much greater statesman than the parrot that could only call out, fool, cuckold, and knave. As to the rejoicing at the success of the French republic, the liberty with which it was attended afforded certain nected, as furnishing the means of an effectual resistance to the power of France; and for this reason we had always made it a point to prevent even the emperor to dispose of such of them as belonged to him to any other state. Since the extinc-ly no great ground for exultation. It was a tion of the House of Burgundy in the male line, and the dismemberment of its possessions, the House of Austria had always been considered as the natural ally of England, because it was the only one capable of making head against the enormous power of France. During the reign of Joseph 2nd, whose unaccountable disposition was not favourable to England, an alliance was formed with Prussia. liberty without property, without honour, our constitution. We How much, then, must he be surprised, when he heard a great statesman declare, that he rejoiced in the defeat of the em. peror and the king of Prussia-the emperor, the ally of this country-the king of Prussia, connected with it by marriage and by treaty. This, indeed, was a total deviation from the policy of our ancestors -nay, when this great statesman required ministers to interfere to prevent the duke of Brunswick from entering France, and to join with our natural enemies against our allies and friends. There never were more solid, more substantial, more conMr. Burke then animadverted at some vincing reasons given for attacking any country, than those given in the manifes-length on the decree made by the National Convention upon the report of M. Camto which preceded the attack of the combined armies. The battle of Jemappe bon. The decree was preceded by a cu"The National Conthe right hon. gentleman had styled "arious declaration. glorious victory"-that victory by which vention, after having heard the report of France had become mistress of Holland! the united committees of finance, war, by which she had obtained possession of and diplomacy, faithful to the principles the Scheldt, which might now be the oc- of the sovereignty of the people, which casion of going to war! this glorious vic- will not permit them to acknowledge any tory, in his opinion, was a calamitous de- institution derogatory from it," &c.feat to this country. And why was all this Here, Mr. Burke insisted, was a direct deexultation expressed? Because those, nunciation of war against Great Britain. truly, who were combined against France The National Convention will not acknowwere despots, and because France itself ledge any institution derogatory from the was a republic. It was indeed a new sovereignty of the people. The decree language, to call the friends and allies contained twelve articles, the first evinced of this country despots. But here he the intentions of the National Convention, begged leave to tell a short story: A" to abolish all taxes, nobility, and every very singular parrot was brought to prince Maurice, which had acquired the gift of language. The prince asked where it lived-it mentioned the place. What was its business-it replied, to call together the chickens, and I do it very wellchuck, chuck, chuck (imitating the cry employed to call chickens.) Now, he must own he considered the parrot that could call together the chickens, as a privilege; to declare to the inhabitants of all countries, that they bring with them peace, succour, fraternity." The system of fraternizing was to be propagated by the sword, and if any nation wished to adhere to its old maxinis, these regenerators were to cram this fraternity down their throats, and to force them to swallow the dose, however nauseous it might be to them. The fourth article authorized the republic to seize all goods belonging to the treasury, the prince, his favourers, adherents, or satellites. A pretty ample word of confiscation the last was! The sixth article appointed commissioners to fraternize the conquered nation. The seventh provided for the payment of the expenses incurred by the republic, in giving fraternity to any nation. This sufficiently evinced the resolution of the French not to fraternize mankind gratis. Under the pretext of giving full liberty to those people, they sent their commissioners to take care that the decree should be fulfilled; and authorized the levying of contributions, in order to defray their own expenses; thus exhibiting a more arbitrary and oppressive conduct, even than those whom they affected to call despots, who had on several occasions respected the constitution of those cities which they had invaded, and who had left the different classes of citizens in possession of their privileges. But he should now read to the House a paper in which this country was still more deeply interested. Mr. Burke then proceeded to read a translation of the report of the French minister, on the situation of France with respect to England. Upon that passage which mentions the reciprocity of good dispositions between the people of the two nations, he remarked that this was a serious fact which deserved to be attended to. This report, he observed, mentions agents not acknowledged by the court, whom they kept in England: there was one minister whom he knew, M. Chauvelin, who had been minister from the king of France, but who consequently was not now acknowledged. With respect to the ministers having had communications with any such agents, it might be necessary, from political causes, for ministers to have communications with the worst characters; but surely that these agents were numerous, was matter of serious alarm, as long as the nature of their mission, and the purposes for which they were employed, remained unknown. What answer does the French minister give to the arguments employed by our court against the opening of the Scheldt? Their answer is founded on the rights of nature and on the principles of justice and liberty, which the French nation have consecrated: the only consecration, he remarked, which they had made. When our ministers alleged the positive engagements of treaty, it was replied, that treaties extorted by avarice and consented to by despotism, were no longer binding. So, by this means, they got rid of the law of nations, and the obligation of treaties. On the passage which relates to their intention. of making a solemn appeal to the English nation, he remarked that they passed by the king, the only representative which this country knew in its transactions with foreign powers. This was exactly conformable to the spirit of their decree of the 19th of December, which had a direct tendency to excite rebellion among the subjects of every government. The conduct of the French, he remarked, in levying contributions on those people whom they had deprived of all their privileges, under pretext of defraying their own expenses, resembled that of an attorney who should bring in a bill of costs after he had stripped his client of all his property. From this account of expenses, lie trusted they would deduct the thousand pair of shoes which had been sent them from England as a first subsidy, from those who wished to adopt their constitution in this country. The French when they were slaves had wooden shoes-now that they were free they had no shoes at all. The liberality of their English friends however promised to supply the defect. He defied any one to mention instances of such excesses under any despotism in 'so short a space of time, as had taken place under this new government of French freedom. During thirty years of the reign of the empress of Russia, there had not been committed so many cruelties as had been perpetrated in France within one week. No such instances of arbitrary imprisonment had occurred under the reign of the king of Prussia, as might be found in the transactions of every French municipality. Every man's house was his bastile, and nothing in the old government could be found to equal the atrocity of those proceedings, which had taken place under the sanction of the new government of French freedom. Mr. Burke next adverted to the system of atheism, as now avowed in France. To prove this he quoted several passages from a speech of one Jacob Dupont, to the National Convention, in which he denied the existence of a God, and declared that the people would never be thoroughly ripe for the "holy doctrine of insurrection and opposition to tyranny, if in the primary schools the rising generation § should be taught any thing about God. He concluded, that the Christian religion being a monarchical one, preaching subjection and obedience to God, ought not to be suffered in a republic; and that all the altars raised to religion, and to the Almighty, ought to be overturned, and none suffered to exist in France, but the sacred altar of liberty." Some murmurs being heard in the assembly, on account of this abominable doctrine, they were drowned by the loud applauses of the majority of the members. This daring man observed, that some people might imagine that a priest was useful to a man in his last moments; this however he denied; and to such he pointed out the example of Condorcet closing the eyes of d'Alembert; in other words, one atheist closing the eyes of another. He said that the brave Marseillois would not have been so well qualified for the glorious deeds of the 10th of August, if they had had the weakness to believe in the existence of a God. The man who had uttered these blasphemies, so far from having been disavowed by the assembly, was appointed one of a committee instituted for the purpose of drawing up a plan of national education; and the only difference of opinion among the members was, which plan would be most economical, that which proscribed the existence of a God, or that which admitted it. Mr. Burke described the benefits which society in general derived from the morality founded upon the belief of the existence of a God, and the comforts which individuals felt in leaving this world, in the hope of enjoying happiness in the next. He mentioned the church of St. Genevieve at Paris, one of the finest buildings in the world, which was now called the French Pantheon, because all the statutes of the ancient gods and heroes of antiquity were to be taken from Rome, and deposited in that famous temple; there strangers from all quarters were to be instructed in the best mode of destroying the government and religion of their respective countries; there they were to be taught how to lead men on imperceptibly from crime to crime, from murder to murder. The philosophers of old used to apply the origin of every thing to God-à Jove principium. But the modern French philosophers would begin by saying, that every thing had been made by nothing; and that the idea of a God was weak, childish, and absurd, and unbecoming a true republican. The trees of liberty were to be the only altars before which the nations were to kneel. "And all about old stockes and stubs of trees Whereon nor fruit nor leaf was ever seen, Did hang upon the ragged rocky knees, On which had many wretches hanged beene, Whose carcases were scattered on the greene, And throwne about the cliffs. These trees of liberty, he doubted not, would soon be without fruit or leaf; and it would be said, that on them" Had many wretches hanged beene." Thus after having brought so many calamities on individuals, they wished to deprive them of their last consolation; they wished to deprive the pious and penitent of their sole refuge, and, if possible, to extinguish the idea, that there is a God who will punish tyrants and oppressors, and who will reward and comfort suffering virtue. Thus, after having made men miserable in life, they wished also to make them despair in death, and consign them to all the horrors of a gloomy annihilation. Such were the principles upon which they were to form their youth, and train them to the commission of crimes, by taking away from them the salutary restraints of religion! For his part, he was determined to wage eternal war with such abominable principles, which would drive morality out of the world, and cut asunder the bonds which unite man to man, and the creature to his Creator. Adverting, lastly, to the bill immediately before the House, he said, he would give it his most cordial support, as being calculated to keep out of England those murderous atheists, who would pull down church and state; religion and God; morality and happiness. The extraordinary power which it would give ministers was necessary, and even proved that the people who gave it were free; for if the crown possessed such power in time of peace, it would be too great for liberty; and if they had not more in time of war than was necessary in time of peace, they would not have enough for the public safety. Where the crown had its power enlarged or diminished by the people, according to times and circumstances, there the people could not be justly said to live under despotism, but to be perfectly free. It had been said, on a former occasion, that there were only nineteen persons at present in the kingdom likely to be affected by the bill; but when it was considered that they were murderers and atheists, the number might be said to be very great; they exceeded by many the whole of the royal family, whom they might perhaps be commissioned to murder. Besides, they might take apprentices to the trade of blood; and then God only could tell where their numbers would end! The persons by whom so many murders had been committed in France never exceeded two hundred; though their assistants and abettors amounted to many thousands; but those believed that there was no God; and therefore people ought not to be at their ease because we had at present only nineteen of them among us. He mentioned the circumstance of three thousand daggers having been bespoke at Birmingham by an Englishman, of which seventy had been delivered. It was not ascertained how many of these were to be exported, and how many were intended for home consumption [Here Mr. Burke drew out a dagger which he had kept concealed, and with much vehemence of action threw it on the floor.] This, said he, pointing to the dagger, is what you are to gain by an alliance with France: wherever their principles are introduced, their practice must follow. You must guard against their principles; you must proscribe their persons. He then held the dagger up to public view, which he said never could have been intended for fair and open war, but solely for murderous purposes. It is my object, said he, to keep the French infection from this country; their principles from our minds, and their daggers from our hearts. I vote for this bill, because I consider it the means of saving my life and all our lives, from the hands of assassins. I vote for it, because it will break the abominable system of the modern Pantheon, and prevent the introduction of French principles and French daggers. When they smile, I see blood trickling down their faces; I see their insidious purposes; I see that the object of all their cajoling is-blood! I now warn my countrymen to beware of these execrable philosophers, whose only object it is to destroy every thing that is good here, and to establish immorality and murder by precept and example"Hic niger est hunc tu Romane caveto." Mr. J. T. Stanley approved of the bill, though aware of the unusual power it would convey to the executive government. The circumstances of the time required such power to be given. Those who apprehended danger or inconvenien ces in the passing of the bill, should well weigh in their minds against them, the danger and inconveniences which might arise if it was not passed. Could any gentleman say, that the continuance of so many foreigners as were in the country, uncontrolled, was without danger? It was notorious, there were among them some, who had come from the continent for the sole purpose of exciting discontent, and of purchasing amongst our own people, abettors of their designs. Within a few days of the time he was speaking, members of the actual convention of France had been in town. Was it to be supposed, that such men had abandoned their stations to pay us a visit for good purposes? There had been assassins in London; they still remained in it. The same who had been employed at Paris on the dreadfully-memorable 2nd of September. Was it a matter of no importance whether such men remained in this country, or were sent out of it?-With respect to the bill, the power it would give should be exercised with the greatest attention. The foreigners, over whom so much power was intended to be given, were of very different descriptions: many of them were men deserving of punishment and severe treatment; but others were deserving of kindness and hospitality. These last were the reverse of those, who at present governing France, were so justly the objects of execration. They were the oppressed, the others were the oppressors. They were exiled, unfortu nate gentlemen, who came to England, as to their last asylum, to escape persecution. They were whatever France had possessed that was virtuous and dignified. They adored the God the others had abjured. They were the devoted victims whose hearts were to be pierced with the daggers the others were to wield. He was sure the House would join with him in recommending to the protection of ministers, a class of foreigners, in so many respects the contrary of those emissaries who were sent here to plot mischief and foment rebellion. The bill was read a second time. Dec. 31. On the order of the day for going into a committee on the Alien bill being read, Sir Peter Burrell considered himself bound to rise upon the present occasion, as he differed in opinion with those with whom he had been accustomed to act, opinion he still entertained-that the political difference of sentiments between him, and those with whom he formerly acted, were too great ever again to hope for future concurrence. He concluded by declaring that seeing an absolute necessity to give every support to the government, he was determined zealously to co-operate in his public and private capacity, with his majesty's ministers, in their exertions to defend the constitution, and to save the country from the evident attacks meditated against it. and especially with one right hon. gentle-clared his own opinion to be- and which man (Mr. Fox), for whose great abilities he entertained the highest respect, and of the purity of whose motives he could not harbour the smallest doubt. As he considered the bill to be highly necessary, and fully justified by the existing circumstances, he now rose to state the ground of this difference of sentiment, and vindicate the motives of his separation from those with whom he had formerly agreed in opinion. The question now was, not who should govern, but whether there should be any government at all; not who should be minister, but whether there should be a ministry. While we were quarrelling about the shadow, the French were endeavouring to deprive us of the substance. Had gentlemen really considered the nature of the question? The sort of war which the French carried on, was a war not of insult, but of extirpation. It was a war which had for its object to erect their own system on the ruins of every other government. It became necessary, then, that the French should be acquainted with the real state of the sentiments of the people of this country, that they might know how little they had to hope from the progress of their doctrines in this quarter. He considered the present bill as a measure calculated to maintain tranquillity and confidence. By vigorous measures of preparation, accompanied with a spirit of unanimity, we should best provide against whatever might happen. On this account he highly approved of the bill, as putting into the hands of the crown a power fully warranted by the pre-siderations, was that which he meant dissent crisis. Sir Gilbert Elliot, understanding that what he had said in a former debate had been misunderstood, embraced the earliest opportunity of restating what he had before advanced. He had had the assent of several of the gentlemen who had been accustomed to act with the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Fox) and had been distinctly authorized by a noble personage who had been alluded to in a former debate (the duke of Portland), who had approved of his conduct, in the opinion he expressed, that it was the duty of every man, in parliament, and out of parliament, in the present situation of affairs, to support administration in their exertions to defend the constitution, and to save their country. Further than that he had not pledged the authority of the noble persopage alluded to. He had however de The Marquis of Titchfield said, it was with great pleasure that he had heard what had just fallen from his hon. friend who, in expressing the sentiments of others as well as his own, did not seem to have said any thing in which he could not readily concur. He agreed that the circumstances of the country were in the highest degree critical; and in such cir cumstances those who were as little inclined to think well of the present administration as himself, might be disposed to such a conduct in some instances, as at other times they would not be inclined to pursue. His political sentiments and attachments remained the same that they had ever been. His opinion of the gen tlemen who composed the present administration, was in no respect altered. But he felt the dangers which surrounded us, and the necessity of giving to government such support as might enable it to act with effect; a support, therefore, directed to that effect, and governed by those con tinctly to give them. The bill under consideration he conceived to be one of those measures, and therefore it should have his support. But in declaring those intentions, he could not too explicitly declare, that in no other respect could he give them any share of his confidence. Sir M. W. Ridley complimented the members of opposition for their abilities and integrity. He had frequently acted with them, and had no doubt that he should again; but the reason why he supported the present measure was, because he thought the country and the constitution in danger. Mr. For said, he should trouble the House but with a very few words. What he chiefly had to observe was on what had fallen from the noble marquis. He thought it rather unnecessary to take much notice of what had been expressed |