1791 The history of Great Britain has a range correspondent to its widely extended dominions. And our attention is successively called to objects which are connected only by the common relation which they have with the welfare of the state. From the interests of the West India planters and those of the negro slaves, whose labour was the chief means of the wealth which is drawn from that quarter, the succession of parliamentary transactions carries us to the East. An investigation of the merits of the war which had been commenced with Tippoo Saib in 1790, in support of the rajah of Travancore, was brought on this session by a motion which Mr. Hippesley Coxe made for papers relative to it. In the debates which ensued, the impolicy of entering into engagements that had an evident tendency to involve us in hostilities was severely descanted on by the mover, supported by Mr. Francis and Mr. Fox. On the other hand, the good policy of supporting our ally in defence of a territory to which he had a just title, and the possession of which by Tippoo Saib would lay us open to an invasion from that enterprising prince was maintained with equal ability by Mr. Dundas. It appearing on evidence that Tippoo had been guilty of an unprovoked infraction of the late treaty with him, a resolution was passed in approbation of the war, and of the conduct of lord Cornwallis in the treaties concluded by him with the Marattas and the nizam of the Decan.⚫ 1791 HOLLAND. We have seen the interests of the house of Orange maintained in the Dutch provinces in a period of extreme distress, when they were sinking under the superior weight of the Louvestein party, by the active services of the Prussian monarch.-To confirm a political connexion from which it had derived such able and effectual protection, a marriage alliance was this year concluded between the hereditary prince of Orange and the princess Frederica, Sophia of Prussia. † FRANCE. + October 1. с Ann. Regist. 9o. FRANCE. THE authors of the revolution had now, in appearance, attained the objects of their most sanguine wishes.-They had constituted a legislature consisting of one entire body.-They had annihilated the nobility and circumscribed the royal authority.-They had formed a system of representation which reached the smallest division of property, and had carefully guarded every avenue to corruption.-They had destroyed the monasteries, and had deprived the church of that abundant wealth which was deemed detrimental to the public. They had established an elective magistracy and an elective clergy. Their designs appeared thus to be accomplished, and liberty to be within their But the result proves grasp. how liable to error the most refined and philosophical geniuses are in devising systems for the use of mankind, from their not being aware of the accidents which may obstruct the execution of them, or the ill consequences with which they may be attended. And the French nation were now destined to learn from fatal experience that the positive, intrinsic excellence of a constitution is not a sufficient recommendation of it in every instance; that it is necessary to the final success of political arrangements to adapt the constitution of a state to the character and circumstances of the people for whom it is intended; and that, whatever merit a system of government built on so democratic a principle as that of France may have in itself, independently considered, the French nation were not at this time prepared to receive such a one.-Turgot, who was a man of judgment and discernment as well as a statesman of superior genius, appears, like many other of the encyclopedists, to have been carried by his aversion to the despotic principles of the old constitution to adopt maxims of government scarcely consistent with monarchy, and in order to remedy the evils of it, intended to have brought about such a reform as would have thrown the principal share of power into the hands of the commons.— But he was aware of the danger which would attend the sudden recovery of freedom, and therefore designed gradually to loosen the bands with which VOL. III. 2 F the 1791 1791 the nation had been so long bound; and, in the mean-time, to have provided the means for enlightening the minds of the people; thus to prepare them for a rational enjoyment of liberty and a due discharge of the functions and duties of free men.* The ill effects arising from a want of this preparative, and from the consequent intemperate spirit of subversion, became daily more evident.-The proceedings of the national assembly had in general been hitherto conducted with order; nor had any great diversity of opinion been seen among its members. But those temperate persons who had been led by principle to support the revolution with a view only of remedying the evils which the nation had so long endured, and were charmed with the idea of recovering the rights of man and entering on a state of political prosperity, at last found themselves overpowered by a faction of desperate adventurers, who, under the appellation of jacobins, were availing themselves of the public opinion in their favour to throw the established constitution from its base. When republican principles were seen to spring up under the shade of an ill-constituted and ill-conducted monarchy, it There is no more common error in politics than the indiscriminate application of forms of government, without regard to the characters of the nations to which they are applied. Mr. Adams, speaking of the application of an hereditary monarchy to Great Britain, and the government of an elective chief to America, says, "in future ages, when our provinces shall present 66 66 a population, numerous, rich, powerful, and fond of luxurious enjoyments, there is no doubt "but their cool judgment and sense of what is suitable to their existing circumstances, will suggest to them what ought to be done respecting those matters which we leave for them to do. Nothing will be easier than to have recourse to a new constitution, and to arrive at a more "perfect imitation of the English constitution, without exposing the public tranquillity to dis❝turbance. But this transition will never become necessary till great estates shall be accumulated "in the hands of a few persons."-D'Ivernois, who cites this passage from Mr. Adams, an American statesman, goes on to observe the absurdity of adopting the government of an elective chief in France, and among other circumstances, he adduces the national character: a nation," says he, "violent in its aversions and its adorations, and equally inconsistent in both; boundless in its applauses and immoderate in its expressions of hatred: throughout its whole republican career, "what constancy has its shewn to the chiefs chosen by themselves? Its character never was so "completely developed as in the progress of the revolution."-[D' Ivernois-Revolutions de France de Geneve. 365.]-The same sentiments are delivered to us upon higher authority. Machiavel has treated this question, says lord Bolingbroke, "whether, when the people are grown corrupt, "a free government can be maintained, if they enjoy it; or established, if they enjoy it not? "And upon the whole matter he concludes for the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of "succeeding in either case. It will be worth while to observe his way of reasoning. He asserts very truly, and proves by the example of the Roman commonwealth, that those orders which are proper to maintain liberty, whilst a people remain uncorrupt, become improper and hurtful "to liberty, when a people is grown corrupt."-Bolingbroke's Patriot King. 124. 66 66 it introduced such disorder, that men of principle, finding that the strictest 1791 integrity would not enable them to steer their course safely in so tempestuous a sea, that they must either resign their independency and submit to the dictates of men whose principles they disapproved and whose conduct they abhorred, or hazard their lives by opposing them, ceased now to take an active part in affairs of state, and determined to wait with patience till the waves should be stilled, before they renewed their efforts. The spirit of faction thus triumphed over patriotism; and the love of liberty gave way to licentiousness, and, in the event, to anarchy. Unfortunately, Mirabeau, whose disgust at the duke of Orleans's baseness disposed him to join the royal partisans, and whose inventive genius might have devised some means of preserving that monarchic government to which he had ever been attached, was suddenly carried to the grave in his forty-third year, a martyr to his excesses.-The advocates of moderate measures looked in vain to their sovereign for that wise, resolute, and patriotic king who could save a country whose ruin was so far advanced. He had the inclination but not the energy required for such an enterprise. And the benevolent but misguided monarch, whilst he was doubtful of his course, perished amidst the wreck of the monarchy. If we carry our reflections from the affairs of France to those of the world in general, we shall here find equal cause to be concerned for the interests of human nature. Whilst we lament the errors and ill success of the French patriots, 'from whose wisdom and disinterestedness men formed such vast expectations of improvement in whatever relates to social happiness, and the excesses of those who overleaped the bounds of common sense in the ardent pursuit of liberty, we cannot but consider it as one of the greatest misfortunes of this eventful period that, during the prevailing passion for freedom no means were adopted to reconcile subjects to the established governments, by making such whose maxims savoured of despotism more consistent with reason and less repugnant to those political principles to which a liberal mind is naturally inclined; and to attach men to their sovereigns by shewing them that they consider the general welfare as the grand object of all government, and the different systems as only different means of attaining it.-Terror, excited by popular outrage, was the prevailing sentiment of the day: and force was employed to avert the impending 2 F 2 1791 impending evils, to subdue the ardent spirits which threatened to set the world on fire, unattended with those milder expedients which policy might have devised to soothe the mind sof men.-This predilection for coercive measures will be seen to have an evil influence on the affairs of France, and on the fortunes of those in whose doom that of the monarchy itself was involved. In the mean-time our attention is called to the transactions of the assembly relative to matters of domestic government.-The proceedings of this year commenced with an act of disinterestedness which redounded to its honour, but was detrimental to the national interests-that was a declaration that, after an adjustment of the principal parts of the constitution, it would dissolve itself." Another occurrence of this period was more memorable for its consequences than important in itself: that was the letters published by the pope, to countenance such of the clergy as had refused what was called the civic oath, and had published the pope's letters condemning the proceedings of the assembly respecting ecclesiastical affairs. This widened the breach occasioned by the seizure of Avignon, and afforded one of the pleas for the subsequent violent acts of the French government towards the church and the see of Rome. b After some regulations relative to the military and naval systems, they proceeded to enact a law of regency, declaring, "that it should belong to "the next heir."-This was followed by a decree respecting public functionaries, and particularly the sovereign. This discovered an apprehension of some events which soon afterwards took place-decreeing, "that if the king leaves the kingdom, and refuses to return when summoned by the assembly, he shall be considered as having abdicated." e The subject of succession to estates and testamentary disposal of property was then brought before the assembly.—The several points relative to these matters, in which the whole nation was deeply interested, were discussed with much warmth. The right of primogeniture, so congenial with the principles of the feudal system, was exploded. And the decisions on them were such as corresponded with the prevailing desire of equalizing property. Sketch. 316. + March 4. Sketch. 322. |