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and the catholic clergy may be provided for from the public exchequer of the empire. I see no danger which would arise to the established church from some such arrangement as this; and it would, probably, be attended with the greatest advantage to the state. We think the catholics to be in an error; they think the same of us; both ought to reflect that, every error is not a criminal error, and that their error is the greatest, who most err against christian charity.

"If any one should contend that this is not the time for government to make concessions to Ireland,-I wish him to consider whether there is any time in which it is improper for either individuals or nations to do Justice, any season improper for extinguishing animosity, any occasion more suitable than the present, for putting an end to heartbarnings and internal discontent. I should be as averse as any man from making concessions to an enemy invading the country; but I would do much to gain a cordial friend to assist me in driving him back;and such a friend, I am confident, Ireland will become.

"I come to the last point-the case of the dissenters.-I am well aware that on this point I differ in opinion from men whom I esteem; but without arrogating to myself, without allowing to others, any infallibility of judgment, I am anxious, in this crisis of our fate, to speak my whole mind. What I presume to recommend is—A repeal of the test and corporation acts as a mean of combining together, in the cords of mutual amity and confidence, the whole strength and spirit of the country. It has been said that the dissenters constitute above a fifth part of the population of the kingdom; I do not think them to be so numerous; but I am convinced that they are too loyal to be treated with distrust at any time, and too numerous to be soured by neglect at this time. I am far from insinuating that the dissenters want to be bribed to their duty by the repeal of the test act; no, my lords, churchmen and dissenters of every denomination, are equally zealous in the common cause-they seem to

e to emulate the patriotism of the patricians and plebeians at Rome; who, for 500 years, waged an eternal war of words about their respective rights, claims, oppressions, privi

leges,-but. when their country was in danger, when an enemy invaded their territory, they laid aside their disputes; their only contention then was, which of them could show the greatest courage in repulsing the enemy of them both.

"I have never had any design, any wish, my lords, to gain the good-will of the dissenters, by becoming a champion in their cause-much less have I any inclination to provoke the ill-will of churchmen, and the disesteein of my brethren, by a forward display, or a froward retention, of an opinion opposite to their's. I may be wrong in thinking that the repeal of the test act would in no degree endanger the safety of either the church or state; but whilst I do think so, I should act a timid, interested, dishonourable part, if I concealed my sentiments.

"I will mention to your lordships an anecdote respecting this matter; for the truth of which I pledge my honour, and, in doing that I hope I may be permitted to expect full credit from the house. When the dissenters, a second time, petitioned parliament for the repeal of the test act, I called, accidentally, upon Lord Camden, then president of the council; and, in the course of conversation, asked him this plain question, suggested by the alarm which had been taken by some churchmen- Does your lordship see any danger to the church of England from the repeal of the test act?' He answered, with an eagerness peculiar to himself when his mind was determined- None whatever.'If then I err in this matter, I err with the late lord Camden; and though I had not rather err with him, than be right with others, yet I neither wish for, nor know where to find, a better supporter of my sen

timent."

May language like this soon become the universal voice of a church, too long a preceptress of intolerance; too recently, against the catholics of Ireland, a sanguinary persecutress. The mild precepts of a humanizing religion will, in time, pervade the remotest precincts of her influence, and found on civil concord the new strength of the empire.

ART. XXXIV. Reflections on the Causes of the present Rupture with France. 8vo.

THAT weighty and serious grievaces and complaints have been advanced and discussed in the official correspondence between this country and France, admits of no doubt; but, as a grievance dressed, or a complaint withdrawn, is t only no ground of enmity, but ther of confidence, because it displays desire of quiet, it becomes necessary,

in order to prove the justice or justifiableness of the British declaration of war, to show that the grievances alleged were wilfully overlooked, that the arrogant claims were obstinately persisted in. To most persons who read the official correspondence, it is matter of surprize that it should have led to war, or terminated in it.

First one hears about the Fame packet detained in December 1801, and confiscated. Mr. Adolphus well defends the justness of our complaint; but ministers chose to let the matter drop. As a ground of war it probably appeared to them trifling; it was in one respect inexpedient, for a cry of maritime arrogance and tyranny is easily raised on the continent against Great Britain, and the public opinion and commercial opinion of the continent greatly affect our obtaining allies there; so that it is always desirable to hinge a war on some interest, in which the continental public is likely to sympathize. If this confiscation, and another which followed, did not occasion a war early in 1802, it can not be pleaded in excuse for the declaration of war in 1803.

Mr. Adolphus next examines the protection afforded to the emigrants. Here again he convincingly shews that the conduct of the English ministry, in refusing to comply with the demands of France, was becoming. The French seem to have thought so themselves; they only bring it forward to retaliate our captiousness about the pretender, and presently they drop the ground of complaint altogether. Are we to go to war with them, because they are satisfied with our conduct?

The freedom used in some publications, in descanting on the government and rulers of France, is then considered. It appears to have escaped the attention of cur ministers, although observed to them by Lord Whitworth, in his letter from Paris of the 27th January, 1803, (Offic. Corr. No. $5), that this complaint originated with Talleyrand himself. Who that has read the American transactions 10 X Y and Z, can misunderstand this? It was a ground of complaint which it depended on the agents of Great Britain to intercept from the ears of the first consul. They had only to fee an officious translator to be idle; and no wind from England would have had the force to blow enmity and hatred quite home to St. Cloud.

Some impertinencies of the French press are produced and censured by our author: but as neither party accompanied the expression of their wishes, on this subject, with the slightest hints of threat, in case of non-compliance, it is preposterous to talk of the liberty of the press as any ground of war at all

between them.

The question of Malta busies Our author at considerable leugth: the tenth article of the treaty of Amiens, which respects that island, was become incapa. ble of strict execution; but it has been so nearly complied with on the part of the French, that to retain it would, in a case of private life, be called quibbling and chicanery.

The memoirs of Sebastiani, of Rheinhardt, take their turn; they are cases of the liberty of the press; they are dis avowed in a manner which, if it does not satisfy, gives satisfaction.

The disposition to assist the Swiss friends of liberty was thus far a duty in the British government, that on former occasions the antijacobin ministry were supposed to have patronized the oppo site cause, and to have put money at the disposal of Steiguer and his adhe rents, the ascendancy of whose unpoplar party was the provocation which induced the Swiss to throw themselves into the hands of France. These Al pine disturbances might have been madinto honourable grounds of war; br as the geographical situation of Sw zerland prevents any efficacious assist ance from this country, it was most h mane not to inflame an ineffectual resist

ance.

Something of the same kind might alleged against interfering, at prese in the affairs of Holland. Without th prospect of Prussian co-operation, the is little chance of Dutch liberation. Th conduct of the French in Holland just fies, however, much stronger remo strances than any which were presente by our ministers. If they chose to to war, this was the most importa interest of the nation involved in discussion, and should have been selecte as the fulcrum of indignation. It wa however, have been better not to ch to go to war; but to have laid bef parliament the official corresponden without the previous recal of La Whitworth, or without any aggres declaration. The public opinion of rope would have been influenced by debate; it would have rung with applause of Mr. Fox, then again, a the case of the Russian armament, hope and bulwark of Europe, of world, against needless devastation. wards obedience to the voice of equ temper, and wisdom, both parties wo somewhat have bended; they w have been urged so to do by the wi

of that higher class, to whose voice bably have escaped the calamity of a senates listen, and even generals of armies. And thus the country would pro

new contest.

ART. XXXV. An Appeal to the People of the United Kingdoms against the insatiable Ambition of Bonaparte. Svo. pp. 260.

THIS is one of those zealous pamphlets, which, like a fire of fir-cones, torches and blazes much, and warms but little. Its object is to recommend the war to popularity: this is difficult; ministers have so mismanaged the negotiation, that their best reason of war, the non-evacuation of Holland, is flung into the back-ground, and scarcely makes its appearance in the official correspondence. One cannot then be loud about the justice of the war: neither can one be loud about its prudence. Russia and Prussia may join us, and we may march to Paris; but the probability of such a junction, when the war began, was very inconsiderable. There remains a ground of fanaticism: a wise minister would recur to it. It would marshal around the constitutional throne, a support more popular, more vehement, more permanent, than any war of this reign has yet obtained. It would attract, by the force of sympathetic feeling, the support of the independent talent, of the unbought genius of the country. It would secure at once the secret, and soon the public, voice of continental Europe. It would divide France into mighty parties, and probably hurl the surper from his throne. This ground of fanaticism is to proclaim a war in behalf of the suspended popular authorities of the French; a crusade for the restoration of liberty and equality.

Since the beginning of the anti-jacobia war, the interior situation of France reversed. The French were then pullEng down their monarchy, their church, heir nobility; and they were patronizng the concatenation of democratic clubs, order, by their means, not merely to disseminate and popularize, but to influ. ace and overawe the volitions and deCons of their legislature. Loud imPertinent attacks resounded from the French senate of those institutions in ther countries, most analogous to the stablishments they were subverting at Zme. In order to excite here the

eatest possible antipathy to such proedings, it was natural for Burke and Barrel to seek out, in the writings of

their jesuitic teachers, for those arguments and war-whoops, which had, of old, inspired and accompanied an excessive and prejudicial value for church and king, or (if the abstract be preferred to the concrete expression) for religion and order. But now that Bonaparte has restored popery in its ancient integrity, and monarchy (or the government of one) in his own person; these arguments all tend to stabilitate his institutions, to render popular his government, and to facilitate the progress of his authority from a life-long to an hereditary, from an anonymous to a titled sway.

Bonaparte, at every period of his being, was personally an antijacobin: officers and generals had scrupled to bid the soldiery fire on the people; his first step to promotion was the use of cannon and grape-shot against the multitude in the very streets of Paris. This massacre of the jacobins took place at the time of the insurrection of the sections against the directory; and was so bitterly resented in the suburb of Saint Antoine, that vows were made for the extinction of the commanding officer, and reliques of the slaughtered were worn by women in their bosoms as a spur to vengeance. Bonaparte withdrew to the south of France; then got sent to Italy, where the manifestoes of Berthier (for Bonaparte can no more spell than Marlborough) got him the unmerited reputation of a friend to democracy and liberty. His earliest measures of power were to chace, with the bayonet, from their hall the representatives of the people; and to disperse all sorts of popular assem. blages and confederacies. To satirize affiliated societies has passed for the panegyric of his usurpation. His religiosity was already apparent at the obsequies of Pius VI, and probably recommended him to the critical preference of Sieyes. He banishes, at will, members of the old directory, or of the new tribunate; he governs by a sort of martial law, mildly if he can, but, howsoever, he governs. The admiration of a government, flourishing and success

ful, unchecked in its operations, and seeming, therefore, to compass its objects more speedily and effectually, has gained something upon all ranks of people. It is for the good patriots of this day to struggle against it; to discourage all needless and useless intercourse with France; and to encourage an alienation from its councils and its example. The vicinity of the two countries remains, and must remain; and the natural mental habits of mankind are such, that the present distemper of France is far more likely to be contagious and permanent, than the old one. It is not easy to spread a passion for liberty among the people, that requires principle, self-denial, exertion, disinterest, instruction, humanity, patience, perseverance, justice. But in all evils of the opposite kind our natural inclinations are flattered: to obey, accommodates the indolence, to corrupt and be corrupted the avarice and ambition of men. We are now once more, as were our ancestors, in danger of being entangled, by the example of France, in the net of an hypocritical and relentless despotism.

It is expedient then, as well for the preservation of our own as for the revival of continental liberty, that the eloquence of her most strenuous defenders should once more resound through Europe, from within her only remaining sanctuary, the British house of commons. How else shall the accents of freedom travel on every wind, and reach the cabinets of philosophy, and the reading rooms of patriotism? How else shall those tame fickle Parisians be aroused to a sense of their deep degradation and their mean submission? how else shall those sublimely proud Marseillese be provoked to revenge or follow the founders of popular enfranchisement? how else shall the Genevans be reminded, that the limits of France extend beyond the bounds which despotism had fitted to receive a conqueror with joy? how else shall maimed, trampled, fettered, insulted Switzerland be taught that independence is not only a blessing, but a virtue?

Deeply as the country has now to regret Mr. Burke's having condescended to lend his unequalled talents for producing an innovation of national opinion, a base desertion of the hereditary, tried, and liberal principles of our forefathers, in order to provoke us to wage, with peculiar animosity, an anomalous

and imprudent war; it is clearly become expedient henceforth, in every possible form, to obliterate the impression of his numerous arguments, and of his yet more momentous diction. Gallos quoque in bello floruisse we have both heard and felt. The ancient boundaries of France are blotted from the map of Europe, and we now have almost a doubled po pulation to encounter. We are still not to despair; but to look with some con fidence to those principles which aggrandized free France, as the means of di minishing despotic France.

The country now wants the exiles of its own intolerance, to shout in the slack ear of France the daring declamations of their noble enthusiasm. The emulous eloquence of representative freedom is there forbidden. The speeches of Lan juinais are imprisoned within the echoes of the Luxembourg. Carnot is returned from men to mathematics. Daunon and Isnard are compelled to preserve an indignant silence. The hireling flatterers of power alone may climo the pulpits of their constituted lecturerooms; only the panegyrists of office may spout diatribes on legislation. F the lessons of liberty to reach Paris, the parliament of London must discuss the rights of man. Newspapers will do the rest. It will be fancied that to give loose here to such a cast of opinions to corroborate them with the support the executive power, and with the au thority of an applauding house of com mons, might weigh down the lighter the popular scale, and alter the presen balance of the constitution. Why so Has it not formerly for more than hal a century tried and sanctioned them injured? The constitution is very strong If the weight of Burke did not makel a despotism, who shall aspire to mak it a republic?

In discussing the means of internall annoying France, all rational inferenc must terminate in recommending to o statesmen, an affectedly jacobinical tr of declamation. The jacobins are discontented at Paris; their opinio alone are adapted to produce mutatio A hacknied clamouring for religion a order will not abrade the popularity, weaken the energies of a French vernment, orderly as an apprehens garrison, and religious as convert courtezan.

These means are also most conduc to the external annoyance of Fram

Without the aid of Prussia, Holland cannot be snatched from French supremacy. What is the road to Prussian favour? Certainly not antijacobin principles, or an antijacobin embassy. The king may be very moral, frugal, and domestic; may read Antoninus's meditations, and pension the novellist Lafontaine; but he has not the passion of personal meddling. An official body corporate, formed in the school of Frederic and prince Henry, attached to no superstition, and not satisfied with the recent French precedent of enthroning a general and establishing popery, is the ruling power. It can never sympathize with aristocratic opinions, which threaten the revival of the states (Landstände) in its half-mastered provinces. In short, as far as opinion (but all is not gold that tinkles) can effectually predispose a literary metropolis and a philosophic ministry to co-operation with the rulers of this country, the low principles, as we call them here, are best adapted.

In Russia, the nobility are said to incline to the high principles, and the monarch, a pupil of Laharpe's, to the low. His sensibility to praise is his loveliest foible: he pursues the applause of the enthusiasts of reform. There is nothing to be done in the tyrannizing line in Russia; no habeas corpus acts to suspend; no martial laws to contrive; such things would not excite a stare. A czar, to be original, must be the improver of agriculture, the liberator of the peasantry; he must correspond with Mackintosh on the laws of nations; and watch the speeches of Fox for a compliment: and this is the elegant taste of Alexander. He values, and justly values, higher the praise of London than the praise of Paris: it is less rash, but more asting; it is not immense, but it mostly ats. A forwarder co-operation of the Russian court would clearly have realted from earlier, and less equivocal, approaches, on the part of our government, to the advocates and friends of berty.

We are threatened by, or are threatFang, a war with Spain. Without the dance of the American states, there is

little chance of approaching Mexico, of obtaining the isthmus to cut a canal into the Pacific, or of securing independence to Peru and Chili. And what is the road to American co-operation? Again the principles of liberty, in their rashest nakedness, and loudest shouting enthusiasm. What has hitherto prevented a strict alliance from setting in between us? Merely, that while the one country promotes its whigs, the other promotes its tories. A Jefferson has to negotiate with a Grenville. Were our ministers in the principles of the American ministers, (we can change, they must abide by the incoercible result of popular suffrage), our treaties of commerce would be settled without chicanery, and would lead to treaties defensive and offensive.

In short, whatever purposes are to be answered of foreign alliance, or continental co-operation, the federative or diplomatic interests of the country imperiously require from our statesmen the profession of eleutherism. Ireland would at once be converted to affection, and allegiance here warm into enthu

siasm.

As to the truth or utility to mankind of the liberal school of principles, we have no hope, in this age of meanness, that for such reasons it should be patronized; but we conjure statesmen by their policy, and government by its nationality, to employ their parliamentary and literary sophists in teaching anew the principles of freedom, and in directing the public expenditure and the public force to reversing the mischiefs occasioned by the various tendencies of the late unfortunate and ruinous war. Against the principles of antijacobinism and Ecnaparte let sovereigns arm, and they will deserve to triumph.

There is much about Switzerland in this pamphlet: it is the best part of it. Yet, were the doctrines of liberty there to be acted upon, without the certainty of extensive assistance both in Provence and Italy, they could only rivet more closely the yoke of France. The Swiss should await the hour of French adversity.

ALT. XXXVI. The Question, Why do we go to War? temperately discussed according to the Official Correspondence. 8vo. pp. 30.

THIS is one of the ablest controverial pamphlets in the language: it exarines the motives for the late mischievANN. REV. VOL. II.

ous declaration of war, which ministers have brought out in the official correspondence, and pronounces them all,

Z

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