164] 
dominions. Belgium (to use his 
word) by belonging to France, 
would remove what had been the 
source of all wars for two centuries 
past, and the Rhine, being the na- 
tural boundary of France, would 
ensure the tranquillity of Europe 
for two centuries to come. I 
did not feel it necessary to combat 
this preposterous doctrine; I con- 
tented myself with reminding bim 
of what be had said to me in_one 
of our last conferences, when he 
made a comparison of the weakness 
of France under its monarchs, 
and its strength and vigour under 
its republican form of government. 
“¢ Nous ne sontmes plus dans la dé- 
crépitude de la France monarchique, 
mais dans toutela force dune Repub- 
lique adolescente,” was his expres- 
sion; and I inferred from ,this, ac- 
cording to his own reasoning, that 
the force and power rancehad ac- 
quired by its change of government 
was much greater than it could de- 
rive from any acquisition of terri- 
tory ; and that it followed if France, 
when under a regal form of govern- 
ment, was a very just and constant 
object of attention, not to say of 
jealousy, to the other powers of Eu- 
rope, France (admitttng his axiom) 
was a much more reasonable object 
of jealousy and attention under its 
present constitution than it ever 
had yet been, and that no addition 
to its dominions could be seen by 
its neighbours, but under im- 
pressions of alarm for their own 
future safety and for the general 
tranquillity of Europe. M. De- 
Jacroix’s answer to this was so re- 
markable that I must beg leave to 
insert it in his own words—* Dans 
le tems revolutionatre tout ce que vous 
dites, my lord, etoit vrai—rien wega- 
loit notre puissance ; mais cetems n’ex- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
iste plus. Nous ne powvons plus lever 
la nation en masse pour woler au se- 
cours de la patrie en danger. Nous ne 
pouvons plus engager nos concitoyens 
douvrir leurs bourses pour les verser 
dans le tresor national, et de se priver 
meme du necessaire pour le bien de la 
chose publique’’—And he ended by 
saying, that the Freneh republic, 
when at peace, necessarily must be- 
come the most quiet and pacific 
power in Europe. Lonly observed, 
that in this case the passage of the 
republic from youth to decrepitudg 
had been very sudden; but that still 
I never could admit that it could be 
a matter of indifference toits neigh- _ 
bours, much less of necessary secu- 
rity to itself, to acquire such a very 
extensive addition to its frontiers, 
as that he had hinted at. 
This led M. Delacroix to talk of 
ofiering an equivalent to the Em- 
peror tor the Austrian Netherlands, 
and it was to be found, according 
to his plan, in the secularization 
of the three ecclesiastical electorates, 
and several bishopricks in Germany 
and in Italy. 
He talked upon this subject as 
one very. familiar to him, and on 
which his thoughts had been fre- 
quently employed. 
He spoke of making new elec- 
‘tors, and named, probably with a 
view to render his scheme more 
palatable, the stadtholder and the 
dukes of Brunswick and Wurtem- 
berg, as persons proper to replace 
the three ecclesiastical electors 
which were to be reformed. 
It would be making an ill use 
of your lordship’s time to endea- 
vour to repeat to you all he said 
on this subject; it went in sub- 
stance (as he himself confessed) to 
the total subversion of the present 
constitution of the Germanic body ; 
and 
