necessary to state particularly the steps which had been taken by his majesty and his ally, the emperor, at an early period of the contest.

In March 1796, an offer had been made to treat in that way which had been sanctioned by usage, and the general experience of nations. The offer was met on the part of the enemy, by advancing a preliminary of such a nature that no man could seriously justify and support it. The answer to Mr. Wickham was founded upon what France chose to call the law by which she was bound.What law? A law of their own making, a mere internal regulation! a principle, annulling all treaties, in open defiance of the rights of Europe, and the received maxims of nations!

It is stated (continued Mr. Pitt), that his majesty the emperor, in spite of that answer, shewed himself ready to co-operate with his Britannic majesty in the same desirable pursuit. This offer was made immediately after the armistice in the beginning of this eventful year. -How was this offer received? In the same manner as our own was treated and the result was, that the directory gave no credit to his sincerity; but stated, that if he was serious, he might send a plenipotentiary to Paris, to treat with them in a manner consistent with the laws in France.

His majesty has told the world, that notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, yet, in hopes that the calamities of war might at last create a disposition in the enemy which might lead to peace, he again renewed his proposal for opening a negotiation in another form, The next mode which was adopted, was an application through the medium of a neutral minister:-the minister of the court of Denmark

made this application in the name of his Britannic majesty, merely to know if they would send passports for a plenipotentiary to be sent by his majesty to Paris.-How was this application received?-For some time no answer was made. At last, the Danish minister was informed, not by a written answer to a written note, but verbally, that if a minister arrived, they might send him passports when he arrived at their frontiers. If there had been the most remote desire on the part of his majesty and his ministers to retard the negotiation, was not this (said Mr. Pitt) enough to justify them in abandoning their attempt? But so anxious were they to obtain the blessing of peace, that they resolved to surmount these difficulties, and a flag of truce was sent over, charged with a commission similar to what had been given to the Danish minister. After a time, the request was granted by the French govern❤ ment, not willingly, but of necessity. The first object of the plenipotentiary was, to do what was conformable to common sense and established usage; to fix some ac knowledged basis, upon which each party might come forward wih some degree of certainty of obtaining the desired object: the basis proposed was-"That compensation should be made to France for proportionable restitutions from his majesty's conquests on that power, for those arrangements to which she should be called upon to consent, in order to satisfy the just pretensions of allies, and to preserve the political balance in Europe."-Was there any thing to be found (said Mr. Pitt) of low sordid interest in this?-We proposed to give up what the valour of England had acquired? not to aggrandize ourselves in any other manner, but to preserve our good faith to

those

:

those who had a right to rely upon it, Here an additional proof was given of the inveterate disposition of the enemy; before it could be understood that this was meant to be rejected, they make a call on his majesty's plenipotentiary for his ultimatum in twenty-four hours; this, however, from some unknown prudential reason, was not insisted on; still this basis was not agreed to. His majesty's ministers nevertheless persevered at last the French unequivocally acknowledged and received it, and thus afforded the strongest proof of the basis being fair and reasonable. It being accepted, the next question was, what should be the particular terms? According to the established usage of negociation, particular terms are never mentioned by either party at the onset yet, notwithstanding all the advantages that had been given up, and all the concessions that had been made, what was the demand of the enemy? That the plenipotentiary should specifically bring forward the terms of the British cabinet. It was needless to state how great the difficulties in bringing forward terms were in all cases; and in all times it had been usual to divide them, and each party had of fered them as nearly at the time as possible. There was in any other mode a material advantage conceded, especially when one party was thus called upon to give the value at which he estimated the conquests he had made; and how much more was this advantage augmented, when no real individual benefit was to be derived to the party making the proposition, and when he had to struggle against a rooted animosity on the part of the enemy. Notwithstand ing all these discouragements, the plenipotentiary, in conformity to the established basis, delivered in two

confidential notes, one signed and the other not, but inclosed in that which was signed; the first, relating to the terms of peace between this country and France; the other, comprehending the interests of his majesty's allies. his majesty's allies. In the first paper mutual cessions were proposed and demanded. By a tide of adverse fortune on the continent, which afterwards, indeed, was in a considerable degree reversed, a great part of the emperor's dominions, and some German principalities, remained in the possession of the French. On the other hand, by a similar run of success on the part of this country, the valour of his majesty's forces gave us almost all the colonial possessions of the enemy, a success of which there are but two instances in the history of this country. In such circumstances, what was this country to do? The ministers, sensible of the temporary evils arising from the war, the occasional stagnation of commerce, and the embarrassments attending public and private credit, still felt that these distresses did not proceed from the cause to which they had been so often attributed: they were sensible also of the truth of what some gentlemen had been pleased to esteem a paradox, that accidental embarrassments produced no permanent distress, and perceived that when these were removed, the situation of the country gave us some well-grounded intimation of the real source, and that a spirit had been shewn which never had been exceeded. Mr. Pitt assured the house, that he did not state these circumstances to give any one an idea that he did not wish for peace, but to shew that we were not fallen into so deplorable a state of wretchedness as to be compelled to make any dishonourable

nourable compromise. What, on the other hand, said he, was the situation of the enemy? At first they were enabled to employ gigantic means, which from their nature could not be permanent: they found also the expedient of disseminating new and instructive principles. It was unnecessary to recur to the subject of French finance: he might, however, suppose that the admissions of the executive directory were true, when officially conveyed in the form of a message to one of their councils. We were told by themselves that the only pay of their troops were the horrors of nakedness and famine; that their state contractors, their judges, and all other public functionaries received no part of their salaries; that the roads were impassable, and the hospitals neglected; and nothing, in short, remained in a state of organization, but murder and assassination. Was this a true picture drawn by themselves, and could this be a time for Europe to prostrate itself at the foot of France ?

He then proceeded to consider what he had determined under the above circumstances;-not the return of ancient possessions, not for liberty to maintain our independence, to reject the fraternal embrace, and prevent the organization of treason; these did not rest upon the permission of the enemy, they depended upon the patriotism of the people of England: we only desired to preserve our good faith inviolate, and were ready to sacrifice all our own advantages to obtain what we could not honourably give away without the consent of the emperor. Whatever might have been his disposition to peace, would he have been content to agree to inferior terms when the campaign was not yet closed, when the enemy was

struck with the effects of the glorious success with which the imperial arms had lately been attended on the Rhine, when the exertions in Italy might have been expected to communicate to the affairs of Austria, in that quarter, the same tide of victory by which the frontiers of Germany were distinguished? By the terms proposed, all the territory between the Rhine and the Moselle was to be ceded by France, subject to future modification. When the French conquests in Italy were stated as objects of restitution, it was not inferred that Savoy and Nice were included, for in no geographical view could they be considered as component parts of that country. All the propositions underwent discussion between the plenipotentiary and the minister. Only as to the Netherlands, his majesty could on no account retract any part of his propositions! but every thing else was subject to modification. As to the value of the French possessions which we offered to give up, it must be confessed that the same evils with which France had been afflicted extended to the colonial possessions; but after all they were of infinite importance to France: the most. valuable part of St. Domingo, the military and commercial advantages of Martinique, the favourable situation of St. Lucia, the importance of Tobago to this country, when we combined them together, it might be doubted whether there was not some degree of boldness on the part of ministers to make such overtures; we might suspect the wisdom of the measure rather than cavil at the insincerity of the offer.

Mr. Pitt requested the further attention of the house on the subject of Holland: it had been (he said) our ally, and its protection was one of the causes of our entering into

the

the war: yet as circumstances had occurred which had compelled Holland to become our enemy, he must consider her in the relation to which she stood respecting. France; not that he forgot she formerly had been an ally, whose friendship was attended with reciprocal advantages to herself and to this country: and if it were possible to replace Holland in the situation in which she formerly had stood, and to restore her legitimate government permanently, such a restitution would redound to our advantage.

But with respect to the principle of compensation to Holland, nothing better could have been adopted than not to give Holland a part of the foreign possessions we had taken from her, which she had no right to ask for herself, nor France to demand for her. These possessions were to be retained, that they might not become acquisitions to the French government, nor afford them means of carrying into effect the plan they had conceived of undermining our Indian empire, and destroying our Indian commerce, by wresting out of our hands the bulwark of the wealth of this country and the security of the eastern nations. At the same time, our offers were liberal, when we consented to give up all that we had taken, reserv. ing one subject only for consider ation which depended on a treaty, and we asked no more than we were bound by justice and honour to de. mand. All that he wished parliament to pronounce, was, that they would add their testimony to the sincerity with which his majesty had endeavoured to restore peace to Europe, and their approbation of the steps employed for its attainment.

Mr. Pitt then reverted to the studied perverseness of the French government. When a courier (he said)

had been dispatched to Paris, at the instance of a minister of a neutral power, to get a passport, it was denied; the request of the Danish minister was not enough; nothing would satisfy them but a British minister; a British minister was sent; at the commencement of the negotiation, he had occasion frequently to send dispatches to his court, because it is well known that there are a great number of difficulties attending the opening of every negotiation, and because lord Malmesbury had been sent to Paris before the preliminaries were arranged.

Whilst they were settling, lord Malmesbury's presence was barely. endured, but no sooner were they settled, and the minister delivered in a projet, no sooner was the period for discussion arrived, when the presence of an ambassador was particularly necessary, and when the king's ministers announced that he was prepared to enter into the discussion, than he was ordered to leave Paris, and the negotiation to be carried on by the means of couriers.

Such was the precise form in which a studied insult was offered to his Britannic majesty!

The plain ground on which the question rested was this; after an ultimatum had been demanded; after the minister had been ordered to leave the territories of France; after a retraction by the directory of the original basis of negociation, and the substitution of a new one in its place, they demanded, not as an ultimatum, but as a preliminary, to retain all those territories of which the chance of war had given them a temporary possession, and respecting which, they thought proper, (contrary to the laws of nations) to pass a constitutional law, declaring that these should not be alienated from the republic. After expatiat

ing much upon what he called "a perverse and monstrous claim," he remarked, that the annexation of territory to any state by the government of that state during the continuance of the war in which it had been acquired, could never convey a claim, superseding the treaties of other powers, and the known and public obligations of the different nations of Europe. It was impossible that the separate act of a separate government could dissolve the ties subsisting between other governments, or extend to the abrogation of treaties previously concluded; yet, this had been the pretension to which the French government laid claim, and the acknowledgement of which they had held out as a preliminary of negociation to the king of Great Britain and his allies.

There was no principle of the law of nations clearer than this; that when, in the course of war, any nation acquired new possessions, that such nation had only temporary right to them, and that they do not become property till the end of the war; for, supposing the conqueror to insist upon retaining them, because he had passed a law, that they should not be alienated, might not the neighbouring powers, or even the hostile power, ask who gave him the right to pass it? or what authority had he, as a separate state, by any annexation of territory, to cancel existing treaties, and destroy the equilibrium established amongst nations? Were this pretension tolerated, it would be a source of eternal hostility, and a perpetual bar to negociation between the contending parties, because the pretensions of the one would be totally irreconcileable with those of the other: this, in the instance of France, had been as inconsistent in its operations, as it had been unfounded in its origin:

the possessions which they had lost in the war in the West Indies, they had made dependent parts of the republic. Tobago, which was still retained by British arms, and had also been lost in the course of the war, was made a part of indivisible France; nor should he be surprized to hear, that Ireland, in consequence of their intention to invade it, was constitutionally annexed to the republic!

He acknowledged there was a distinction between the Netherlands and the West India islands; but it happened that this principle of law was least applicable to those possessions upon which it was held out as operating upon the government, and that the Austrain Netherlands, even by the letter of their own constitution, ought to be exempted. He recommended it to gentlemen to read the report upon which the decree was founded, in which they would find it had been passed for the avowed purpose of obtaining for France an indisputable ascendancy in Europe, and of suppressing the trade and commerce of rival nations.

Overlooking, however, the principle of the decree, if it were found inapplicable to the possessions of the French in the Indies, it was certainly much more so to the Netherlands; and in holding out the principal as operating upon the latter, and not the former, it was applied to that part of their territory to which it was least applicable. Allowing, however, that it was a principle of their constitution, was it an evil without remedy? No. M. Delacroix confessed it might be remedied; but not without the inconvenience of calling the primary assemblies.

And were we then, after all our exertions to obtain peace, after be