"which has attacked the property and peace of "all individuals; a danger which Europe has "strained all its sinews to repel; and which no "nation has repelled so successfully as the Bri"tish; because no nation has acted so ener 66 66 getically, so sincerely, so uniformly on the "broad basis of principle; because no other "nation has perceived with equal clearness and "decision the necessity, not only of combating "the evil abroad, but of stifling it at home; "because no nation has breasted with so firm a "constancy the tide of jacobinical power; because no nation has pierced with so steadfast "an eye, through the disguises of jacobinical hypocrisy; but now, it seems, we are at once "to remit our zeal and our suspicion; that Jacobinism, which alarmed us under the stumbling "and drunken tyranny of Robespierre; that Jacobinism, which insulted and roused us under "the short-sighted ambition of the five Direc"tors; that Jacobinism, to which we have sworn 66 66 66 enmity through every shifting of every bloody "scene, through all those abhorred mockeries “which have profaned the name of liberty to all "the varieties of usurpation; to this Jacobinism we are now to reconcile ourselves, because all "its arts and all its energies are united under "one person, the child and the champion of Jacobinism, who has been reared in its principles, who has fought its battles, who has 66 "systematised its ambition, at once the fiercest "instrument of its fanaticism, and the gaudiest puppet of its folly! 66 "The honourable gentleman has discovered, "that the danger of French power and French principles is at an end, because they are con 66 centred, and because to uniformity of design “is added an unity of direction; he has disco"vered that all the objects of French ambition "are relinquished, because France has sacri“ficed even the appearances of freedom to the "best means of realising them; in short that now, for the first time, Jacobinism is not to "be dreaded, because now, for the first time, "it has superadded to itself the compactness "of despotism. But the honourable gentle"man presses hard, and requires me to be "definite and explicit. What, says he, do 66 you mean by destroying the power of Jaco"binism? Will you persevere in the war, "until you have received evidence that it is "extinct in this country, extinct in France, "extinct in the mind of every man? No! I am not so shamefully ignorant of the laws that regulate the soul of man. The mind once tainted with Jacobinism can never be "wholly free from the taint; I know no means " of purification; when it does not break out on "the surface, it still lurks in the vitals; no anti"dote can approach the subtlety of the venom, 66 "no length of quarantine secure us against the obstinacy of the pestilence. 66 66 66 "Those who are now telling us, that all danger from revolutionary principles is now passed by, are yet endeavouring to call up again the very arguments which they used at the com"mencement of the war, in the youth and rampancy of Jacobinism; and repeat the same language, with which they then attempted to “lull the nation into security, combined with the "same acts of popular irritation. They are telling us, that ministers disregard peace; that they are prodigal of blood; insensible to the miseries, and enemies to the liberties of man"kind; that the extinction of Jacobinism is "their pretext, but that personal ambition is "their motive; and that we have squandered "two hundred millions on an object, unattain"able were it desirable, and were it not unat 66 66 66 66 tainable, yet still to be deprecated. Sir, will "men be governed by mere words without appli"cation? This country, Sir, will not. It knows "that to this war it owes its prosperity, its con 66 stitution, whatever is fair or useful in public or “domestic life, the majesty of her laws, the free"dom of her worship, and the sacredness of our "firesides. For these it has spent two hundred "millions, for these it would spend two hundred "millions more; and, should it be necessary, 66 Sir, I doubt not that I could find those two 66 66 "hundred millions, and still preserve her resources unimpaired. The only way to make "it not necessary is to avail ourselves of the hearty co-operation of our allies, and to secure "and invigorate that co-operation by the firm"ness and vigour of our own conduct. The "honourable gentleman then comes back upon 66 me, and presses me upon the supposed dis"sonance between our views and those of our "allies. But surely there may allowably exist "in the minds of different men different means "of arriving at the same security. This dif"ference may, without breaking the ties of "effective union, exist even in this house; how "much more then in different kingdoms? The 'Emperor of Russia may have announced the "restoration of monarchy, as exclusively his object. This is not considered as the ultimate object by this country, but as the best means " and most reliable pledge of a higher object, "viz. our own security, and that of Europe; "but we do not confine ourselves to this, as the only possible means. 66 66 66. 66 "From this shade of difference we are required to infer the impossibility of cordial co"operation! But here the honourable gentle 66 66 man falls into a strange contradiction. He "affirms the restoration of monarchy an un'just object of the war, and refuses expressly "and repeatedly to vote a single farthing on "such a ground; and yet the supposed seces “sion of Russia from the allied powers, the "secession of that government, whose exclusive object is the restoration of monarchy, is ad"duced by him as another and equal ground for 166 his refusal. Had the Emperor of Russia per"severed in directing his utmost forces to the "attainment of that object, to which Austria "will not pledge herself, and which the honour"able gentleman considers as an unjust object, "then the honourable gentleman would have "been satisfied. But I will not press too hard "on the honourable gentleman, or lay an undue weight on an inadvertence. I will deal most fairly with him if I did believe, which I do not, "that Austria saw no advantages in the restoration of monarchy, yet still I would avail myself "of her efforts, without changing my own object. Should the security of Britain and Eu66 rope result from the exertions of Austria, or be "aided by her influence, I should think it my 66 66 duty to advise his Majesty to lend the Emperor every financial assistance, however those exer"tions and that influence might spring from principles not in unison with our own. "If the honourable gentleman will tell me, "that the object of Austria is to regain the Netherlands, and to reconquer all she may “have lost in Germany and Italy, so far from feeling this as a cause of distress, I feel it a ground of consolation, as giving us the strong"est assurance of his sincerity, added to that 66 66 |