196] 
naval power was never so great, 
nor commerce so flourishing and 
extensive, nor revenue so high, as 
at the present moment, And all 
this prosperity wag not ascribed to 
the uncontrollable tide of-affairs, 
but to the superior penetration and 
providence of the British govern- 
ment. , 
There were others, again, who, 
on the subject of the present state 
of affairs, indulged an opposite 
train of reflection. ‘The continental 
powers, it was said, had. Britain 
stood aloof, would have made such 
arrangements, among themselves, 
as might seem adequate to the con- 
trol of the French republic. Their 
confederacy would have been the 
more solid and sincere that it would 
have appeared the more necessary. 
When they found England so zealous 
in the cause, they readily devolved 
on her the Jabouring oar, because 
they judged that she was the ablest 
to wieldit. Had not Great Britain 
interfered, the whole continent of 
Europe would have been involved 
in war: Britain alone would have 
been at peace. By a conduct the 
most extraordinary, and a destiny 
the most fantastic, Britain alone 
is likely to be at war with France, 
and all the other nations to be at 
peace. France, bounded by the 
Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rhine, and 
the Ocean ; in friendship with Spain, 
and overawing the Italian states, 
wil be mistress of a maritime coast, 
from theseaof Marmoratothe Texel. 
With such internal resources, such 
an extent of coast, the Scheldt, 
Rhine and other rivers, as weil as 
canals for circulating her commerce, : 
it is to be feared that she will over- 
top not only Great Britain, but 
give law to all Europe. But all 
this is the result of those precipi- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
tate counsels which drove the 
French to become a military re« 
public, and gave them power by the 
necessity of exerting it. Our com~ 
merce, flourishing, indeed, for the 
present, beyond all example, yet 
cannot be lasting, being founded, in 
a great measure, on principles of 
injustice. The dominion which is 
arrogated by the British flag at sea, 
cannot possibly fail to be as odious 
to the European nations, as the am~ 
bition of the French at land. The 
trade of the East and West Indies, 
the most valuable in the world, and 
the great stimulant to all commerce, 
is, at present, in our hands: true. 
If, however, this be a great good 
to us, which in the eye of sound 
and moral policy it is not, it isa 
great evil to other nations; to 
whom, as well as to us, the pro- 
ductions of the tropical and other 
distant climates, have, through use, 
become articles of the first ne- 
cessity. Is it to be supposed, that 
the inventive genius of France 
will not, after she shall have made 
peace with the continent, encou- 
raged by the universal discontent, 
jealousy, and resentment, at the 
conduét of Great Britain, fall on 
some means to sap the foundations 
of her naval power, pride, and ty- 
ranny ? Have we not expeéted such 
a combination against us, as was 
formerly excited, by jealousy, envy, 
and cupidity, against Venice ? may 
not an armed neutrality at sea be 
yet formed, more general and more 
firm, in proportion to the growing 
‘tyranny that prompts it? May not 
the French, and the other nations 
on the Mediterranean, excluded 
from the great India-trade, by the 
way of the Cape of Good Hope, 
entertain the project, and in some 
shape, and some time or other, ef- 
fec& 
