84] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



vemraents, and to pleatl the cause 

 of those whose aggressions had ori- 

 ginally provoked the war. Had 

 Buonaparte been really desirous of 

 peace, is it not probable that he 

 M'ould have taken advantage of the 

 invitation which he had just read, 

 to announce his dereliction of those 

 principles and objects which had 

 hitherto guided the different go- 

 vernments in France, and to con- 

 firm those professions which he 

 had made through Boulay de la 

 Meurthe? This organ, Boulay de la 

 Meurthe, is, however, ordered to 

 reinounce them when no negocia- 

 tion is depending : but his organ, 

 Talleyrand, when negociation is 

 depending ; when he is invited to 

 renounce them ; and when the 

 renunciation of them might remove 

 an obstacle to peace — his organ, 

 Talleyrand, is then ordered to adopt 

 and justify them. Lord Borring- 

 don asked if that looked like a sin- 

 cere desire of continuing the peace. 

 Lord Romney had little faith to 

 place in Buonaparte's professions. 

 The chief consul might mean by 

 these merely to perplex our govern- 

 ment, and to render himself popular 

 at home. But, in this case, we 

 had laboured that he might gain his 

 end. We certainly should have 

 entered into negociation, and seen 

 what terms he would have offered 

 us. We should have said, " We 

 formerly made propositions of peace 

 to you, let us now hear the nature 

 of yours." From this, no bad con- 

 sequence could have followed. All 

 military operations were suspended 

 at any rate, and the preparations 

 might have gone on with equal 

 vigour for next campaign. If the 

 terms offered by Buonaparte should 

 have been unreasonable, they might 

 have been rejected, with disdain. 



The odium of continuing the wstt 

 would thus have been thrown on 

 Buonaparte, and every Englishman 

 would have contributed with cheer- 

 fulness to carry it on. 



The earl of Carlisle said, that, 

 by carrying on the war, their lord- 

 ships had obtained every object 

 they had proposed to themselves 

 in beginning it^ We had destroyed 

 that monster which preyed on the 

 vitals of the constitution, and 

 threatened its existence. We had 

 checked the career of the conquests 

 of France. We had obtained se- 

 curity, and security we should con- 

 tinue to enjoy, by continuing the 

 war, and in this way only. He 

 was confident that to enter into 

 a negociation at present would be 

 to ruin the country, and would there- 

 fore vote heartily for the address. 

 As to the violent answers that had 

 been returned to the overtures of 

 the French government, ministers 

 might not improbably have reasons 

 to justify these, unknown to their 

 lordships. He thought very highly 

 of ministers. They had, by their 

 prudence and steadiness, saved the 

 country, which would inevitably 

 have been ruined, had the oppo- 

 sition been allowed to carry into 

 execution their impolitic projects. 



Lord Holland made the follow- 

 ing, among a great variety of ob- 

 servations : — One great point w^as 

 now ascertained by the correspon- 

 dence, which, in a most important 

 degree, changed the relative situa- 

 tion of the two powers. We could 

 no longer say, as formerly, that 

 the continuance of the war was 

 to be ascribed to the avowed ani- 

 mosity of the enemy. It was not 

 said, now, that the enemy would 

 not make or listen to overtures: 

 but, that the English ministers did 



