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ful, though the prefent government might remain? He did not mean to enter into any difcuffion of the character of this extraordinary perfon; but he would afk, whether the hiftory of the world, much lefs the prefent ftate of France, moral or civil, furnished a reasonable expectation, that either accidents or new convulfions would raife up to power fome character, whofe moderation and juftice might be more fafely repofed in?

As to the refloration of the houle of Bourbon, he would not enter into what good could be expected for England from fuch an event. He would, in the teeth of all history and experience, fuppofe it to be aufpicious, and confine himfelf to its practicability. He might aflume the utter impoffibility of fuch a change, except by the fuccefs of the confederacy. The whole property of France, real or perfonal, in the hands of its prefent poffeffors, depended on the existence of the prefent, or fome fimilar government. It was impoffible to restore the princes of the houfe of Bourbon, without reftitution to thofe who had been exiled in its defence, which, in effect, raifed up the whole property in the nation to fupport the republic, whatever they might feel concerning its effects. In every view, he difapproved the answer that had been fent by minifters to Buonaparte. It appeared to him to be pregnant with danger, and to entail an awful refponfibility on those who advifed it, and thofe wlio fupported it.

Mr. Pitt, the chancellor of the exchequer and prime minifter, confidered the French revolution as the leveret trial which the vifitation VOL. XLII.

of Providence had ever yet inflicted on the nations of the earth. But he could not help reflecting with fatisfaction, that this country, even under fuch a trial, had not only been exempted from those calamities which had covered almoft every other part of Europe, but appeared to have been referved as a refuge and afylum to those who fled from its perfecution, as a barrier to oppole its progrefs, and, perhaps, ultimately as an inftruthent to deliver the world from the crimes and miferies which had attended it. This outline, Mr. Pitt filled up in a fpeech of great length. Before any man could concur in opinion with the learned gentleman who had fpoken laft, Mr. Pitt contended, that he must come within one of the three following defcriptions: he muft either believe that the French revolution neither does now exhibit, nor has at any time exhibited, fuch circumftances of danger, arising out of the very nature of the fyftem, and the internal state of France, as to leave to foreign powers no adequate ground of tecurity in negociation; or, fecondly, he must be of opinion, that the change, which had recently taken place, had given that fecurity, which, in the former stages of the revolution, was wanting; or, thirdly, he muft be one who, beLeving that the danger exifted, nevertheless thought, from his view of the prefent preffure on the country, from his view of its fituation and profpects, compared with thefe of the enemy, that we were, with our eyes open, bound to accept inadequate fecurity for every thing that is valuable and facred, rather than endure the preffure, or [H]

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incur the risk which would refult from a farther prolongation of the conteft. Having defcribed the exceffes and outrage with the principle from which they flowed, in the different ftages of the French revolution, and endeavoured to eftablifh the propofition, that the French revolution had been fuch as to afford to foreign powers no adequate ground for fecurity in negociation, he came next to fhew that that fecurity had not yet been afforded by the change which had lately taken place: that we could not derive any confidence either from the frame of the government, or the paft character and conduct of the perfon who was now the abfolute ruler of France. The name of Buonaparte would be recorded with the horrors committed in Italy, in the memorable campaign of 1796 and 1797, in the Milanefe, in Genoa, in Tufcany, in Modena, in Rome, and in Venice.

Mr. Pitt having confidered, laftly, whether there was any thing in the circumftances of the prefent moment that could juftify the acceptation of a fecurity confeffedly inadequate, against fo great a danger as was threatened by France, concluded, not that we were entitled to confider ourfelves certain of ultimate fuccefs in the war; but that, confidering the value of the object for which we were contending, the means for fupporting the conteft, and the probable courfe of human events, we fhould be inexcufable if, at this moment, we were to relinquish the ftruggle on any grounds fhort of complete fecurity.

Mr. Fox concluded a long, animated, and masterly fpeech, with

"Sir,

the following peroration: I think you ought to have given a civil, clear, and explicit answer to the overture which was fairly and handfomely made to you. If you were defirous that the negociation fhould have included all your allies, as the means of bringing about a general peace, you fhould have fold Buonaparte fo. but I believe you were afraid of his agreeing to the propofal: you took that method before. Aye, but you fay, the people were anxious for peace in 1797. I fay, they are friends to peace, and I am confident you will one day own it. Believe me, they are friends to peace; although, by the laws you have made, reftraining the expreffion of the fenfe of the people, public opinion cannot now be heard, as loudly and unequivocally as heretofore. But I will not go into the internal ftate of the country. It is too afflicting to the heart to fee the ftrides which have been made, by means of, and under the miferable pretext of this, againft liberty of every kind; both of power of fpeech and of writing: and to obferve, in another kingdom, the rapid approaches to that military defpotifm which we affect to make an argument against peace. I know, fir, that public opinion, if it could be collected, would be as much for peace now, as in 1797 : and I know that it is only by public opinion, not by a fenfe of duty, not by the inclination of their minds, that minifters will be brought, if ever, to give us peace. I ask for no gentleman's vote who would have reprobated the compliance of minifters with the propofition of the French government; I afk for no gentleman's fupport, to night,

who

who would have voted against minifters, if they had come down and proposed to enter into a negociation with the French: but I have a right to afk-I know that in honour, in confiftency, in confcience, I have a right to expect the vote of every honourable gentleman who would have voted with minifters in an addrefs to his majefty diame

trically oppofite to the motion of this night."

On a divifion of the houfe, the addrefs was carried by 260 against 64.

An addrefs, approving and affenting to his majefty's meffage, refpecting the Ruffian troops was also voted.

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CHAP.

CHAP. VII.

Meffage from his Majesty, refpeating the Employment of German Troops infead of Ruffians.-Debates thereon in both Houses.—Motions for an Inquiry into the Failure of the Dutch Expedition, in both Houjes.-Debates thereon. -Supplies required.-Ways and Means for raifing them.

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Meffage was brought down from his majefty to the houfe of peers, on the thirteenth of February, ftating, that his majefty was, at prefent, employed in concerting fuch engagements with the emperor of Germany, the elector of Bavaria, and other powers of the empire, as might ftrengthen the efforts of his imperial majesty, and materially conduce to the advantage of the common caufe, in the courfe of the enfuing campaign. His majefty promifed to give directions that thefe engagements, as foon as they fhould have been completed and ratified, fhould be laid before the house. But, in order to infure the benefit of this co-operation at an early period, his majefty was defirous of authorizing his minifter to make provifionally fuch advances as might be neceffary, in the first inftance, for that purpofe; and he recommended it to the house to make fuch provifion accordingly.-A fimilar meffage was delivered to the house of commons. The fecretary of fiate for foreign affairs, Jord Grenville, in the houfe of peers, moved an addre's to his majefty, thanking his majefty for his gracious communication, and affuring him that the house, confcious of the neeffity of profecuting the war with

vigour, would readily concur in the withes of his majefty, and give their fupport to fuch measures as fhould be deemed moft likely to make good his engagements with his allies.

purport of the prefent measure were Lord Holland faid, that, if the merely to exchange Ruffian for German mercenaries, to that he not only fhould have no objection, but by the exchange. even fhould think we had gained have the fatisfaction of knowing We should, that thofe we employed, rendered the horrors of war lefs heart-breaking, lefs difgufting, than those we expected to employ. We should alfo gain in point of foldiers; for he the more enlightened and civilized was happy to find that the troops of nations of Auftria, Pruffia, France, and England, were greatly fuperior to the Ruffians in difcipline, in courage, in military fkill, and all the qualifications neceffary to form a powerful army. It was a matter of fincere fatisfaction to find, that skill and civilization had fo decided a fuperiority over ignorance and barbarity; that the enlightened nations of the South had not fo much to fear, as had often been thought, from the inroads of those favage and ignorant barbarians of the North. But it was not a mere exchange of

troops

troops. We were indeed to fubfidize and employ German troops inftead of Ruffians; but were German troops ready to contend for the fame objects? Did the cabinet of Vienna cordially approve of all the principles laid down by the noble fecretary of state in his anfwers to Buonaparte? Did the emperor of Germany really think, and, if he did fo, where had he declared it, that the speedieft and fureft means of reftoring peace would be the reftoration of the Bourbons? Lord Holland did not know but that monarch might rather imagine that the facrifice of the territories of his fellowhireling, the elector of Bavaria, to his ambitious projects, would be the speedieft and fureft means of reftoring tranquillity. His lordship proceeded to fpeak at great length of the different views entertained, or that might be entertained in the progrefs of events, by Auftria and England, the power and the advantages enjoyed by the French government, among which he enumerated the haughty and irritating anfwer of lord Grenville to Buonaparte, the improbability of fuccefs on the part of the allies, and the improbability alfo, that even victowy and fuccefs in arms would lead to peace. In a word, he expatiated over all the wide and beaten field of the policy or impolicy of the war, and of our mode of treating, and treating with the French. He allo reverted to the debate on the anfwers that had been given to the French overtures, and to certain maxims and confiderations which he had endeavoured to imprefs on their lordships minds, and he had reafon to think, he faid, not without fuccefs. He conjured the houfe, fince they had that night

learnt, that one of their chief hopes was to be a reliance on the cabinet of Vienna, to reflect again, and not to engage in an undertaking fo defperate in its appearance, in which fuccefs itself feemed only to lead to new wars, new expenfes, and new embarraffments, and in which failure, (which feemed but too probable,) was difgrace and ruin.

The duke of Montrofe faid, that it was not his intention to go through the variety of topics touched on by the noble lord who had spoken laff, but to advert merely to the fingle queftion, which appeared to him to arife out of the proper confideration of his majefty's meffage and the addrefs. now moved; namely, whether, during a war with France, under fingular and unprecedented circumftances, it was wife in this country to fubfidize the princes of the continent, and purchase the aid of auxiliary troops, in order to harafs the'enemy near their native country; or let them have an opportunity, for want of a politic diverfion, to bring the war into the British channel, and on the coafts of this kingdom? The Hiftory of England proved, by a variety of precedents, that it had always been the policy of Great Britain, when engaged in a foreign war, to avail itfelf of the affiftance of auxiliary troops.-On a divifion of the house, the addrefs was carried by 28 against 3.--The order of the day, for taking his majefty's meffage into confideration, being, at the fame time, read, in the houfe of commons,

Mr. Pitt rofe, and faid, that he had stated yesterday the general ground on which he flattered himfelf that this meffage was likely to be received without oppofition. The ground was this, that the ob

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