the day would have been reverfed alfo. The Danes, therefore, have little caufe for exultation. We with not to depreciate their courage, but only to teach them truth and humility. The French Conful has difpatched one of his Aids-de-Camp to Copenhagen for the purpose of employing both threats and perfuafions in order to induce the Danish Government, to renew hoftilities, at the expirati n of the armistice, if not befare; and the offer of a French force will, no doubt, be made, to affrit the Danes, in cafe of a second attack. But the fuccefs of these intrigues muft depend on events which, fortunately for Europe, it is not in the power of this Ufurper to controul. In our domestic concerns, the public attention is almost engrossed by the impending Negociation for Peace. The mild and conciliating language of the new Ministers is universally spoken of in terms of approbation and confidence. But, in the conclusion of so momentous a business, involving such mighty interests, no impatience of expectation should be displayed; the exercise of extreme vigilance, circumspection, and judgment, is indispensi bly necessary. Mr. Pitt and his colleagues had long since specifically declared, that no obstacle to peace could now arise from the form of government in France, but that it had, at length, become a mere question of terms between rival nations. This declaration has been renewed and acted upon by Mr. Addington, and his associates in the Ministry, who have taken means to ascertain, though hitherto without effect, the real disposition of the French Consul on this most important subject. We wish not to anticipate the issue of the negociation, or rather, of the attempt to open a negociation. But we must confidently declare our decided conviction, that, without a strict adherence to one grand principle, no safe or permanent peace can possibly be made with the French Republic, The basis of all negociation must be this either that France shall accede to the principle of the Quo status, and a mutual restitution of all conquests take place; or, that she shall consent to such a retention of conquests by us, as shall give us, not a co-extension of power, not the means of restoring the balance of power in Europe, for that could not be effected by any such treaty, but the ability, in some degree, to cope with her in any future contest, and to prevent her from establishing an universal dominion over every part of the globe. When we consider that she is already in possession of an extent of sca-coast, reaching from the Bay of Naples to the German Ocean, (for the late proclamation of the republican General Murat leaves no room for doubt that the Consul has determined to possess himself of the kingdom of Naples) and that, when her attention shall be directed exclusively to that object, the extraordinary means which she will possess, will enable her, in a comparatively short period, to raise a formidable navy; when we consider, moreover, the resources, which she will derive from her immense accession of territory,* it cannot, we conceive, be denied, that some great extension of our power will be indispensibly requisite to enable us to preserve that relative situation in respect of France, which it has always been necessary for us, not less for the interest of Europe, than for our own safety, to preserve. Should the French be expelled from Egypt, and their expulsion from that country is, as we have invariably represented it to be, an object of primary inportance, we venture to predict that, unless we retain possession of Malta, they will, notwithstanding any treaty that may be concluded, avail themselves of the first favourable opportunity for regaining possession of it. It has been long a fa * Eftimated at 3,140 fquare leagues, and containing 3,793,781 inhabitants!!! vourite vourite project with the French Cabinet, even before the revolution, and they now think it so essential to the injury, if not to the destruction of our Eastern trade and territory, that neither fraud nor force, intrigue nor invasion, will be spared, even during a peace, to accomplish it. Unless the French accede to the principle here suggested, as the only admissible principle of negociation, their insincerity will be manifest to the world. In all their treaties with the Powers of the Continent, they have invariably prescribed their own terms, and these terms have always been raised, by the successes which their arms have obtained pending the negotiation. We now stand in the same situation nearly, in respect of them, in which they stood in respect of those powers. They and their allies have taken nothing from us; we have taken every thing from them; we are masters of the sea; the scanty remnants of their fleets dare not leave their ports; their commerce is annihilated; and, however they may threaten, they have not the means of injuring us. We, then, have doubtless the same right which they had, to prescribe terms; and there are paramount considerations which they had not, that should induce us to insist on such terms as are compatible with the principle before stated; and as they have invariably availed themselves of their superiority to increase their power, they cannot, with any shew of reason, or of fairness, nor without a direct manifes tation of their insincerity, refuse to admit our right, in this respect, to follow their example. Convinced, as we are, that more depends on this peace, than on any treaty, nay on all the treaties of peace which have been heretofore concluded between the two countries; that not merely our own safety and independence, but, in a great degree, the future welfare and happiness of Europe, depend on the wisdom and energy of our councils at this impor tant crisis; we earnestly hope that an extraordinary portion of caution and firmness will be exerted, and that, in the conclusion of a treaty with France, no one of the mighty consequences which it must involve, will be left without its adequate share of attention. The The Legislature have, with a degree of expedition proportioned to the exigency of the case, revived the old law, which had been suffered to ex pire, for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. In the course of the debate on this subject, doubts were started by different members of the opposition as to the existence of proofs to justify so strong a measure. futility of such doubts are sufficiently manifest to us, who are fully acquaint ed with the proceedings of the disaffected, their places of resort, their convivial meetings, their treasonable toasts and publications, their plan of instruc tions to their emissaries, their oaths, and their objects. That men, whose aim is to subvert the established Constitution of the country, overthrow the Throne, and destroy Religion, should not be stopped in their wicked career, by the strong arm of authority, may be consistently maintained by the radical reformers of the age, but will scarcely be allowed by those who have a wish to preserve the existing institutions of society. *One of the mildest of these, but which is sufficiently explanatory of their object, is "the three outs-without Kings, without Nobles, and without Priests." There are others, which exceed, in malignity, the venomous exhalations ofa Robespietre and a Marat! TO CORRESPONDENTS.-The Communications of our various Correspondents will be inferted in the Appendix to the prefent Volume, which will appear on the first of June. N. B. has certainly mifconceived the fcope and tendency of the argument preffed by Academicus, whofe letter we have re-perufed with attention, and find no reason to retract our commendation. Academicus is apprized, that a note is left for him at the place to which his communications are ufually fent. IN TO VOLUME VIII. D'Ivernois on the Causes of Bonaparte's Ufurpation. N the Seventh Chapter of this interefting Work we find the two parties in the Councils engaged in a violent altercation refpecting the forced loan, one of whom infifted on the neceffity of enforcing it, and difplayed a refolution to renew, for that purpose, all those means of terror which had been fo fuccefsfully employed during the life of Robespierre; while the other contended that its unproductivenefs was a decifive proof of its impolicy, and that therefore it ought to be abolished. The last debate on this fubject was on the 9th of of November, 1799, and the fpeeches of the Jacobins on that day were conclusive as to the near approach of a new revolution; but the fudden and unexpected arrival of Buonaparte gave a new turn to affairs, and a new direction to the perjury of the confcript fathers of regenerated France. Speaking of this fortunate Ufurper, the Author fays ; "It appeared that until this day the Jacobins thought themselves fure of him, either through the medium of his brother Lucien, or from his in timate connections with Barras, or else because he had formerly given a teft of his Jacobinifm on the 13th of Vendemaire (1795). They forgot that the Abbé Sieyes had long formed the plan of a new Conftitution which he was anxious to fubmit to trial in France, and which provided a place for a Supreme Head well calculated to fatisfy the ambition of a younger fon of a Corsican family. "This was too bold and daring an enterprize not to be pleafing to Bonaparte. As foon as he had fworn, in concert with the High Priest, the deftruction of their old affociates, he prolonged their fecurity by a fraternal invitation, which no doubt appeared to him to be nothing more than a mere rufe de guerre. On the 15th of Brumaire (November 6) he invited all the members of both Councils to a fuperb feaft in the Temple of Victory, where he drank to the reunion of all Frenchmen, and was one of the first who left the table in order to join the confpirators. "He was right in accelerating the execution of his plan, for fome of the victims boafted of having difcovered it on that day. Accordingly nothing was fo unlike a feast as this dinner; all the Journalists dared to fay of it was, that it was necessary to know when to be filent, but that they would fpeak of it, at a proper time and place.* Every man understood their filence and conftrued it properly. Fixus quifque toro, tacita formidine libat * Le Bien-Informé of the 16th Brumaire. APPENDIX, VOL. VIH, « General "General Jourdan is faid to have been the only perfon invited who fuf pected an ambuscade and refused to attend the Civic banquet. It fhould be remembered that, two centuries before, a fimilar fufpicion had faved fome of the Proteftant leaders from the maffacre of Saint Bartholomew, at the feafts of reunion and peace to which they were invited by Catherine of Medicis. The Italian and French character do not amalgamate very well. The laft, with their natural impetuofity, will always be duped by the dif fimulation of the first, and will fuffer themfelves to be hurried on to the commiffion of crimes with the fame facility with which these prepare the means and conceal the hand which directs the blow. 66 Although the Prefidents of the two Councils were among the chiefs of the confpiracy, and this circumftance was of material fervice to the cause, the principal difficulty confifted in fecuring the troops. Neither the Directory, nor the Council of Five Hundred would have confented to give the command of them to Bonaparte, and a motion to that effect would only have ferved to put them on their guard. After much confideration, it was deemed more prudent to make a private application to the cabal in the Council of Elders, who convened an extraordinary meeting of the Council, without giving any notice of it to thofe members whose oppofition they dreaded. "On the morning of the 18th of Brumaire, Cornet informed the members who were affembled, that the poniards of the anarchifts were suf pended over their heads, and that the only means of preventing a general maffacre, was inftantaneously to remove the fittings of the two Councils to fome place at a distance from Paris, and to entrust the armed force to fome General who was capable of faving the Republic. It was not necessary for the orator even to finish his fpeech; for, on his recital of the dreadful dangers to which they were expofed, his colleagues adopted the measures which he fuggefted, and confided to Bonaparte the fafety of the National Reprefentation. Being fummoned before them, he devoted himfelf to their orders, and encreased their alarm by faying,-" Look not to the past for examples to retard your progress. Nothing in hiftory bears any resemblance to the clofe of the 18th century. The Republic was on the brink of deftruction; you faw her danger; and your decree has faved her. Woe be to those who would fain promote trouble and diforder! I will apprehend them, with the affiftance of General Lefebure, General Berthier, and all my companions in arms.*" The * "Roederer, who was the real confident of Bonaparte, has fapplied us ith fome authentic particulars of this firft fcene of the drama. He adnits in his book, that the plan of liberation was prepared in filence by twenty Deputies, whofe names he takes care to point out to the gratitude of the nation, even while he frankly calls them CONSPIRATORS. He adds, that these men repaired on the 7th of November to the refidence of the Prefident of the Elders, where it was determined to convene an extraordinary meeting of that Council in the night of the Sth, and not to fummon those members who might interrupt the difcuffion. "The General's Confident alfo informs us, that he was not ignorant of the decree which the Elders were to pass, and that he waited for it at home, SURROUNDED BY A NUMEROUS STAFF, until he should be informed that it bad paffed. .. This The act which was put into his hands, and which he thus dignified with the title of decree, was illegal and null, if ever act were fo; not but that the Elders had a right to remove the fittings of the Legislative Body out of the capital, but that this act could only become valid by being approved and promulgated by the Directory: befides the right of chufing a Generaliffimo was exclufively vefted in the Directory; or, if either of the Councils could recommend a perfon to be chofen, it was the Council of Five Hundred, in which the right of propofing fuch measures was vefted by the Conftitution. Accordingly, the furprize of this Council was extreme, when, being affembled fome hours after, they received from the Elders the meffage which announced the discovery of a new conspiracy, the kind of dictatorship which had been conferred on Bonaparte, and the inftantaneous adjournment of the Legislative Body to Saint-Cloud. The meffage was scarcely read, when the General's brother, who happened to be Prefident, put an end to the fitting, as if this notification was, of itself, fufficient to render all further debates at Paris illegal. The Jacobins were fo aftonished that they did not recollect that all that had yet been done was informal. They found themselves difmiffed by furprize, and it was not until they began to make preparations for their departure for Saint-Cloud, that they perceived how eafy it would have been for them to defeat the whole confpiracy in the morning, by paffing a fentence of profcription on their Prefident, the pretended Generaliffimo, and all officers who fhould acknowledge him for their commander. But Bonaparte, who, thanks to his faithful Lefebure, had already gained over the Directorial guard, now drew up the whole of the Pretorian guards, who never thought of examining the validity of the brevet which he produced, and which the Council of Five Hundred had not even attempted to difpute. Exclamations of Long live Bonaparte! were heard wherever he appeared, and it has been afferted, that when he first heard them in the Tuilleries, he turned to his attendants, and coolly obferved-we are faved. He had good reason for saying so, for victory was infallible. "He learnt, however, the very next day, on his arrival at Saint-Cloud, that fome members of the Elders repented of having gone a little too far, and he endeavoured to encourage them by the following harangue. "Representatives, you are not now under ordinary circumftances; you are upon a volcano. I was tranquil at Paris at the time when I received the decree which told me of the dangers of the Republic. I inftantly called on, and found my military brethren, and we came to offer you the arms of the nation because you were its head. If I had wifhed to ufurp the fupreme power, I fhould not have stood in need of this authority from the Senate. More than once, and in circumstances extremely favourable, have I been urged to affume it, by the voice of the nation, and by that of the troops who have been fo ill-treated ever fince they ceased to be under my orders." "This fact, which was ftrongly fufpected, is only curious becaufe the hiftoriographer, by attefting it, gives the lie direct to his hero, who told the Elders the next day but one, that he was tranquil at Paris when be received their decree. "So little tranquil was he, that his proclamations to the troops were already compofed and printed even before the law, by which he was proclaimed Generaliffimo, was propofed in the Council of Elders.” |