Ill T A I N. 



RGElII. 



be- 



n Rus. 

 id 

 ey. 



in 

 en. 



emcnt 



ch Re. 



lion. 



:hcf 

 urkc. 



announced to parliament by the chancellor on the 

 10th of March. Innumerable congratulations reach- 

 ed the throne, from the peers and commons down to 

 the humblest corporations ; a solemn thanksgiving 

 was celebrated through the kingdom ; and in London 

 his Majesty made a public procession to St Paul's, at- 

 tended by both houses of parliament. 



Tkf business of parliament now returned to its 

 usual channel. A supply of jfc'218,000 was voted 

 for fortifying our West India possessions. Mr Fox, 

 persevering in his efforts to obtain the repeal of the 

 shop tax, was at last successful; and the prohibition 

 of the poor pedlars was also abolished. The trial of 

 Mr Hastings proceeded, but with no circumstance of 

 memorable importance. 



War had for some time raged on the eastern fron- 

 tiers of Europe, between the powers of Russia and 

 Austria leagued against the Turks. In this contest, 

 the northern powers of the Continent found them- 

 selves at last involved, either as principals or arbiters. 

 While Denmark allied itself to Russia, Gustavus of 

 Sweden, allured by a subsidy from the Porte, and im- 

 pelled by his ambition and hatred of Russia, had de- 

 clared against the latter power, and sought, when it 

 was too late, to conciliate the Danes. In September 

 1788, the Prince of Denmark invaded Sweden on the 

 side of Norway, and advanced to Gottenburgh with 

 trifling opposition. The governor of the place, and 

 the inhabitants, terrilied at the prospect of a siege, 

 had determined to capitulate ; but Gustavus riding 

 thither with the speed of a courier, reached the place 

 in time to save the capitulation, to displace the go- 

 vernor, and to animate the inhabitants with nobler 

 sentiments. Gustavus assembled the townsmen; he 

 reminded them of the ancient glory of the Swedish 

 arms, and made them promise rather to be buried un- 

 der the ruins than surrender. But from this dreadful 

 trial of their fidelity, the inhabitants were saved by 

 the timely interposition of England, Prussia, and Hol- 

 land. Mr Elliot the British minister at Copenhagen, 

 and Baron Borsche the Prussian envoy, threatened an 

 immediate attack by sea and land on Denmark, if 

 hostilities should proceed. An armistice was fixed, 

 which ended in a treaty of neutrality, ratified in the 

 course of 17^!). 



The party spirit of the nation had, for some years, 

 assumed a milder aspect ; and the questions which had 

 been agitated between ministers and their opponents, 

 though they furnished matter of zealous discussion, 

 had neither involved universal enthusiasm, nor dege- 

 nerated into personal rancour. But the progress of 

 the French revolution began at this period to be 

 viewed by the British nation with an eagerness, that 

 seemed to reawaken, upon the subject of foreign civil 

 wars, all the collision of opinions which had engen- 

 dered our own. The event was foreign, but the ap- 

 plication of its principles came home to ourselves. 

 By the genuine Tories of England, the French revo- 

 lution, even as early as the period of storming the 

 Bastile, was regarded as a horrible event, which would 

 annihilate France as a power in Europe, and consign 

 to similar anarchy and ruin every nation whom the 

 contagion of her politics should affect. " France," 

 said Mr Burke, when he commented on this event in 

 parliament, " France is, in a political light, to be con- 

 sidered as expunged from the system of Europe. 



VOL. IV. PART II. 



Were we absolute conquerors, and France to lie 

 prostrate at our feet, we should blush to impose 

 upon Frenchmen terms so destructive to all their con- 

 sequence as a nation, as the durance they had im- 

 posed upon themselves." He was indignant that any 

 Englishmen should approve of the French revolu- 

 tion, and astonished that they should compare it with 

 our own. Ours was p revolution not made but pre- 

 vented ; theirs was a tempest of anarchy and blood- 

 shed ; the principles of the two events were as dif- 

 ferent as good and evil. Such were the sentimenti 

 delivered by Mr Burke, in a debate which took place 

 on the 9 h of February 1790, upon a subject which 

 would seem to have no direct connection with the 

 French revolution : (on a question of the army esti- 

 mates.) But the minds of men were full of thi 

 subject, and disposed to give vent to their opinions 

 wherever publicity could be obtained. Mr Fox vin- 

 dicated the principles of the great event, as entirely 

 those which had produced our own revolution ; he 

 hailed the emancipation of so many millions of men 

 from tyranny, as a glorious era. France, it was own- 

 ed, required a new constitution, and from whom had 

 she to expect it ? From a king at the head of hi 

 courtiers ? From Broglio, at the head of the army ? 

 From the dungeons of the Bastile ? or, from that 

 spirit in the people which had laid the Bastile in 

 ashes? At this period, Mr Burke, Mr Windham, 

 and some others, who had formerly sided with th" 

 opposition, now ceased to act with them ; but the 

 opinions which Mr Fox had expressed, were sup- 

 ported both in and out of parliament by the genera- 

 lity of those who had maintained the doctrines of 

 Whiggism. Of these arguments and speculations re- 

 specting the French revolution, so recent in the pub- 

 Itc memory, it is needless to give any account. As 

 the tragedy of fFrench affairs grew d-.-eper, much of 

 the sanguine hope of the triumph of liberty was di- 

 minished. But in justice to those who predicted that 

 final triumph, let it be remembered, that as we re- 

 covered our rights after a Cromwell and two suc- 

 ceeding tyrants, so may France yet reeover her's after 

 Bonaparte and his successor. The followers of Mr 

 Burke'e speculation have certainly less reason to ex- 

 pect their prediction to be fulfilled, that France is to 

 be expunged from the system of Europe. 



On the- 5th of May, a message from his Majesty 

 announced the serious intelligence of the prospect 

 of a rupture with Spain. In 1788, a settlement had 

 been made by some of our countrymen at Nootka 

 Sound, on the western coast of America, about the 

 50th degree of latitude. The ground had been pur- 

 chased from the natives ; it had never been visited 

 by Spaniards. In the month of May 1789, two 

 Spanish ships of war arrived in the Sound, and mu- 

 tual civilities passed between the Spanish and British 

 officers ; but, after a frw daya, the Iphigenia was 

 seized by the Spanish commander's orders ; the offi- 

 cers and men were sent on board the Spanish vessel, 

 put in irons, and conveyed to a Spanish port. Ano- 

 ther British vessel was afterwards csptured, the 

 crews imprisoned, and the cargoes sold without for- 

 mal condemnation. Taking possession of the settle- 

 ment of Nootka Sound, the Spanish commander de- 

 clared, in the name of his Catholic Majesty, that all 

 the lands between Cape Horn and the 60th degrer 



Urilain. 

 Gr.of 



Speech of 

 Mr Fox. 



Affair at 

 Nootka 

 Sound be- 

 tween the 

 British and 

 Spaniard'. 



