderstanding Of one m an

,to h i s caprice

,to the ca:

price of h i s m in ion, or of his m i s tress, i s m adness .The duke of Buckingham

,from ‘

a persona l p ique,

i nvol ved England in hosti l i ti e s, and t h e duch es s

'

ofP or t s m out h chang ed t he wholefat e (y

‘E urope . Th i s

p rerogativeI

now assum ed by the prince sovere ign i sadverse to th e ancien t law s of the Uni ted Provinces ;and to thi s the dissen tien ts from the m odern constitutie n principal ly o bj e c ted . They reflec ted perhap sthat i t was by this sam e princ e s e x e r t ion s , in conform i ty to England ’s v iews , for which the peopl e ahhorred the Bri ti sh , that Holland declared war w i t hFrance, wh i ch m ade i ts people the victim s of twen tyyears of calam i ty . In m y Opinion the ancien t m enarchy of the F rench was m uch be tter consti tu ted

,for

S ir Wi lliam Tem ple.

60

the French were freem en . Boulainv i ll i e rs says of i t,

11es t rem arquable 21 cc suje t; q u’

al ’egard de la paix,le s ro i s é to i en t touj ours m ai tres

, m ai s que ' pou r laguerre i l fallo i t le consentem en t de la nation .

”

St e .

(Mem . His t. p .

“ Th e pr ince sovereign hasl ikewi se the exclusi ve direc tion of appointing o fficers

,

and rem oving and,

gran t ing th em half-pay or pe ns m n s

at pl easure . He has m oreover the direc tion of thefinances, appointing and fixing salaries of civi l offi cerspai d by the state .”

The sovereign grants pardons . \Vi th regard tothe col on ies the power of the s overeign i s exclusive ."And in addi ti on to the cases in which the sovereignh as the power of d ispensing w i th exi sting law s

, h e

m ay exerci se a further d ispensing power in a case ofurgency during the prorogati on of the S tates Generals ubj ec t however to the cond i tion of h e arm g

‘ th e e piD ion of th e High Court, and of com m unicating h i sreason s to the S tates General on thei r first m ee ting.

”

These are som e of the prerogati ves posse s sed by theprince of the Netherlands . To th i s consti tution heswore ; and he d id swearto execute i t, he said , becausei ts provision s afforded h im t he pos s ibi l i ty of fulfi l l ingh is oath . Such i s the con sti tution wh i ch i s to bindm any discordan t provinces in union together, w hichi s to obl i terate pas t prejudices, to harm onize rel igiousantipath ies, to concil iate the Belgians to the d i sgraceof being torn from France and m ade an appendageto the Dutch m onarchy . And thi s kingdom i s tobecom e part of those perm anent establi shm ents whichare to last for ever, for the Congress of Europe hass tam ped all i ts proceedings wi th im m ortal i ty .

6 1

Blow sport ive bubb le s in th e b eam y s un .

A nd call t h em worlds .

Th e n as th ey b re ak th e s lave s of care reprove ,

A nd t e ll t h e m s uch are all th e t oys t h ey lov e .

Thi s grand m anoeuvre in pol i ti cs our m i ni s ters, m ys t e riou s ly or openly as they are taci turn or loquacious ,consider thei r m axi m um i n pol i tics by th is theyhave secured

,

the am i ty and obedience of the sovereignprince and hi s subjec t people . One thing stil l seem swanting, nam ely, t o uni t e the kingdom of the Netherlands to the Bri ti sh em pire—Don ’t be startled,reader, thi s age has effected m ore incongruous comb inat ion s ; and there i s a sort of preceden t fo r theproposal . Hum e says

,after the death ofWi l l iam

prince of Orange,which was a ttende d w i th the de

press ion of h i s party and the tri um ph of the Dutchrepubl icans, the par l iam ent though t that th e tim e wasne w favourable for cem en ting a cl oser coufe de racv

w i th the S tates . S t. John,chief justice

,v ho was

sent over to the Hague, had entertained the idea of

form ing a kind of coali t ion'

b e twe en the two.

repub l ic s ,w hich would have rendered thei r interests to tal ly i aseparable . Though this proj e c t fai l ed between therepubl ics

,who know s what m ay be effec ted between

those countrie s now that bo th a re k ingdom s ? Ourm ini s try i s vigorous, and every thing m ay be expectedfrom their capac i ty and exertions . Th i s happy ‘ kingde m of the Netherlands has been protec ted by ourtroops

,and nourished w i th our m oney in the year

18 15, parl iam en t by‘

the advice of governm en t vo tedtwo m i l l ions two hundred thousand pounds for theservice of the northern provinces , and two m i l l ions

69

for the repai r of the fortification s in the southern provinces . This was ‘

a pretty prefatory expense,to se

cure a com plete kingdom for the intended son- in-law

of the Pr i nce Regent, which kingdom i n the m eant im e was bu t an appanage of Russia . But what sign i fy fi ve o r t e n or twen ty m i l l ion s to com plete thebalance of Europe P For th is poor naked kingdom of

the Netherlands, to which England i s a nursingm other, starts up a Goliath am ids t the nations of theearth to figh t and defend t he balance of E urope

One observation I beg leave to m ake 0 11 thi s subj ec t,which obtrudes in every state paper .The balance of Europe has been the especial care

of Eng land so long, that i ts origi n m us t be l eft to th eoperose erud i tion o f antiquari es . Historical ly then Ionly rem ark, that i t claim ed param oun t atten tionam ong the vigorous m easures o f Henry the Eighth , thedefender of th e fai th, and be regulated h i s own creedand that o f hi s subj ec ts exac tly as he did the balanceo f Europe . He began by jo ining the league ofCambray . The potentates who com pose d thi s consp i racyproposed to d ivide the Venetian t e ri i torie s , as thepart i tioning powers have since m angled and d istractedPoland . Afterward he coal e sced w i th the Em peroragai nst France ; then , to prove hi s m otto , Cu i adha

’r eo

pra! es t , he threw hi s weigh t i nto the scale of France

agains t the Em peror ; and again h e carried hi s preponderos i ty over to t he Em peror

,and i nvaded

Crom well , though som e would scarcely suspec th im ,

had very enl ightened views on the balance ofEurope

,as the reader m ust adm i t ; for, having gran ted

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64

to appre hend their i ntri cate absurdi ty . For instance ,England arm ed to assi s t Turkey to regai n Oczakow

from Russ ia,and fai led : afte rward

'

s h e sent a flee t tothe Dardanelles to force the Porte to subm i t to Russ ia

,and fa i led then she assi sted the Porte

, and

fai led and las t year she engaged to pay'

H o l

land a de b t'

of original ly contracted byRus sia

,in order to prolong

‘

that war which securedO czakow to Russia, and which our great m in i ster att em pted to d i sengage from Russia by the frui tless ex

pe nd i ture o f som e m i l l ions ;Such conduc t i s esteem ed profound pol icy—con

sum m ate w i sdom —ye t som e think o therw i se : theyrepute i t egregiou s fol ly to figh t for the luxury of warfare , to waste m oney from a rage for expense, and todestroy m ankind m erely to am use a speculati ve prej udice . Why i s Great Bri tain, s epara t ed alm os tf roma ll t h e wor ld, hurried from th e fe t ire m e n t o f her s i tuation to in t e rfe re ‘

in all continental po l i ti cs, as i f, ins tead of being insular, she was in the m id st of Europec i rcum vented by every power ? The m inisters of

England are ofHugh Pe t e rs’

s Opin ion , who s ai d , whenthere was 110 tim e for j e s t ing , that h e looked on England to be the cabinet of the world and for thi s re ason—they hold thi s country e ternal ly on the alert toadjust the balance of Europe . l Valle r cons iders thi soffi ce of trim m er-general as conferred by divine ap

pointm ent on England . I t i s i ndeed in h i s charac terof poet, and not of pol i ti cian

H e ave n , t h at plac e d th is i s land t o g ive law ,

To b alance Europe , and h e r s t at e s t o aWe .

No r i s th i s the l im i t of her responsibil i ty she wouldbalance

65

balancé ’

Am erica ; she m us t balance India, j u s t asBre nnus regulated the :weigh t of fran s om

s ays S ir JCMalcolm ,the Bri ti sh governm en t i n

India has been establ ished and m ust , be supported bythe sword ; St e . p . Were Bri tain .

s ubtracted from the world, could there be les s peace,l ess confusion ? I t i s the b e as t of her m in is ters that

,

having abruptly ended al l correspondence w i th France,

and having dism i ssed Mons .Chauvel in the F renchm ini ster, al lowing h im only eigh t days to p repare forhis departure, She , through love of order and peace,waged war for m ore than twenty years that she hascreated every coal i tion, and has of course caused alltheir trem endous consequences . She i s . no t .

'

s at is fie d

in being thought the ab e t tbr of the m i l i tary insurre ctions in Europe, she in h e r a

‘

m b1t10n aspire s to b e re

pated the destroying ange l who rides in the whirlw i nd and directs th e She

,forsooth

,regulates

the balance of power, whi l e for twenty years her imperti nent exerti on s uniform ly added to the confus ionand ruin of Europe , a nd the utter hum i l iation of Europe woul d have been com pl ete, had not the am bi tionof one m an been i ll im itable . ‘And yet there IS a weakness leagued w i th th is w i ckedness that IS incredibleH e r m ini s ters, who would regulate s e a and land, and

counterwork the laws of m atter ' ; who i n the last m u

tiny ac t , 55 Geo . I I I . cap. added to the usual pream ble t hepre s ervat ion,

of t he balance of E urope,-had

i n thi s sam e s e s swn a law pas sed to enable his m aj estyto enl i st foreign soldi ers, and to officer them w i th foreign ofli ce rs , to the am oun t o f m e n ,

and toin t1oduce them in to this country during the continu

F ance

66

ance of any war.-Here then this grand regulator of

Europe i s obl iged to recur to foreign m ercenar i es forher own i nternal pol ice Take from England thesquandered loans from her m oney-changers, and whati s the am oun t of her preponderance in the balance ofEurope ? and what i s th i s balance —a m etaphor

,and

a false one ; i t m igh t as wel l be cal led a tim e-keeper,or a com pensation pendulum ; and i t i s, as i t has

been pursued,'

wors e than vani ty !

And w e igh’

d in e qual s cale s i s found s o ligh t ,S o

-

poorly ove rbalane ed by a bubb le .

”

I t would be gratifying fo hear from th e ple nipo t ent iarie s h ow they arrange thi s balance by the new dis ,tribut ion . The table of regulations wh ich HenryV II I .construct ed to direc t h i s balance w i l l not sui t our tim e .The powers of Europe have al tered thei r re la trve c lrcum s tance s , particu larly Russia . So low wa s Russiaeven in Elizabeth ’s reign, that she ob tained a m onopoly of the whole trade of the country of th e czar :yet the trade of Russia, according to Oddy, has m adea greater com parative increase w i thin these thirtyyears than that of any o ther country of

‘ Europea—qRussia has al so w i th in these few years effected m anyvaluable acqu i si tions ; and he, of all European powers,has alone been thus successful : he has taken whatwas convenien t to h im from the Porte, from Persia,a nd Sweden he has s trengthened hi s fron tiers int he s e d irec tions, whi le h e has enlarg ed hi s m ari tim e

Connexion s 0 11 the Bal ti c, and obtai ned the sovereigntyo f the Euxine Sea—His possessions in Poland are

m om entous ; to the shares 0 11 the parti tions which heh ad ob tai ned, he has added alm os t the whole of th e

duchy

67

duchy ofWarsaw,w i th the ti tl e of King Of Poland ;

and h e m ay possess, when he pleases, Poland enti re .-I t 13 not so long pas t s ince Constantine’s Order

o f the Day, or appeal to the Polish arm y and nati on,was publ ished, that the Poles should forget that Alexander m ade a des perate effort at Congress to re as s embl e the scattered provinces of their country in to onek ingdom ; they m ust consider -eve 1y thing induces th epersuasion—that their present s i tuation i s m erely prov i s ional ; and they m us t regard Russia as thei r ul tim ate and only hope for the reun ion of thei r di spartedcountry . I should al so rem ark a pecul iari ty respecting the acqui si tions of Rus sia : th ey do not con tain nat ions averse from superior refinem en t or the re co lle ction of l ost preem i nence

,to assim i late w i th that em

p i re ; but, on the con t1ary, th e people lately uni ted t oRussia enjoy no reproachful t10ph i e s , no s upe rio1 refinem en t they hold the sam e rank ln civi lization , andthey use the sam e language, as th e neighbouring prov ince s of th e em pire to which they are attached . Be

s ides this physical addi tion of strength,Russia has

lat t e rly ob taine d a distingui shed repu tation . All thek ingdom s of Europe sunk bene ath the French -the

Russian empire alone repel le d Franc e and i ts al l i es .The em peror ofRussia has al so extended his authorityfar beyond. his rei gn . Som e years since, h e was r epu t e d rather an Asiati c than anEuropean powe r, and

h i s dom inion was scarce ly di s covered in the outl i ne :now i t appears a perfec t portrai t . Th e Rus sians arenot spoken of as a rem ote people

,separate d from our

confines by degrees as others are by leagues ; foryear after year they traverse the whole ex ten t of Eu

rope ;

68

rope ; and in the las t year they pas s ed from the Dni e

per and Dw i na to the Seine, having entered Francenearly as soon as the Austrian troops . Add to thi s,&that Alexander has nam ed the French prim e m i ni ster ;Th i s .tr00ps have alone been praised by the French , andh is offi cers al one have been distinguished by the Frenchk ing . Alexander and his tr00ps have gained alm os tas m uch repu tation s ince their last entry in to France,as the o ther km g s

’

ofii ce rs have l os t by their pi tifuland fai thl ess vengeance . Add to al l thi s, hi s conne x ions by m arriages wi th Wurt em b e rg , w i th theprince of Orange

,which i s hai led in Hol land by all

degrees wi th the u tm ost exul tation . t o i s to balance Russia, ye m ystago

gues ? Is i t Sweden and

Norway and thei r dependen t k ing ? or Pi u s s ia ? a

c ountry all fron tier and no fortresses, scattered and

d isj oin ted,w i thou t i nsti tu tions

, or l i be rty, or confidence

,or consi stence ; contai ning a poor people under

an exhaus ting m i l i tary m onarchy or Austria ? composed of nations m ore i ncongruous than th e four chiefcharacters i n the I tal ian pantom im e ! The force ofAustria i s confined to his m i l i tary array ; and that hasbeen so repeatedly baffled

,that a century can scarcely

re s tore i t s repu tation .

I'Vh ich of these powers shal l

balance Russia and h is acqui si tion s ? Yet thi s i s partof th e balance of Europe—that balance of powerwhich was cri ti cal ly adjusted at Congress by plen ipot e n t iari e s the w i ses t of m en . Yet what s ignifi es, int he presen t enl igh tened state of the world

,i f Russ ia

o r any other power Should preponderate ? for now

the Platoni c desideratum i s accom pl ished—kings arephi losophers : no k ing ~

s hall h ence forvrard be am b iti ous,

69

tion s, or intrigue or fom ent di ss‘ension am ong neighbours ; none shal l exci te hosti l i ties as heretofo re, inorder to escape from the tediousness ‘

of peace, and

the insipidi ty of rul ing spontaneous vassal s . Or,should

any of them sti l l rem ain unpurifie d from all m ortalal loy

,eve n should the i ron age return, the plenipo

t e nt iari e s have so m arvel lously exerci sed their pol i tical m echanism ,

so balanced and counterbalanced thewhole

,that no derangem ent canpossibly occur . In

sh ort, each and'

e very power so intim ate ly guards andb esets one

"another

,that though all . are

'

arm ed andready for - battl e

,none dare strike, as

,should any one .

m ake the attem pt,he on the instant m ust be s tri cken .

Thi s pol i tico-mi l i tary pacificat ion th e dagge r sce ne inThe Cri tic ful ly i l l ustrates .

TH E S E CON D P A RT.

TH E trea ty of.Pari s being signed in18 14, thef e sfit um s t uli‘orum of the . ancients was rev1ved,—His Im m

perial Royal Apostoli c Maj esty obtai ned from the Ki ngo f France th e cros s of the Holy Ghost, and His Mos tChristian Maj esty in re turn received the grand crosso f S t . S tephen ; an Engl ish prince becam e a m arshali n the Austrian arm y, and the em peror of Russia wasadvanced to the command of a regim ent in the sam es ervi ce

E t m ontan t s ur le fai t e i l aspire ade s cendre .

Our own great prince was equal ly honoured and as

h e l ed the way i n war, he outran the m aster of the rev el s ; the people caugh t the cue Reg i s

l ad e xem

plum te tus com poni tur orbi s ;”

and al l were m um

m ers Natio com oe da es t .” Lord Thurlow,w i th

the bonkem m z

’

e of true genius, tol d thi s personage inh i s Carm en Bri tannicum ,

Tham e s , by thy vi c t ori e s , i s s e t on fire .

Thus does he lack nothing of another personage,

Machi ave l has a wh ole chapte r t h e t i t le of wh ich i s , Ch e

g li pec cat i de i popoli nas cono da i princ ipi.”

P rae s t e r,

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Ad

need not fear the grand s ta tu te of bankruptcy. Am ids tthe‘se revelries—when the new a3 ra wa s i n com plete act ivi ty, and Cong i e s s had arranged al l things for peace11 l1ic l1 11 as to be im pe rtm bable for age s—one m an

landed 111 the de pai tm e n t of V ar,and the poli ti cal

alchem i s ts forfei ted all thei1 hopes a t the m om ent o f

pi ej ecti on . S tai vation and the corn bi l l l os t thei r te rfo i s ; Mr. V aii s it tart lo s t then h l S j okes , the sovereignsan

’

d plen lpo te n t iai i e s le s t thei r “ i ts, as the Declarat ion of the al l ies i ssued at Vienna fully e v1nce s . I ts tates : By thus b 1 e akm o the convention which hades tabli shed h i m on the i sland of Elba, Bonaparte des t i oys the only legal t i tl e oh wh i ch h i s exis tence dcpended—and —has de pi ived him self o f the p i o t e ction of the law. Excel lent publ i ci s ts . And thoughentirely persuaded tha t al l France

,1al lying round i ts

l egi tim ate sovereign, wi l l imm ed ia tely annihi late thi slast attem pt of a crim i nal and im poten t del i rium ,

85C.

Consum m ate prophe t s i But what parti cularly in terests in thi s outlawry wi t h t h e benefit of assassination,and which was signed by e 1gh t e en plenipoten tiariesam ong whom England counts four sap ien t nam es, i sthe assertion

,that by appearing again i n France

w i th projec ts of confusion and di sorder, Bonapartehas m anifested to the universe‘ that there can benei ther peace nor truce w i th him . Thi s las t posi tionincludes two consequences : that Bonaparte by return

wh o ? Lo rd Ke i th laid th e f ir s t s t one of Sou thwark b ridg e , Tu e sday,Man t , 1815: part of th e m s cript ion i s in t h e se words , And

t h e wo rk was com m enced at th e g lorious t e rm inat ion of th e long e s tand

“

m os t e xpe ns iv e war in wh ich th e nat ionhas b e en eve r e mgag ed

.

”And ye t on th is day a newwar had ac tually com m enced .

m g

lug from Elba sinned beyond exam pl e, and that hesinned agains t the al l ied sovere i gns, who m e thes incerest of m e n .

—I shal l bri efly rehearse som e sm al l

pe rtui bat ions 111 the m 0 1al m ovem en ts of those sub ~

l unary bodie s ; and fi1 s t of AustriaThe war wi th France unquestionably o11g1nated

w i t h the al l ies : this , which the em pe101 com m encedi n 1792 ,

1

was concluded in October 1797 by the treatyof Cam po Form i o . This peace was als o interrupted bythe all i es : for, fi rst, i t i s im probable that the French,i f they were d i sposed t owards i t s i nfrac ti on, s houldi n the fol low i ng year send thei r grand expedi tion t o

Egypt, which con tain ed their bes t troops ; and i t i ss ti l l m ore im probable that, after thei r arm y was reduce d and their flee t destroyed, they should hurry inth e m i ds t of their d is tresses into a new war. But

, on

th e contrary, i t i s very probable that th e disasters oft he French encouraged the em peror of Austria ; andthat the s am e spiri t which induced the as s as s m at l on of

the French plenipo tentiaries at Ras tad t im pel led thebath ed em peror

,who was i nstigated to hosti l i tie s al so

by the ass i s tance of Russia,who had sen t a large bodyof force s wh ich had actual ly entered Moravia in 1798,and by the prom i sed cooperation of England, by subs idie s , and a d iversion ln Holland . We m ay reasonably infer that i t was not France bu t Austria who 1n

fringed this fi1 s t treaty be tween these two powers .The war com m enced ; and after variou s fortuneduring two cam paigns, the battle ofHohenl inden end edthe hope s of Austria, and on Fe bruai y 18 th, 180 1,th e treaty of Lunevi l l e was signed.

This treaty i t i s als o said Bonaparte set at defiance ;and

74

and the declaration of Austria accused h im of assum ing the crown of I taly and of i ncorporating G enoaw i th France . But observe (and surely I nevei wasnor could be th e advocate ofBonapa1 te or any tyrant,but of truth and j usti ce,) that the two acts w i th whi chBonaparte 18 charged by thi s declaration were s ub s equen t to a treaty of concert actual ly s igned betweenAustria and Russia th e 1 1th of Apri l

,whi ch treaty

was al so posterior to an offi cial com m unication lm ade to the Russian am bassador at London the 19thof January, explanatory of the view s which Hi s Ma

j esty and the em peror of Russia form ed for th e del i verance of Europe .” This schem e m us t of course"have occupied the attention of these cab inets for som etim e preparatory to i ts signature by m ini s ters . But

suppose that i t m erely originated wi th the date of th ecom m unication ; s til l i t. preceded the coronation of

Bonaparte i n I taly and the inc01porat ion of Genoaw i th France nearly six m onths, f01 the doge of G e

noa did not offer to Bonapa1 te the i ncorporation of

h i s country w i th France ti ll the 4th of June . Theseact

’

s reprobated in th e declarati on, therefore, did notproceed from h i s spontaneous am bi tion ; they wereim posed on h im by the coal i tion, o f whose proceedings he had been appri sed . By these treaties andcom m unications of Russia, England, 81C. the I tal ianrepubl ic was to be di spos ed of by the al l i es

,that i s

,

pil laged and destroyed, shoul d they be successfulagains t France ; whi le respec ting other parts of I talythis official docum ent pronounce d : Nor does thePre s ente d in May 1815 to b oth hous e s of parliam ent by th e

Eng lish m ini st er.

75

past conduct of Genoa or of any of the other statesgive them any claim ei ther to j ustice or l iberal i ty .

”

I t m ust then be a great consolation to the fri ends offreedom that Venice and"Genoawere foredoom ed topol i ti cal ex ti nctiontwenty years ago by our g reat 7111

'

n i s t er . Yet there IS l i ttl e doubt that thi s profoundv i l lany actual ly gave Bonaparte a m astery over theItal ian republ i c and Genoa -thi s induced the unionof Gen oa -w i th France, the perversion of th e Italianrepubl ic in to a kingdom ,and the general hosti li tieswh i ch ensued—Bonaparte was not prepared -for war

when Austria i nvaded Bavaria and approached th eRhine : and I rem em ber i t was th e them e 1

of th e

m in i s terial s cribes, that Bonaparte was surpri sed.

”

In som e m easure h e was s o ; for to oppose the enem yhe was obl iged t o com m i t the protec t ion of Pari s tothe national guard , to draw his s cat t e i e d f01 ces fromdi stant points, and to m arch through the neutra l territory of Anspach, and i ncense Prussia

,which he would

no t have done had he enj oyed le i s u1e to prepare hi sope i at ions . He howe ve 1 soon Surprised Austria 111

h i s turn for i n the sam e year that Austria broke thepeace Au s trl a sued for a pacifi cation

,and Bonaparte

gran ted i t ; and in 1805 the treaty of Presbu rg wassigned by both parties ;Austria however again prepared for war: In

‘

1808

Bonaparte m ade e very exertion to pacify the em pe rorand conciliate h im ,

and the Austrian am bassador assured th e French governm ent that h is m aster had noho sti le intentions ; yet in Apri l 1809; when he foundBonaparte involved wi th the Peninsula, the em perorde clared war ag ainst h im . In a few m onths Austria

was

was again ove rt hrown ,“

and the treaty of V i enna wasratified in October 1809. B onaparte could no t haveprovoked th i s war : hi s di sasters i n Spain , and th e o ldru inous prom i s e s c f England of subs id i e s and of diversions

,induced Austria a fourth tim e to rei terate

hos ti l i ti es —Se m uch for th e im m aculate virtue of .

Austria in'pre s e rving treaties w i th Bonaparte .

The austeri ty ofPrussia’s pol i ti cal fai th i s al so veryed ifying .

—In 1791 t h e k ing of Poland t ran s m rt t e d to

Prus sia the n ew c'

ons t 1tu tron of h i s k ingdom,which

had be en just proclai m ed . Th e king of Prussia an

nounce d - h i s adm ira tion of i t ; ye t h e soon after re icom m enced the good work of parti tioning . He began by sei s i ng Thom and Dantz i e , on wh i ch he publ is h e d a m an ife s toy s tat ing that h e acted thus from hi sappre he ns 1on s o f the Jacobin and the revolu tionaryo p inions inPoland . Th e th i rd parti ti on fol lowed in1795 . WVhat was Poland ’s cri

'

n1 e ? -I t was a kingdom

,bu t an elec ti ve one i t was a free state ; and for

thi s the k ing of Poland and hi s country were treatedby kings as Chri st was by the Jew s —on that king’shead they planted a crown of thorns, and they gave h im

gall and vinegar to drink, and t hey parted hi s garm entsby ,lo t . Yet their com pl icated infam y, thei r repeated

atroci ty, —l i ke that of the crim i nal s 1t re turn andm urder those they had robbed , —has be en au thorizedby all th e sovereigns and all ,the pl enipotentiaries ofEurope

, who are wom anish i n thei r ribaldry, who are

hysterical forsooth be cause Bonaparte lande d in th eSouth of France w i th half a regim ent, the followersof his fortune . This de ed

,of Poland ’s parti tion i s

authori zed by Engl ish m i ni sters ; and ye t the Speaker

1

77

of the house of com m ons at the clo se of the sessioni ndulged in the fo llowrng flaunting rhe tori c, Thew i se and l iberal ‘ poli cy of o ur government, whi channounc ed fl ash e s and mod ify (y r ig h t s , lzas

i

bcen

happi ly s us t ained abroad. The Bri ti sh nam e now

S tands high in pol icy as in arm s ; and an enl ightenedpeople has justly. applaude d the firm nes s and tem perwhich have conci liated and cem e nted the in teres t ofthe al l ies , cheered the doubtful , ani m ated the z ealous ,and uni ted the del i verers and the del ivered in a'

ype ace

honourable and advantageous to all th e con tractingpowers.Pruss ia’s c onduc t to Great Bri tai n al so e xhibi ts a

pleas ing lesson of prac tical m oral i ty: -In1 1

’

794 Pruss ia becam e a subsidiary al ly

,and obtained

for troops to be em ployed against , Franc e ;though he was then negotiating a trea ty of peacew i th France, and wh ich he actual ly rat i fi ed w i tht hat power in Apri l 1795 .

’

H e then,’ the rei gn i ng

k ing of Prussia, seized on Hanover ! Yet thi s m agnan im ous a l ly rages

, am ong‘

o thers,at Bonaparte ’s

pe rfidy.

we com e to Russia.—~ Alexander

,—who surpass es

P hil ip’s fi rs t-born,

and rival s the s on of Priam,who

w as c alle d Pari s by wom en, and Alexander"by m en

,

—r—~ becam e the al ly ofJPrus s ia i n 1806 they were re.pul sed , beaten, and

"Prussi a was overwhelm ed byBonaparte . S om e ac com m odation was ne ce s s ary z-fif

—ont h i s Alexander and Bonaparte m e t on a fix ture in a

ri ver, which wi l l be m ore fam ous than the i sle t whi chreceivedMazarin and De Haro and by a treaty date dJ uly 7th ; 1807, Prussia was abandoned t o France ,

and

78

and Russia al so obtained a port ion of the Prussianterri tory ‘ Alexander then m ade war on our good al lyo f Sweden and hi s own relative : La guerre fraternel le e s t chere am a vengeance -and he seized andappropriated hi s provinces . He then joined his arm sto Bonaparte’s, e ntered the Austrian dom i n ions, ands hared the spoi l s of the vanquished—I m ust recur tothe peace ofTi ls i t , as i t affects the i n tegri ty and discretion of Great Bri tain

,whose m ini s ters abroad and

a t hom e are convul sed when they spe ak of that ou trage to all fai th

,Bonaparte’s landing in France !

By secre t service m oney,or som e such sanctified

m eans of subornation,bribery

, and treachery, a Bri tishm i n i ster obtained an eaves-dropping report that Franced esigned to seize the Danish fleet at Copenhagen . Onthis an appl ication was m ade to th e Danes by ourgovernm ent to del iver their flee t to u s ; the Bri ti shm i ni s ters prom i sing at the sam e tim e t o protec t themfrom the enm i ty o f the French z—though, m onstrouscontradi ction t hese shi ps they violen tly seized

,l e s t

England ' s self shoul d be invaded and spoi led by a

French arm y . The Danes resiste d the request,which

all who w ere i nterested i n thi s atroci ty consideredm anifes t proof of a secret understand ing betweenFrance and Denm ark and Ru s sia. On thi s the m ini strycom m anded a fleet and tr00ps,—whi ch had been inreadiness

,observe

,to assi s t the Russians, —to sai l to

Z ealand . The troops overran the country , batteredthe fortifications

,and set fire to Copenhagen , as

Bri tish troops have since done to Washington and bythi s m eans, from a w cak nation at peace, unprepared,unsuspe cting, they carried off all their shipping and

naval

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80

étrange ! nu peuple qui s e vanto i t d'

é tre le m al tre de

lam e r, crain t une descente dans son isle : i l oubl ie laconqué te de l Am ériq ue , e t n

'est occupé que de sonpropre salu t. Il appel le a son secours des H e s s o i se t des Hanove rie ns tandi s que les Francois fon t passe rleur convoi s en Am érique ,

”

(Mably, Droi t Pub .

t . 3 . p . This finesse was again effec tual . I t’

caused great expense,d i sconcerted schem es

,and pal

s i e d com bina tions . Yet this affrigh ted people weret he s am e

'

nat ion who ex tended the aegis before Europe ; th ey that prom i sed to drive away terrors froma si ck soul were s ick them sel ves of fear worthy to belaughed a t .” Would i t were only ludi crous l—we w erethe scorn of tri e nds and enem i es The Engl ish , whoh ad conquered the com bined fleets of France and

Spain , the paintul effort of five years ’ preparation , andwh o towards the end of 1805 had actual ly taken n ineteen shi ps of the l ine, were alarm ed in the m iddle of1807 at the possi bi li ty of Denm ark adding i ts shipsof war to the wreck of th e French navy after i ts trem endons defeat a t Trafalgar And, as if therewas

‘

to'

be no l im i t to insol ence and i nfatuation, th e Engli s hcabine t express ed surprise and resentm en t that, afterthi s unexam pled grievance, Denm ark was averse toGreat Bri tain . Nelson

,whose treatm ent of the Danes

was sufficien tly vigorous, w rote in an ofli cial l e tte r(April 9, 180 1) \Ve have beat the Danes : we w isht o m ake them feel that we are their real fri ends

,there«

fore have spared the town , which we can always s e ton fire and I do no t think

,if we burned Copenhagen ,

i t would have the effec t of attaching them to us ."Thi s m igh t b e cal led a tru i sm ,

yet i t was m ore obscurethan

81

than a mys te ry to the Briti sh cabi net ! for they whoh ad o verwhelm ed the Danes by s e a and land underNelson and Cathcart, and wh o w i th Alexander hadlappe d No rway off the Dani sh em p ire (v1 i thAlexander,w hose al l iance in 1807 h ad drawn on Denm ark theseaggravated calam i ti es), were amazed that the Danesdid no t cordial ly,

cooperate w i th them agains t Bonaparte

,who had never injured th em .

Do these events enti tle Great Bri tai n and Russia toexhibi t paroxysm s of rage because Bonaparte q ui tted

‘

Elba for France ? Read Russia’s de clarat l on concern ing the tyranny and m al-treatm ent of Great Brit ain

,and the Bri ti sh counter-declaration , and you wi ll

le arn the im m aculate virtue of both from unim peachable au thori ty .

Russia parti cularly has no pretensions to com plainof Bonaparte’s fai thlessness . Bonaparte granted thepeace ofTi l si t to Alexander on h i s fai th that he woul dem brace the cont inental sy s t em , an expression used byh im for excluding Bri tish m anufactures or colonialproduce from the contine nt . Whatever Alexanderconsented to he was pecul iarly bound to execute

,as

the French , wh o had dri ven the king of Pruss ia to theend of his kingdom , had only approached the frontiersof Russia. Alexander had no plea of necessi ty . Yetw i th

-

the exterior of excluding Bri ti sh com m erce th eorde r was notoriously evaded, and afterw ards i t wasopenly renounced, and the ukase adm i t ting Engli shproduce co nveyed under a foreign flag was the l eadingarticle of com plain t in the declaration i ssued by Bonaparte preparatory to his i nvasion of Russia in 18 12 .

H ow then can the k ings o f Europe preserve a show of

G earnestness

82

earnestness » i n reprobating Bonaparte for breach offai th or violation of treati es ? One woul d suppose thati n s e lfis hns s s they should m odify thei r censure

,lest

i n condem ning h im they dam ned them selves . But i tappears h e i s no t to be granted even the lati tude of afai r in terpretation wh i le they can do no w rong to thei rsubj ec ts nor to them selves

,though they trepan and

circum vent and v i l ify and rob each o ther . Nay

m ore, when opposed to Bonaparte they can assum e asanctified character, an i ngenuous indignation

, a seraph i c fury - for the s am e ac t wh i ch i s j us t i n them

,

m ust be iniqui tous in h im : such i s the m igh t of a

leg i t im at e k ing ! I s ay leg i t im at e ; for th i s prerogativedoes not bel ong to them as contra-di stinguished toBonaparte

,bu t i s inherent in them as Opposed to any

other k ing non-legi tim ate,as i s exem pl ifi ed in the case

of Murat . Lord Liverpool in ‘

May last s tated in re

ply to Earl Grey, In October 18 13 a negotiationwas opened between the sam e person (Murat) andAustria

,and s ub s e que n t ly to that Aus tria had ex

pressed a fervent desire to conclude peace w i th th ek ing defacz

‘o of Naples . The peacewas concluded .

the al l i ed powers agreed to i t, and England am ong therest acceded upon two condi tions : one was h i s cd

operation w i th them . Soon afte r the treaty, an

Opinion beg an t o be ent ert ained that he was ac ting a

double part, and wai ting to see which s ide m igh t havethe advantage .

” Suppose then th i s m ost cogent reason

,viz . an opinion en t er t ained, to have any founda

tion, and that h e was ‘ no t so hearty agains t h isbrother-in-law as Francis agai ns t h is son-in-law,

was

he less ferven t than Ferdinand the legi tim ate king ofNaples

8 3

Naples when Murat threatened S ici ly ? Ye t G eneralCockburn (Travel s, vol . 1 . p . who was on thes taff on

_that occasion

,says that Ferdinand di d no t

contri bu te'

one regim en t to resi s t the invasion, l eav ingthe task enti rely to the Engl i sh troops. Was Muratless hearty than this king

,who did not m ake the

sl ightest d em onstration of assi stance ? Yet the Si ci liangovernm en t cost England two m il l ions a year. Thusthen , if t h e op in ion ent er t ained of Murat be true, andhe did l i ttle

,the legitim ate Ferdinand, who i s now

substi tuted for Murat,di d less —bu t he i s legi tim ate,

and he entered Naple s determ i ned to res tore theant iezzz‘ pur i ty

!

I proceed to t hat horror of horror s Bonaparte’sre turn from Elba

,wh i ch exci ted such ag ou i es of v i

tupe ra t ionw wh ich i nduced t h e eigh teen plem po t e n

t iari e s at Vi enna to declare that by so doin g he hadforfei ted hi s only l egal ti tle to exi stence, and Whichi nduced , them to i ssue the hue and cry of Congressagainst a sovereign

’s l ife . Th i s i s to tear a passionto tatters , to very rags .

” Thi s i s worse than lunacy i t

m arks a perm anent ali enation of m ind . Tho s e whoconsen ted to and signed tha t s crap of im bec i le feroci tyshould not s i t i n the chai r of w i sdom and

‘ pronoune e

j us t lce and j udgem ent ; they should have been e x e cut ione rs to Robespi erre when terror was the order ofth e day.

The magnanim ous al l ies spoke of Bonaparte as i fthey had poss essed h im , accordi ng to the story of Bajaze t , in an i ron Cage . Yet at no tim e was h e rh e tot i cal ly thei r captive ; and Lord Castlereagh stated inthe house o f “ com m ons, to excuse the treaty to whi ch

G 2 the

84

th e al l i es perm i tted his lordship to accede,that

Bonaparte then possessed m any strong places able toresi s t the al l ies for a consi derable tim e ; and that h eh ad abou t h i s person a considerable body of troops dev oted to h i s fortunes . In fac t, he was m uch m ore ableto prolong hos til i ties than Austria

,whose sovereign he

four tim es pushed from his throne, and restored to

em pire . Thus he treated Austria—a fe e and a strangerto his house 'And Austria requi ted hi s son-in-law byl eaguing w i th h i s enem ies, by dethroning h im , dethroning h i s own grandson, de throning his daughtera daugh ter on whom he forced a m arriage, and whomhe then w i dowed by insidiously sacrific ing her husband !Bonaparte and these sovereigns concluded a treaty

at Fontainbleau (April by this he was ac~

knowl edged a sovereign prince,an em peror ; ye t so

l i tt le apprehension had the plenipotentiaries of therigh t which sovereignty conferred, that they i ssuedthat declaration which outdoes Term agant ; and evenafterward , when m i ni s ters m ight have recovered thei rw i ts and im proved their apprehension , Lord Castle~reagh, being questioned concerning the advice whichh ad been given to the Bri ti sh com m anders at Elba,

said they had i nstruc tions . Wri tten i nstruc tion s ?as ked Mr.Whi tbread . No

,said hi s lordship . Verbal

i nstructions then ? No, he was answered but,added

Lord Castlereagh , there was an under s t anding ,wh ich

i t appears could not be understood . By th i s treaty o fFontainb le au

,beside hi s s overeignty and ti tl e of e m

pe ror, i t was s t i pulated that he and h i s fam i ly shoul denjoy certain revenues and terri tories . I have neverheard any one intim ate that thi s treaty was fulfi l led

b y

85'

by the al l i es : therefore i t i s unnecessary.

to exposem inutely i ts infractions . Som e pal try pleading in theOld Bailey style was m ade concerning tim es of payingan annual ren t

,agains t which even Lord Castlereagh

re r'

n on s trat ed . But,said h is lordsh i p

,why did not

Bonaparte apply to Congress for redre ss ? What ! andgive the assem bled sovereigns a v i l

x

lanous excuse forexecuting thei r m edi tated transportation of h im to S t.Helena ? That the Congress, or som e individual sform ing i t

,d id intend this ach i evem ent

,was repeatedly

announced in ‘ the publ i c j ournal s . But no : i t was notthrough the plenipotentiaries that thi s transpired t ot h e publ i c ; i t was the j ournal s whi ch suggested i t tothe plenipo tentiaries ; and Congress has only adoptedt h e innue ndo .

The al l ies preserved inviolate no part of their treaty .

So far was Loui s XVII I . from equi tably paying thes tipulated s um s to Bonaparte, or to hi s fam i ly, that h econfiscated their property . Bonapart e was obliged tob orrow m oney to support him self and hi s followers .What cared Loui s XVI II . ? He could answer as ah

other king,when pressed to assi s t one who had a supe r

rior ti tle to the crown which he wore On the barrenm ountain l e t h im starve .” Nor have the other‘ kingsacted less in iqui tously by the treaty of Fontainbleau .Parm a

, Plae e nt ia, and Guastal la were to be enj oyedby the em press Maria Louisa for her l ife, and thenexpressly they shal l pass to h er son and to the des cendants i n the righ t l ine .” Ye t by Congress i t isas

"expressly s tate d, the reversibi l i ty of these coun t

tries shal l be dete rm ine d by th e com m on consent ofthe courts

,

”

8 m. paying ,

no regard to the s on of Na?

poleon-m

86

pole on, avoiding his nam e as if they coul d extinguishhi s righ ts and thei r w rongs by their s i lence . Theal l i es violat ed thei r fai th to Bonaparte, not in trivialth ings but in the m ost im portan t : yet they reproachh im for breach of treaty . I t i s fal se ; h e broke notreaty : they exonerated h im by their breach of fai thfrom hi s obligations : private justice

,publ ic law ,

e ternal equi ty, cancelled hi s engage m en t w i th them .

I have h itherto considered the breach of tai th by theconfederates and by Louis as authorizing Bonaparte’sreturn to France . I shal l now proceed to a m orepleasing task ; a j ustifi cation of the conduct of theFrench people towards Louis the Eigh teen th and theBourbons .On the 3 0th ofMarch 18 14 Prince Schwartzenb e rg

from the heigh ts of Belle-v i ll e reque sted the notablesat Pari s to assem ble, say ing that t he all ies s e e/r in .

g ood fai th a s alut ary g overnm ent in France . Theal l ie s en tered the ci ty, the conservati ve senate assernbl ed

,and they began their sal u tary work by recal l ing

Loui s : and h ere a propheti c rem ark of Necker presents i tself conce rn ing

‘

th i s senate on i ts form ationJe ne sai s m em e s

'

i l a jam ai s ex isté uh corps pol it ique ‘com bin é d ’une m aniere m o ins propre 51 en fai reun conservateur de la cons ti tu tion social e . (Dern .

V ue s,

'

p . The conservative senate declared on the6th of Apri l , The French people freely cal l tothe throne of France L‘ouis S tanislaus Xavier deFrance, brother of the

~

last By this firs tthe conservative senate presum ed that they were thepe opl e : secondly, that they were free though Pari shad capi tulated . To thi s Loui s answered :

i

“ Re calledby

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8

of April , when he assum ed the provi sional goyve rnm e nt . Yet the question now i s , not what parti icular of the cons ti tution has been violated , bu t whati tem

v

has e scaped v iolation ? Not the ti tle of the king;no t that the j udges should be for l ife besides, som eo f the j udges are l e gi slators al so, whi ch confusion ofpowers i s no t known happily in the com m ons of GreatBri tain, except occasional ly when a Welsh j udge interl opes in to that assem blyThe count d’

Arto i s prom i sed for the k ing “ thatpensions

,dignrtre s , m i l i tary honours

, s hould be prese rved ye t m any m il i tary officers were di splaced ;as m arshal Grouchy

,who was deprived of hi s com

m ission of cplone l-general of hussars, wh i ch was conferred on som e appendage of royal ty who just knewas m uch of m i l i tary affai rs as the keeper of a bootha t a review . In short

,th e noblesse and the em igrants

obtruded .on every departm en t, parti cularly on th earm y

,where they appeared l i ke old tapestry figures

s ti tched on a new ground .

‘

This was breach of fai th,

and m ost i m pol i ti c h ad no fai th been given ; i t recal led the practi ce i n th e reign of Loui s the Sixteenth ,when the h onours of the arm y were entirely reservedfor those of patric ian birth . There seem ed indeed tobe a fixed resolution to di sgust the arm y, which, cons i de rrng the servi ces, the

tD

glory, and the woundedpride of the troops, requi 1 e d the u tmos t tendernessand del i cacy : yet instead of their old com pan i ons marm s they were subj ected to pe pm j ays ,

”

and nodoubt they were , l i ke Hotspur, nettled and stungw i th pi s m i res .

” —For what purpose bu t to 1rr1tat e the

arm y were the gardes Suisses revi ved?

89

The droi t s réum’

s were prom i sed to b e abol i shed,and th eywere no t . The resi stance of the people ont hi s occas ion m igh t have adv i sed the governm en t.An ordinance of Louis, Pari s, 13 th January 18 15,

notices very reprehensibl e excesses in"pi llaging o r

des troyi ng the tax—office s,tearing o r burning the re

g i s t e rs , and com m i tting acts of v i olence upon t he

o fi i ce rs and publ ic functionari es and al so the arm edforces charged to protec t them ye t Loui s con tinuedto exact these taxes

,contrary to the prom i se of go

v e rnm en t . Louis al so prom i sed that th e sale of

national es tates shoul d be irrevocabl e, and propertyi nviolate . Yet c ircum stances occurred , aided w i thnotorious breaches of publ ic fai th ; and of pal tryequivocati on

,qui te suffi c ient to alarm the holders of

land wh ich had been acqu1re d since the revolution .

Pam phlets w ere publ i shed , when the press was s ubj e ct ed to the rrgrd control of governm ent, recom m ending

“ the necessi ty of res toring t h e estates of e m i

gran ts and Chateaubriand said,in hi s Reflex i ons

Pol i ti ques 0 11 the sam e subjec t, “ Never can we bereconci led to see the child begging at the gate of them ans ion form erly inhabi ted by hi s parents d i screetarrangem ents m ust be m ade, by indem ni ti es and transfers

,» to dim ini sh the m is eries resul ting from the revo

l ut ionary sal e of em igrant estates .” This was wri tten

by a devout loyal i s t and one accredi ted by the cour t.H ad then th e pe e ple no causes for alarm ? Is i t no tnotorious that, i n Ir ;eland the bare suggestion thatthe cathol i c descendants of those whose estates wereconfis cated two centuri es ago m igh t reclaim th e

property of their ancestors, induced m any proprietorsi

of

90

o f land in that country to negative the p’

e Oplels prayer

for cathol i c em ancipation P Nor were these th exonly

disquieting inc idents . The king,who was always es;

teem ed credulous, evinced on ascending the throne adevotion to the cl ergy , and an abj ec t subm i s sion to th em ost inveterate form al i ties of popery . He attem p tedal so to graft a puri tanism on

‘ the nat ronal m anners ,wh ich was unknown to the old m onarchy o f France ,and to alm ost al l t h e Rom an cathol i c coun tries inEurope . If then

,though t th e

‘

pe Ople , the k ing i s adevotee, he w i l l becom e enslaved by the cl ergy, he w i l lreverse Frederic the Great’s adv ice , d ’

etre touj oursroi e t j am ai s pre tre

,

”

and becom e jam ai s roi e t touj ours pre tre .

”

In such circum stances the clergy, whoform erly w ere not sati sfied w i th one-th i rd of the property of the nation,

w i ll exert thei r interest to have thechurch lands and ti thes restored ; and unde r a devoteeprince what securi ty have the people, that priests,m onks

,abbots

,friars, shal l no t agai n swarm th ough

ou t the land PLoui s prom i sed the l iberty of the press ; yet th is

he violated so grossly that m arshal Macdonald , dukeof Taren tum

,spoke resolu tely in the cham ber o f

peers’ against th i s breach of fai th, as he had done onth e alarm respecting the securi ty of property . Oh

Serve, th i s m arshal took care of the prince s who m adethei r essay in arm s at Lyons, and he conducted Loui ssafely out of hi s k ingdom . De Constan t, al so a friendto m onarchy, and a fri end to the Bourbons as m uch .

any Frenchm an can be friendly to th i s spent race,gave hi s opinion elaborately on th i s subj ect . Cons ide ring i t retrospectively, he said, I t was not the

l iberty

91

l iberty of th e pres s that caused the French revolution ; fsince

,had that l iber ty e xisted , i t would long ago have

rem oved the abuse which engendered that convul si on .

”

And surely i t was no t the l iberty of the press whi chobl iged Loui s XVII I . to abdicate the throne .The press did not m erely colour and d i s tort—i t i r1

dulge d i n pure inventions —th e people of N i sm e s"firs t heard of thei r own loyal address to Lou i s le D é!si re in

! the Pari s j ournal s . The state of the , public“

press in France,to a peopl e no t credulou sly disposed

towards the governm ent,has a direc t contrary effec t to

the in tention of the tyrant . 1A“ that i s publ ished favourabl e to the governm ent i s scorned, or con s trued 1aversely and treated both as a l ie and an insult : and shoul dany thing appear l ike candour i n the court j ournal s ;i t i s reputed a m an ifest proof of excessive weakne ss

i

“

and depravi ty which cannot be conceal ed . The publ i c m ind becom es m orbid, and every repo

‘rt adds to thedi sease . The custom i n England,w here we tal k of afre e press (classically) as th

'

e

c

palladium of our rights ,i s m uch m ore effi cacious, and i s a great im provem en t0 11 the old pr iv i leg e da roi and the ~ m ode rn censors hip . Here the public j ournals are taxed and retaxedby s tam p duties ; but there i s a drawback in favour of‘

the m ini sterial s cribes, by proclam ations,governm ent

adverti sem ents, pensions to edi tors, and official appo intm ent s . Thus, whi l e all the j ournal s apparentlys tand 0 11 the sam e footing, the l im bs of the free j ournali s t are fettered, but those of the hirel ing are loosedand at th e sam e tim e he is given w ings

,

to soar. Again,the m i ni sterial j ou rnal i s t has a paten t for abusing thefriends of l iberty ; while crown

—

lawye rs , judges , s pec ialj urie s ,

99.

j tn i e s , princes, and m inis ters , penal ly coerce th e high.m inded . By th i s double power of persecution and

bribery the Engli sh press has i n a great m easure b ecom e th e servan t of th e governing few

,and the peop l e

rem ain w i thou t a sufficien t body to advocate thei rcause . Thus, from the superabundance of m ini sterial p apers, th e sam e them e i s repeated a thousandtim es ; and hence the ignorance of m e n on publ i c affai rs , and the m onstrous del usion practi sed on them .

D r. Thom son,a gentl em an of sc i ence and curi osi ty

,

from reading in Engli sh newspapers fine accountsof our m agnanim ous al ly the king of Sweden, wass urpri sed to find on entering that country he had beengrossly decei ved . Through the sam e source, and b ecause a m ini s ter i n th e house o f l ords had cal ledt hat l unati c t h e em peror of Russia “

m agnanim ou sPaul ,”every paragraph-wri ter of the loyal press addedto thi s sum m ary panegyric “ i nnum erable v i rtues .”

Nor can I apprehend how M . De Constant (Refie x ions , Sec .) could assert that for a century nonehave been returned to the Bri ti sh parl iam en t exceptenl ightened m e n,

” unless h e were decei ved by th esam e j ournal i sts who glorify the Bri ti sh con s t 1tu t 1onto b lasphem y, though no doubt De Lo lm e and otherpoli ti cal rom ancers have al so assi s ted to im pose onthis respectable author .Such then i s the account between Loui s le Désiré

and the French people ; and thi s IS the m an of whomi t was al so s ai d m th e house of peers by the eulogis tof Paul, that h e was th e vic tim of probi ty and goodfai th .

” This i s the king (for he has transcended h imself i n h is afte r conduc t) who.

was com pared to St .Loui s ,

93

Louis,ofwhom Hum e wri tes, “ This m onarch uni ted

to t h e m ean and abjec t supersti tion of a m onk, all thecourage and

'

m agnan im i ty of the greates t h ero.

”If

h e resem ble S t . Louis, i t m ust be i n h is sini ster profi l e . Louis XVI I I . has been al so indirectly assocra ted w i th Henry IV. yet such i s th e revolu tion inpo l i ti cal tas te, that Henry IV .Was p1 a1s e d i n the reignof Loui s XVI . i nsidiously to contrast the m eannessof. the one w i th the m agnanim i ty of th e other . WhenHenry IV . and Louis XVIII . are m en t ioned toge therI trust th e paral le l w il l be continued , and that Sul lyand M . Blacas w i l l al so be c las s e d

‘

t oge th e r. Thereare

'

no two m e n i n hi story so opposi te in reputation asLouis and Henry . Henry’s word was sacred, and i twas h i s own eulogy of h i m s e i f he though t w i thLouis XII .

,that i f good fai th were banished from

am ong m en ,i t should be found in th e bosom of

princes .” Yet was the reign of Loui s XVII I . a seri e sof infrac tion s of hi s com pact w i th the people —Taxesaboli shed were reim posed, officers and dign i tari e s rem ove d from their s tations, the judges kep t in dependency

,form s and ti tl es d i sregarded

,t h e press enslaved .

Did not Loui s XVIII . know that a chief charge ofth e co nservati ve senate agains t Bonaparte in the ac tby wh i ch they de th1one d h im ,

u as,cons idering the ?

the l iberty of the press,establ i shed and consecrated as

One of the rights of the nation,h as been cons tantly

Subj ec ted to t h e arbi trary censure o f his pol i ce P”

In th i s si tuation of affai rs,Europe disgusted w i th the

Congress as far as their proceedings were disclo sedFrance sick of the Bourbons ; the w orl d i n despa ir ofany good from the leg i tim ate m onarchs ; Bonaparte .

landed,

941

landed,and he rai sed hi s s tandard a t the extrem i ty of

Fran ce against Loui s and hi s adherents . Louis i ssuedon the 6 th of March an ordinance

,com m encing .

“ Napoleon Bonaparte i s declared a trai tor and a

rebel for having introduced him self by force of arm sint o the departm ent of V ar

,

”

8cc . Here agai n a s o

v e re ign i s proclaim ed a rebel . H ow by force of

arm s -Sword was no t drawn,shot was no t fired .

Th e ordinance com m ands all governors,&c . to

s eize him ,

”&c . yet no one civi l or m i l i tary even ar

rested h i s tour to Pari s . But there were abundant e xpression s of l ove and loyal ty to Loui s

, and M . Cha

t e aubriand m ade a lofty prom i s e : Sire, l e t u s b e per~mi t t e d to s ay w i th the profound and unbounded res pec t which w e bear to your crown and your v irtue s

h

w e are ready to shed for you the last drop of our

b l ood, and to follow you to the end o f th e earth .

”

Loui s al so had addresses from bo th cham bers, and

from the thi rd regim ent of foreigners, and from th e

noblesse and em igrants, and all and every one of themcried

,

“ Then end l ife when I end loyal ty .

” Am idst .these loyal protestations and cheering intel ligence,Bonaparte m arched 0 11, Lou i s m arched o ff ; and hi s

m aj es ty passed the fron tier o f his coun try w i th a prie s t.a surgeon,and a secretary .

Bonapar te arrived a t Pari s , and he declared hi s re

pcntance . I do not depend 0 11 hi s profe ssion s, for hehad fo rfei ted them ; nor do I give h im cred i t for hi sabol i tion o f th e slave trade, w hich h e had continuedwhen he was suprem e . Yet as no peti tion 11 as offeredagainst thi s trade ei ther during his power or since th ere turn of Loui s to th e throne , we m ay cal culate th e

ze al

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90"

they wi l l nou1 i s h di scontent w i thin,or by th e violent

m edium of war t hrow out the disease from the heartof th e kingdom ? By war they m ay

,

gratify the peopleand rel ieve thei r own governmen t. But Bonaparte11 as a m os t dangerous enem y . True,in m ind

,body ,

and hab i t h e was m ost form idable but he was greatlyal tered , not physi cal ly, as som e fancied

,bu t by for i

tune—reverses had di senchanted h is nam eMais e u m o indre reve rs fune s teLe m as que t om b e , l ’hom m e re s t e

E t l e h éros s’

évanoui t ."

l i e rul e d France on hi s re turn w i th a very m i tigate dsovereignty, and he would have been sti l l m ore controlled had h e been placed in l ess arduous circumstances ; for though the al l ies sai d they m ade war onBonaparte, the peopl e of France feared that th eys truck at thei r l ibe rty through h i s dom inion . Ye t

the l iberators of Europe wou ld not l is ten to h im : thosewho had round and round bowed to his m aj esty

,

those who had lackeyed hi s warl i ke going forth , —thosewh o had glorified h im for hi s donations ,—those whohad hai l ed h i s forbearance, —Alexander, who travelledt o Erfurth to be honoured w i th h i s conference, —th ee m perorofAus tria,who gave h im hi s daughter,andwhow i th hi s em press attended h im a t Dresden

,—nei ther

b e nor any of th em would treat w i th com m on courtesyth i s m an who so lately, was high above all heigh t.In the m ean tim e the al l ies proceeded to fulfil thei r

treaty of V i enna agai ns t Bonaparte . Then the lands t orm and landwehr were invoked : then were Yagersand Hulans , and Cossack s and Brunsw i ck e rs , and

peopl e from the Black s e aand theWhi te s ea, and fromt he

the northern and the western oceans, s ent forward towar agains t one m an . Yet am ids t all th i s m igh typreparation , Lord Cas t le i e agh being asked, Was war

ne ce s s ai y ? answe 1 e d,there was an al ternati ve ; and

0 11 the 7 th of Apri l, on m oving the addr ,ess the question of warwas res erved expressly by m in i sters, thoughtwo days prior to thi s address war was not only re s olved on

,bu t the confederates had defini tively settled th e

term s and arranged all the particulars respecting theiruni ted hosti l i ty . Th i s

,however

,m erely form s the

opening of that labyrinth of fal sehood and knav erywhich fol lowed .

Lord Liverpool stated in the house of lords,ln

reply to the Marqui s of Wellesley, Apri l th e 2 7th ,that we did no t go to war for the 1 e s torat ion of

Loui s XVI I I” and that no attem pt should be m adeto dictate a governm en t to the French nation .

”

How

h as thi s been fulfi l l ed ? Im m ediately after the battl eofWaterloo,and the advance of the al l ies into fFrance ,

the Duke ofWel l ington seized Cam brai in the nam e

of Lou i s‘

XV III . And here l e t m e s ay that the tal eo f the battle of Waterloo

,or

,accord ing to i ts sen ti

m ental designation , la be lle A lliance , i s no t the leas tam ong the ex travagancies of th i s trem endous ro

m ance . If we l i s ten to som e,Wel l ington treated Bonapar te as Hercules did Lichas ; and should we attendto Lord Cas tle re agh

’

s eulogiu '

m on the Engli sh,though

possibly not one -ten th ,

part of ‘those engaged wereE ng li s h , an Engl i shm an now far exceeds the vul

ga1 superiori ty attributed to h im i n the Spectator’s

tim e,that he was equal to thre e Frenchm en . En

gland now surpass es i ts elf.H For

For none but Sam ps ons and G o lias s e s

Sh e s ende th forth t o s kirm i sh : one t o t en .

The sim pl e fact i s , 13 0,000 1 French troops havinggained a decis ive vi ctory on the 16 th of June w eredefeated by 2 00,000 on the 18th . 0 1y h e re tofm e

was only to be attained by lo e 1form ing g reat deeds byi ncons ide i ab le m eans : ne w the’wonde i 15 that 2 00,000troops, the advanced body of a m i ll ion o f sol diers

,

d i s comfite d m e n .

The com b ined arm ies approached the capi tal . In

such circum s tances Bonaparte was obliged to resignthe em pire

,and the cham bers elec ted h i s son to s ue

c oed h im . Com m i ssioners from th e provi s i onal gov e rnm e n t of France were di spatched to signify to theal l i ed sovere igns the resi gnation of Bonaparte, and tosol ici t a suspension of arm s

,as Bonaparte was no

In t h e offic ial accoun t pub l i sh e d by Bluch e r, h e s tat e s t hat

on th e l 6 th at L igny h i s t h re e corps am oun t e d t o t o t h is

Bulow, or th e fourth corps , was adde d on t h e 18th at Wat e rloo,

wh e re Fre nch we re e ng ag e d w i th t h e Bri t i sh , Hah or o

rians , 850 . wh o w e re accord ing t o Bluch e r s t rong . Th i sth e n m ake s th e c ont e nd ing forc e s on that day,alli e s ab out2 00,000agains t Fre nch . I t i s prob ab le t hat Bluch e r did not

c om pu t e t h e e nem y at le s s or h i s own force s at m ore t han th ey

ac t ually w e re . Th e reve rs e i s m uch m ore probab le , —n o t t hat Ib e lieve s o b rave a m an could int e nt ionally fal s ify . Th e re are

o th e r grounds for b e l i eving t hat th e Fre nch w e re overrat e d . I t

i s s aid , inde e d, t h at no t m ore th an m e n pas s e d th eB e nch fron t ie rs :b u t whe nwe cons ide r t hat th e wh ole ai m ywh ichv o t e d for and ag ains t t h e ac t e addi t ione l am oun t e d only t o

2 2 0,3 2 0 aye s , no e s 3 2 0,—and w e m ay b e as s ure d all t he arm y d id

v o t e ; cons ide ring als o t h at th e re we re arm i e s on th e Rh ine , t h e

Mos e lle , and th e V ar, wi th all t h e garri s ons , m en are

m ore than probab ly could b e e ng ag e d at Wat crloo .

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100

they stopped h im ,not suffering h im to proceed , nor

adm i tting that the king was ever ou t o f possessi on : towhich Si r H . Vane repl ied, The words of the i hdi c tm en t ran thus, That h e endeavoured to keep ou this m aj es ty : and how could he keep h im ou t of therealm i f h e were not ou t P”

Loui s convoked h i s cham bers, and the -Gazette offi ~

Ciel l e announced the costum e of th ei r m em bers . Thedeputies to have th e sleeves and col lars o f the i r dres sem broidered w i th fle urs -de-l i s in s i l ver ; the peers tohave theirs enri ched w i th gold . An ord inance followed,com m and ing a sol em n m ass of t he Holy Ghos t to beexhibited before the m em bers of th e two cham bers .After thi s Loui s pronounced a speech from the throne,i n which b e par ti cularly advi sed th e two cham bers tom ake rel igion rcfiou r i s lz. Indeed th i s seem s to bethe arden t desire of al l the court . They th ink thatthe revolu tion arose from free-think i ng, and thereforedevoti on i s to be i t s ant idote and thu s, as Charles I I .conjec tured that puri tanism m ade the Engl i sh rebels

,

he hoped to turn thei r hearts to loyal ty by pervertingtheir passion s to l ibe rt ini s rn . In consequence we soonheard o f the procession o f th e V ow o f Loui s XII I .

,

o f exp iations , and th e l ike : in short, all anc i ent cerem onies are to be revived, though they should appearthe m ost puerile i nnovation s to the presen t generat ion of France . To help the rejuve ni s ce nce of rel igion Loui s goes to chapel as often as he can,

and theD uchess d ’

Angoulérn e cul ti vates zea l at the Thu i l l eri es ; whi le her husband the Duke, i n loyal ty, in ux

orious ne s s , and i n sym pathy w i th the s o i -disant b e-rn igni ty of Fordinand

’s heart, performs prod igies i n th eSondu

101

South, which com bine the sanguinary achievem ents ofSt . Bartholom ew’s day and the consequences of th erevocation of the edi c t of Nantz —To return to theall iesThe i r arm i es overran France , they pillaged and

was ted the country, and they infl ic ted infi ni te m i seryon the inhabi tants . Yet what offence had the peopl e

,

com m i t ted agains t them ? I t has been insisted repe ate dly that Bonaparte

’s success on h i s return fromElba was solely to be attributed to the sold iers . If so’

,

why take vengeance on the people ? If the s in be thesold iers’

,why did no t the m agnani m ous al l i es adopt

the advice o f Mr . Douglas ? Thi s gentlem an re

com m ended in the house of com m ons‘

th e e x t e rm i ~

nation of th e French m i li tary, and no one rebuked hi sfe roci ty . Ye t all m ay rem em ber that when the cony enti e n passed a decree that no q uarte r

‘

s hould be

g i ven to the Bri tish and Hanoverians, the French sold iers di sobeyed thei r m asters and were m e rc ifuh

We are also told that the French infli c ted m anyc alam i t ies on the nations they subdued . Surely no tth e French people . Those who laboured the land orw ere bus ied in m anufac tures i n France

,could not

m araud in distant countries . And here observe thed ifference be tween the French arm re s and those of th e

1 Key s le r s ays (Le t t e r 47) that h e was pre s e nt wh en th e kingand que e n of Franc e offic iat e d in wash ing t h e fe e t of twe lve ch i ldre n . H ad t h e Duk e and Duch e s s of Ang oulem e pe rform e d t h i saug u s t c e rem ony, i t could no t hav e faile d of produc ing a g ood

e ffe c t . But all w i ll b e pe rfe c t e d wh e n Loui s i s crowne d at

Rh e im s , and ano in t e d from la s ain t e am poulle by o il t h e t rue

g rowth of h e av e nly ol ive s . Rh e im s i s als o as rem arkable for

g ing e rbread as Naple s for b i s cui t s .

OQ

allies . The French arm ie s com m i tted excesse sagainst proclaim ed enem ies ; the arm ies of th e al l ie sagain st the peopl e of thei r al ly— agains t the Frenchand the Treaty of Vienna

,dated Apri l 5 th ,

18 15 ;

expressly declares,

The presen t t1eaty i s sim plyand solely en tered into w i th a V iew to supportFrance .” &c .

t i l e the foreign m ercenaries we re busy in theirvocation

,the m in i sters and their agents were al so on

the alert ; they claim ed the works of art,&c . which

h ad been t rans l e rre d to Pari s in consequence o r succe s s ive conven tions w i th foreign powers , though ind i rect con tradic tion to' the cap i tulation or Pari s . Forth e al lies consider the transm i ss ion by treaty of cabi ~n e t curios i t ies, academ ical furn i ture

,d e signs o f the

Flem i sh school , the Bul l o f Venice, and the l ike, tobe a flagran t abus e of conquest ; though to seize, inpeace

,the c ity or the nation in wh i ch such ornam ents

w ere . deposi ted,and to subjec t i ts free ci tizens to a

hated tyranny,i s exped ient, sal u tary, and m eri tingperm anent and i m perishable glory .

These various cu rios i ties seized i n Paris in 18 15

we re'

unat te i npt cd 1 11 18 14,afte r the form er cap i tula

tion o f tha t c i ty .

‘5 True,says Lord Cas tlereagh

but to pursue the sam e course under circum stancesso essential ly difl e re n t “ ould be

,in the judgem ent of

th e Pi ince Regent, equal ly unwi se to Franc t , and

unjus t towards our al l ies who have a dire c t in teres tin th i s ques t ion.” Had they only an i nd irec t in teres tin them in the preceding year ? If they had any res iduany claim , i t was foreclosed by the cap i tulation .

But their pre tensions were ex tingui shed by the treatyOf

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1041

Bonaparte’s,m igh t be explained ; but to se i ze them

by m i l i tary viol ence, when Loui s the al ly of th e al«l i ed sovereigns swayed the sceptre of France, m ustbe referred to fury or infatuation .

The Duke of Well ington al so aspires on thi s occasi on to be instruc tive ; h e descants on th e m eri t ofpeaceful habi ts

, and recal l s to the French nation theevil s of war and conques t . When a conqueror des cends to teach such doctrines to th e vanqui shed , hecannot fai l to persuade : nor can I om i t observingh ow happily h i s grace on thi s occasion resem blesthose sain ts i n Sm i thfi eld

,who

,whi l e they ti ed

the hereti cs to t he stake, cheered their sufferingw i th exhortations on the v i rtue of divine love a dchri stian forgiveness . ‘Yet h i s grace m igh t havedrawn as im pressi ve a m oral from Eastern tal es of

plunder and conquest,as from any events in the m o

dei n story of European warfare . Respecting these izure of t he curiosi ties at Paris the tru th l s sim ply,In 18 14 the weakness of th e al l ies prevented themfrom m aking any claim ,

whil e i n 18 15 a m i l i tarym il l ion enabled them first to spoil and then SOph i s t icate .During th e perform ance of these deeds

,the sove

re lgns the patrons of j usti ce and the arts propos edterms to Louis ; and in order to quicken his com pl iance,the i nvading soldiers who had overwhelm ed Franceexerci sed ind i s crrm lnatc b 1 u tal i ty and havoc ! Fouchedrew an elaborate s tatem en t of their depredation sHis m em orial was discredi ted a s Jacobinica l and revo lu t ionary. The Duke de Richel ieu however confi rm ed Fouche

’s m em orial ; and the royal i s t m ini sterdeclared

,

105

declared, in order to pal l iate the cons ent of the king'

and . m i ni stry to the hum i l iating condi tions im pose don them by the al l i ed sovereigns, that the presen tcris is brought incess an tly into acti on

,i n the whole

extent of France , the princi pl e of an oppression,of

an im poveri shm ent, of an i rri tation,and i n short a

seri es o f devas tation which seem ed dai ly to increaseand to acquire new s trength we j udged

,i f we suffered

this cri sis to be indefini tely prol onged, th e fate o f

France was at stake, even the fate of those who haveposed upon us such great sacrifices

, and perhap sthe destiny of social order i n Europe .

”

Wi th s uch urgent auxil iaries the al l i es forced Loui sthe Eighteenth to subm i t to a treaty of their dic tationLouis s igned and sighed , and thus Loui s agal n fulfi l led h i s prom i se to t he French nation as he alwayshas done : We w i ll , said h e i n hi s parting proclam atron on hi s escape , soon return into the m ids t ofthi s good peopl e, t o

‘

whom we shal l bring once m orep eace and happiness .”

Th os e faul t le s s king s , run down by pub lic cryFor vi ce , oppre s s i on, and for tyranny,

com m ence their treaty ‘f in the nam e of the holy andundivided Trini ty .

” By i t they wres t from FrancePh i l ipv i lle, Marienburg

, ,Sarre-Louis

, and Landauthey seize seventeen fortresses, nom inal ly, for ' fiveyears ; com m and a contribution of 700 m i ll ion s o f

l ivre s'

to be paid them ; and im pose m e rce na

ri es on France, who are to be supported at the ex

pense of the French nation and thus the al l i es fulfi lthe ir

106

their al l iance ratified at Vienna,in which they declare

that thei r especial obj ec t i s t h e s uppor t J Fr‘

ance .

On the signature of thei r treaty w i th Loui s,the

m in i sters of the al l ies com m unica ted -

a no te to theDuke de Richel ieu

,i n which they fel i c i ta te His Most

Chri stian Maj esty on the treaty, adding, th e al l i ed

cabine t s regard the stabi l i ty of the order of th ingshappily rc-establi shed i n that country as one of th eessential bas e s of a soli d and durable tranquil l i ty .

”

Ano ther note fol lowed of the sam e date, (for the 2 0thof Novem ber was truly a day of bus iness,) w hich wasal so addressed to the Duke de Richeli eu

,com m uni

cating the appoin tm en t of the Duke of Y

vV e l ling ton tothe com m and o f the al l ied arm i es in France . As thi snote i s worth al l the rest ; as i t contains a key to vo

lum es of diplom ati c m ystery,and to endless verbose

speeches i n parliam ent ; as i t exposes th e cause of

twenty- three years ’ war, wh i ch occas ional ly involvedEurope and all the world

,w i th the ruin of m any

m i l l i ons of m e n ; I here inser t a large extrac t from thi sconsum m a te docum ent “ A lthough chi efly guidedw i th respec t to this m easure by m otive s tend ing to thesafety and w elfare of their subjects , and being very farfrom having any in tention of em ploy ing the i r troopsi n aid of the pol i ce

,or of th e internal adm in i s tration

of France,or i n any m anner that m ight com prom i se

o r in terfere w i th the free exerci se of the royal authori tyi n th is coun try ; the al l ied sovereigns have, however, INCONSID ERATION OF TH E H IG H INTERE ST \V I I ICH

TH EY TAKE IN SUPPORT ING THE POWER OF LEGITIMATE s ovnnE I G N s ,prom i sed to H i s Most Chri s tianMaje s ty

'to support h im w i th the i r arm s agai n s t everyrevolut ionary

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108

word,and then the dogs of war are to be unkennell ed

and the royal hunt begins . In thi s conspi racy theEngl i sh are abetting and assi sting : i t i s indeed sai dtrium phan tly they are principal s . The sons of thoseEngl ishm en whose fathers effec ted the Revolut ion

,th e

m ost distinguished even t in the Bri ti sh anna l s,l eague

to suppress al l revoluti onary convulsions am ong t he

French people . Their conduct ind i rectly attai nts th etransactions of 1688, and all those interested in them ,

that i s alm ost th e whol e Bri tish nat ion ; for the Engl i shof that period abhorred Jam es the Second not l esst han Frenchm en do now Louis and th e Bourbons .This conduct i s a t once atrocious and s i lly : i t tendsto retrieve the alm ost los t character of the Jacobi tesi t advances beyond Mr. Burke’s doctrine i n hi s Ap

peal from the new to th e old Whigs in one word,i t

has accom pl ished Hum e ’s euthanasy of the Bri ti shconsti tution : for, i f Bri tons conse nt to be a guard inre s erve for le g rand m onarque against the freedom of

French ci ti zens,absolu te m onarchyi s confirm ed am ong

us,the Bri ti sh have abandoned thei r own l iberty ;

and should they or thei r descendan ts reclaim the ire ternal righ ts and endeavour to retrieve thei r condition

,the all ied k ings n i l l aga in club the i r prerogati ve

and drive thei r hundred thousand m ercenaries i n orderto re s to re despoti sm i n G rea t Bri tain . What effec tm ust the presen t coal i tion o f k ings have on th es uperhum an insolence of m onarchs ? Their consp iracyagai ns t the i re edom of Frenchm en i s a d i rec t attackon the expiring rem ain s of i ndependence am ong m an

kind .

Yet Bri tons w i l l no t sym path ize w i th the d i s cons olate

09

late and dis graced[ French nation . They fear the

French they dread thei r i m provem ent ; they secretly .

rej oice or openly trium ph in thei r m anifold distresses ;and there are few men, however l im i ted the circle oftheir acquai ntance, wh o have not heard expressionsrespecting the catastrophe of the French whi ch b et raye d the m ost flagi tious l ev i ty . A great num ber ofEngl i sh esteem hatred to Frenchm en the s um of all

patrioti sm ; and who has not heard , from our m ostim portant pol i ticians, that the French are our naturalenem ies ? And this i s as true as another m axim of th e

sam e school—that the Austrian s are our natural ail i es ‘

vVhat,i s the am i ty of nations inversely as

fri endsh ip am ong m e n They m ight as wel l tal k of am oral sym pathy between the Algerines andAm erica ns

,

or between the Cappadocians and the countrym en“

of

Peri cles ! Natural fri ends are relations,neighbours ,

acquain tances, of honest m inds and consenting dispos i t ion s and natural al l i es (for there can be no trueal l iance between despoti sm s, as there can be no firmfriendship am ong the v icious,) are free states wi selyconsti tuted and s incerely adm ini stered .

These pi tiful Engl ishm en fear the i m provem ent ofthei r im puted natural enem i es —s e lfis h and ignorant !The im provem ent of one nation exal ts all neighbourings tates i f they have virtue ‘to profi t by the exam ple .The im provem en t i n the French code migh t inclinethe Engli sh to revi se their law s

,and to adopt the prina

c ipl e s o f that l egi slative genius Jerem y Bentham .The

abol i tion of ti thes m ight teach the possibi li ty of a

m odus for England ; an equal representati ve s ystemm ight

,for sham e, dispose th i s people to parl iam en tary

re form ;

reform ; and th e free adm i s sion of all sects to al l office si n France during al l the chang es of i t s governm en tm igh t prom o te l i be rali ty in th i s b igoted count ry Im

provem en t in nations or in individual s i s co m m unica

tive ; i t i s extensive in i t s operations and m ig h ty i ni t s effects : i f the h ighest exh ibi t a redeem ing virtue,al l are benefi ted i f the lowestslave by G ra nvill e Sharp

‘s exertions was declared freeby touching Bri ti sh ground, th e soi l was consecrated,and the h ind as s um e d an unace us tom e d carriage . TheEngl i sh peopl e should befriend the French in the re ~

sum ption of their righ ts i n pure selfishness . They wouldbe free—You who woul d not befriend them would beslavesThe al l i es are so intent on supporting Loui s, that

they have concerted to increase their m ercenaries

,and

,should i t be necessary, to m arch al l thei r

forces to uphold Louis and l egi tim acy . Wh at do theyfear ? Do they bel ieve that Bonaparte i s not taken andconveyed away by the hospi table v igi lance of GreatBri tain to an i ron-bound i sland in the m id s t of th eAtlantic ? Do they suppose that s ti ll h i s spiri t hoversover France ? Surely Louis by h i s exorci sts can expelt he l ingering dm m on

, and the royal m inions are busy—the trem endous m onogram in th e cham ber of deputies h as been defaced

,and theflcurs -dc-Ji s subs ti tu ted .

0 the l ily In other places,all busts and m edal l ions

and the l i ke representing the late e m peror have beenordered to be broken

,and the prefec t of the depart

m en t of Gard leads the sacred band of t h e '

iconoclas t s

w i th great effec t. Do the terrors of the al l ied sovereign s sym path i ze w i th those of Lou is ? They are

‘ no tsurely

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l l

pious a m onarch, who seem s determ ined to strengthenhi s restoration by res toring the l im bo of vani ty ? We

read wonders of the Ephesian sleepers , bu t the. napp ingo f Louis for twenty-fi ve years w i th respect to the s tateo f religion in France i s far m ore wonderful . We

m igh t as wel l expec t that the m odern l Ve ls h shoul dre turn to idolatry by setting up the forgotten idolG arve l G ath e rin on Snowdon

, as that the m odernFrench should respond to the cerem onies o f the courtrel igion in France . The al l ies need no t fear Louish e m ay w him per at the term s they im po sed on h im

,

but he w i l l graciously use thei r insu l ts and im posi tionas a peni ten tial exerc i se for h i s royal v i r tues .

O nuncle , court h o ly wat e r in a dry h ous e

I s b e t t e r than th i s rain wat e r ou t 0’ doors .

”

I l i s m ind i s turned to h igher views .Surely the m agnan im ous sovereigns cannot fear the

French people,o fwhom Monsieur Vaublanc

,m in i ste r

o f the interior, m akes the bes t report In fine,

says he, the peopl e w i sh thei r king .

” Besides whyshoul d the all ied sovere igns dread the French ? Theyprofessed that they fought only agai ns t Bonaparte andh i s adherents

,and they vow ed they woul d not inter

fere w i th the governm ent of France : and m ark,i n

passing, their consi stency ; fo r the no torious m an ifestoo f the Duke of Brunsw ick in 1799. con tai ns the sam edeclaration in thei r nam es . They do not m ean tom eddle u i th the inte i nal ati ai rs of Fr ,ance &c . and

they have kept their word . Som e i ndeed have suggested

,that nom inating Lou i s agai nst the m anifes t

w i l l of th e nation, expressed in tum ul tuaryand in selec t

1 13I

le c t assem b l ies ; in. to ivns and prdvince s ; i n theChampa’e JWars , where the whol e peopl e were largely represented in the cham ber o f peers ; i n the

“cham ber ofdepu ties ; by all m e n in all sta t ions, was rather a con

trave n ti on of their prom ises . But Louis cannot beconsidered any part, any im portan t part, of th e gove rnm e n t of France . Indeed the nom ination of h imto the e i own indirectly tes tifies as m uch . His age ,his infirm i t i e s , his ghostl iness, his ignorance, h i s de

gi adat ion, al l exculpate them from violating thei rwm d— t /zaz

‘

t hey would not int erf e i c wi t h t h e g overnm ent qf France, when they w i lled that he should bek ing . Loui s has no m ore credi t i n the governm ento f France than S ir Pertinax Mae Sycophant’s m e m

bers in t h e i re pre s en tat ion of the people of England .

No no the sovereigns and thei rm ini sters are all truth—plain-deal ing i s thei r characteri s ti c .In order to evince the never-swerving sancti ty of

thei r vi r tue, Lord Castl ereagh, i n a note dated Sept .1 1, 15, to the al l ied m ini sters, states, that as i n th eform er year the al l ies gran ted to France a

'

comple t e i ii

t cg r i ty ,they are again m akin’g endeavours ul tim ately

to com bine the s ubs tant ial int eg r i ty of France wi ths uch an adequate system of tem porary precaution asm ay sati sfy what t hey owe to the s ecuri ty of their ownsubjects Then they cannot afford to Loui s whatthey wou ld have j oyful ly granted to Bonaparte : bes ides, i t al so appears that the si tuati on of t h e al l i es 18m ore peri lous now than when Bonapar tewas i n Elba.

What ! cannot the i r m i l l ion of soldie rs , wh e n rno t one

corp s of the “ old arm y of F rance“

exi s ts,afford themade quate

1 14

adequate protection ? They declare their danger, andi n consequence they secured the substan tial i n tegri ty ofFrance by seizing four of the French tort re s s e s , andappropriating them . Thi s and thei r o ther deeds o ft emporary precau t ion they have executed I N CONS I

D ERAT ION (and i t deserves to be rei tera ted) or TH EH IG H I NTEREST WH ICH TH EY TAK E I N SU PPORTI NG TH E POWER OF LEGITIMATE MONARCH S .

What consti tutes a l egi tim ate m onarch ? Thi s requi resSom e c onsideration .

Is l egi tim ate used in contradistinction to i l leg i t itm at e , as a k ing a’o j ar e from a king de fact o No-nor i s the doctrine which originated the 1 1 th of

Henry the Seventh adm i tted i n France , as the e xe cut ions and proscrip tions evince . Nay, Soul t has beenim peached, though the king sai d in h is proclam ationof the 2 8th of June, that he w i shed to throw a vei l

‘

over all that had passed from the day of hi s leavingLisl e unti l that of h is en try into Cam brai . YetS oul t was not em ployed

,

by the em peror excep t b etween these epoch s . Legitim acy and de j ure havet herefore l i ttl'e coincidence indeed legi tim acy i s m uchm ore exal ted i n i ts fligh t, and pursues i ts course w i tha n indefatigablewi ng : for those expelled from Franceare denied a refuge even a tem porary repose i s forbidden them i n the kingdom of Hanover ; and a proc lam ation has bee n i ssued in the nam e of the PrinceRegent

,i n tim ating that, should any of them enter tha t

country,care i s to be taken to gi ve them an esco1 t o f

royal d 1agoons , and not to al low them a longer s tayi n hi s m aje s ty’s dom i nions than i s m erely necessary topas s through them .

” What

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1 16

but , unhappi ly, thi s im portan t term 15 explained bysom e, as born in the purpl e and by others,as born i nthe porphyry cham ber. I m ust

,therefore

,unw i ll ingly

abandon m y anticipated success in thi s direction .

I have inquired whether l egitim ate and nati ve k ingintim ately corresponded , as i t was custom ary in indictm ents for treason to set forth , A . B . i nstigated bythe devil , did conspire agai ns t h i s natural lord .

”Bu t

w i thout inqul rl ng whether the devi l has not q ui tted thes ocie ty of indivi dual trai tors

,and devoted h im self

Wholly to the greater treachery of princes against thep e ople, native and l egi tim ate are frequently in direc topposi tion :for

,l im i ting our observations to the presen t

legi tim ate race who have for m any years swayed thepower and patronage of Great Bri tain and I reland ,nei ther George the Firs t nor George the Second wasa nati ve of these countrie s ; and on thi s account Georgethe Th i 1d i n h i s firs t speech i n pa1l iam en t pointedlyobserved of him self, bom and educated in th i scountry I glory in the nam e of Bri ton .

”

I have suspected tha t l egi tim ate m igh t be opposedto spurious . This receives som e support from thereserve of those who were unfriendly to Jam es theSecond

,ye t disdained Monm outh on account of hi s

birth . Yet,on the o ther hand,W i l l iam the First was

b ase born ; but then h is six ty thousand troops, equivalen t to the m odern m i l l ion

,no’ doubt rectified thi s

b lem i sh . Let m e suggest that, should i t be as ce t

t aine d that legi tim ate and spuriou s be con tradi s t in

gui s h ed, the p1oprie tors of the fam i ly Shaks pe ares hould have th e following l ines expunged fi om thei rnext s erious edi tion of that poe t

1 17

le g i t im at e z- fine word le g i t im at e

Now , g ods , s tand up for bas tards .

Many have' im agined that l egi tim acy was a right to

reign inheri ted from an unin terrupted line of kings"i f so

,som ething m ight be learned o f the duti es o f

subjec ts to sovereign s i n our law books,under the

o ld feudal ti tl e lib

om age Aunce s t 1al Ye t i t m ay‘

h e asked,If th e race legi tim ate

,why should t he de

scende nte of Hugh Capet be preferred‘

to those of theform er royal dynas ties of France ? By what righ t arethe represen tatives of t he Czar of Muscovy substi tu t edfor the posteri ty of m any soverei g n princes ? Whatlegitim ates the house of Hapsburg beyond i ts narrowdom ains

,or of Brandenburg beyond ducal Prussia ?

Or,i f t im e

‘

pre s crib e in favour of the rul ing princes,h0w long shal l determ ine thei r property in m an and hi scountry ? All thi s should have been entered on theprotocol of Congre s s . M . Gentz si lence d th e claimof t he Poles

,saying

,The existence of your nation as a

s tate i s now m ere m atter of h i s tory ; yet when he wrotetwenty years had not

,

elapsed from th e period of i tsparti t ion ; and thus Monsieur Gentz earned hi s si tuation at the Congress o f Vienna. What legi tim acyi s appears rather unintel l ig ible : i t seem s to be a.

m ixed m ons t e i , ge ne 1ate d between divi ne 1 igh t and

original s in . I t indeed we m ight l earn the m eaningof l egi tim acy by the si tuat ion o f Loui s the Eighteenth?a l eg i tim ate king IS th e rem nant of an effete fam i ly

,

w h i ch h ad by various art ifice s pe 1ve rte d a free cons t i tut ion to an absolu te m ona1chy ; a king hated byall f- tho s c wh o do not despise ‘ h im ; who fled h i scoun try, and was restored by the m al ice of fortune

wh o

1 18

who was res tored agai n by'

th e greates t arm ed forcethat ever conspired in Europe to achieve any purposeo f safe ty, honour, vengeance, or supers ti tion ; and

who i s upheld by the sam e trem endous force on thethrone . I m arvel that the i nventors of the term legit im acy did not ex tend the n ew nom enclature, and

s ubsti tute for the -abdi cation of Loui s,th e occul tation

of m aj es ty . Such i s the legi tim acy of Louis ; and everyci rcum stance respecting this wonder-working k ingenj oys the sam e superlative characteri sti c . To haveexerci sed an 1m portan t office i n the state after hi s ahdicat ion i s reputed a great offence

,as i f France could

have subsi s ted pol i ti cal ly by the force of hi s abstrac tl egitim acy . Carnot has b e e n condem ned not m erelyw i thout trial , bu t w i thou t any offence being chargedagainst h im ; and i t i s reputed an i nexpiable crim e,t hat a general who owed his great advancem en t toBonaparte ,who had been h is com panion i n a hundredb attles, did not desperately peri sh by m adly opposingBonaparte ’s career . I t i s truly astounding, forsooth ,t hat Marshal Ney, the friend , the fellow-soldier ofBonaparte

,to whom h i s fi rs t al l egiance was sworn

,

should be swept w i th the torren t of h i s coun trvm e n

i nto the ranks of Bonaparte, when not one em igran to r nobl e drew hi s sword or pu t 0 11 the vi zor o f defiance in support of Lou i s lo D és ir e’. Yet the conduc t of Ney, so sol ici ted by ancien t friendsh ip , by thesam e pursui ts, assail ed al so by the acclam ation s of h iscoun trym en , i s reputed in th e gaping ex travagance ofroyal is ts “

an unexam pled treachery, an unheard-oftreason” to Louis XVI II Why shoul d Ney or anyone be accused of treachery to Louis, who could no t

b e

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12 0

Were no t Lord Well ington sol i tary in h i s fal se comm entary

,Loui s m igh t have ratified the capi tulati on

w i thout in any degree checking the m arch of h i s veng e ance . Thi s whol e transac ti on far exceed s the explo i t of a sim ilar description i n the bay

'

0 1 Naples .Nel son and Ferdinand have been surpassed in thei rt ragicCharac ters by Wel l ington and Lo l l l S . The fac ti s, Well ington wan ted energy to resen t the i nsul tsoffered by t he court of th e Thu i lle rie s to h im by di sclaim i ng h i s convention —and thus Ney l os t h i sli fe

, and Wel l ington los t m ore Sum m um credenefas anim am pree fe rre pudori ,

”

Se c .

One would suppose that the cu tti ng o ff thi s bravem an m ust accom pl i sh wonders . In the fi rs t rage o fh is accusers he was hurried before a cour t -m artial .

by thi s m eans the French governm en t hoped to m urdero ne

'

ge ne ral, and di sgrace five . Th i s was im prac t icable

,and vindi ctiveness was arres ted . Z eal arose

,

however,as i t was opposed ; and the Duke de Riche

l ieu flung him self i n to the cham ber o f peers, i nfuriatew i th di sappoin tm en t . He dem anded veng eance , for

j ustice d id not even insid iously conceal the m al i ce ofhi s heart. The cham ber erec ted them selves into a

crim inal co ur t before they were so insti tuted . Ney ' strial was p ressed forward hi s j udges heard hi s de ~

fence w i th averted attention ; and hi s counsel wass topped when the fam ou s capi tulation of Pari s wasoffered in hi s favour. Mons ieur Be rrye r, as sum ing ah igher tone , proceeded to appeal to the law of 11a

t ions —that as Sarre-Lou i s, of wh ich’

town MarshalNey was a native, had passed by treaty from the crownof France, no court of France had now a right to try

the

191

the’

m ars hal , as he“

was not now a Frenchman . No ,c ried Ney, s toppl ng hi s counsel , I d i sclaim your defence of m e : I was , I am ,

‘

and I w i l l l ive and‘

die aFrench m an ! The

,

cham ber of peers pronounced h imgu i l ty ; and he was executed i n th e sam e s pi ri t wi thwhi ch he was tri ed . Let the Bourbons and em igrantslook to them selve s on the next abdication . The exe cu t ion of Ney was intended, i t has been said , totranquil l i ze France and consol idate the royal governm ent . Yet t h i s e xe cut ion and the v i c tim s assignedby the court were insufficient to sati sfy the burningl oyal ty of the deputies

,who endeavoured to force the

m ini stry from their place because they were not qui teso heady and savage as them selves .H ow can the gove rnm e n t o f the Bo urbons subsi st ?

The form er restoration was not ausp i cious , bu t thepresent contain s every unfavourable c ircum s tance thathum an ingenui ty can suggest . The res toration of

Charles t he Second was succeeded by plo ts and cons p1rac1e s whi ch attem pted hi s l ife and the extinc t ion ofh is fam i ly . Yet Charles was recal le d w i th an nu

feigned and general joy.

'H ow unl ike to the re s tora-vtion of Loui s, who was res tored agai ns t the m anifes tand universal d esi re of the French peopl e by foreignm ercenaries ! And here let m e quote an apposi teopinion of Li lburne on h i s trial during the Pro t e ctorat e : If w e m ust have a king, I for m y parthad rath er have the prince (Charles) than any m an

i n the worl d , because of h i s large pretence 0 1“ rights,

wh ich if -he cam e not in by conques t by t h e hand off ore ig ners , t h e bare at t emp t ing (y

rwh ich m ay appa

rearly hazard h imt he los s of all at once by g lue ing t o

we

g at her t he now divided people t o j oin as one m an

ag a ins t h im &c

Consider the difference between the two res torati on si n o ther respec ts, and that of Lou i s al so appearsequal ly hopeless . In England property had beeno nly superficial ly affected

,i n France the change has

been fundam en tal . In England the ancien t ins ti tution san d the m aterial s of the m onarchy were m erely di splaced

,i h France they have been destroyed . In

England ranks and gradations were scarcely imtenm i xed , i n France they are i nverted ; and the noble sand clergy, who Tem pl e (Works, v ol . 1 . p . 3 8 3 ) tol dCharles the Second were al one considerabl e i n France

,

are now not “ unli ke the gentl em en pension ers of S t .Jam es’s palace ; while the i r form er vassal s are th ec hief proprietors of the country

,or the industri ou s

cul tivators o f thei r own land . H ow then can th eBourbons reign when . the S tuarts could no t be en

dured ? Yet the Convention parl iam ent was right loyals o was that which succeeded they repeal ed the tri enn ia l b ill , as a proof of their du ty and respect to thex ing (Fanshawe

's Le tters, p . They passed th e

1 3 th Charl es I I ., wh ich increased the severi ty of the2 5th of Edward I II . agains t treason

,declaring that

w ords should be equival en t to overt ac ts . The presso f England then was al so grievously shackled therewas then an officer cal l ed t he m ini s t er ty

pt h e pre s s , a

v ery busy im portan t creature of the court ; and at thetrial o f Carr, the recorder s tat e t i t i s the Opinion ofall the judges o f England, tha t i t i s the law o f the landthat no person shoul d offer to expo s e to publi c knowledge any thing that concerns the governm ent wi thou t

th e

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12 4:

way s fal se to all the Worl d ? Respecting thei r deportm en t to the French , thei r conduct and languageexhibi t a category of fal se hoods . They fo ugh t onlyagains t Bonaparte ; yet when he was di sm i ssed, Fouchéi n h i s l etter to the Duke of Well ington requested thath i s countrym en m igh t be perm i tted to choose , not arepubl i c

,bu t a king .

“ They w i sh,sai d Fouch é,

to be as free as the Engli sh ; they do no t w i sh tobe m ore free .” Ye t t h i s m oderate request was no tn oticed . The al l ied sovereign s would elec t Loui s,b ecause they had not suffered suffi ciently by thei r ori

g inal in terference w i th the internal affai rs of France .New d i sasters m us t recal l their apprehension , and

when they are ru ined they m ay perhaps becom e w i se .By thi s fraud and violence they have encountered adoubl e diffi cul ty ; to support a hated king, and tosuppress an enraged peopl e : and for th i s purposethey have im posed tribute and legions on th e peopl eof m odern Gaul , and according to the Rom an policythey have set a king over the vanqu i shed to securet heir dom ini on . This i s glorious pol icy, worthy ofLord Castlereagh, who achieved the destruc tion o f

h i s own coun try, and planned th e perdi tion at Wal

cheren . H ow forcibly Bacon’s rem ark appli es onthi s occasion

,who lam ented the i njury to publi c af

fai rs when cunning m en insinuate them selves intooffices which should be reserved for the w i se ! Inwhat particular h as hi s lordship’s sagaci ty appearedi n his negotiations ? or what sentence in all h i s notes,com m entaries, and i l l ustrations , exhibi ts neatness

,

v igour,or i n tegri ty ? H ow unl ike i s h is lordship to

S irWill iam Tem ple, of whom Hum e s peaks as follows

12 5

lows “ This m an,whom ph i losophyhad taugh t to

de spi s e'

the world w i thout rendering him unfit for i t,was frank, open , sincere, superior to t he l i ttl e tricksof vulgar pol i ti cians,

”

85C. Such was Tem ple . Of

Lord Cast lereagh and h i s pol i ti cs i t m ay be said inthe language of Cicero

,Nihi l com e

,nihi l sim plex

,

‘

n ih i l ‘

s r 7 015 7r oArm cozg h one s tum , nihi l i l lustre, nihi lforte

,nihi l l iberum .

’

Ye t thi s treaty, fram ed by m e n who are th e reverseof De Wi t and Tem ple, i s to bear the im press ofperm anency One wou l d th ink '

on the contrary thatt hey had contrived i t to insure i ts

,

infraction . Li vy

i

x

speaking for the Prive rnate s , but ln th e' tru th of

hum an sensibi l i ty,sai d : If you grant u s a good

peace, i t w i l l be lasting ; if a bad one,i t w i l l be of

s hort duration .

” And what peace have the all i esim posed on France ? Having wasted and spoiled th ecountry, they fixed i ts ransom , and every livre pai dwi l l be l oaded w i th curses ; they seized four fortressesin perpetui ty

,which shal l be gages of n ew wars ti l l

t hey be returned to France, or France be ob li te 1at ed ;and to crown all, t hey placed Lo uis on the throne .This last violence alone i nsures hosti l i ties . Fox, who

was no t a cunn ing m an, said t hat a 1 e s torati on was

com m only the worst revolution ; bu t thi s of Loui s i sworse than wors t, ‘

as 1t'

1s a re -re s toration .

What a ' king ! How appointed A k ing whom i the

alli ed sove reigns had driven through Italy, throughG erm any from Mi t tau to Kom ng s be rg, to War saw,

t hrough Swe den ; an im be ci le o ld m an, fi tter for t h eh ospi tal of a convent than ci vi l s ocie ty ;

‘

a diseas edo ld m an

, ye t whos e pas s ion for royal ty 18 hi s wors tdis ease

1226

d i sease ; a fugi t i ve prince, then crowned by the i caprice

of the hour ; then a refugee, and who returned surre pt i t ious ly to resum e h i s throne ! Surely he i s an

unparal l el ed sovereign, whose approach to hi s capi talwas forerun by m ercenary foreigners and the devastati on of hi s country ; and who not sated w i th the destruction of fifty thousand of hi s countrym en, cons igned m any of th e survivors to dispersion

,to bani sh

m en t, or death We have in m odern days explodedthe doctrine of tyrann icide

,even under the prospect

o f restori ng l iberty : and shal l w e s ay i t was wel ldone

, for one m an,i n order to restore h im self to

power,to com m i t h i s nation to j eopardy, t o .as s i s t i n

the slaughter of m any thousands of h i s countrym en ;nay, after all th i s ruin

,to take a l e sson from the

Rom an trium virs,and s tain a proscr ibed l i s t w i th

bl oodCan thi s m an be e ndured ? Male Tarqu inius qui

P01 senam qui Oc tav ium Mani lium con tra patriamim pie Coriolanus qu i aux il ium pe t i i t a V ol s ci s . Yetwhat was the audaci ty and w i ckedness of all thesecol lec tively

,com pared to that of Loui s ? Yet forsoo th

am ong our loyal i sts he i s to be glorified as the m odernCodrus . Thou sceptre-loving k ing ! respec t for youroffice has fal len as you rose, and hum an nature i tselfhas suffered by your offences . When Ta rquin in h i se xile leagued w it h foreigners to regai n hi s crown, thetreason rendered royal ty execrated, and th e k ing androyal ty were banished for ever. Yet the al l ies expec tthat th is m i serable king, s o enthroned and s o s up

ported, s hal l enco urage a disposi tion to m onarchy inEurope, and soothe the French to forbearance and

peace .

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12 8

old monarchy, from the extent and abuse‘

of i ts powe r,i s in ful l activi ty . The censorship of the press i s reorgan i zed , and i ts despo ti sm over l e tters increased , inorder to give the court scribes a com plete m onopoly .

Thus governm en t expects to pervert publ i c opinion .

Vai n though t ! They woul d cure by drops what i snourished by the ocean . They have al so passed a

law again st cries : t y no t agains t whi spers,why

no t agai ns t th inking ? for their action s provoke whatt h ey woul d suppress . They are al so recrui ting loyal i s t s i n La Vendee, and bigots i n the south

, and

em igrants every where ; and the l i ly and whi te cockadeare to effec t wonders . And thus I read

,i n a

’ latem i ssionary publi cation, of an

iaugus t m onarch who

had hi s tent adorned w i th ostri ch feathers to frightenaway the wolves . Then as a counter-securi ty for th e

governm ent, foreign m ercenaries are flock ing on th efrontier, and fortresses are appropriated and occupied .

By these m eans Lord lVe lling t on w i l l be abl e“ , ac

c ording to m ini s try, to graduate the tem perature oft h e national feel ing by his unerring science i n law and

pol i ti cs . Yes, and so shal l hi s grace control the explosion of a volcano by a ven t-peg ! Are m e n never tol earn o r rem em ber H ow m uch l ower in the scal e ofh um ani ty do the al l ies and their m ini s ters esteem th e

French than the Prussians ? Yet their fortificationsw ere possessed, thei r country divided, and the population reduced to four or five m i l l ion s ; they were als o

'

ground by contribu tions : ye t thi s people, th i s peoplecom parati vely servile to th e French , when goaded bytheir wrongs rai sed and appointed troops .Shal l the French do les s ? Ye t France in i ts present

1 2 9

im paired state sti l l contain s twenty-eigh t m i l lions ofpeople . Men who have been free cannot at onceinoffensively succum b—they cannot be u tterly s ub

dued even by the m os t'

com pl icat e d ar t ifice s to e u

feeble them . Lysander besieged Athens,and in con

sequence of fam ine the ci ty surrendered at d i scretionh e destroyed the free consti tution of the Athenians,burned their shipping, destroyed the fortifications of thePiraeus

,and placed a garri son in the ci tadel ofAthens .

And what was the consequence ? No e—the free

cannot be enslaved—they w i l l ri se against oppre s sm n

and the paroxysm of their fury shal l trium ph over thecri si s of their fate .Such i s the s tate of Europe and of France ; and

m ini s ters tal k of the general pacifica t ion, whe n war,enm i ty, and vengeance have been s t i ewe d through allnations w i th an unsparing hand . They wi sh forpeace, they s ay, whi le thei r m easures decisively pro~m ote hostil i ti es a

Non pace m pe t im u s , s upe ri , dat e g en t ibus iras .I

Peace can only be advanced by action s conceived andexecuted ln the spiri t of truth and j usti ce . Try theacts of Congress and the treaty of Pari s by th i scriterion . Wi th regard to F1ance the al l ies

,ln defi

ance of thei r repeated prom i ses,forced a hated

m onarch on the French nation, a nd on h im they im

posed a trea ty . What obl igation i s th i s on the Frenchnation ? Yet, l es t th i s vain pernicious cerem ony s houldhave any influence, they have accom panied thi s null i ty w i th intolerable outrage and insul t. Thus theyhave acted towards France ; while re specting the

people

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people ofEurope they have dashed their hardly-earnedpretensions w i th the saddest return . The people ofEurope

,though grievously beset

,effected a m igh ty in

surrec tion to rid the world of universal m onarchy .And ye t the all i es have treated the people ofEurope asthey have treated th e French nation they have seizedand appropriated a t pleasure towns

, fortresses, and

provinces —w i thout com punction or reserve,they

have spoiled and given,gran ted and retracted, s tates

and nations, in defiance of their habi ts, in terests, andsym pathies - they have plunged free nation s into theabyss of m onarchy even the l i ttl e republ i c of Ragusa,which flouri shed for centuri es under the pro tec tion oft he Porte

,has been absorbed by the rapaci ty of

Austria . The al lies have to thei r utm ost powerbroken the bonds of affection between m an and h i s

country,between subj ec t and sovereign and they

h ave enforced the crim e of pei j ury -for the inhabi tantsof the spoi led terri tories, by a dreadful n ecessi ty, m ustrecognise 1 their new sovereigns w i th an oath ; and

there can be no al legiance where there i s no love .What i s the state of Great Bri tain After twen ty

three years war, she has added to her acqui si tions inIndia

,wh ich when they were of inferior ex ten t biassed

the true interest of the nation . Bri tai n’s king has al soobtained a new ti tl e : from b em g Elector he i s nam edTh e re i s a t im e g ran t e d t o th e inh ah i tan t s of s om e place s t o

rem ove if th ey ple as e . Th i s i s ab s urd : wh e re are th ey t o g o t o

A nd h ow could t h e G eno e s e , V e ne t ians , Pole s , Saxo n s , em i

g rat e ? I pe rce ive als o t h at an ag e nt of th e k ing of Pru s s ia,i n de live ring a port ion of t e rri t ory t o th e Prince Re g e nt , orde rst h e pe ople t o ob s e rve t h e s am e fide l i ty t o t he ir new as th ey did

t o th e ir form e r s ov e re ig n.

lu ng

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13 2

incurable propensi ty for war—new m i l i tary orders ,m i l i tary clubs, and m i l i tary fetes—the tem ple of peaceh as becom e a sanctuary for the trophi es of war ; and

general s bear away the h ighest honours of the kingand all the prai s es of the people. By such pursui ts o fwar and conquest

, and under the pretended diffi cul tyof l evying native troops

,six teen thousand foreign

soldiers were voted by parl iam ent las t year for hom eservi ce . Observe, sixteen thousand are prec i sely thenum ber ofWi l l iam the Third’s Dutch guards, and of

George the Second ’s Hanoverian aux i l iaries in Bri tain .And observe, that while these foreign m ercenariesexci ted m uch d i scontent in England the bil l I havem entioned passed both houses of parl iam ent wi thou tobservation . Such are som e of th e frui ts of a twentythree years’war begun for the sake of legi tim acyWe have al so expended a s um which se t down in

figures distracts the sigh t, and we have reared up an

im perial debt of a thousand m i l l ions . Taxation, thechancel lor of the exchequer said truly, i s s trained tothe u tm ost in Great Britai n ; while in Ireland by everyeffort barely enough i s rai sed w i th in the year to paythe interes t of the national debt . In the m ean tim ethe incom e of i ndividual s declines, and a paper curreney substi tu ted for gold by law,

i s con t inued w i thou tany

‘

pros pe c t of the salutary m edium of exchange beingres tored add to all th is, com laws have been passedthus the proprie tors of the soil are declared m ono

pol i s t s of i ts produce . And for what have all

these debts,taxes, vexations, and distress been ia

curred by England,who , while s he grants m il l ions in

foreign subsidies, consigns m i l l ions of her people t opauperism

Thus a w i cked war has ended in a m iserable peace";o r

~

rath e r an arm ed truce has fol lowed ac tual ho s t ilities

,for was there ever l ess assurance of tran quil l i ty ?

And when was the earth cursed w i th so great a m i l itary force ? Good cannot succeed . God

,no doubt

,

if m an be true to him self, wi l l work l ight and l ife outo f th i s dark and deadly chaos but a m igh ty pu ni shm ent m ust pursue m igh ty crim es . And surely neverwere j ustice and sincerity le ss regarded than by th erulers of nations during the transactions of thi s eventful aera. Their actions record their own infam y ;w h i le thei r language—quibbl ing, pal te ring No : tocal l i t les s than i t deserves , woul d be to add one l ie tom any .

2 ‘ Never di d l iar in ro tten poli cy co ver h isworking w i th such deadly wounds . Good canno tfollow when truth and honesty have been contem ne d.

sanction of the eternal law m us t b e satis fied

For d eath from s in no power can s eparat e .

F I N I S .

m lc‘d byRlChaTd and Arthur Tay lor,Shoe-Lane .

17Var ise by [718 s am e fl at /101! .

Sol d by ROWLA ND HUNTER, Succes s or [0 Mn. JOH NSON,

72 , S t . Paul’

s C/zurchyard.

l . DE FECTS of t h e ENG LI SH LAWS and TRXBUNA LS,

pr i ce 1 2 3 .

2 . On NAT IONAL ED UCAT ION. Svo . price 93 .

3 . 0 11 NAT IONAL G O V E RNMENT . 2 vo ls . Svo . pri ce l l .

4 . TH E INDE PENDENT MAN ; o r,An E s s ay on t h e Form al

t io n and Deve lope m e n t o f th o s e Princ iple s and Facu lt ie sOf t he Hum an M ind wh ich con s t i tute Moral and Inte lle ct ual Exce lle nce . 2 vo ls . 81m . 183 .

5. An ANSWER t o t h e SPE ECH E S of Mr . Abbot, S ir JohnNi ch o l!

,Mr. Bank s , &c . &c .,

o n th e CATHO LIC Q UE S

TION,de b at e d in t h e Hous e ofCom m ons , 2 4th May 1813 ;

with Addi t ional Ob s e rvations .

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