190 
Allthe nations of the world ad- 
mire our courage; they all lament 
seeing their blood and their trea- 
sures exhausted to tear from us our 
liberty. Attempts are made .to 
destroy us in their cpinion, ‘and to 
impute to us alone the innumerable 
calamities which this long and 
terrible war has poured out upon 
them.—Ncither the fury of the 
coalesced kings, nor the efforts of 
their soldiers have we any cause to 
dread, but we will always respect 
the opinion of the people of other 
states, whatever may be their go- 
wernment, their force, their weak- 
ness, their good or ill-fortune. 
We will not seek, as we have 
been often charged with doing, to 
trouble their internal organization, 
and to make them adopt our laws ; 
but we will not suffer our prin- 
ciples to be poisoned in their eyes, 
their esteem to be taken from us; 
and the ambitious authors of a 
ruinous war to charge us with the 
melancholy fruits of their own va- 
‘nity, crimes, and ambition. 
For three years, humanity has 
groaned and suffered,—for three 
years, Europe has been inundated 
with blood, and the people weighed 
down with taxes. ‘This insensate 
desire to partition or enslave France 
is evidently the cause or the pre- 
text of all these evils ; and when a 
part of our enemies, discouraged 
by our success, or enlightened by 
experience, seem willing to let the 
earth respire—when the people, 
indignant at the calamities with 
which they are overwhelmed, seem 
every where commanding their 
governments to put anend to the 
horrors of war, some cruel and 
crafty politicians would persuade 
them, that we alone are insensible 
to these cries of suffering” huma. 
ANNUAL REGISTER; i795. 
nity, that we alone thirst for theif 
blood ; that no peace with us can 
be safe or honourable; that the 
continuation of the war is advan. 
tageous to them ; and, finally, this 
absurd contradi¢tion, that on the 
one hand, our pride and our am. 
bition are too formidable for us to 
be treated with, and on the other, 
that our efforts have too much ex- 
hausted us not to afford hopes of 
certain success, by continuing the 
contest. ’ 
We ought, citizens, out of re. 
spect to humanity, to expose these 
contraditions, reply to these ca-— 
lumnies, hold up the light to every 
eye, and unmask those Machiave.. 
lian governments which, sporting 
with the blood of men and the for- 
tune of the people, aim at rearing 
a colossal greatness on the ruin of 
the principal powers in Europe. 
We ought to convince all vir. 
tuous men that we detest war with« 
out fearing it, that we are always 
ready fo put a stop to its horrors, 
when a peace shall be offered to 
us consistent with our dignity, and 
capable of guaranteeing our safety. 
We ought at the same time, to 
advertise the people of all nations 
that, ready to negotiate with frank- 
ness, we will not suffer our arms_ 
to be paralized, or our triumphs 
to be suspended by negotiations, 
false or futile. 
Our armies, who brave the sea 
Sons, master the elements, and 
turn to their advantage all the ob- 
stacles which nature and art seem 
to oppose to them; our armies who, 
rushing over the frozen inunda- 
tions of Holland, have completed 
the conquest of it in less time than 
was formerly necessary to make the 
tour, will charge themselves with 
demonstrating to our enemies ad 
at 
