them, to give a sort of brilliant eclat to solid security on which we can rely, for the the king's speech; and every gazette in general safety, morality, and tranquillity Europe had most inviolably kept the of Europe.-Mr. Courtenay concluded by secret. But let the ministers fairly and asserting, that Mr. Pitt was the cause of boldly avow the true motives of their all the atrocities committed in France. conduct. They thought they had a fair He had excited all the powers of Europe opportunity of dividing the spoils of to attack them; to his insidious policy, France, with the combined powers, who were to be ascribed, all the horrors of a had leagued together under the specious war which had deluged the continent with pretext, of restoring peace, order, and blood. Who supported the cruelty, bargood government. And the late atroci- barity, and inhumanity of Marat, Robeties committed in France were now al- spierre, and Danton? That right hon. leged as a justification of the conduct gentleman. Give peace to France, then, of the allies; but let us appeal to facts. and you destroy their power; they would Did not the duke of Brunswick publish soon become as truly contemptible and his proclamation in July 1792, declaring insignificant as his majesty's ministers; every Frenchman a traitor who should arts, commerce, agriculture, and manufac dare to appear in arms to support that tures would revive; and those numerous constitution solemnly sanctioned both by bands of citizen-soldiers, who had so the king and the whole nation? And gloriously defended their country, would yet now the alarmists and administration speedily retire to their homes, to enjoy perpetually recur to subsequent atrocities, their triumph, and taste the sweets of as a justification of their conduct. Let competence, freedom, independence, and the treaty of Pilnitz, let the treaty of tranquillity, secured on the firm basis of Pavia, answer this bold and shameless the rights of man and a free constitution. assertion. The evidence of facts is incon- What motive induces the people of France trovertible. Were not Conde and Valen- to submit to a rigorous and tyrannical ciennes taken possession of, and held by government? Their love of liberty. They the emperor in his own name? Did not see that government (bad as it is in many this act, contrary to all his solemn profes- respects) calling out the whole energy of sions and declarations, excite the indigna- a great and indignant people. It is the tion of every generous emigrant? Even vigour of the bow, not the venom of the the Abbe Maury declared at Rome, in a shaft, they admire and applaud. But who large company of his countrymen, "Still can bear with patience, to hear those canwe have one remedy, let us not allow ting, hypocritical pretences to religion France to be divided; we have seen the and morality, in the mouth of the right partition of Poland: we must all turn hon. gentleman and his friends; in the Jacobins to preserve our country." The mouth of men, who can see, without being trade, commerce, and manufactures of much disturbed, and alarmed, their virtuEngland are ruined by this war. Nor- ous allies plundering and dismembering wich furnishes a striking proof; and your Poland; destroying her free constitution, silk weavers are now starving in the me- and again reducing her emancipated peatropolis. Perhaps our ministers flatter sants to feudal degradation and servility; themselves, that by reducing our manu- and then impiously insulting the Deity, by facturers to indigence and distress, they a Te Deum, and applauding themselves will then be a match for the French: as our for diffusing happiness among mankind. profound statesmen, so distinguished for The only king, the only generous and betheir veracity and ingenuity, constantly neficent monarch, who has appeared for assert, that the desperate valour of those ages on the continent, has been hurled republicans, and their prodigality of life from his throne, because he was a friend are derived from the poverty and wretch- to liberty and man! If he had been a edness in which they are reduced.-But pious despot, he would perhaps have been there is still a heavier charge always blend-protected by our virtuous cabinet, who so ed in every debate, and urged with acrimonious rancour against the French anarchy and irreligion; that is, they have destroyed despotism and superstition, and perhaps ministers will soon refuse to treat with them, till the Catholic faith and tyranny are again restored, as the only liberally subsidize the combined powers to spread the gloom of tyranny over the continent, and extinguish the rising flame of freedom, to fight their own battles; while we perform our part in this tragedy, by exhibiting repeated and superfluous proofs of imbecility, malice, and folly. Give peace to France, and you restore tranquillity to Europe, and felicity to mankind; give peace to France, and you establish the triumph of liberty over despotism; but, alas! the conviction of such truths will furnish an additional incentive, and inspire our ministers with new ardour for continuing the war. and principles of France in the territories of our allies; unless we could behold, without anxiety, the rapid approaches of the same danger threatening the British dominions: unless we could sit at ease with the axe suspended over our heads; and wait, with tranquillity of mind, the moment, when these formidable enemies, after the extinction of every element of order and regular government in their own country, after the subjugation of every foreign power, whose alliance might assist us in our last struggles, strengthened by additional resources, animated by the prospect of new plunder, and flushed with the triumphant success of their prosperous crimes, should turn their whole force against the British monarchy, and complete their victory over the interests of civil society by the final destruction of that fair fabric of government, under which these happy kingdoms have so long enjoyed the inseparable advantages of substantial liberty, settled order, and established law. The Earl of Mornington rose and said: If the present conjuncture of our af fairs afforded us a free option between war and peace, if the necessity which originally compelled us to engage in the present contest had ceased, and the question for our deliberation on this day were merely, whether we should return to the secure and uninterrupted enjoyment of a flourishing commerce, of an overflowing revenue, of tranquil liberty at home, and of respect and honour abroad, or whether, on the other hand, we should wantonly commit, to the doubtful chance of arms, all those accumulated blessings; no man could hesitate one moment in deciding on such an alternative. To us more especially no other guide would be necessary than our own recent experience. Within our own memory, the country has passed with such rapid steps from the lowest state of adversity to the utmost degree of opulence, splendor, and power, that all our minds must be furnished with whatever useful lessons are to be drawn from either fortune. We all know, and have felt, what may be lost by the calamities of war, and what may be gained by a wise improvement of the advantages of peace. But whether I revert to the grounds and origin of this war, whether I look forward to the probable issue of the contest, or fix my attention on the inevitable effects of any attempt to abandon it in the present crisis; my judgment is driven to the painful, but irresistible conclusion, that no such alternative is now before us. Our choice must now be made between the vigorous prosecution of our present exertions, and an ambiguous state, neither of open hostility, nor of real repose; a state in which we should suffer most of the inconveniences of war, in which we should enjoy none of" that we considered whatever his majesthe solid advantages of peace; in which, even if we could purchase at the expense of our honour, and of our faith, a short respite from the direct attacks of the enemy, we could never for a moment feel the genuine sense of permanent security; unless we could contemplate, without emotion, the rapid progress of the arms No part of the speech from the throne more fully meets my sentiments on this important question than that in which his majesty recommends it to us to bear in mind the true grounds and origin of the present war. We cannot have forgotten, that before the French had declared war against us, we had seen in their conduct views of aggrandizement, projects of ambition, and principles of fixed hostility against all established government: and we had been convinced, that unless the foundation of our complaints should be removed by a total alteration in their system with respect to foreign nations, war, on our part, would become at length inevitable. We cannot have forgotten, that instead of endeavouring to remove our just apprehensions, their explanations afforded fresh motives of jealousy, and their conduct aggravated every cause of offence; until, at length, they interrupted all negociation by a sudden declaration of war, attended by circumstances of unexampled perfidy and violence. At that time we declared at the foot of the throne, ty's subjects held most dear and sacred, the stability of our happy constitution, the security and honour of his majesty's Crown, and the preservation of our laws, our liberty, and our religion, to be all involved in the issue of the present contest, and we pledged ourselves, that our zeal and exertions should be proportioned to the importance of the conjuncture, and to the magnitude and value of the objects for which we had to contend." Impressions conceived after such deliberate examination, assurances so solemnly pledged in the face of the nation, and of all Europe, will not be abandoned by the wisdom and firmness of this House upon such suggestions as have hitherto been offered in this debate-Before we can be justified in relinquishing the principles by which our proceedings have hitherto been governed, we shall require satisfactory proof, either that the impressions which we had originally conceived of the views of France were erroneous: or, that by the course of subsequent events, the success of the war is become desperate and impracticable; or, that from some improvement in the system and principles which prevail in France, and in the views and characters of those who now exercise the powers of government there, the motives of justice and necessity which compelled us to enter into the war, no longer continue to operate. a On each of these propositions separately, and on the combined result of the whole, I shall endeavour to bring this question to a fair issue. Although the question of the original justice and necessity of the war was so fully examined in the last session of parliament, yet to relinquish the blessings of peace, is measure of such serious and grave importance, that I am confident we shall not be unwilling during any period of the contest, carefully and anxiously to revise the grounds on which it was adopted. In the present moment, however superfluous it may appear to search for any additional justification of our conduct, or to endeavour to throw any new light on a question already so well understood, yet it cannot but prove satisfactory to us, that a variety of occurrences, since the commencement of the war, and many new and striking proofs have concurred, to confirm the wisdom and justice of our decision, not merely on general grounds, but precisely on the very grounds on which it was originally founded. If I could bring to your bar, the most malignant, the most active, and the most able enemy of the British name in the National Convention; the author of the most scandalous official libels against the views, interests, and power of Great Britain; the author of the most inflammatory speeches, tending to provoke the war in which we are en gaged; the author of the declaration of war itself, and the inventor of all the pretences by which it has since been palliated, both in France and in England; if I could bring him to a cross examination in your presence, confront him with his own reports, speeches, and manifestoes, as well as with those of his colleagues in office, and comparing the result of the whole with concurrent and subsequent events, convict him and his asso. ciates of falsehood, treachery, and prevarication, in all their pretended explanations of their own designs, as well as in all their affected complaints of the supposed views of his majesty's councils, I am persuaded, that you would not reject an investigation, the issue of which must tend to confirm the confidence of the nation in the original justice of our cause: such is the nature of the proof which I am about to offer to you. Brissot, the leader of the Diplomatic Committee,-Brissot, the main spring of the French government at the breaking out of the war, falling into disgrace and danger, addressed to his constituents a defence of all his measures, in which he reveals the whole secret and mystery of the French Revolution, and makes an open confession of the principles by which France was directed in her intercourse with other powers, of the means which she employed, and of the ends which she pursued. From the unquestionable testimony of this production, from the evidence of the principal actor in these transactions, I propose to examine the truth of our complaints, the justice of the conduct of France, and the validity of the arguments which have been used on either side. The views which we attributed to France previous to the war, were views of aggrandizement and ambition, connected with the propagation of principles incompatible with the existence of any regular government. The particular acts, by which those views had been manifested, were, 1st, the decree of the 19th of November, in which France made (according to her own language) a grant of universal fraternity and assistance, and ordered her generals every where to aid and abet those citizens who had suffered, or might suffer hereafter, in the cause of what she called liberty. Her sense of liberty, as applied to England, was shown by the reception of seditious and treasonable addresses, and by the speeches of the president of the National Convention, expressing his wish for the auspicious Institution of a British Convention, founded, as such an institution must have been, upon the destruction of every branch of our happy constitution. 2nd, The conduct of France, in incorporating the territories of other powers with her own, under colour of voluntary acts of union, pretended to have been freely voted by the people; particularly in the cases of Savoy and of the Netherlands, of both which countries France had assumed the sovereignty. 3d. The opening of the Scheldt, in direct violation of the most solemn treaties guaranteed by France herself; and lastly; her general designs of hostility against Holland. Brissot speaks, were equally animated by When the decree of the 19th of November was complained of here, the Executive Council replied, that "it would be injurious to the National Convention to charge them with the project of protecting insurrections." Brissot, in his confessions, is pleased to admit, that "the decree of the 19th of November was absurd and impolitic, and justly excited uneasiness in foreign cabinets." You shall now hear the wise, politic, and conciliatory exposition of the principles of France," that the French Revolution was an ob which he opposes to that decree: "What was the opinion of enlightened men, of men who were Republicans before the 10th of August, who desired liberty, not only for their own country, but for all Europe? They thought that liberty might be esta blished every where, by exciting those for whom government is administered, against those who administer it, and by proving to the people the facility and advantages of such insurrections." This theory of universal liberty, founded upon universal insurrection, this system of exciting the people against all regular government, of whatever form, against all authority of whatever description, this plan for the instruction of the mob in the advantages of disorder, and in the facility of outrage and plunder, is deliberately applauded by Brissot, as the established doctrine of the most moderate men in France, to which no one could object on account of its absurdity or impolicy, or of its tendency to excite uneasiness in foreign cabinets. You may perceive that the authors of the decree of the 19th of November, and the enlightened Republicans of whom Les Administrés contre les Administrans. ject, both of their fears and desires, that a parliamentary reform would be proposed in this House, and that from thence, the passage, to the complete establishment of a republic, would be short and easy." Such are the means, so reconcileable with the faith of nations, so compatible with the amicable intercourse to be maintained with foreign powers, which Brissot, the reporter of the diplomatic committee, proposed to employ for the introduction of the principles of universal confusion into the bosom of every independent state. The disappointment of these benevolent views, and the failure of this great design, are lamented by him in terms so forcible, and so pathetic, as to display, at once, the stupendous magnitude of this scheme of destruction, and the frantic zeal with which it was pursued. "O! how grievous it is! for a man who has seen the Revolution advanced to a degree, to which, four years ago, it would perhaps, have been madness to have thought of carrying it, how grievous it is! to see that Revolution falling back, while every thing was contending in its favour! Shall then all the benefit of our experience be lost to the general cause of liberty, to other nations, and to future Revolutions? Tears of blood should flow from the eyes of all Republicans: liberty, which might so easily have been extended, until it should have known no other bounds than those of the world, must now submit to a doleful confinement within the limits of France." Some doubt might, perhaps, have been thrown upon the authority of the evidence which I have produced to the House, if it had appeared to attribute to the government of France principles incompatible with their general system, and not conformable to the conduct of their agents and ministers, in the different foreign countries; but when we find, that the public acts and language of all the agents of France correspond with the designs here ascribed to their employers, this circumstance at once corroborates the testimony to which I have alluded, and exhibits, in itself, a striking instance of the uniformity and consistency of the system in all its parts. In America (a government which, I am persuaded, the noble earl Wycombe will concur with me in thinking, does not require to be improved by any infusion of French principles) citizen Genet was appointed resident, by Brissot and Le Brun: he there commenced his operations by the institution of a Jacobin club; he publicly insulted the magistrates; disputed the acts of government; opened, what he was pleased to call, a consular tribunal under the authority of the French republic for the condemnation of prizes within the territory of America, enforced the execution of its sentences by acts of open violence; and at length, the powers and privileges of the consul acting under his orders, having been annulled by the president of the United States, and his proceedings having been checked, as being contrary to the law of nations, and to the rules by which the relations of independent states are governed, citizen Genet presents a remonstrance to the secretary of State, in which he gravely says, "that he does not recollect what the worm-eaten writings of Grotius, Puffendorff, and Vatell say on these subjects, he thanks God, he has forgotten what those hireling civilians have written on the rights of nations, in times of universal slavery; but he knows that his conduct has been agreeable to the spirit of the French constitution, of the American constitution, and of the rights of man, which are for ever engraven on his heart, and from which he learns, that an appeal must lie from the president, who is a mere ministerial officer, to the sovereign people of America." Thus the disciple of Brissot takes upon himself to supersede every maxim of the law of nations, by doctrines drawn from the constitution of France; and not content with that outrage, he arrogates to himself the right of interpreting the constitution of America, by reference to the same polluted source, and affects to depose the president of the United States from his constitutional authority, under colour of the sacred rights of man, and of the indefeasible sovereignty of the people. Citizen Descorches, employed by the same party at Constantinople, proceeded in the same spirit; he established Jacobin clubs, and held primary assemblies for the propagation of the true faith of liberty among the janissaries at the Porte. Thus from Mr. Jefferson to the Reis Effendi, from the president of the United States of America, to the grand seignor, from the congress to the divan, from the popular form of a republic, to the most unmixt military ↑ despotism, every mode and gradation of lawful authority, or of established power, was the object of deliberate, systematic, and uniform attack. There is another feature of this project which I cannot omit, because it so nearly concerns the security of some of the most valuable possessions of the British empire. We are told by Robespierre, that a part of the general scheme of Brissot and his associates was, to free and arm all the negroes in the French colonies in the West Indies. Brissot, instead of attempting to refute this charge, takes merit to himself for the ingenuity and simplicity of the invention; he says, that "by the simple operation of purifying the colonial system of the French islands, he would have accomplished the de struction of all the British colonies in the West Indies." He adds, "that this is a secret of which few have any idea." Those who have given their attention more par ticularly to the case of the African Negroes, will be the first to feel the com plicated horror of this detestable project of massacre and desolation. An abrupt emancipation of the slaves in the WestIndies, accompanied with the circumstance of putting arms into their hands, would instantly occasion a scene of bloodshed and misery, which our imaginations could scarcely conceive, if it had not already been realized in the island of St. Domingo under the auspices of the commissioners |