give fome credit, if it had been followed up by fome act expreffive of its fincerity. It has been faid by fome wife philofophers, that virtue affumes a form fo perfect and fo peculiarly known, that no man can be deceived by an imitation of her mein. But I, who am fully fenfible of the frailties incident to human nature, cannot be difpofed to deny the poffibility of fuch a deception. I allow it may be poffible that Baron Thugut and the Comte de Heugwitz may have been deceived by France; and that they might have folemnly fworn that they thought their French allies the most mild and inoffenfive people in the world; they might have sworn in the strongest terms that they looked upon them as the most open, candid, and fincere of men, and that they meditated no mifchief against the conftitution of other countries, though the fubfequent declarations of that very people proved what they really were, and reftored those whom they had deceived to the power of thinking right of them; on this ground furely the Emperor and Pruffia may be fuppofed to have retracted their former errors, unless the hon, Gentleman is inclined to admit that he who has been once contaminated by French principles can never become a found man again. If fuch, then, has been the change of opinion wrought in the minds of fome perfons here by hearing of the conduct of the French towards Switzerland, what must be the impreffion which it naturally will make on those who fee and fuffer the threats and cruelties of thofe perfidions and defpotic masters? We well know, that— Segnius irritant animos demiffa per aures Quàm quæ funt oculis fubjecta fidelibus. Thus, can we be supposed to feel as indignantly as the inhabitants of Turin and of Vienna, who had to behold and to fuffer, the one, the infults of a French garrifon, the other the proud and overbearing conduct of Bernadotte? Can we be fuppofed to feel as Switzerland did, when Soleure was taken, and compelled to behold its venerated magistrates first paraded in chains about the streets, and then moft cruelly fhot? Can we be imagined to burn with the fame indignation which muft have fired the bofoms of the inhabitants of Sion when they faw their wives and daughters rudely feized upon, and given up to the brutal luft of a ferocious foldiery? Can we well feel as the town of Stentz muft have felt, when the fire that was confuming its houfes was quenched only by the blood of its inhabitants? If England is fo impreffed with horror at thefe enormities fo cruelly inflicted upon the unhappy Swifs, how how can we imagine that they are to make no impreffion upon those who immediately fuffer them; and that fuch fufferers will make no exertion to shake off fuch a galling and intolerable tyranny? Surely it is impoffible to believe, that men who have the fame feelings as ourselves, fhould be fo hardened into idiots, as not to burn with the most anxious impatience to burft the chains of fuch a bondage; and while that impatience is breaking out in every quarter, while a fpirit of refentment and revenge is kindling in the bofom of every infulted and oppreffed nation, are we to throw a wet blanket upon it by entertaining and admitting the present motion? Nor is the fpirit that runs through the treaties concluded with the French defpots lefs cruel than that which accompanies their arms-this the treaty of Leoben; this their behaviour on the furrender of Venice, pretty clearly demonftrated. But while the hon. Gentleman lets down the character of our allies, may we not be permitted to contrast it with that of the allies of France? May it not be as proper to examine in what manner France cultivates their friendship, and what foundation fhe lays for its permanence and stability ? Let us look at the infant Republics to which that fruitful mother has given birth; let us take a furvey of the Cifalpine, Ligurian, and Roman Republics; does not that pious parent feem to have selected the Cifalpine Republic as a living fubject upon which the amufes herself in trying the various experiments of conftitutional forms, and through whose palpitating limbs the endeavours to hunt the vital principle of republicanism? Behold her conduct towards the Roman Republic! See with what aftonishing liberality fhe bestows upon her five Confuls, inftead of two! She vifits with equal tenderness the Ligurian Republic, where the forces her garrifons to be received, and compels us to declare war against the Ligurians, though they declare themfelves ftripped of all means of defence! See her treatment of the unfortunate King of Sardinia-obferve how France drives into his territories the miferable skeletons of the mangled ftates that surround him-mark her conduct towards that wretched Prince in the midst of his own capital-what is the behaviour of the French General, who may be faid to reign in Turin? Does he not difmifs from the royal councils fuch of the King's ministers and advisers as refufe to bow obedience to his nod? Is he not daily reduced to the humiliation of palliating or excufing the conduct of his minifters, and of repreffing the rifing indignation Z 2 dignation of his faithful fubjects? If he is ftill permitted to fit on a fhadowy throne, and wield the impotent femblance of a fceptre, for what purpofe is it, but that he may be the better enabled to act as the purveyor of a French army, and convert the forms of a regular government into an engine of extortion? As long as he can ferve thefe ends, fo long he may be permitted to drag on a degraded exiftence. But when thefe means fail him, then his throne will be fwept away like others, not to leave a veftige behind it. But let me afk the hon. Gentleman if the allies of France are more refpectable than those we may obtain? Can Spain, can Holland afford a better foundation for attachment, or furnith better hopes of co-operation? Alas, their dignity is degraded, their refources are wafted away! What then can be expected from the regenerated republic of Holland, or the degraded monarchy of Spain? Holland, indeed, was once a nation powerful in commerce, in wealth, and in fleets, and even a haval power that has contended, not ingloriously, with the fovereign of the feas; but where now is that commerce, that wealth, that navy? They are annihilated, exhaufted, gone for ever; they have fhrunk and difappeared at the baleful touch of French fraternity, which has equally withered away the refources of every country as it has its own. To the lofs of their commerce, their wealth, and their navy, thus to add that of their people; for that people is no more, whofe -fpirit is broken and fubdued. If we look to Spain, that once -independent monarchy, what do we behold but an inaufpicious alliance cemented by the blood of the Bourbons? In vain thall we look for any of the features that once diftinguithed that proud and opulent kingdom. Its nobility, its clergy with all their pride, privileges, and wealth, are levelJed in the dull. Has not French friendship brought down upon it more evils than English enmity could have produced in years? Does the hon. Gentleman think fuch an alliance. can be durable? Does he fee no chance from the rifing indignation of all thofe infulted powers that the deliverance of Europe may be at length effected? Does he conceive no hope. from the refult of the fenfation that has pervaded every counstry on the news of Lord Nelfon's victory? What was the impreffion made by that ever memorable exploit ? Did not an univerfal joy burft forth in every town on hearing of that unparalleled triumph? Yes, even in thofe that were filled with the fpics of the Directory, where their exultation and gladnefs were firongly expreffed, if not in words, at leaft in the the looks of their inhabitants. Even their vaffal republics feemed to leap with joy in their chains, and exult in the humiliation and defeat of their oppreffors. Is it not therefore natural to expect, that from fuch allies the French can hope for no cordial co-operation, but, on the contrary, the most spirited refiftance, as foon as an opportunity offers for exerting it with fuccefs But the hon. Gentleman will perhaps fay, that our allies may be willing, but that they are weak. Surely, Sir, this objection will better apply to the allies of France. than to thofe of England. What allies have they whom they have not plundered and defpoiled of every means of restoring their exhaufted refources? they have ftripped them of every thing but their refentment and their vigour-but fpoliates arma fuperfunt-It is alfo objected that to attempt the deliverance of Europe is not a British object; to this I will only obferve, that there was a time when the mere mention of feparating the interests of Great Britain from thofe of Europe would be fcouted and reprobated by the oppofite fide of the Houfe. I have alfo to obferve and afk the hon. Gentleman, whether he believes that the expedition to Egypt would not have been attempted, even if the negociation at Lifle had fucceeded? What then would be the fecurity of our Eaft India poffeffions, for which the hon. Gentleman himself confeffes his alarms? Had we then difbanded our forces and fufpended the great machine of war, how could we have fucceded in fetting it again in motion? Is it alfo the creed of the day, that if Auftria could recover the Netherlands, that would not be a British object? If Pruffia was enabled to refcue Holland from its thraldom, would that be no British object? Where were thefe new opinions difcovered? Have they been detected in the new French Calendar?-Wherever the doctrine was found, it is furely new to me who have learned whatever I know of the political interefts of Europe, from old, not from young ftatefmen. Is then all Europe to be poffeffed by the French? Is the fame fcheme of aggrandizement which was meditated by the mad ambition of Louis XIV. to be realized by the more mad ambition of Republican defpots? By whofe interference was the rapid career of Louis first arrested, if not by the interference of Great Britain? Is France now lefs difpofed to run the fame career? Surely not. Is it not therefore a British obje& again to check her ambition? The political catechifm I have learnt teaches me that it is; and by that catechifm I am determined to abide. The honourable Gentleman fays he wathes his hands of the the confequences that may arife from the measures which are to be purfued. He appeals to his confcience, and I do not question his fincerity. Does the hon. Gentleman think, however, that it will ftrew his bed with rofes to reflect that by fuch a vote as this we had declared that if Switzerland was to be refcued from her tyrants, we were determined to have no fhare in the glory? Does he think that it will quiet his confcience to declare that we renounce all part in the glorious endeavour to revenge the maffacres, the perfidy, the cruelties, the horrors by which that unhappy country has been defolated? From fuch declarations as that of the hon. Gentleman I would wash my hands. It would be to tell the people of Switzerland; Unhappy Swifs, fight your own battles; we difclaim all fhare in the honour of refcuing you from your oppreffors." Would not fuch a declaration be received by France as a pledge of fecurity from all interruption in its career? Would it not be to confolidate the ufurpations, and to proclaim to every nation they have enflaved that they must despair of relief, and renounce the hopes of faving their country? But I will ask every man in the country to declare what were the first fentiments which he felt on the victory of the Nile? What was the question uniwerfally afked? Was it not, what effect will this victory produce on the continent of Europe? Not a queftion of curio fity, but from a warm defire to fee those countries which groaned under French oppreffion, freed from their tyrants: from a firm conviction that the deliverance of Europe was a British obje&. Such, I am fure, was the original impreffion, and fuch the feeling by which it was infpired. Nor ought we to diftruft our first impreffions; when combined with judgment they rarely are erroneous. They may require indeed to be regulated, and to be modified by practicability, but the principle on which they are founded feldom fails to be right. Was this fentiment then too generous? Was it calculated to hurry on beyond the bounds of reason and policy? Has any thing fince occurred to induce us to imagine that our feeling has been precipitate? Have there been any offers of peace fince that period to render our anxiety lefs neceifary for the objects by which it was engaged, or to relieve us from the apprehenfions on thofe points in which our intereft was combined with that of Europe? Would the hon. Gentleman advise us to make offers of peace as the means of attaining all the objects at which we aim? No; he difclaims fuch an intention. Certainly, however, there is no |