middle part. Under the mask of kindness for him, an attempt had been made to injure his character, and attack the whole of his public conduct. The event of this night's debate, in which he had been interrupted, without being suffered to explain, in which he had been accused, and had not been heard, made him at a loss how to understand what was party, or friendship. He had, indeed, as had been alleged, proposed a reduction of the power of the crown; but he had proposed it only so far as he had considered necessary; and though his views had not been complied with, no bad consequences had followed. In 1784, an attack had been made, not upon the form, but upon the spirit of the constitution. His opposition te this attack had not been single and unsupported. He had not, indeed, succeeded in procuring a remedy. He knew not, indeed, where the remedy was to be found. The evil arose from the people; and till they should be made sensible of the disease, how was it possible to apply the means of cure? He did not expect that his jests, that hasty or careless expressions should have been recorded against him, and mustered up in the form of accusations. And yet all this was done under the mask of friendship. He had been charged with inconsistency; but he desired there should be shewn one word, one expres. sion, one act or occasion, in which he had discovered the smallest inconsistency. It had been said, that the British constitution might in some points be amended. But had he affirmed that it, or any other human constitution might not? It had been charged upon him, that he thought it necessary to abuse every other constitution in order to praise the British. But had he ever displayed any such spirit? On the contrary, he should never have thought it necessary to bring forward the French constitution as the subject of animadversion, had not at

tempts

tempts been made to introduce the monster into this country. He had heard the right honorable gentleman, who now appeared as so violent an advocate of the French constitution, say, "that the king of France was the best intentioned sovereign in Europe." This king might now be said to be in jail. In consequence of his good nature, indeed, he had been ruined. He had gone on from concession to concession-from the grant of one indulgence to another, till at last he found himself deprived by his subjects of his own rights, thus holding out a memorable lesson to all monarchs to be watchful in preserving their privileges, and cautious in guarding against the incroachments of their subjects. Political truth, it had been said, gains by discussion, but it was surely not that sort of discussion which had taken place that evening, in which his facts had not been allowed to be produced, and his arguments had not been heard. A serious danger, as he had stated before, and would now repeat, was to be apprehended from the introduction of the principles of the new constitution into this country. If there should be formed in this country a party, however small, who might join with those abroad, what evils might not ensue? However small might be the party inimical to the constitution in this country, yet they were not less to be dreaded; they would not want the support of numbers. The constitution of this country leans to monarchy; it was necessary that all parts of it should be defended together. All the parts of the constitution had now been attacked. Libels were circulated against the constitution by societies, who assumed the name of constitutional. Nay, libels were circulated through the country, in the name of the crown, and under the pretended sanction of his Majesty's ministers, and from that authority recommended to the perusal and attention of the people. Such

libels,

libels, issued in the name of the crown, and eagerly devoured by the ignorant and hot-headed multitude, had been, in a great measure, the source of the evils in France, and their progress was to be guarded against in this country. The new constitution in France had been called a stupendous fabric of wisdom. He had thought that the right honorable gentleman had possessed a better taste in architecture, than to bestow this magnificent epithet on a building composed of untempered mortar. For his own part, when he saw the new temple, he wept. He considered it as the work of Goths and Vandals, where every thing was out of place, disjointed, and inverted. It had been said, that he did not love tests; yet if his intimacy should be renewed with the right honorable gentleman, he might explain to him, that it was necessary that some evil should be suffered in order to obtain a greater good. In France, it had been asserted by the right honorable gentleman, prevailed the largest religious toleration. It would be judged of what nature was that toleration, when it was understood that there the most cruel tests were imposed. Nay, tests were imposed for the most inhuman of all purposes, in order to deprive those of whom they were exacted of their bread. The treatment of the nuns was almost too shocking to be mentioned. These wretched girls, who could only be actuated by the most exalted religious enthusiasm, were engaged in the most painful office of humanity, in the most sacred duty of piety, visiting and attending the hofpitals. Yet these had been dragged into the streets; these had been scourged by the sovereigns of the French nation, because the priest from whom they had received the sacrament, had not submitted to the test. ceeding had passed not only unpunished, but uncensured.

This pro

Yet,

Yet, in the country, in which fuch proceedings had happened, had been said to subsist the largest religious toleration. The present state of France was ten times worse than tyranny. The new constitution was said to be an experiment; but it was not true. It had already been tried, and been found to be only productive of evils. They would go on from tyranny to tyranny, from oppresstion to oppression, till at last the whole system would terminate in the ruin and destruction of that miserable and deluded people. He stated that his opinion of the revolution in America did not at all militate with his opinion of the revolution of France. In that instance, he considered that the people had some reason for the conduct which they had pursued. There was an expression of his, which had been taken exception at,-" well difciplined troops." He only meant that every body of men who acted upon a method, and in concert, were well-disciplined. He was sorry for the present occasion. Sufficient to the day was the evil thereof. Yet let the evil be to him, if the good was to many. He hoped that they would not barter the constitution of this country, the eternal jewel of their souls, for a wild and visionary system, which could only lead to confusion and disorder. With regard to pretences of friendship, he must own that he did not like them, where his character and public conduct, as in the present instance, had been so materially attacked and injured. The French principles in this country, he had been told, would come to some head. It would then be perceived what were their confequences. Several gentlemen were young enough to see a change. They would be enterprizing enough to act a part. It would then be seen whether they would be borne on the top, or encumbered in the gravel. In going along with

the

the current, they would most certainly be forced to execute and approve many things very contrary to their own nature and character."

In the first volume we inserted Mr. Fox's translation into popular language of his own much admired parliamentary speech in moving an amendment to the address in December 1792; but the question between him and the minister was brought to a more decisive issue in the debate preparatory to an actual declaration of war in February 1793, when the order of the day being moved for taking into consideration His Majesty's message of the 28th of January, it was read by the Speaker as follows:

GEORGE R.

"His Majesty has given directions for laying before the House of Commons, copies of several papers which have been received from M. CHAUVELIN, late minister plenipotentiary from the Most Christian King, by His Majesty's secretary of state for foreign affairs, and of the answers returned thereto; and likewise the copy order made by His Majesty in council, and transmitted by His Majesty's commands to the said M. CHAUVElin, in consequence of the accounts of the atrocious act recently perpetrated at Paris.

of an

"In the present situation of affairs, His Majesty thinks it indispenably necessary to make a farther augmentation of his forces by sea and land; and relies on the known affection and zeal of the House of Commons to enable His Majesty to take the most effectual measures, in the present important conjuncture, for maintaining the security and rights of his own dominions; for supporting his allies; and for opposing views of aggrandizement and ambition on the part of France, which would be at all times dangerous to the general in

terests