tion, is the natural confequence of a falfe and treacherous policy, which cannot bear the light of the day. The fentiments and conduct of the King have nothing to fear from the most fevere fcrutiny; but, on the contrary, invites it to diftinguish clearly what his enemies have confounded with fo much artifice. Juftice alone can fpeak, without fear, the language

of reafon and truth.

The full juftification of his Majefty, and the indelible condemn ation of France, may be reduced to the proof of two fimple, and almoft felf-evident principles.First, That a profound, permanent, and, on the part of England, a fincere and true peace, fubfifted between the two nations, when France formed connections with the revolted Colonies, fecret at first, but afterwards public and avowed. Second, That according to the beft acknowledged maxims, of the rights of nations, and even according to the tenor of treaties actually fubfifting between the two crowns, thefe connections might be regarded as an infraction of the peace; and the public avowal of these connections was equivalent to a declaration of war on the part of the Moft Chriftian King. This is, perhaps, the firft time that a respectable nation had an occafion to prove two truths, fo inconteftible, the memory of which is already acknowledged by every difinterefted and prejudiced perfon.

"When Providence called the King to the throne, France enjoyed a most profound peace.' "Thefe are the expreffions of the laft Manifefto of the Court of Verfailles, which eafily remembers the folemn affurances of a fincere friendship,

and the moft pacific difpofition which it received from his Britannic Majefty, and which were often renewed by the intervention of Ambaffadors to the two Courts, during four years, until the fatal and decifive moment of the Declaration of the Marquis de Noailles. The question, then, is to prove, that during this happy time of general tranquillity, England concealed a fecret war under the appearance of peace; and that her unjuft and arbitrary procedure was carried to fuch a pitch, as to render lawful, on the part of France, the boldeft fteps, which are permiffable only in a declared enemy. To attain this object, griefs clearly articulated and folidly established, fhould be produced before the tribunal of Europe. This great tribunal will require formal, and, perhaps, repeated proofs of the injury, of the complaint, of a refufal of competent fatisfaction, and of a proteftation of the injured party, that it held itfelf highly offended by fuch refufal, and that it fhonld look upon itself hereafter as releafed from the duties of friendfhip, and the bonds of treaties. Thofe nations which refpect the fanctity of oaths, and the advantages of peace are the floweft to catch hold of opportunities which feem to difcharge them from a facred and folemn obligation; and it is but with trembling that they dare to renounce the friendship of powers, from which they have long borne injuftice and infult.

But the Court of Verfailles hath been either ignorant of these wife and falutary principles, or it hath defpifed them; and, inftead of fixing the foundations of a juft and legitimate war, it hath con

tented

tented itself to fpread through every page of its Manifefto, general and vague complaints, expreffed with exaggerations in a metaphorical ftyle. It goes above threefcore years back to accufe England of her want of care to ratify fome commercial regulations, fome articles of the treaty of Utrecht. It prefumes to reproach the King's minifters with ufing the language of haughtiness and ambition, without condefcending to the duty of proving imputations as unlikely as they are odious. The free fuppofitions of the ambition, and infincerity of the court of London, are confeffedly healed up, as if they feared to be difcriminated; the pretended infults which the commerce, the flag, and the territories of France, have undergone, are infinuated in a very obfcure manner, and at laft there efcapes an avowal of the engagement which the moft Chriftian King had already made with Spain, "to avenge their refpective wrongs, and put bounds to the tyrannical empire which England had ufurped, and pretended to maintain over every fea."

It is difficult to encounter phantoms, or to anfwer clofely and precifely to the language of declamation. The juft confidence of the King, would doubtless defire to fubmit to the ftricteft examination, thofe vague complaints, thofe pretended wrongs, upon which the court of Verfailles has fo prudently avoided to explain itself, with that clearness and particularity which alone could fupport its reafons, and excufe its conduct..During a fifteen years peace, the interefts of two powerful, and perhaps jealous nations, which ap

proached in fo many places in the old and new world, would inevitably furnish fubjects of complaint and difcuffion, which a reciprocal moderation would always know how to fettle, but which are but too eafily fharpened and impoifoned by the real hatred, or affected fufpicions, of a fecret and ambitious enemy: and the troubles of America were but too apt to multiply the hopes, the pretexts, and the unjuft pretenfions of France. Nevertheless, fuch has been the ever uniform, and ever peaceable conduct of the King and his minifters, that it hath often filenced his enemies; and if it may be permitted to difcover the true fenfe of thefe indefinite and equivocal accufations, whofe ftudied obfcurity betrays the features to fhame and artifice-if it may be permitted of contested objects which have no exiftence, it may be affirmed with the boldnefs of truth, that feveral of these pretended injuries, are announced for the first time, in a declaration of war, without having been propofed to the court of London, at a time when they might have been confidered with the ferious and favourable attention of friendship. In refpect to thofe complaints which the ambaffadors of his moft Chriftian Ma jefty have communicated from time to time to the King's minifters, it would be eafy to give, or rather to repeat fatisfactory answers, which would demonftrate, to the eyes of France herfelf, the King's moderation, his love of justice, and the fincerity of his difpofition to preferve the general tranquillity of Europe. Thofe complaints, which the court of Verfailles may difpenfe with recollecting, were very rarely

founded

founded in truth and reafon; and it was moft generally found that thofe perfons in Europe, America, or on the feas, from whom an ill-founded and fufpected intelligence was derived, had not been afraid to abufe the confidence of France, the better to ferve her fecret intentions.

If fome facts, which France enhanced as the ground of her complaints, were built on a lefs brittle foundation, the King's minifters cleared them without delay, by a moft clear and entire juftification of the motives and rights of their Sovereign, who might punish a contraband trade on his coaft, without wounding the public repofe; and to whom the law of nations gave a lawful right to feize all veffels which carried arms or warlike ftores to his enemies, or rebellious fubjects. The courts of juftice were always open to individuals of all nations, and thofe must be very ignorant of the British conftitution, who fuppofe that the royal authority was capable to fhut out the means of an appeal. In the vaft and extended theatre of the operations of a naval war, the moft active vigilance, and the moft fteady authority, are unable to difcover or fupprefs every diforder; but every time that the court of Verfailles was able to eftablish the truth of any real injuries that its fubjects had fuftained, without the knowledge or approbation of the King, his Majefty gave the moft fpeedy and effectual orders to ftop an abufe, which injured his own dignity, as well as the intereft of his neighbours, who had been involved in the calamities of war. The object and importance of this war will fuffice to fhew all EuVOL. XXII.

rope, on what principles the poli tical proceedings of England ought to be regulated. Is it likely, that whilft England employed her forces to bring the revolted colonies of America back to their duty, fhe fhould have chofen that moment to irritate the most respectable powers of Europe, by the injuftice and violence of her conduct? Equity hath always governed the fentiments and conduct of the King; but on this important occafion, his very prudence is a warrant for his fincerity and moderation.

But to establish clearly the pacific fyftem that fubfifts between the two nations, nothing more is wanting than to appeal to the very teftimony of the court of Verfailles. At the very time in which it doth not blush to place all these pretended infractions of the public peace, which would have engaged a Prince lefs fparing of his fubjects blood, to make, without he fitation, reprifals, and to repel infult by force of arms, the minifter of the most Chriftian King fpoke the language of confidence and friendship. Inftead of denouncing any defign of vengeance, with that haughty tone, which at least spares injuftice from the reproaches of perfidy and diffimulation, the court of Verfailles concealed the most treacherous conduct under the fmootheft profeffions. But those very profeffions ferve, at prefent, to belie its declaration, and to call to mind thofe fentiments which ought to have regulated its conduct. If the court of Verfailles is unwilling to be accused of a diffimulation unworthy of its grandeur, it will be forced to acknow. ledge, that till the moment that it dictated to the Marquis de [C c]

Noailles,

Noailles, that declaration, which has been received as the fignal of war, it did not know any grounds of complaint, fufficiently real or important, to authorize a violation of the obligations of peace, and the faith of treaties, to which it had fworn in the face of heaven and earth; and to difengage from that amity, to which, to the laft moment, it had repeated the most folemn and lively affurances.

When an adverfary is incapable of juftifying his violence in the public opinion, or even in his own eyes, by the injuries which he pretends to have received, he has recourfe to the chimerical danger to which his patience might have been expofed; and in the place of facts, of which he is totally unprovided, he endeavours to fubftitute a vain picture, which hath existence only in his own imagination, perhaps his own heart. The minifter of the moft Chriftian King, who feems to have felt the weakness of the means they were forced to employ, yet made impotent efforts to fupport thofe means, by the most odious and unaccountable fufpicions. "The court of London made preparations in its ports, and armaments, which could not have America for their object. Their intention was, confequently, too well determined for the King to mistake them, and from thence it became their duty to make fuch difpofitions, as were capable of preventing the evil defigns of his enemy, &c. In this ftate of affairs, the King found he had not a moment to lofe." This is the language of France; now we will fhew that of truth.

During the difputes which had

66

arifen between Great Britain and her colonies, the court of Verfailles applied itfelf, with the moft lively and determined ardor, to the augmentation of her marine. The King did not pretend to reign as a tyrant of the feas," but knows that, at all times, maritime forces have conftituted the glory and fafety of his dominions; and that they have often protected the liberty of Europe, against the ambitious ftate, which hath fo long laboured to fubdue it.

A fenfe of his dignity, and a juft knowledge of his duty and his intereft, engaged his Majesty to watch, with an attentive eye, over the proceedings of France, whofe dangerous policy, without a motive, and without an enemy, precipitated the building and arming of fhips in all her ports; and which employed a confiderable part of her revenues in the expence of thofe military preparations, the neceffity or object of which it was impoffible to declare. In that conjuncture the King could not avoid following the counfel of his dence, and the example neighbours. The fucceffi mentation of their mari as a rule for his; ar wounding the refpect t to friendly powers, declared publicly t ment, that Englan a refpectable t The naval force carefully ftreng figned only to ral tranquillit whilft the dia fcience difpof credit to t court of V