Whitworth, in the presence of the diplomatic body, that his Majesty wishes to found a fresh example of provocation on the part of the French government; as if, on the day when the first message of the King of England was known at Paris, it were possible for a first magistrate, whose every action is dictated by honour and truth, could so far contain himself as to dissemble the profound indignation which falsehood and want of fidelity must ever inspire. If we consider the situation in which he found himself placed, the conduct of the First Consul was extremely moderate; he discovered on the occasion the energy of his mind, and his sincere love of peace. After a message so insulting to the French nation, after a message founded upon too evident untruths, after a message falsely announcing that "very considerable preparations were carrying on in the ports of France, and that discussions of great importance were subsisting between the two governments," there is no power, no government, that would not have broken off all communication with a power, capable of rekindling the torch of war by such unfounded assertions. 1 governments of other countries? provided they carry on a vile and disgraceful warfare against all the great men and enlightened governments, unwilling to acknowledge the universal supremacy of England, or humble themselves before the super-eminent abilities of her prudent and sagacious ministers? con One insulting his Majesty and his government, "For the purpose of degrading, vilifying, and tinues the Royal Declaration, “the French government has repeatedly called upon him, to viclate the laws of hospitality, with respect to pers sons who had found an asylum within his dominions, and against whose conduct no charge whatever has at any time been substantiatedTM?” must be totally unsupplied with reasons, or extremely blind in its hatred, to present similar grounds of war; for it will scarcely be credited, that this government, which now complains, that the French government called upon it, in the name of justice and of gene ral security, to remove to a distance a few poisoners, assassins, and hired calumniators, shamefully protected in the British islands, is the same government which proposed to France the banishment of those very wretches, in return How could the King of England present for the occupation of Malia for ten years. If, also to his parliament, as a legitimate ground then, France would have consented to violate of war, a Hamburgh paper, containing a pre-a treaty, England would have consented to tended article inserted by the interference of" violate the laws of hospitality." If France the French minister, "propagating," accord-had been willing to abandon to the English ing to his opinion, "the most offensive and the commerce of all nations, Great Britain, unfounded calumnies against his Majesty and grateful for the favour, would have consenthis government." His Britannic Majesty, ined to transport a handful of abandoned mispreferring such a charge, must have imagined creants. But France refused to subject the that a French commissary would not have navigation of the Mediterranean; and these been permitted to shew to the world, that acknowledged malefactors instantly became, his Majesty has been induced, by his wise in the estimation of Great Britain, men of and able ministry, to communicate to the irreproachable lives, against whom she canEnglish nation two most revolting falsehoods, not "violate the laws of hospitality." Such in his first message to parliament; that is the government which boasts of its morali"considerable preparations were carrying on ty, moderation, and justice, and which comin the ports of France," and that "discussions plains of calumnies, insults, and provocations! of great importance were subsisting between Such are its noble and generous motives for the two governments." If to prove the evi- rekindling the torch of war throughout all dent fallacy of these two assertions be to in- Europe!-A few bales of merchandize not sult his Majesty, and calumniate his go- freely received into France, while the Engvernment, what must we say of that mass of lish repel from their country our territorial scandalous libels, of gross insults, and bitter productions;-a few commercial agents, obcalumnies, which daily appear in the Eng-taining the soundings of harbours, and mililish journals under the authority of the King and his ministers; journals which have inundated Europe, and insulted, principally since the conclusion of peace, the honourable head of the French government? What pame can we give to a system of government, which declares inviolable, or rather unpunishable, these periodical calumniators, provided they asperse the governors of other nations, and incessantly labour to decry the *See p. 403. See p. 527. See p. 749. tary surveys of towns, printed and to be procured every where, while we receive without suspicion the thousands of English who visit us;-a few Swiss cantons, which France has not wished to see torn to pieces by internal dissentions, nor invaded by foreign wars, while the English sent into it emissaries, arms, ammunitions, and plans of civil extermination; -a few French troops stationed in Holland, while the English organized secret plans of * See P. 749. ambition upon this country and its colonies; [ of the south of Europe, ambition; such cen -a few invitations to the English to evacuate Malta, in execution of the treaty of Amiens, while they complained in their journals, that France would not execute it on her part; a few ideas or suspicions that France still coveted Egypt and the Ionian islands, while the English left their troops in Alexandria for twelve months after the treaty of Amiens, and would not evacuate Malta;-a few conversations incorrectly stated, and faithlessly interpreted, while the English in their journals incessantly insulted France and the chief of its government. Such are the weighty and legitimate causes of the present "just and necessary war;" causes officially laid before the nation by his Britannic Majesty, who declares, at the close of his manifesto, that "he is solely actuated by a sense of what is due to the honour of his crown, and the interests of his people; and by an anxious desire to obstruct the farther progress of a system, which, if not resisted, may prove fatal to every part of the civilized world*." King of Great Britain! You speak of the honour of your crown in declaring a new war; but you are silent on the honour of your royal word in maintaining a solemn treaty of peace! You are penetrated for the interests of your people, who could not contain their joy when you signed the peace, and you invoke the interests of the same people, when your declaration of war saddens all the reflecting and industrious classes of your subjects! You speak of the desire of obstructing the farther progress of a system which may prove fatal to every part of the civilized world, and the better to civilize the world, you restore to it all the calamities of war! Alas! of what system do you speak? Of that system of power, dominion, and aggrandizement, of which your ministerial orators incessantly accuse France, to conceal from the eyes of all nations the colossal power, the insatiable ambition, and the perpetual aggrandizement of England? Would you speak of the energy, the ambition, and the vast political views of the First Consul, whom your journalists and diplomatists are incessantly striving to injure in the estimation of other governments? But let your periodical libellists, your orators, and your diplomatic men revile, as much as they please, life so glorious, and a government so energetic; let them, in their unjust and contumelious language, call the dignity with which they charge the French government pride; its immoveable career in well-doing, stubbornness; its profound energy of execution, severity; its avowed determination never to suffer the French nation to be insulted arrogance; its views for the defence and security sures will never convince the world that genius is not genius; that to desire peace by every species of sacrifice is not an unalterable love of humanity; that to resist the invasions and perfidies of the English is not to defend its country, and to uphold Europe; but will prove only, that the benevolent and peaceable views of Bonaparte have been equally misunderstood and calumniated at Windsor, and in the halls of Westminster. But before what tribunal must such questions be decided? Before the tribunal of all Europe, and of posterity, will the French republic denounce Great Britain. What an important cause, in which the blessings of peace and the calamities of war are hung in the balance; in which the parties are two powerful governments, and the whole world their tribunal! on which side, then, is the spirit of ambition, aggrandizement, aggression and universal pre-eminence? France, by the success of her arms, had acquired possession of all the countries, from the North Sea to the Adriatic, and from the Danube to the canal of Messina. What has she done for the sake of general peace?-She restores Batavia to herself; she restores Switzerland to her independence and her ancient constitutions; she cedes the Venetian countries to Austria; territorial indemnities are allotted to the electors of the Germanic body; the Venetian islands regulate their government under the influence of Russia and the Porte; Italy beholds the establishment of the Luccese, the Italian and Ligurian republics; the French troops evacuate the states of the Pope and the kingdom of Naples; Etruria receives a king; the French army at the gates of Vienna, return to the left bank of the Rhine; and Portugal is evacuated, and restored to her former independence. -Alas! if France had entertained projects of ambi tion, and views of aggrandizement, would she not have preserved Italy entire, under her direct influence? Would she not have extended her dominion over Batavia, Switzerland, and Portugal? Instead of this easy aggrandizement, she presents a wise limitation of her territory and her power; she suffers the loss of the immense territory of St. Domingo, as well as the treasures and armies destined for the restoration of that colony;-she makes every sacrifice to obtain the continuance of peace. England, on the contrary, seizes upon the opulent island of Ceylon, and the entire navigation of the gulph of Bengal; she obtains the important possession of Trinidad;' she essays, by a secret treaty with the Mamelukes, to invade Egypt, by supplying them with arms and ammunition; she remains in' Alexandria long after the time appointed for * Ooo its evacuation, and only abandons it because thirty-six hours for the continuance of peace. the ravages of the plague began to terrify i She has speculated on a sudden war, for the her; she violates the treaty of Amiens in or purpose of seizing, at once, upon the riches der to retain Malta, to direct the operations deposited on the ocean, which the Spanish, of the barbarous corsairs, to carry on the ex- Portugueze, and Batavian colonies were at clusive commerce of the Adriatic, the Levant, last sending to their mother countries, as well the Dardanelles, and the Black Sea, and to as upon the ships of the French republic, and shut up from all nations the navigation of the the vessels of her scarcely revived commerce. Mediterranean; she unites her efforts to pre-, England, at the will of a few hateful and went France from retaining St. Domingo, powerful passions, disturbs the tranquillity of and enjoving Louisiana; she excites dissen- the world, violates, without shame, the rights sions in the Swiss Cantons, and furnishes arms; of nations, tramples under foot the most soand ammunition for their civil extermination; lemn treaties, and falsifies the sworn faith of she sends squadrons into the North Seas, governments; that ancient and eternal faith, and before the Texe. and the Meuse, threat- which even savage hordes acknowledge, and ening to invade Batavia; she covets the pos- religiously respect.-One obstacle only arrests session of Sicily, demands the island of Lam-, the progress of her ambitious career; it is pedosa, and occupies Sardinia. The four France victorious, moderate, and prosperous; quarters of the globe, gulphs, capes, straits, it is her energetic and enlightened governopulent colonies, nothing can satisfy her poli- ment; it is her illustrious and magnanimous tical and commercial cupidity. The extent chief. These are the objects of her delirious of her avarice and ambition is at length dis-envy, her reiterated attacks, her implacable covered. The mask falls, England assigns but hatred, her diplomatic intrigues, her maritime conspiracies, and her official denunciations. But Europe beholds; France prepares for battle; history relates that ROME OVERTHREW CARTHAGE. * According to the Duke of Clarence (debate of the 23d of May), it is to the exertions of Great Britain that France may attribute the loss of St. Domingo. DECLARATION OF THE KING OF ENGLAND, ACCOMPANIED WITH OBSERVATIONS. [From the Moniteur of the 12th of June, 1803.] DECLARATIONS of war, we well know, are neither appeals to reason, nor to justice. In instruments of this nature, it is not un common to discover among the alledged motives of hostility, a variety of charges more or less hazarded; injuries are carried to extremes, complaints are exaggerated, and a strong colouring is given to facts, for the purpose of encreasing their general effect. We, nevertheless, are induced to believe, that in no public paper, made sacred by the name of a King, have been ever collected together a greater number of assertions authentically false, of improbable accusations, and of forced conclusions, than are to be met with in all the pages of the long Declaration of the King of England; a translation of which we herewith present our readers.-Were history supplied with no other data, by which she might enlighten posterity as to the real causes of the passing events, than the papers called in to support the allegations of this manifesto, they would alone be sufficient to teach her, and, through her, to teach future ages, what have been the gravity and the vast importance of the engagements entered into and broken, and to whom this violation of the sworn faith of nations ought to be attributed. Yes; this collection, which the British government should injuring each other by the means of accus- | epoch of the King's message. .! At such a prospect, every friend of humanity must, indeed, shudder with horror! At a prospect so dreadful, yet so hastily approaching, where is the man, however insensible, that can withhold a sentiment of the deepest indignation against the abused or pervert.ed.government, which, after resolving upon a measure from whence may arise the severest calamities to nations and to ages, expects to screen itself from the judgment of its contemporaries, by propping the grounds of its decisions on falsehood and imposture ?-But, if insulted humanity authorizes in her name, and for her defence, the language of just reprobation, the interests of truth demand no less a calm and temperate refutation. A few plain but positive notes, subjoined to the declaration and correspondence of his Britannic Majesty's ministers, will be altogether sufficient for this purpose.-England has declared war because she desired it; and because she stood in need of charges, she has fabricated them. Had France been desirous of doing the same, had she wished to found them on facts collected and transmitted by her diplomatic agents, we should have seen grounds of complaint far different from those now urged by Great Britain; but the French government has already declared its opinion, that what ought only to become the subject of a duel, cannot constitute the grounds of a war. France beholds herself dragged into the contest, not from motives of her own choice, nor for objects, on the possession of which she has already determined: she is not even at war for the evacuation of Malta, but solely for the purpose of repelling an unjust aggression. The whole explanation of the conduct of France is included in this single proposition: the French government has incessantly discovered, and proved its desire of coming to a good understanding on every point in dispute-nevertheless, France has been attacked. We shall now see in what manner the English government explains, and defends its conduct. (1.)" His Majesty's earnest endeavours for "the preservation of peace having failed of "success, he entertains the fullest confidence "that he shall receive the same support from "his parliament, and that the same zeal and “spirit will be manifested by his people, "which he has experienced on every occasion "when the honour of his crown has been attacked, or the essential interests of his "dominions have been endangered." The discussions between France and England commenced on the 8th of March, the The first act, constituting on the part of England a state of negotiation, is Lord Hawkesbury's letter of the 15th of March. From the period of this note to the 7th of April, the French minister received three laconic notes, two of which were upon points of inferior importance. On the 7th of April, Lord Whitworth announced the alternative of his departure.— His Majesty's earnest endeavours, therefore, før the preservation of peace are reduced to a vague and indolent negotiation, which, from the twenty first day, cast off even the appearance of pacific dispositions. In a fortnight after, the English ambassador peremptorily demands his passports, and in the course of another fortnight quits France. Such have been his Majesty's earnest endeavours for the preservation of peace!-We shall make no reflections on the remaining part of the introductory paragraph. The zeal and spirit manifested by his people, the attack on the honour of his crown, and the dangers with which his dominions have been threatened, are the mere trappings of speech, and falsehoods set down "according to due form and order." (2.) "During the whole course of the ne"gotiations which led to the preliminary and "definitive treaties of peace between his Majesty and the French republic, it was his Majesty's sincere desire, not only to put an "end to the hostilities which subsisted between "the two countries, but to adopt such measures, and to concur in such propositions, 66 as might most effectually contribute to con"solidate the general tranquillity of Europe."The same motives by which his Majesty was "actuated during the negotiations for peace, "have since invariably governed his conduct. "As soon as the treaty of Amiens was con"cluded, his Majesty's courts were open to "the people of France for every purpose of "legal redress; all sequestrations were taken "off their property; all prohibitions on their "trade, which had been imposed during the 66 war, were removed, and they were placed, "in every respect, on the same footing with "regard to commerce and intercourse, as the "inhabitants of any other state in amity with "his Majesty, with which there existed no treaty of commerce." 66 On These two paragraphs are connected together: the first is an eulogium on the justice of his Britannic Majesty, who has had the generosity, since the peace, to place Frenchmen on a footing with the inhabitants of Bremen, Lubeck, Leipsic, and Frankfort. the tardiness of their courts of justice, the chicanery of their lawyers, and the repugnancy of English debtors to settle their accounts, the government of the republic has not deemed it proper to publish the complaints it has received on the part of French creditors. It concluded that charges of this nature might arise from impatience, exaggerlation, and, in some instances, from injustice; * Ooo 2 but from the perfect equity of its own inten- On this point, the ministers of his Britantions, and the silence of the British ambassador nic Majesty are explicit, beyond what we on this head of complaint, it had a right to con- had a right to expect from their known pru clude, that it could not be made the article of dence. A peace without a treaty of coma manifesto. Thus, the assertion of the Bri-merce, a peace without unlimited freedom tish government, with respect to "the repeat- in the consumption of their produce; a ed representations made by his Majesty's am- peace, in short, which does not leave them bassador," is totally unfounded. The French the exclusive privilege of introducing every collection of official papers proves that no re- where the fruits of their industry, and of monstrance on this subject was ever pre- proscribing at home the industry of other sented, and the English collection does not countries, is no peace at all. We must either afford us a single complaint or procedure of renounce the right to establish custom-houses, this kind; but, since the English government and encourage national manufactures, or de: were resolved upon making a political charge clare war !-This doctrine is, indeed, strange. of this pretended non-success of the repre- What! are there no general laws of comsentations made by their ministers, it is rather merce? Can we have no trade with England surprising, in a collection so arbitrarily com- without a commercial treaty? Can we not piled, digested at leisure, and arranged ac- employ commercial agents, unless we have cording to the good inclination of those by especial commercial stipulations? Well! be it whom it was published, that no real, or pre-so; let us have no commercial agents in Engtended letter, signed Hawkesbury, Merry, or Whitworth, should make its appearance in support of the royal allegation.-The assertion that "acts of violence have been offered to the property and vessels of his Majesty's subjects," is equally false: and here, if the simple denial of a charge, hazarded at random, did not carry its conviction with it, the shameful embarrassment betrayed by the English ministry when they were called on, in the early part of the present sittings of parliament, to produce proofs and specify facts, would alone render every developement on this head altogether superfluous. (3.) " To a system of conduct thus open, "liberal, and friendly, the proceedings of the "French government afford the most striking "contrast. The prohibitions which had been "placed on the commerce of his Majesty's "subjects during the war, have been enforced "with encreased strictness and severity; vio"lence has been offered in several instances "to their vessels and their property; and, in land? But why must England possess the right of interdicting all access to her ports, and why may not France exercise the same right at the entrance of her own territory? Why, in this as well as in every thing else, should not reciprocity be the rule admitted and acknowledged between two rival nations? Who forbids you to proscribe the consump tion of French produce? And what power on earth can compel us to consume the productions of England? Is it not the height of presumption to say to us: unless the peace is alone profitable to our industry, we will break it; you shall either leave French industry to languish and perish, or we will arm in detence of the industry of England; in short you shall either pay dearly for the labour of our manufactures, or you shall have war."In avowing so openly this insolent and tyrannical doctrine, we know not whether the ob ject of the British government be to render the war they are about to commence popular in England. If such should be their inten tion, and if, by this means, they should suc ceed in attaining that object, it will then be for the powers of the continent to determine what degree of importance is attached in not suffered to enjoy the common advan- England to the opinions, the rights, and the "tages of peace within the territories of the interests of those nations, which have not "French republic, and the countries depend- the happiness to trade and navigate under the "ent upon it, the French government had re"course to the extraordinary measure of send-flag and protection of the British government. "ing over to this country a number of persons It will then be for them to decide, whether "for the professed purpose of residing in the the war now commenced by England against "most considerable sea-port towns of Great France, like all those she has waged for a "Britain and Ireland, in the character of com-century past, be not the necessary and ine "merria agents or consuls. These persons vitable consequence of a system, uniformly hostile, on the part of English industry, to the industry of all other nations.-If the mo tive above given should be that by which the British government is actuated," the future question between England and Europe may be reduced to this double alternative: If Eng "no case, has jusuce been afforded to those ambassador at Paris. Under such circum- 't 66 "could have no pretensions to be acknow- "as no treaty of that description was in exist ence between his Majesty and the French republic.". |