THE SUPREMACY OF PUBLIC OPINION. 283 



the great majority of the respectable and intelligent classes, whose 

 political influence had been hitherto predominant, now retired from 

 the struggle, and witnessed, with silent but bitter grief, those ex- 

 cesses which were heaping disgrace upon the cause of liberty, and 

 the name of Frenchman. These classes, except in defence of their 

 lives and property, are always naturally unwilling to act offensively 

 against the lower orders ; and, besides, at every successive period of 

 the revolution, the state of France was such, that the moderate 

 friends of liberty were compelled, in self-defence, to sanction the 

 proceedings of its more violent adherents ; and called upon, as they 

 were, to choose between despotism and republicanism, who can 

 wonder that they preferred the latter ? 



The execution of Louis XVI., the establishment of a republic, and 

 the reign of terror, produced a powerful reaction in the public opi- 

 nion of Europe ; and no where so visibly as in England, where the 

 great majority of the middle classes viewed, with abhorrence and 

 indignation, the open irreligion and atrocious cruelties of the repub- 

 lican government. Hatred to the new order of things in France, 

 now became a passion of the public mind ; and the war which took 

 place between England and France, was eagerly supported by the 

 people, who were daily more exasperated by the bitter hostility of 

 the French Republic, and its open attempts to excite internal com- 

 motions in Great Britain and Ireland. The elevation of Buonaparte 

 to supreme power, perhaps, for a time abated the force of those feel- 

 ings, and inspired the English with the hope, that the new ruler of 

 France, satisfied with the military glory which he had acquired, 

 would now devote himself to the arts of peace. But the conduct and 

 character of Napoleon, soon convinced a great majority throughout 

 England, that no satisfactory and permanent peace could be esta- 

 blished between France and England, while the former was governed 

 by Buonaparte The splendid series of victories gained by the 

 French Emperor, and his vast and daily increasing military power, 

 served only to convince the British people, that if they wished to 

 retain their independence, it must be at the point of the sword, and by 

 the most devoted exertions. Even at the moment when there appeared 

 so much cause for despair, England still persevered in the determi- 

 nation, never to make peace with Buonaparte, until he had relin- 

 quished those unjust pretensions and ambitious projects, which were 

 inconsistent with the existence of any independent European nation. 

 The insane attempts which the Emperor made to destroy the com- 

 merce of England, while they inflicted little real injury upon Great 

 Britain, could not fail to embitter the feelings of her inhabitants, and 

 to render public opinion still more decided in favour of the French 

 war. The invasion of Spain and Portugal, attended with so many 

 disgraceful violations of faith and honour, excited in every part of 

 England, and indeed of all Europe, feelings of bitterest indignation; 

 and now men of all parties urged the government to adopt still more 

 vigorous measures of hostility, and to afford the most efficient assist- 

 ance to nations which had been so unjustly and shamelessly robbed 

 of their independence. Throughout the remainder of this eventful 

 struggle, the voice of public opinion still declared against Buona- 



