and giving up all that is of importance for you to keep, you at last arrive at a discussion of the government which France may chuse to give to Italy, and of the fate which she may be pleased to assign to Germany. In fact, the question is not, how much you will give for peace, but how much disgrace you will suffer at the outset, how much degradation you will submit to as a preliminary? In these circumstances, then, are we to persevere in the war with a spirit and energy worthy of the British name, and of the British character, or are we, by sending couriers to Paris, to prostrate ourselves at the feet of a stubborn, supercilious government, to do what they require, and to submit to whatever they may impose? I hope there is not an hand in His Majesty's councils that would sign the proposals, that there is not a heart in this House that would sanction the measure, and that there is not an individual in the British dominions who would act as the courier."

Mr. PITT concluded with moving,

"That an humble address be presented to His Majesty, to assure His Majesty, that that House also felt the utmost concern that His Majesty's earnest endeavours to effect the restoration of peace had been unhappily fruftrated, and that the negociation in which he had been happily engaged, had been abruptly broken off by the peremptory refusal of the French government to treat except upon a basis evidently inadmissible, and by their having, in consequence, required His Majesty's plenipotentiary to quit Paris within forty-eight hours.

"To thank His Majesty for having directed the several memorials and papers which had been exchanged in the course of the late discussion, and the account transmitted to His Majesty of the final result, to be laid before the House.

<< That

* That they were perfectly satisfied, from the perusal of these papers, that His Majesty's conduct had been guided by a sincere desire to effect the restoration of peace, on the principles suited to the relative situation of the belligerent powers, and essential for the permanent interests of His Majesty's kingdoms, and the general security of Europe: whilst his enemies had advanced pretensions at once inconsistent with those objects, unsupported even on the grounds on which they were professed to rest, and repugnant both to the system established by repeated treaties; and to the principles and practice which had hitherto regulated the intercourse of independent nations.

"To assure His Majesty, that, under the protection of Providence, he might place the fullest reliance on the wisdom and firmness of his parliament, on the tried valor of his forces by sea and land, and on the zeal, public spirit, and resources of his kingdoms, for vigorous and effectual support in the prosecution of a contest, which it did not depend on His Majesty to terminate, and which involved in it the security and permanent interets of this country and of Europe.".

The House divided on an amendment moyed by Mr. Fox, censuring the conduct of ministers in the negociation :

For the amendment 37
Against it..

The address was then agreed to.

212

In less than six months, however, another effort was made to effect a reconciliation with France, and lord MALMESBURY was sent to Lisle to treat with French commissioners for that purpose; but with as little success as before. In the King's speech at the meeting of parliament on the 2d of November 1797, the rupture of the negociation

negociation was solely ascribed to "the evasive conduct, the unwarrantable pretentions, and the inordinate ambition of those with whom we had to contend; and above all to their inveterate animosity against these kingdoms." The debate on the address in the House of Commons was not very interesting, the benches of opposition being in a manner deserted, Mr. Fox and almost all his friends having withdrawn, from a determination, since their counsel was rejected, not to persist in a fatiguing, incessant, and fruitless contest. But the marquis of LANSDOWN distinguished himself in the House of Lords by the following very able and animated speech:

"MY LORDS,

"I do not rise to offer my feeble opposition to the address that has been proposed. I know how illusory and how vain it would be for me to flatter myself with the presumption that any thing which I can offer would avail in this most perilous and awful moment! When I see the House deserted by all those noble Peers whose just influence is supported by great ability and by powerful eloquence, I cannot hope that any thing coming from abilities like mine can have weight upon you; but, my lords, however weak my voice, however feeble my talents, I conceive it to be my duty to exert them in the way which I think may the best conduce to the object which I have in view, that of arresting you in a career that leads to death. In the short interval between life and death, brought as we are to the brink of that most dreadful precipice which, noble lords have so justly deplored, I yet think it right, single as I am, to raise my warning voice, and to save you if possible from the abyss. The absence of the noble lords, though it has not surprized me, afflicts my heart: I am not surprized, my lords, because I do not know whether it is not even a

12

wise,

wise, a salutary, and a patriotic measure; far be it from me, to arraign them, it is a measure upon which I have often contemplated myself with seriousness, and which I have more than once thought of adopting. For what, my lords, avails it, for a few men, unsupported by public opinion, to spend their breath here against a system which is not to be assailed by wisdom, nor moved by patriotism; which reposes itself on other bases than discussion, experience, and truth? I have, no doubt, therefore, but that these noble persons have declined their attendance upon considerations, strong, and weighty; upon principles of conscience and rectitude; and that their absence may do more to awaken you to seriousness and to reflection, than all they could have done by fine harangues and by declamation, however lofty, and however impressive. My lords, if I come down thus single, it is not from any motive of self conceit; it is not, I repeat it, because I think that any thing I have to say will work upon your minds, but because I think the times themselves demand from every man exertion in every way in which it is possible; demand from yourselves the surrender of those prejudices which have hitherto made you deaf to the danger that surrounds you, and demand from all parties the forgetfulness of what is past, that we may now come with serious minds to contemplate the peril of our situation. It is this, my lords, that induces me yet to trouble you with my faint, perhaps my unavailing, voite. The declaration, and what a declaration! has made a most serious impression upon me; unaccompanied as it is with the documents. I read it with a perfect confidence in the main facts which it states, If one quarter of those facts be true, and that they are I have not the slightest inclination to disbelieve, what do they prove? That the French Directory have no intem

tion to make peace with you: not merely that they have no intention to make peace with you, but they are alienised and hostile to the government of this country? My lords, this is a most serious and important matter, for then comes the great question, what are we to do in such a predicament? The noble earl says continue the war! I ask you, how are you to continue it? I leave all that has been said about Geneva, and Genoa, and the other states who have suffered from the conduct of France, to men better acquainted with the circumstances, We have nothing to do with these details. Our case is not parallel. Great Britain is not to be put on a footing with the petty states which the drunkenness of the French Revolution has disturbed, and we ought not to be diverted from the contemplation of our own ease by such references. I leave them along with all the books and speeches of prediction about the impossibility of the French continuing their systems, which have so long and so fatally deluded your lordships. We are come now to that point, when we are doomed to act by ourselves, and I need not tell your lordships, that through the whole of this business it has been the invariable principle of those who have carried on the war, that we could not make any effectual impression on France without a continental ally. If this be true, what shall we now do when the French have made a Jacobin of the Emperor? Can we go on without an ally for any purpose of offence? We cannot hope to recover the King of Prussia as an ally there is little chance of rekindling in his breast the flame of romance that has now burned in us for five years; he long ago had wisdom to quit the scene, and now we find that even the Emperor is withdrawn. I hope, however, that we shall find him a man of honor in his engagements, and that the money which was advanced

II