portion of Piedmont, the city and county of Nice, BOOK On that of XXI. and the principality of Monaco. Spain, the greater part of the frontier provinces 1794. of Biscay and Catalonia, with their ports, cities, magazines, arsenals, and founderies. The Spanish armies had been defeated in many bloody successive contests; no military force could now be collected, in any degree competent to encounter the Republican troops in the field; and the Car tholic king, trembling upon his throne, seemed already to anticipate the horrors of an approaching revolution. The territories subdued by the arms of the republic were computed to contain thirteen millions of inhabitants: and in twentyseven pitched battles, besides an innumerable multitude of inferior actions, they had slain 80,000 of their enemies, and taken more than 90,000 prisoners; also immense quantities of ammunition and stores, with 3,800 pieces of cannon. On the 30th of December, 1794, the parlia- Session of parliament. ment of Great Britain was convened, when the 1795. monarch, persevering resolutely in his purpose, thought fit to inform the two houses, "that, notwithstanding the disappointments and reverses which the allied arms had experienced in the course of the last campaign, he retained a firm conviction of the necessity of persisting in a vigorous prosecution of the just and necessary XXI. speech holds fallacious hopes of success. BOOK war in which the nation was engaged."-By way of encouragement to his faithful parliament, 1794. nevertheless, his majesty was pleased to remark, King's "that, in considering the situation of their eneout bold and mies, they would not fail to observe that the efforts which had led to their successes, and the unexampled means by which alone those efforts could have been supported, have produced among themselves the pernicious effects which were to be expected; and that every thing which had passed in the interior of the country had shown the progressive and rapid decay of their resources, and the instability of every part of that violent and unnatural system, which is equally ruinous to France and incompatible with the tranquillity of other nations."--His majesty farther declared, "that he should omit no opportunity of concerting the operations of the next campaign with such of the powers of Europe as were impressed with the same sense of the necessity of vigor and exertion. He mentioned his acceptance of the crown and sovereignty of Corsica; he announced to them the happy event of the marriage of his son, the prince of Wales, with the princess Caroline, daughter of the duke of Brunswic; and he concluded with expressing his confident hope, that, under the protection of PROVIDENCE, and with constancy and perseverance on our part, the principles of social order, of XXI. morality and religion, would ultimately be suc- BOOK cessful; and that his faithful people would be rewarded for their present exertions and sacri- 1794. fices by the deliverance of Europe from the greatest danger with which it had been threatened since the establishment of civilised society." Addresses being brought forward, in the usual style of complaisance, an amendment was proposed in the house of peers by the earl of Guildford, who, at the close of a speech of excellent sense and sound reasoning, moved "that his majesty be requested and advised by that house to take the earliest means of securing a peace, and that no obstacle might arise from the nature of the French government, Holland (his lordship affirmed) could be saved only by a peace: and he urged the impracticability of attaining what appeared to be the present object of the war-the dictating of a government to France. In military operations, and in political negotiations, the ministry had equally failed; and, as he had never been satisfied of the wisdom of entering into the war, he could not now admit: the necessity of persevering in it."-The marquis of Lansdown declared, "that he could see no difficulty in treating with France at the present period, and adverted with contempt to the old and hacknied objection that there was no power existing there to treat with. When persons, i XXI. 1794. BOOK wanted to make up a quarrel, when there was a sincere desire for reconciliation on both sides, the means of effecting it would always be found. France, amidst all its change of parties, had not falsified its engagements, since the revolution, with any foreign state." The amendment was, after a spirited debate, rejected by a majority of 107 to 12 voices only. Defection of force, and other parti from the system of The debate on the same subject, in the house of commons, excited still more of the public atsans of the tention. No sooner was the address read, than ministry, Mr. Wilberforce, an intimate friend of the mithe court. nister, and who had hitherto warmly supported him in all his measures, rose and objected to it, as pledging the house to prosecute the war till there should be a counter-revolution in France. He observed, "that there was nothing in his majesty's speech in the least pacificatory; although the Jacobin system, so hostile to this kingdom, was destroyed, and there appeared an assumption at least of moderation on the part of the new rulers of that country. The confederacy against France also was now dissolved, and her internal disorders were appeased. How then could we conquer a people who had resisted with such success, when assailed by the combined force of Europe from without, and when distracted with insurrections from within? The retrospect of our affairs was bad, but the prospect before us was still worse. Like the waves of the ocean, BOOK the armies of France seem rapidly overthrowing XXI. every thing that stands in their way. Regard- 1794, less of slighter differences, they look merely to the Convention, and thought themselves bound to adhere to what they perceived would alone keep the country together. This circumstance it was which had first staggered his opinion with relation to the probability of ultimate success in this contest. He was well aware of the impossibility of forcing a government upon France, when France was united in opinion and in act; and he scrupled not to add, that, though a friend to monarchy, he did not conceive a monarchy to be the fittest form of government for France, in present circumstances, as the current of prejudice set so strongly against it.-Mr. Wilberforce said, he did not think the country would be at all debased by a declaration for peace. True magnanimity consisted in acting with propriety under every circumstance, resolutely determining to change the mode of conduct whenever it is required by an alteration in the state of affairs. Those who thought it so easy to effect a counter-revolution in France should recollect that revolutionary principles had now been six years prevalent in that country, and that a new generation was rising up who had been educated in and familiarised to them. Equitable pro |