232 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



port, as inadequate to the proof of 

 Its ""xpediency at the pieseut tiait, 

 aud of its practicabilir.y during the 

 ferment and implacable disposition 

 maiiife red in the Convention. — 

 The debp.'c of this day woidd, in 

 the mean fime, he observed, satis- 

 fy those who had heard it and tiie 

 public at large^ that govetjimci t 

 had not acted rashly by prosecu- 

 ting the war on the prinvJplcs th;:t 

 moved them to nndcrtake it. The 

 pc(iple would be convmced thtt it 

 was both just and necessary, and 

 not entered into from ambitions 

 and sinister motives. They would 

 see how nv.ich it was their interest, 

 as well as their duty, to preserve 

 thh country uncontaminated by 

 those pernicious maxims that had 

 filled Finr.ce with all manner of 

 woes ; and from being one of the 

 most agrteable countries in Eu- 

 jope, lino converted it into one 

 great and dismal scene of misery 

 and horror. The designs of the 

 French against the European go- 

 vernmenrt, particularly that of 

 Creat Britain, were the constant 

 topics of declamation both in the 

 conventional and otlier assctnblli.s. 

 Such was their universal animosity 

 to this country, that were it in their 

 disposition to negociate, no man 

 among them would take upon him 

 to be a negoclator. The ahritors 

 «)f the war had been desired to 

 comprize in any two words its real 

 rpotive. The ?in~\ver requited but 

 one. Security. Provocation to war 

 liad been given to thp German 

 powers, apd to Great Britain, 

 which studiously sought to avoid a 

 quarrel. The reproach ot ha\ ing 

 altered the systcpi ot a tiftten years 

 peace into that of a ncdicss and 

 rxpctisivt war, was unfair ;ind Illi- 

 btful. Could the mluistcr fortsee 



future contingencies ? Was thrrc 

 at chat time any symptoms of the 

 dveadfnl explosion that since hip- 

 pened in France? The coinplainta 

 of opposition respectifijf tlie treat- 

 ment of M. Cliauvetiry were high- 

 ly unjust : tiiat minister exerted 

 all tiie abilities he was master of tf> 

 SOT the seeds of sedition in thi* 

 country • and w^s at the bnttoni of 

 some projects of actual insurrec- 

 tion. He had done sulFicient mis- 

 chief to merit an instai.t dismissal, 

 and to at'thoiize the conduct of 

 ministers towards him, notwith- 

 standing the pains taken to de- 

 scribe tliem as haunhJy and over- 

 beari'ig. The parti/ans he luid 

 gairnd were not, at this very hour, 

 inactive ; and were striving with all 

 their might to effect the purposes 

 of which he had recommended the 

 execution. The words and phrasi * 

 they had borrowed fioin the 

 French republicans, they were con- 

 tinually endeavouring to introduce 

 in ail discourses, for the purpose of 

 iL-iidering them familiar and accept- 

 able: to the public. 



Notwiihitandlng the pressure of 

 the war, commerce flourished, and 

 the national resources were produc- 

 tive of all the means that were 

 wanted for the public service. They 

 were levied in a fair and regular 

 manner; not with that disorderly 

 violence and compulsion which 

 chajacteilzed the management of 

 the French f nances, and subjected 

 individuals to continual acts of ex- 

 tortion and rapacity. 



In leply to these allegations, it 

 was (>l)Scived by the Marquis of 

 I^ai sdowne, tliat several of his ar- 

 jjinrciits, and of those a<!duced by 

 the Duke of Grafton, had been re- 

 prtsented in a light that placed 

 them, together wich the other dis- 



approvcn 



