tion every person who should attempt to alter the constitution, or pull down kingly government. The republican party however prevailed in less than three weeks after this; the horrid schemes of revolution which were carried into execution on the 10th of August were planned by the party and the Legislative Assembly being surrounded by a military force, and under the daggers of murderers and conspirators, forced to rescind its own decree, to abolish the constitution which each of its members and the whole nation had sworn to maintain, and by suspending the king, to establish a republic on the ruins of monarchy. Had his majesty's ambassador been ordered to acknowledge the new order of things at that moment, into what an awkward situation might he not have been thrown! Had the departments done what, from their unanimous addresses, might have been expected, had they marched their troops to Paris to release their captive king, to chastise an impudent faction, and restore a constitution which only three weeks before appeared to be an object of veneration to the whole kingdom, in what a pitiful light must our ambassador have appeared, one day recognizing the king, the next, recognizing the conspirators who had dethroned him; and immediately after going with the departments to salute him again upon the throne. The only way to avoid so scandalous a scene was, to recall the ambassador, by doing which, his majesty's ministers prudently gave themselves time to consider, what was the sense of the people of France, and what would be the government of their adoption. The recall of lord Gower was a measure of prudence and wisdom on our part, and by no means a symptom of a disposition in England to point out what government it was her wish to see established in that country: and therefore, he was warranted in saying, that this was not a rational ground for a declaration of war on the part of France. The next charge brought against England by the National Convention was, "That the cabinet of St. James's has ceased, since the same period, to correspond with the French ambassador at London, on pretext of the suspension of the heretofore king of the French; that since the opening of the National Convention, it has refused to assume the usual correspondence between the two states, and to acknowledge the powers of this convention; that it has refused to ac- an account to any one. He admitted, however, that the prohibition had another object, and extended also to foreign grain intended for France. From the conduct of that country, it was evident, for some time past, that she was meditating a rupture with us, and was making preparations for that purpose. With a full conviction that such was her design, it would have been madness in his majesty's ministers to allow her to lay in stores of corn for supplying her fleets and armies, which they knew very well were soon to be employed against Great Britain. It was on this view of the case that he, for one, had advised the measure of prohibiting the exportation of English corn, or of foreign corn in English bottoms to France; he avowed the measure, and was perfectly satisfied that all Europe would find its vindication in the law of nations.-Before he dismissed this part of the subject, he begged leave to observe, that the prohibition, as far as it related to foreign corn, did not prevent the exportation of it to France in foreign bottoms; for that was allowed; and though a foreign vessel carrying foreign grain from England to France had been stopped, it was only through mistake, and was afterwards suffered to proceed on her voyage. The exact state of the prohibition was, that English corn was not allowed to be exported to France in any bottoms; nor foreign corn in English bottoms. The next charge was of a truly ridiculous nature. It was this: "That in order still more effectually to obstruct the commercial operations of the republic in England, it obtained an act of parliament prohibiting the circulation of assignats." This was, no doubt, a dreadful crime on the part of England, who ought to be punished with the calamity of a war, for having endeavoured to prevent her own truly valuable paper currency from being polluted, by coming in contact with the bankrupt paper of France; and the latter had unquestionably good grounds for complaining, that after she had forced her assignats at the point of the bayonet down the throats of her own people, she should meet with resistance when she was endeavouring, by force of arms, to cram them down elsewhere, and compel a currency to which they were not intrinsically entitled. This measure of stopping the circulation of assignats, was to be ascribed not to the executive government of this country, but to parliament, who had, in the present session, passed an act for this purpose. The next charge was, "That in violation of the fourth article of the treaty in 1786, it obtained another act, in the month of January last, which subjects all French citizens, residing in, or coming into England, to forms the most inquisitorial, vexatious, and dangerous.' On this he would observe, that it ill became France to complain of regulations adopted here for our own safety, and state them as infractions of that treaty, which, if such regulations could be fairly deemed infractions, had been broken every day in France for the last four years; and he could appeal to a noble earl (Lauderdale) whether it was not true, that the English in France were obliged to procure passports, and to exhibit them, not as the French in England were bound to do, to magistrates, but to every officer and soldier of the regular army, of the national guards, or of the national gendarmerie, who should think proper to demand them; he could appeal also to the same noble lord, whether the English were not liable to visits from persons sent to look for arms, and whether they were not obliged to give an account of their business, and of the places to which they were travelling. These were matters of notoriety, and complaints had been made to him by English travellers, who had applied for his interference for redress. But he reflected, that the French might have thought such regulations necessary for the security of their new government, and therefore he did not think it proper to interpose, or complain of them as infractions of the commercial treaty. That the regulations adopted in England might be dangerous, he was ready to allow; but then it could be only to such Frenchmen as had come into this country for the purpose of exciting discontents and sedition; to all persons of a different description, they were perfectly harmless. The next charge was, "That at the same time, and contrary to the 1st article of the peace of 1783, it granted protection, and pecuniary aid, not only to the emigrants, but even to the chiefs of the rebels, who have already fought against France; that it has maintained with them a daily correspondence, evidently directed against the French revolution; that it has also received the chiefs of the rebels of the French West-India colonies." He wished that this charge had not been worded in such general terms, but that cuting those who supported the principles of the French revolution." Now it had so happened that none were prosecuted, for persecuted was out of the question, but those who were endeavour it had specified any particular act, of which France had truly reason to complain. As it stood at present, the only part of it that was really intelligible, was that which related to the humanity with which a number of unfortunate men, fly-ing to excite sedition; if, therefore, this ing from the daggers of murderers, had found an asylum in England, and some relief from their distresses. So far was he from denying this fact, that he considered it as the highest glory to his countrymen, who had felt for the wants of the distressed, and had expressed their sympathy by noble and generous benefactions. He could not dismiss this charge, without observing that it was with a bad grace indeed, that France complained of our receiving their emigrants; for it was not to be forgotten that they had received Dutch emigrants, formed them into a corps, called them the "Batavian Legion," and posted them on the frontiers of Holland, with a view to encourage a revolution party in that country. From this it would appear as if France enjoyed an exclusive privilege of doing without guilt, what, if done by another nation, would draw upon it French vengeance, and French arms.The next charge was, "That in the same spirit, without any provocation on the part of France, and when all the powers are at peace with England, the cabinet of St. James's has ordered a considerable naval armament, and an augmentation of the land forces that this armament was ordered at a moment when the English minister was bitterly persecuting those who supported the principles of the French revolution in England, and was employing all possible means, both in parliament and out of it, to cover the French republic with ignominy, and to draw upon it the execration of the English nation, and of all Europe; that the object of this armament, intended against France, was not even disguised in the English parliament." The answer was, that the armament had not taken place in England, until France had put to sea a considerable squadron, which appeared in the Mediterranean; till she had occupied with her armies the Austrian Netherlands; till she had violated the rights of his majesty's allies, and absolutely refused to give any satisfactory explanation of her conduct. It was a very curious charge indeed "that the armament was ordered at a moment when the English minister was bitterly perse charge were true, it must follow that the principles of the French revolution are to excite sedition. The English minister was certainly not entitled to the honour of drawing upon the French republic the execration of the English nation and of all Europe; that task was performed by the republic itself or its Convention, by its unexampled acts of cruelty, oppression or injustice; by the mockery of the trial of the king, and the insult offered to justice, when the assembly was imputing to that unfortunate prince the massacre of the 10th of August, whilst its members were daily boasting that the glory of that bloody scene belonged exclusively to themselves. It was true, that the object of the armament was not disguised in England; on the contrary, it was avowed to be for the purpose of fulfilling our engagements with our allies, and raising a barrier against the aggrandizement of France. The next charge was, "That although the provisional Executive Council of France has employed every measure for preserving peace and fraternity with the English nation, and has replied to calumnies and violation of treaties, only by remonstrances founded on the principles of justice, and expressed with the dignity of freemen, the English minister has persevered in his system of malevolence and hostility, continued the armaments, and sent a squadron to the Scheldt, to disturb the operations of the French in Belgium." The answer to this charge was, that the king's ministers had continued and extended the armaments, not from any wish for war, but for the purpose of guarding against the ambitious views of France, which she obsti nately refused to abandon. No doubt it would be thought by all Europe that it was a heinous crime in England to have sent a squadron to the Scheldt, for the officious purpose of disturbing the operations of the French in the Netherlands, who ought not to have been interrupted in their career of aggrandizement. Every one must be convinced, that the conquest of those provinces was their object; but that they never could expect to retain them, whilst Holland continued to be a distinct and independent state; the con quest of Holland was therefore a necessary part of their plan; it was of course extremely unkind in commodore Murray, with his squadron, to defeat it! The next charge brought to the recollection of the House an event which every man must equally lament and execrate. The charge was, "That, on the news of the execution of Louis, he carried his outrages to the French republic to such a length, as to order the ambassador of France to quit the British territory within eight days; that the king of England has manifested his attachment to the cause of that traitor, and his design of supporting it by different hostile resolutions adopted in his council, both by nominating generals of his land army, and by applying to parliament for a considerable addition of land and sea forces, and putting ships of war in commission." It was his wish not to have touched upon the dreadful murder of the king, because he meant not to interest the feelings of their lordships, but to address himself solely to their understandings; but it being brought forward, he must say something upon it. It was an act which had consummated the guilt of the Convention, and left all its other acts of cruelty in the back ground. Europe had heard of it with horror; and at such a moment to have received M. Chauvelin as a minister from a body so branded with infamy, and which, at the same time, instead of giving satisfactory explanations on points in which England had a right to demand it, absolutely presumed to hold out menaces, would have been an instance of pusillanimity which no situation of affairs could justify. M. Chauvelin applying at that time to be recognised as a minister from the republic, reminded him of what had passed after the dreadful massacre of St. Bartholomew. The French ambassador in England was admitted to an audience of queen Elizabeth; passing through the apartments leading to the presence chamber, he found them all hung with black; the courtiers and the queen were in deep mourning, and in the coldness and gloom of the reception, he saw how much the dreadful massacre was execrated. Had M. Chauvelin been admitted as minister to an audience of our king, after the murder of his own, he must have found the sovereign and his court in mourning; but this would not have been all; he must have passed through the streets of a city where almost every one wore the garb of sorrow, and execrated the shocking deed which had given them occasion to put it on: no one could tell to what excesses their indignation might prompt them, on seeing the minister of the murderers of their king; his person might not have been safe, and in it the sacred laws of nations might have been violated: to send him away was, therefore, the wiser mode of proceeding. If putting on mourning, and feeling sorrow for the murder of the king, was an act that called for a war, it would not be against the king of England and his courtiers that the French would have to wage it, but against almost every man in England, and indeed all Europe. It had been said on a former day, by a noble marquis (Lansdown), that the murder of the king might have been prevented: and the means which he thought might have been used with success for that purpose, were bribery and corruption. This could not have been meant as a panegyric on the National Convention; for it would be no compliment to men to say, that though deaf to justice, humanity, and the honour of their country, they would listen to the tempting offers of gold. For his part, he did not think that money would have produced the desired effect; the cause of the murder lay too deep for avarice to reach it; it was the effect of foul ambition, the more horrible, as it was the more unnatural. It was true, that after the murder of the king, the armaments were increased; not on account of that melancholy event, but of a variety of other acts done by France, which evidently showed that it was her determination to go to war with England and Holland. The non-residence of an ambassador at a court, was not in itself a ground for war: there were countries which, from etiquette or some punctilio, were not in the habit of interchanging ambassadors. This was the case with the courts of Sweden and Portugal, which had not for many years, till the very last year, interchanged public ministers. There were other instances, as at Constantinople, where several courts kept resident ambassadors, though the Porte kept no resident ministers with them. And yet those different nations were in perfect amity with each other, and never thought of war on such an account. This applied as well to the case of M. Chauvelin, who had not been recognized, as of lord Gower, who had been recalled. The last charge was as follows: "That Such were the charges brought against his secret coalition with the enemies of England, as the grounds of the war; and France, and particularly with the em- one might have imagined that the Conperor and Prussia, is confirmed by a vention would have rested satisfied with treaty concluded with the first in the having jumbled such a heap of them tomonth of January; that he has drawn gether; but it seemed there was one into the same coalition the stadtholder measure more adopted, and that was, of Holland; that that prince, whose ser- that an address to the people of England vile obsequiousness to the orders of the should be drawn up and published. He courts of St. James's and Berlin is but was very anxious to see the production too well known, has in the course of the that would be given to the world under French revolution, and notwithstanding the name of this address. His curiosity the neutrality which he professed, treated was raised on tip-toe for its appearance, with disdain the agents of France, re- on account of the names and persons ceived the emigrants, harassed the French who had been chosen for drawing it up. patriots, counteracted their operations, One was certainly a gentleman of great released, in opposition to established abilities, M. Condorcet, but not exusage, and notwithstanding the demand tremely remarkable for consistency, for of the French minister, persons who had when, on a former day, one noble lord been guilty of forging assignats; that quoted that gentleman's writings, to show in the mean time, with a view to concur that he wished to raise disturbances in in the hostile designs of the court of Lon- England, and overturn its government as don, he gave orders for a naval armament, tyrannical, another noble lord had read named an admiral, appointed Dutch a private letter from M. Condorcet to ships to join the English fleet, opened a show that he considered the English go. loan to defray the expenses of the war, vernment as perfectly free. It was a pity put a stop to exportations to France, that this gentleman did not reserve his while he favoured sending supplies of republican principles for his private corprovision to the Prussian and Austrian respondence with the noble lord, upon magazines. Considering, in fine, that whom they could have no bad effect, and all these circumstances no longer leave publish in his newspaper his eulogium on to the French republic any hope of ob- the English constitution, which unfortutaining, by means of amicable negocia- nately he confined to his private correstion, the redress of these grievances, and pondence with his friends. Another per that all the acts of the British court, and son employed to frame this address was of the stadtholder of the United Pro- Barrere, a person who was president of vinces, are acts of hostility, equivalent the Convention during the whole time of to a declaration of war, the National the king's trial. The successor of BradConvention decrees as follows:-Arti- shaw was, no doubt, a very proper percle 1. The National Convention declares son to reconcile the people of England in the name of the French nation, that, to the abolition of monarchy, and the considering the multiplied acts of hostility murder of kings. The last person was and aggression of the above-mentioned perhaps the most remarkable of the three. powers; the French nation is at war It was odd that out of 750 members of with the king of England and the stad- the Convention, the man who was tholder of the United Provinces."-With thought most fit to disgust the people respect to the assertion of coalition with of England with their constitution, was Austria and Prussia, and of a treaty with he who was tried and convicted of hav the former for the purpose of giving ef- ing libelled it, and whose name was held fect to what was called the concert of in execration by the whole kingdomprinces, his answer was, in four short such a man was Thomas Paine. words, It is not true. No such treaty or Convention, in publishing an address to coalition had been formed: but on the the English nation, were but little acother hand, it was very natural, that quainted with the disposition of the peowhen his majesty saw that war was ine-ple of England, whom nothing could bind vitable, he should confer with those powers who had a common cause with him, for the purpose of concerting operations for setting bounds to the ambition and principles of France. + The more closely to their king and parliament, than an attempt by France to separate and disunite them. The principles inculcated by the Convention were injurious to every society; they inculcated, that in |