HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
moyers of the revolution were 
founded in the spirit of patriotism, 
humanity, and universal philan- 
thropy, as they pretended; or, on 
the contrary, in selfish views, and 
the usual pride and arrogance of the 
French nation, has been made a 
question. There are not a few 
writers, and among these some of 
great celebrity, who will not allow 
that there ever was any thing good 
or great in the real intentions of 
the French philosophers; but trace 
the revolution to an ambition en- 
tertained by those men, of self-ag- 
grandisement, of extending the 
baundaries of France, and raising 
her to what they conceived to be 
her just consideration and pre-emi- 
nence in Europe. Which of these 
was the original and predominant 
passion, or how far they may have 
been mixed and blended in that 
great mass of people of various 
conditions and characters, who 
forwarded the revolution, it would 
be useless to enquire, and impossi- 
ble to determine. Certain it is, 
that if a general passion for political 
changes had not prevailed in 
France, it would have been im- 
possible for the most profound phi- 
losophers, or dextrous politicians, 
to have raised and turned it to their 
purpose: and it is equally certain, 
that professions of peace, and the 
most extensive philanthropy, were 
considered by those who had seiz- 
ed the government, as popular 
throughout the kingdom, 
On the 29th of December 1791, 
a manifesto, in the name of the 
French nation, drawn up by Con- 
it} 
[5 
dorcet, decreed by the National 
Assembly, and approved of by the 
King, was addressed to all states 
and nations, and ordered to be de- 
livered by the French ministers to 
all the courts of Europe. In this 
paper it was declared,* amon 
many other particulars, “* That the 
French nation, proud of having 
regained the rights of nature, 
would never outrage them in other 
men. That she would present to 
the world the new spectacle of a 
nation, truly free, submissive to the 
laws of justice amid the storms of 
war; and, respecting every where, 
on every occasion towards all men, 
the rights which are the same to 
all, Peace (which imposture, in- 
trigue, and treason have banished) 
will never cease to be the first of 
our wishes; France will take up 
arms, compelled to do so, for her 
safety and her internal peace; and 
she will be seen to lay theny down 
with joy, the moment she is assured 
that there is nothing to fear for that 
liberty, for that equality, which is 
now the only element in which 
Frenchmen can live. She dreads 
not war, but she loves peace; she 
feels that she has need of it; and 
she is too conscious of her strength 
to fear making the avowal. When, 
in requiring other nations to re- 
spect her repose, she took an eter- 
nal engagement not to trouble 
others, she might have thought 
that she deserved to be listened to; 
and that this solemn declaration, 
the pledge of tranquillity, and the 
happiness of other nations, might 
have merited the affection of the 
_ * Agreeably to an article, in the French Constitution, under the head ** of the 
connection of the French nation with other nations,” the French nation renounces 
the undertaking of any war with a view to make conquests; and will never employ 
its forces against the liberties of any people. 
2 Wi 
[B] 3 
princes 
