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Earl Fitzwilliam

Lord Erskine

LIST OF HIS MAJESTY'S MINISTERS AS IT STOOD IN JUNE, 1806,

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Sir Samuel Romilly

Duke of Bedford

Right hon. George Ponsonby Right hon. William Elliot

Right hon. John Newport

Solicitor general.

PERSONS OF THE MINISTRY OF IRELAND.

Lord lieutenant,

Lord high chancellor.

Chief secretary.

Chancellor of the excheque

VOL. IX. No. 1.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1806.

[PRICE 100.

"Will ye NOW hear, O foolish people, which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not ?"— JER. chap. V. v. 21.

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SUMMARY OF POLITICS.

Will nothing, oh, people of England, short of destruction itself, convince yon that you are on the road to destruction? Will you, in spite of the awful admonition of events, in spite of experimental conviction, in spite of truths that you acknowledge, still listen to the falsehoods of your deceivers ? When we look back upon the year that has just past over our heads; when we recal to mind the occurrences of the winter and the spring; when we think of the conduct of Lord Melville and of the efforts made in his behalf by those who are still entrusted with the management of our affairs; when we recur to the enormous grants in pensions and in s necure places, during last year, and reflect upon the numerous and heavy taxes imposed upon us; when we recollect the boasts, the vaunting promises, of the ministers, and compare them with the events of the war: after such a retrospect, is it possible for us not to be impressed with the most serious apprehensions for the future? Can there be, in the whole nation, one sensible man, who does not perceive, that, unless some great change speedily takes place, this country must fall beneath the power of its enemy? Can there be one such ruan, who any longer entertains the hope of seeing that power resisted by our present councils and our present system; by those councils and by that system, coeval with which the power of France has been constantly increasing, her conquests pushing forward, first into idolland, across all those memorable barriers, which the courage of our ancestors and the wisdom of former statesmen had raised and maintained against her; next, to the banks of the Whine, taking in, on that side, the countries and the fortresses that had ever been a formidable and an effectual check to her Encroachments; next, across the Alps, that obstacle to her attempts upon Italy, and, continuing on to the Po and the Adige, connecting, finally, by a solemn act of sovereignty, the whole country to the dominions of France; and, lastly, by the operations of only one campaign, carrying her arms and her municipal authority, from the

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confines of Switzerland to those of Hungary, and extending her absolute sway, from the latter country, including its capital, westward to the Rhine, and from the Danube southward to the Mediterranean sea. With this map of the progress of French power before his eyes, and with his mind duly impressed with the persuasion, that the whole force of this mighty empire, fed by inexhaustible resources of every description, directed by those talents under which so many numerous armies have fallen, and waiting patiently for the hour of advantage; thus seeing and thus persuaded, what man, having any pretensions to understanding, and unbribed by his selfishness, will say, that there is hope of salvation for the country, under the present councils and system? -Blind-folded, and descending gradually, we arrive, without a sense of danger, at the bottom of a precipice, which, to have viewed from the top, would have terrified us from making the first step. If, just a century ago, in the princely and glorious reign of Queen Anne, when, (with an annual revenue of only four millions) England was the arbitress in the affairs of Europe; when, laying all petty considerations aside, she stood forward, upon the great principles of public law, to maintain the balanced power of Europe, and thereby to preserve her rising generation from the dangers attendant upon the aggrandizement of France; when her armies were, on the one side, fighting the battles of Austria in the fields of Spain, and when, on the other, they were, in conjunction with the Austrians, defeating, routing, the grani French army and taking their general, upon the very spot, which is just witnessed the surrender of the grand Austriau army at the summons of the Merch; when, so honourable, so generous, so just, were the views, so open and so wise was the conduct, and so great was the name of England, that, whether in political or military arrangements, councils and senates waited for the communication of her wi!!; when at the Hague and at Vienna no great measure of state was adopted without the approbation of the English cabinet, no measure

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told, that three hundred thousand Austrians and two hundred thousand Russians were actually in the field; they were led to believe that the allies were victorious, they were anxiously waiting for the news of Buonaparte's overthrow, at the very moment that he was conquering the grand army of our friends; and, while the allied army was

of war without that of the English general: if, in the times which immediately succeeded this glorious epoch, men could have foreseen whereunto the funding and taxing system would finally lead; if they could have foreseen, that it would, at last, fall into the hands of a man, formed by nature for pushing it to its utmost bounds, and giving to it all its powers of sapping, of sub-fleeing through Vienna and that of the verting, and of destroying; if they could have foreseen this, they, surely, would have recoiled with horror, and have hastily retracted their steps. This foresight they, unhappily, had not; and, their sons descended imperceptibly to the state in which they were found by Mr. Pitt. Since his time the descent has been rapid indeed! But, such is the nature of the system, and so sedulously has its means of giving ministerial power been attended to, that the reason and spirit of the nation, after now. and-then an ineffectual struggle, seem to have been finally subdued by it.-If, however, there remain the means of restoration; if the sentence that appears to be pronounced upon us be not irrevocable; if there be yet a possibility of our resisting that power which now aims at erasing the very name of England from the list of independent nations; if the time for exertion be not entirely passed, there is not a moment to be lost in improving the little that remains. Let no man hope, that, because Napoleon is now at the further end of Europe, he will never return; let no man hope, that, if he should be cut off, he will not find a successor. It is France that has resolved upon the conquest of England; and, if we are not willing to become the slaves of Frenchmen, we must instantly determine upon, and steadily pursue the means of frustrating that resolution. The continent of Europe is now at the feet of France. There is no reason to suppose that it will stir again for twenty years. This fatal war, into which the allies were precipitated by the councils of Mr. Pitt, has cut off the shance of any diversion on that side; and, every man has already concluded, that we shall, alone, have to maintain the contest with the conqueror of the continent.Amongst all the mischiefs of the present system, amongst all the causes that tend to our ruin and our subjugation, none is more efficient than the delusion practised upon the people by the influence of a hireling press. From the commencement of the war upon the continent to the present day, the people have never been able to form a correct opinion of the dangers that awaited them. Before the battles began, they were

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Archduke was secking shelter in the wilds of Croatia, they believed that the French were falling into a snare. They saw, indeed, our nearest and best ally fleeing in haste from his capital; they saw Napoleon in the pa lace of Maria Theresa; they saw the Eperor of Germany bending his course to find refuge beyond the confines of Germany itself; they saw his provinces, his kingdoms occupied, and their municipal governments organized by the French: yet, they were told to believe, and they did believe, that all was prosperous, and that the enemy was about to be cut off, though backed by army upon army from the banks of the Rhine to those of the Schwartz; and, at last, when the allies had been engaged, when they had been completely defeated, when their ar mies wore half destroyed or captured, and when the two Emperors had bowed themselves down before Buonaparté; even then was this deluded nation induced to believe, that the allies had been completely victorious. The means of deception employed in the course of the campaign can here be spoken of only in general terms; but, those made use of in the last-mentioned instance demand remarks somewhat more in detail. The work of delusion had been theretofore left to the hirelings of the press; but, their falsehoods having so often been detected, the government itself interfered; and, on the 17th of December, began its operations by a publication, in the form of a bulletin, of accounts received at the offices. Where are we now to look for the grounds upon which those accounts were given? Where for that defeat of the French right wing, said to be mentioned in Sir Arthur Paget's dispatch? Where for the loss of 27,000 French, on the 2d of December, together with all their artillery? Where for the rejected armistice proposed by Napoleon? Where for those victories, which were gained by the allies on the 3d and 4th, and which were given with such detail, in the government bulletin of the 19th of December, that it seemed to savour of obstinacy not to believe the facts? Where are we now to look for the cause of the enthusiasm of joy at Berlin? Where for the glorious effects of the cheering presence and

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"the world. But that our reasoning was,

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at least, as just, and our conclusions as probable, as those with which events have "coincided, is sufficiently evinced by the

surprise with which the confirmation of "the adverse intelligence was yesterday re"ceived; and, indeed, many well-informed "gentlemen, can even yet hardly bring "themselves to credit the accounts thus "officially published by the government of "France." And thus they adduce, as a proof of the soundness of their reasoning, the surprise which never would have existed had it not been for the promulgation of their falsehoods. They first, by their hireling means, deceive the people; and, when the deception is dissipated by events, they bring forward the opinions of the people, opinions arising from that deception, in justification of their conduct. But, it is their calumnies; their at ouce impudent and cowardly calura nies, that the nation is called upon to resent, and that it will resent, if it does not deserve all, and more than all, that the councils of the Pitts and Dundases have brought upon it.

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animating example of the Emperor Alexander, who rode through the ranks of his army crying" victory or death," and who was answered by acclamations from his troops, that " they never would forsake their Emperor?" And, finally, where are we to look for the agreeable news, contained in the letter to BARON JACOBI, and, for the authenticity of which letter the SUN and COURIER newspapers have declared, that they had AUTHORITY to pledge themselves? And, what are we to think of a government capable of making such publications ?With a view of preventing detection, the partizans of the ministry have had recourse to accusations and abuse against all those, who have endeavoured to stem the torrent of delusion; accusations the most false and abuse the most foul. They have accused us of wishing for that which we feared; they have charged us with disaffection to our country and its cause; they have called us malcontents and traitors; and, because I gave it as my opinion, that even the glorious victory of Trafalgar would have no material effect with regard to the final result of the war, I was pointed out as an object for prblie detestation, and for the vengeance of the Jaw-During the whole of Mr. Pitt's administration, from his first scaling the walls of power to the present day, his partizans have represented as traitors all those who disapproved of his measures; but, it was not till of late, that they made use of the term. This term they have recently ap'plied, not only to the public writers opposed to him, but also to those statesmen and legislators, who, from their disapprobation of his conduct and his schemes, are denominated the Opposition. In proportion as the measures of the ministry have been foolish, in that same proportion have been the endeavours to stifle inquiry: to bully, to brow-fal experieuce, we anticipated nothing but beat, to frown out of countenance; to awe into silence; to terrify by the most cowardly and execrable means. And now, when the hirelings of the press stand at the bar of the public, detected and convicted of the most infamous falsehoods; even now, they have the audacity to repeat their calumnious accusations. Let those," say they, “who, "from party motives, opposed us upon this "occasion, glory in their triumph, and "exult in events, which, however, disas"trous to the world, may be considered by

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them as confirming their presages and their reasonings. Our personal disappointment, at the failure of our fond hopes, is entirely merged in the larger and #6 more extended affliction we feel at the unexampled calamity that has befallen

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If," say they, " we were sanguine in hopes, or easy in belief, when victory, was "said to have blessed the arms of our allies, we have, at least, this consolation, that "the impulse that led us astray was the

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force of the love of our country. Those "who were opposite to us in argument and "conclusion were as opposite to us in hopes, "in wiches, in motives, in interest. They "wished for every thing that could embarrass the government, and bring ministers "into disgrace, cost what it might to the country and the world." Base vermin! This, then, is your last shift? Because we augured no good; because, judging from the character and talents of the man, and confirmed in our judgment by long and woe

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danger and disgrace from a coalition formed, and a war commenced, at the instigation of Mr. Pitt; and, because, as that war advanced, we discredited the falsehoods, upon which you bade the people build their hopes of success; for this cause, and this alone, it is that you now accuse us of enmity to our country. To what a state, then, is the nation at last reduced? If we di-approve of the measures of a minister, and if those measures prove successful, we are to be regarded as repining at that success, though it may be essential to the safety of the country: if the measures are not successful, if they are fol lowed by all the disasters that we foresee and forefell, then we are to be locked upon as exulting at their failure, though therefrom we may, apparently, date the destruction of

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