HISTOllY OF EUROPE. 



[95 



Macbeth, it must be soon over- 

 thrown. By entering into any 

 negociation now, we should only 

 throw a damp on the minds of our 

 countrymen, introduce discord into 

 the councils of our allies, and consoli- 

 dateapower,whichwouldafterwards 

 be employed for our destruction. 



Mr. Erskine, having read over 

 his majesty's message, said, it was 

 plain that they were called upon 

 not to advise his majesty on the fit- 

 ness of an armistice, or of an im- 

 mediate negociation, but to ratify 

 or condemn the policy and fitness 

 of the specific answers which mi- 

 nisters, on their own authority, had 

 previously sent to France. " His 

 mjijesty entertained the fullest con- 

 fidence that those answers will ap- 

 pear to this house to have been con- 

 forraabletothatlineofconductwhich 

 was required from his majesty on 

 this occasion, by his regard to all 

 the most important interests of his 

 dominions." No materials had been 

 laid before the house to enable it to 

 judge of the fitness of an immediate 

 armistice, or even of an unqualified 

 acceptance of an immediate nego- 

 ciation, because the one and the 

 other, might depend on our engage- 

 ments with other countries, and 

 the actual position of the war. But, 

 to judge of the unfitness of the an- 

 swer, the answer itself furnished a 

 sufficient foundation ; because un- 

 der no circumstances, and at no 

 time, could such an answer be either 

 wise, or decent, from the ministers 

 of any nation, to any possible pro- 

 fession of conciliation and peace. 

 It was rash, insolent and provoking, 

 without necessity. It was danger- 

 ous, as a precedent, to the univer- 

 sal interests of mankind. It re- 

 jected the very idea of peace, as if 



peace were a curse, and the de-* 

 mand of negociation an insult ; and 

 held fast to war, as if war were an 

 inseparable adjunct to the prospe- 

 rity of nations. The question was, 

 not whether the original or present 

 effects of the Frenchrevolution were 

 beneficial or dangerous, but what 

 was our own policy and duty as 

 connected with their existence. — 

 The American revolution when it 

 first broke out, was inveighed 

 against by its opponents in the 

 same extravagant and useless decla- 

 mations. But it had been asked 

 very projierly by an eloquent mem- 

 ber of that house, Mr. Bui-ke, 

 " What, in God's name, are you 

 to do with it ?" Had ministers yet 

 been able, by eight years invective, 

 to mitigate the evils of the French 

 revolution. On the contrary, af- 

 ter, in a manner, creating the worst 

 of them, they had prevented them 

 from subsiding, and provoked most 

 of the excesses which now furnished 

 the pretexts of perpetual and un- 

 availing war. Wliat Mr. Erskine 

 wished principally to impress on the 

 house, as a caution not to let slip 

 the present auspicious period, was, 

 that when ministers, at various 

 periods of the wai*, had been pres- 

 sed not to repel peace by general 

 objections to the capacity of France 

 to maintain the relations of peace 

 and amity, they had, by persisting in 

 that ii-rational system, produced the 

 very evils which the war was enter- 

 ed on to avert. Our enemies uni- 

 formly increased in strength, keep- 

 ing pace, on their side, with the 

 hostile mind on our's, and which 

 every day became more severe and 

 unrelenting. In this manner we 

 conducted ourselves till Holland was 

 overrun ; the Netherlands annexed 



