256

GENERAL REMARKS.

wanderer, who as yet, has only tasted of the name of sovereignty. If the old royalty is ever restored, it is my opi nion, and I offer it with becoming deference, that, from personal hatred to the present titular monarch, and the dread of retaliation by a lineal revival of monarchy, the crown will be placed upon the brows of one of the collateral branches of the expatriated family. The prince de Condé is the only member of that august house, of whom the french speak with esteem, and approbation.

The treasury of the french is, as may be expected, not overflowing, but its resources must speedily become ample. The necessities of the state, or rather the peculations of its former factious leaders, addressed themselves immediately to the purses of the people, by a summary process completely predatory. Circuitous exaction has been, till lately, long discarded. The present rulers have not yet had sufficient time to digest, and perfect a financial system, by which the establishments of the country may be supported by indirect, and unoffending taxation. Wisdom and genius Wisdom and genius must long, and ardently labour, before the ruins, and rubbish of the revolution can be removed. Every effort hitherto made to raise the deciduous credit of the republic has been masterly, and forcibly bespeaks the public hope, and confidence in favour of every future measure.

The armies of the republic are immense; they have hitherto been paid, and maintained by the countries which they have subdued; their exigencies, unless they are employed, will in future form an embarrassing subject of consideration in the ap

proaching

GENERAL REMARKS.

proaching system of finance. This mighty body of men, who are very moderately paid, are united by the remembrance of their glory, and the proud consideration that they constitute a powerful part of the government; an impression which every french soldier cherishes. They also derive some pride, even from their discipline: a military delinquent is not subject to ignoble punishment; if he offend, he suffers as a soldier. Imprisonment, or death, alone displaces him from the ranks. He is not cut down fainting, and covered with the ignominious wounds of the dissecting scourge, and sent to languish in the reeking wards of hospitals.

In reviewing the present condition of France, the liberal mind will contemplate many events with pleasure, and will suspend its final judgment, until wisdom, and genius shall repose from their labours, and shall proclaim to the people, "behold the work is done."

It has been observed, that in reviewing the late war, two of the precepts of the celebrated author of "The Prince," will hereafter be enshrined in the judgments of politicians, and will be as closely adhered to, as they have been boldly disregarded by that great man, who, till lately, has long presided over the british councils. Machiavel has asserted, that no country ought to declare war with a nation which, at the time, is in a state of internal commotion; and that, in the prosecution of a war, the refugees of a belligerent power ought not to be confidentially trusted by the opposite nation which receives them. Upon violating the former, those heterogeneous parties, which, if left to themselves, will always

258

GENERAL REMARKS.

embarrass the operations of their government, become united by a common cause; and by offending against the latter clause of this cautionary code, a perilous confidence is placed in the triumph of gratitude, and private pique, over that great love which nature plants and warmly cherishes in the breast of every man, for his country. In extenuation of a departure from these political maxims it may be urged, that the french excited the war, and that in the pursuit of it, they displayed a compound spirit, which Machiavel might well think problematical, for whilst that country never averted its eye from the common enemy, it never ceased to groan under the inflictions of unremitting factions. Rather less can be said in palliation of the fatal confidence, which was placed by the english government in some of the french emigrants. I have mentioned these unhappy people in the aggregate, with the respect which I think they deserve. To be protected, and not to betray, was all that could in fairness, and with safety be expected from them; it was hazarding too much to put swords in their hands, and send them to their own shores to plunge them in the breasts of their own countrymen: in such an enterprise

"The native hue of resolution

"Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought."

The brave have not frequently wept over such a victim as
Sombrieul.

Whether the experiment of repelling those machinations

which

GENERAL REMARKS.

which warred against all oned usage, by a novel,

established order, and all sancti-
and unnatural opposition, is attri-

butable to any other cause, than that of a misjudging prin-
ciple, must be decided by Him, whose mighty hand sus-
pended the balance of the battle, and whose eye can, at a
glance, pierce through the labyrinth of human obliquity, however
compact, shaded, or concealed. If the late minister is charge-
able with a prolongation of the war, if he is responsible for
having misplaced his confidence, and if brave men have pe-
rished by the fatal delusion, he will find some, if not ample
consolation, in reflecting, that by his vigilance, and vigour,
he has saved his country from the miseries of a revolutionary
frenzy, which has rendered, even our enemies, the objects of
our sympathy, and compassion.

Such is the narrowness of our nature, that we know not how adequately to appreciate our preservation from an intercepted evil: it is indistinctly seen, like a distant object. The calamity must touch before its powers and magnitude can be estimated. The flames of the neighbouring pile, must stop at our very doors, before our gratitude becomes animated with its highest energies. If Providence were to unfold to us all the horrours which we have escaped; if all the blood which would have followed the assassin's dagger were to roll in reeking streams before us; if the full display of irreligion, flight, massacre, confiscation, imprisonment and famine, which would have graced a revolutionary triumph in these realms, were to be unbarred to our view, how should we recoil from the ghastly spectacle! With what emotions of admiration and esteem should

LL2

259

260

GENERAL REMARKS.

should we bend before the man, whose illumined mind and dignified resolution protected us from such fell perdition, and confined the ravages of the " bellowing storm" within its own barrier.

The dazzling and perilous claims of the Rights of Man in the abstract, have had a long and ample discussion before the sanguinary tribunals of another country; and the loud decree of an indignant and insulted world has pronounced their eternal doom. Other contests may arise; but the powers of a prophet are not necessary to assert, that such rights will form no part of their provocation.

In France, I was repeatedly asked my opinion of the probable stability of the peace. The question was always addressed in this rather curious shape: "Thank God, we have "peace! Will your country let us enjoy it?"-My answer was, "You may be assured of it; for it will not cease to be prepared "for war."

Alas! the restless spirit of ambition seldom long delights in repose. The peaceful virtues, under whose influence Nations flourish and mankind rejoice, possess no lasting captivations for the Hero. The draught of conquest maddens his brain, and excites an insatiable thirst for fresh atchievements-He

"Looks into the clouds, scorning the base degrees

May that extraordinary Being in whose hands the fate of millions is deposited reverse the gloomy picture, and restore to a country

long