GENERAL HISTORY. 



[167 



address, wbo had arrogated all 

 wisdom to the supporters of the 

 war, and ascribed nothing but 

 error to all who, with himself, 

 had thought and acted on opposite 

 principles. He then said, the 

 time was come in which he could 

 tell the noble lord (Castlereagh) 

 that excepting the article respect- 

 ing the slave trade, he had fully 

 and completely deserved that con- 

 fidence which he reposed in him. 

 In his opinion, nothing in the noble 

 lord's conduct did him more honor 

 than having fairly tried the experi- 

 ment of negociating with the then 

 ruler of France ; and though the 

 papers of the negociation at Chatil- 

 ion had not been produced, he was 

 fully convinced that it had been 

 broken off only in consequence 

 of the folly and madness of Buo- 

 naparte himself. There had been 

 IK) evidence of the impracticabi- 

 lity of such a measure till the no- 

 ble lord had tried it ; being then 

 found impracticable, no man more 

 rejoiced iu the restoration of the 

 Bourbons than he did. 



Lord Castlereagh commenced a 

 speech with expressing his grati- 

 tude for the candour and liberal- 

 ity with which he had been treated 

 by the house, both during his ab- 

 sence from it, and now upon his 

 return. He then entered upon 

 euch explanations as might be ex- 

 pected from him, relative to the 

 treaty in which he had been rn- 

 strumental. With respect to the 

 negociations at Chatillon, he could 

 confidently assert, from the means 

 of information afforded during 

 their course, that the mind of the 

 individual who then ruled France 

 was so deeply wounded by the 

 transactions which had occurred, 

 that no secure or durable peace 

 could have been made with him. 



He had, however, felt satisfied, that 

 as long as this person should con- 

 tinue de facto at the head of the 

 French government, there was no 

 other alternative than to treat 

 with him. The house would re- 

 member that he (Lord C.) had 

 gone expressly to treat with him, 

 in conjunction with our allies. 

 The projet which they gave in at 

 Chatillon was framed after he 

 had been successively victori- 

 ous in five engagements, and 

 when a cousideiable uncertainty 

 prevailed as to the final issue of 

 the campaign. At the same mo- 

 ment the allied powers entered 

 into that solemn compact at Chau- 

 mont, by which four of them en- 

 gaged to bring into the field 

 (tOO,0€0 men ; the most important 

 contract that perhaps the history 

 of European diplomacy could fur- 

 nish. An impression had gone 

 abroad, that the negociations at 

 Chatillon had been broken off in 

 consequence of the transactions 

 which had taken place at Bour- 

 deaux ; but this was entirely un- 

 founded. These events were in- 

 deed known at Chatillon, but the 

 progress of the negociations was 

 not suspended until the allies were 

 clearly convinced that Buonaparte 

 was trifling with them. His lord- 

 ship then proceeded to state the 

 principles by which Great Britain 

 had been guided in negociating 

 the treaty under consideration. He 

 said, the language uniformly held 

 by this country to the continent 

 had been, that if the people of 

 Europe were willing to fight for 

 their own liberties, England would 

 stand by them ; but if they shrunk 

 from the contest, then England 

 was determined to do justice to 

 herself, and provide by her own 

 strength for her own security. 



