England, indeed, may contemplate the sister-country with sorrow, and painfullest shame, and deep humiliation, but not with fear. The time of danger is gone by. A French army, with the lying invitation of liberty upon their banners, would once have been joined by men, formidable for their talents, and virtues, and enthusiasm. Some of these have expiated their errors by death, others are living peaceably in America,-men to be blamed for these errors only, and fit to be the ornaments of any country, except their own. It was in these men that the strength of the united Irish lay; in Fitzgerald, and Tone, and Emmett, and the republicans; men no otherwise connected with France than as they, most erroneously and unhappily for themselves, considered France to be the upholder of all free and enlightened principles. In those days, too, the very means which were pursued to crush disaffection, would have ensured the success of Hoche, if he had accomplished his landing; for " oppression driveth wise men mad," and thousands, who would now bear arms in defence of the British government, would then have broken out in insurrection against the unendurable tyranny of martial law, and a system not less insolent and inhuman than that, which has entailed upon Alva the curses of all posterity. Those days are over, and the present leaders of the disaffected party have manifested their baseness, by becoming the wretched agents and flatterers of Buonaparte; danger, therefore, from them is at an end. An inva

ding army would now be joined by the populace, not by the people; and long before the populace could be disciplined, or even tamed, so as not to be mischievous to their allies, any force which could be landed there would be outnumbered and subdued. It is our interest and our duty to conciliate the Irish; it is our wish also,---but not from any thought of fear: and were it otherwise, they who press upon us the necessity of this policy, by attempting to intimidate the government into concessions, argue* in a manner which neither tends to dispose a government to conciliate, nor a people to be conciliated.

It is not a little curious, that while part of the falling administration declared themselves hostile to Catholic Emancipation upon these grounds, some of the members of the new ministry were known to be friendly to the measure. Mr Canning had always avowed this opinion; but, like Mr Pitt, conceived it neither prudent nor constitutional to press the measure upon his Majesty, who would not be persuaded to understand the words of the coronation oath in any other meaning than that for which they had so carefully been framed. Lord Castlereagh too, who transacted the private bargains of the Union, was understood to have pledged himself to the Irish Catholics upon this subject. On the other hand, Lord Erskine, connected as he had always been with the Foxites, reasoned on this occasion with the Crown ; and the same sentiments were held by Lord Sidmouth and his friends, who,

though the least powerful, were the most popular part of the discarded administration.

Elated with so unexpected a victory, the triumphant party committed a dangerous error in the division of the spoils, by conferring upon their new Chancellor of the Exchequer, the place of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, for life. The late administration had given away no places for life, which their enemies invidiously accounted for by observing, that some of their leading members were already pretty comfortably provided for in that way. But it was in fact part of that system of reform which they were slowly beginning. This practice, and that of granting offices in reversion, squandered the patronage of the crown, without in any degree increasing its power; when, therefore, the House of Lords rejected a bill for the prevention of the latter abuse, and Mr Perceval commenced his ministerial career by setting such an example of the former, they manifested a selfish disregard for the real interests of the crown, and offended the people in the most imprudent of all ways, by insulting their sense of propriety, and setting the public feeling at defiance. The new opposition opened their war upon this fair ground. The House of Commons was of their own making, and in making it they had exerted the influence of the treasury, beyond the usual bounds of discretion and decorum; their partizans therefore were numerous, and on this question they were joined by the independent members; so that the ministry suffered a defeat, and Mr Perceval accepted the sinecure chancellorship during the King's pleasure.

The debates which ensued were of a more disgraceful character than any which that House had ever before witnessed. The opposition were exasperated at their unexpected fall, and the success of rivals whom they despised; the ministry were provoked by the violence with which they were assailed; anger produced anger, abuse was answered by abuse, and accusation by recriminating charges. It reminded us of the first scene in the Alchemist; and good men began to fear what might be the effect upon the people of thus uncovering the nakedness of a government, whereof, from these mutual reproaches, the Duessa of Spenser seemed to be a prophetic personification. A new election gave the ministry a secure preponderance, but the temper of both parties remained the

same.

There were two other parties in the House of Commons, each more important, from its influence with the people, than from its numbers, and each daily acquiring more strength in public opinion. That which is denominated the Saints, or the Evangelicals, was one. At the head of these was Mr Wilberforce, a man of great natural and acquired endowments, and deservedly eminent for having, during so many years, attempted, and at last accomplished, the abolition of the slave-trade. This alone would have given him a deeper hold in the hearts of his countrymen, than any of his contemporaries have acquired; but he derived also great influence from being considered as the head of the Calvinistic churchmen, and from the reverence with which he was regarded by the or thodox dissenters. The principle of this party was to assist the existing

government; but they supported it only upon principle; no administration could command their votes, and more than once, when their votes and opinions have been of most weight, they have been given against the minister. A body of sectarians, already formidable by their numbers, and still more so by their admirable organization and indefatigable zeal, look to this party in the parliament, and take their opinions from them with implicit faith.

The other party were the Radical Reformers, parliamentary Ishmaelites, whose hands were against every man, and every man's hand against them. Their leader, Sir Francis Burdett, had for many years borne the brunt of political calumny; upon questions which involved no point of general principles, he now gave his support to the ministry, not because he liked them, but because, he said, there were no better to supply their place. Out of doors, this little party derived great strength from the acquisition of Lord Cochrane, a man whose genius and enterprising courage have given assured proofs that he wants only opportunity to supply the place of our great Nelson. I wrong him, perhaps, in classing him with any party; for though it is with the Reformers that he has usually voted, he has, with a right seamanlike and British feeling, disclaimed all party spirit, and justly reprobated it as the bane of the state.

The feeling which Sir Francis expressed, was that of the people in general. They rejoiced in the fall of the last ministry, but it was with the joy of a vindictive temper, not of hope; and they preferred their successors for no other reason than be

cause they had supplanted men whom they so heartily disliked. As for talents, there was little to chuse between them. The old families, and those other leviathans of the land, whose influence overlays whole counties, were mostly with the opposition; hence the new ministry held their seats too much by personal favour, and were more literally the king's servants, than was consistent with the spirit of the constitution; the people rather assenting to his choice, than approving it, and certainly not having guided it. The country, indeed, was in a new situation. While Pitt and Fox were living, every man believed either in one or in the other; one party was perfectly satisfied that all the measures of their heaven-born minister must be right, and the other as confidently expected, that, in spite of the ruinous consequences of the first wantón war against France, the nation was to be saved as soon as their political redeemer came into power. From this comfortable state, wherein faith supplied the place of reason, they were disturbed by the death of both these leaders, neither of whom left a successor. It became the general complaint, that there was no man, or set of men, in whom the nation had any confidence; some persons apprehended from this a dangerous indifference in the public towards parliament itself; others hoped, that, as the people were weary of factious debates, the parliament would become ashamed of them, and that measures would be discussed with a view to the common weal, and no longer solely with reference to the party by whom they were brought forward.

3

With the state under these strange

THE new year began with an offer on the part of Austria to become the mediator of a general peace. A similar offer had been made 1807. in the spring of the preApril 18. ceding year, the Emperor of Austria then equally inviting the cabinets of Petersburgh, of Berlin, and of the Thuilleries, to adopt the same conciliatory views; and, in order to facilitate the opening of negociations, proposing that they should be held at any place in his dominions, the situation of which might be convenient for all parties, and not too near the seat of war. The offer was accepted April 25. by our court, provided it should also be accepted by all the other belligerent powers; with respect to the place, it was added, his Majesty would not object to any which was sufficiently remote from the immediate influence of the events of the war, and which would afford to the British government, in an equal degree with all the other powers concerned, the opportunity of a prompt and uninterrupt

ed communication with its Nov. 20. plenipotentiaries. Seven months elapsed, and nothing farther was heard concerning

this mediation. Prince de Starhemberg, the Austrian Envoy Extraordinary, then transmitted another note to the secretary of state for foreign affairs, stating, that he had received positive orders from his court, to make the most earnest representations of the importance of putting an end to the struggle which still existed between England and France, the effects of which might produce to all Europe the most fatal consequences. The Emperor, therefore, officially and earnestly requested a formal assurance from the British government of its readiness to enter into a negociation for a maritime peace. This language was evidently dictated by France, and Mr Canning, Nov. 28. after expressing some surprise that the court of Vienna should apply for a renewed declaration of sentiments, whereof it had been so long and so formally in possession, repeated, nevertheless, that his Majesty was now, as he had at all times been, prepared to enter into negociation for the conclusion of such a peace as should be consistent with fidelity to his allies, and should provide for the tranquillity and security of Europe.

1807.