HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
‘inquiring about the fate of the dif- 
ferent nations of Europe, and find- 
ing that all but England had fallen 
under the power of France ; to this 
supposition he would answer by a 
question, Would not this man have 
also asked who were the ministers 
of England, when all those changes 
happened? If it be asked what 
were the measures which have ren- 
dered France so formidable? It 
may be answered, she was forced 
by our menaces and attacks to make 
extraordinary exertions; and al- 
though the spirit raised in France 
has, in a great measure, subsided; 
yet, the impuis@ being once given, 
she was enabled to continue in the 
same career. He was no advocate 
for France, but agreed with an hon. 
gentleman (Gen. Gascoygne), that 
there were many things which we 
now dislike, but which’ time would 
do more to cure than violence. He 
then considered what had been called 
aggressions on the part of France, 
As to the affair of the German in- 
demnities, every body knew there 
was no other way of effecting them 
but by secularizations. As to Swit- 
zerland, it was in the absolute pos- 
session of France, both at the sign- 
ing of the treaties*of Luneville and 
Amiens ; and as to Piedmont, the 
only change has been, that instead 
of the the 29th Military Depart- 
ment, it is now called Department 
of the Po, or some such name. 
England can never have a military 
force equal to France, but she might 
_make up for that inferiority by a 
superior navy, and by a systematic 
economy, which would enable us 
to remedy that military deficiency. 
The treaty of Amiens recognized 
Trance as a mighty empire, and 
therefore the greatness which was 
25 
J 
then acknowledged, cannot now be 
a ground of quarrel. After the ex- 
perience of the last ten years, he 
did not hope much from connexions 
with German princes; and he did 
not think it generous always to 
be holding out to France that Aus- 
tria was the power on whom we re- 
lied for curbing its ambition. If 
we had a right to be jealous of the 
military power of France, French- 
men had also a right to be jealous 
of our great naval superiority. As 
to the language of the French news- 
papers, he did not think that was 
a ground of war, our own were per- 
haps equally irritating. Some gen- 
tlemen appeared to,think it aggres- 
sion on the part of France to cut @ 
canal, or improve her harbours, 
and advise war, merely to prevent - 
the rivality of French commerce ; 
for his part he had no such dread 
of the rivality of French commerce, 
and considered peace at least as 
saie as war. As to our Commerce 
being supposed to have somewhat 
declined since the war, if that was 
the case, and such an argument 
could be listened to, the argument 
would go for being eternally at war. 
Such were his reasons for support- 
ing the address, and differing trom 
the opinions of a right hon. gentle~ 
man (Mr. Windham.) 
Mr. Archdall replied to the ob- 
servations which had been made by 
Sir Francis Burdett, respecting the 
state of Ireland. 
Mr. Windham eloquently sup- 
ported the opinions he had main- 
tained on a former night. He in- 
sisted that this country had gained 
by the war, as she had preserved 
her constitution and her indepen- 
dence, and at least restrained with- 
in the bounds of Europe, ‘the 
daring’ 
