squeamishness or hesitation in the choice of means, was a weakness of all others the most alien to his nature.

How did the case stand between the majority of the Directory (the Triumvirate, as some persons in this Country had thought proper to style them) and that majority of the Nation who were accused (and in his conscience he believed they were justly accused) of a wish to terminate the Revolution? The majority of the Nation seemed to have acted pretty much in the style and temper of the Minister of this Country; proceeding to their ultimate object with infinite art and subtlety, they had entrenched themselves within the forms of the Constitution on the one hand, while with the other they were sapping the vitals of Liberty, and poisoning its very foundations. As for the Directory, the scene was fairly open before them. On the one hand, they saw a termination to the Revolution, on the other, there were certain rights to be invaded, and certain Principles to be infringed. Placed between these two alternatives, they were not long in forming their Resolution, and a manly and vigorous Resolution it was; they determined to break through every obstacle of form, and to save their Country in spite of precedent. The seditious Journalists, with the refractory Members of the Two Councils, and of the Directorial Body itself, were seized and imprisoned, or otherwise disposed of. The vacancies thus made were supplied by other persons, appointed by the Directorial Majority, upon their own personal knowledge and good opinion. He was aware, Mr. Fox said, that an objection might be raised to this species of nomination, but for his part, he conceived that the Directory had acted well and wisely they were convinced that the majority of the Nation were infected with the new prin

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ciples of pretended order and moderation they were aware that in this disorder of the public mind, they had nothing to expect from the re-elections they saw the necessity, and they acquiesced in it. They inverted that order which prevails in those Countries where Liberty has been established by a more tedious process. they abrogated the instructions of the Constituent to his Representative, and they addressed their own instructions to the Constituent Body. In all this there was nothing but what was perfectly just and natural; nothing inconsistent with the Principles of Freedom, nor with those Principles which he himself had professed in the outset of his political life." (Mr. Fox here alluded to his well-known opinion on the Middlesex Election.*)

With regard to the absolute abstract inviolability of the Press, Mr. Fox declared that he considered himself as particularly fortunate, in having had a very early opportunity of asserting his opinions upon that subject also; it was pretty well known, that the first ground of difference between himself and a Noble Lord (with whom he had originally acted, whom he had afterwards opposed, but with whom he had ultimately united, and of whom he

* Commons' Debates, vol. xxv. page 18-Mr. C. Fox said, "We "had not lost the confidence of the People by the Middlesex Election, 66 as was foolishly said, but by suffering with tameness the many in"sults which had been offered to the Sovereign and that House-that "had he his will, those Aldermen and others who presented a Remon"strance to the Throne, should be taken into custody; that a few "years back they sent two Aldermen to the Tower, but suffered a "paltry Printer to hold them in contempt: that it was by these means "we lost the good will of our Constituents."-Lord NORTH's Motion was for sending the Printer to the Gate-house-Mr. Fox insisted upon Newgate.

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should always speak in the language of friendship) was laid in a subject of this kind, That Noble Lord had refused, in spite of his remonstrances, to proceed against a Printer, and upon that difference they parted; till the necessity of the times, and the voice of the Country, calling aloud for a Coalition, had brought them together again.

With regard to the morality and justice of this conduct in the Directory, he was aware, Mr. Fox said, that different opinions were avowed; for his own part, he had never entertained the least doubt upon the subject; the question seemed to him to lie in a very narrow compass indeed he was no friend to the pretended refinements and abstractions of Political Justice; in his opinion, there were rules sufficient for the direction of every man's conduct, lying upon the surface, and within every body's reach. Of this kind was that excellent rule, which an eminent writer, the late Mr. ADAM SMITH, had established as the only true test upon which we could pretend to decide upon the conduct of other persons. We should put ourselves in their place, and unless we could be thoroughly convinced, that under the same circumstances, we ourselves should have acted differently, we might rest assured that the conscientious disapprobation which we were so ready to affect, was nothing better than a despicable farce of hypocrisy and self-delusion.

He would apply this rule to the conduct of the Directory Let any man for a moment place himself in the situation of those Gentlemen (Messrs. BARRAS and REWBELL); could they, after all they had acted themselves, and all they had inflicted on others in the course of the Revolution could they, admitting them to be men endowed with the common sentiment of self-preserva

tion (he would put it to the feelings of every Gentleman) could they, consistently with that sentiment, permit for a single moment the expression of the Public Voice, which had almost unanimously declared against them? While human nature was human nature, it was impossible-and it was idle to imagine it. The conduct of the Directory was perfectly just and natural and he was at a loss for words to express his contempt of the hypocrisy of those who would assert, that under the same circumstances, they themselves would have acted differently.

With regard to the political propriety of the measure, he had ever held as a fixed and unalterable principle, the maxim which had been advanced upon this subject by MACHIAVEL-it was this, that when a Government, for practical purposes, had become exhausted and effete, there was only one method for renewing its energies; this was by having recourse to those principles upon which it had been originally constituted. In what did the essence of the French System consist? In the activity of the Insurrectionary Energy.-Through the whole course of the Revolution, whenever this energy had been suffered to lie dormant for any considerable time, the whole system had invariably been affected with a general torpor and lassitude. That period, the happy issue of which they were now commemorating, was in fact truly critical. If the Energy of Insurrection had not roused and exerted itself as it did, it must have sunk into the sleep of death; or it would only have been awakened to return again under Monarchical Domination. On the other hand, what had been the effect of this new stimulus? Fresh life and vigour had been infused into the whole Systemthey had concluded a Peace with the EMPEROR on their own terms-they had resolutely dismissed our own Ne

gotiator

gotiator from Lisle; and they were now preparing for the Invasion of this Country! (Loud applauses.)

It remained only to speak of the means employed for effecting such a happy change. The Legislative Body representing the disaffected majority of the Nation, had been dispersed by a party of soldiery, acting under a temporary discretionary Insurrectionary Commission. Mr. Fox here claimed the attention of his audience-He was aware-he said that an attempt would be made to impute to him certain principles inconsistent with his approbation of this measure; an approbation which he was by no means disposed to disguise or qualify.-The principle briefly stated was this-" The subordination of the Mili"tary to the Civil Power."-It would be alledged, that at some time or other he had maintained and professed this principle — He anticipated the calumny, and he would answer it.

It would be sufficient for him to call back their recollection to a very late event. They all remembered the Mutiny (Loud applauses)-It was fresh in the recollection of every body-How happened it then, if in fact he had ever entertained this principle, that an event of such a magnitude should never have called it forth? Was the expression of any such principle to be found in the reports of his Speeches at that period? Had he ever, directly or indirectly, intimated the least disapprobation of the conduct of the seamen then in a state of insurrection? Or, the Mutineers, as some Gentlemen thought proper to call them.-(Loud laugh and applause.) He appealed to the memory of his auditors-he challenged the malignant recollection of his enemies, and the Spies of Government, if any such were present. (Here a considerable tumult.) -He defied all the quibbling sophistry of the Minister himself,

VOL. I.

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