STATE PAPERS. 



509 



land for the glory and power of 

 the great empire. 



At every opportunity, your ma- 

 jesty made offers of peace, and 

 without considering whether it 

 •would be more advantageous than 

 war : you looked, sir, only to the 

 happiness of the present genera- 

 tion, and you always showed your- 

 self ready to sacrifice toit the most 

 flattering prospects of the future. 

 It was in this spirit that the 

 peace of Campo Formio, of Lune- 

 ville, and of Amiens, and subse- 

 quently of Presburg, of Tilsit, 

 and of Vienna, were concluded ; it 

 was in this spirit that your majesty 

 has five times sacrificed to peace 

 the greater part ofyour conquests. 

 More anxious to adorn your reign 

 by the public happiness, than to ex- 

 tend the frontiers of your empire, 

 your majesty sets bounds to your 

 greatness; while England, keeping 

 the torch of war continually alive, 

 seemed to conspire against her 

 allies as well as herself, to create 

 the greatest empire that has ex- 

 isted for twenty centuries. 



At the peace of 1 783, the power 

 of France was strong in the family 

 compactjwhichcloselyboundSpain 

 and Naples with her pohtical sys- 

 tem. At the peace of Amiens, the 

 respective strength of the three 

 great powers was increased by the 

 addition of twelve milHons of Polish 

 inhabitants. The houses of France 

 and Spain were essentially hostile 

 to each other, and the people of 

 the two countries were removed 

 farther than ever from each other 

 ■ by the difference of their manners. 

 One of the great continental pow- 

 ers had her strength less diminish- 

 ed by the junction of Belgium 

 with France, than it was increased 

 by the acquisition of Venice; the 

 secularizations also of the Ger« 



manic body added more to the 

 power of our rivals. 



Thus, at the conclusion of the 

 treaty of Amiens, the relative force 

 of France wasless thanat thepeace 

 of 1783, and much inferior to that 

 to which the victories obtained 

 during the wars of the two first 

 coalitionsgaveherarighttoexpect. 

 This treaty, however, was scarcely 

 concluded, when the jealousy of 

 England displayed itself strongly. 

 She took the alarm at the increas- 

 ing prosperity and riches of the 

 interior of France ; and she hoped 

 that a third coalition would wrest 

 Belgium, the provinces of the 

 Rhine, and Italy, fromyourcrown. 

 The peace of Amiens was broken ; 

 a third coalition was formed, three 

 months after, it was dissolved by 

 the treaty of Presburg. 



England saw all her hopes blast- 

 ed ; Venice, Dalmatia, Istria, the 

 whole of the Adriatic coast, and 

 that of the kingdom of Naples, fell 

 into the power of France. The 

 Germanic body, established upon 

 principles contrary to those upon 

 which theFrenchempirewas found- 

 ed, dropped to pieces ; and the 

 system of the Confederation of the 

 Rhine transformed inclose and ne- 

 cessary allies the same nations, 

 who in the first coalitions march- 

 ed against France, and united 

 them indissolubly to herself by 

 their common interests. 



The peace of Amiens then be- 

 came, in England, the object of 

 every statesman. The new acqui- 

 sitions byFrance,which there were 

 no hopes of wresting from her at 

 any future time, rendered the fault 

 that was committed more evident, 

 and showed the full extent of it. 



An enlightened man, who during 

 the short interval of the peace of 

 Amiens, visited Paris, and had 



