A letter from the Right Honourable Charles James Fox, to the worthy and independent electors of the city and liberty of Westminster

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MR. FOX'S LETTER

TO THE

ELECTORS OF WESTMINSTER.

CntctrtJ at Stationers $all.

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LETTER

JROM TUB

RIGHT HONOURABLE

CHARLES JAMES FOX,

TO THI

WORTHY AND INDEPENDENT

ELECTORS

CITY and LIBERTY of WESTMINSTER.

THE THIRTEENTH EDITION

LONDON:

tfclKTID FOR J. DEBRETT, OPPOSITE BURLINGTON HOUSE,
PICCADILLY.

1793.

1*113.

LETTER, &c.

T

~~^0 vote in fmall minorities is a mif-
fortune to which I have been fo

much accuftomed, that I cannot be expected
to feel it very acutely.

To be the object of calumny and mifre-
prefentation gives me uneafinefs, it is true,
but an uneafinefs not wholly unmixed with
pride and fatisfaction, fince the experience
of all ages and countries teaches us that ca-
lumny and mifreprefentation are frequently
the moft unequivocal teftimonies of the
zeal, and poffibly the effect, with which he
B againft

3P3D1S3

( 2 )

againft whom they are directed has ferved
the public.

But I am informed that I now labour
under a misfortune of a far different nature
from thefe, and which can excite no other
fenfations than thofe of concern and humi-
liation. I am told that you in general dis-
approve my late conduct, and that, even
among thofe whofe partiality to me was
mod confpicuous, there are many who,
when I am attacked upon the prefent oc-
cafion, profefs themfelves neither able nor
willing to defend me.

That your unfavourable opinion of me
(if in fact you entertain any fuch) is owing
to mifreprefentation, I can have no doubt.
To do away the effeds of this mifreprefen-
tation is the object of this letter, and I know
of no mode by which I can accomplish this

object

( 3 )

object at once fo fairly, and (as I hope) fo
effectually, as by ftating to you the different
motions which I made in the Houfe of
Commons in the firft days of this feffion,
together with the motives and arguments

which induced me to make them. On

the firft day I moved the Houfe to fubfti-
tute, in place of the Addreis, the following
Amendment :

" To exprefs to His Majefty our moft
" zealous attachment to the excellent con-
" ftitution of this free country, our fenfe
" of the invaluable bleflings which are de-
" rived from it, and our unfhaken deter-

iQ mination to maintain and preferve it.

" To affure His Majefty, that uniting with
" all His Majefty's faithful fubjects in thofe
" fentiments of loyalty to the Throne, and
" attachment to the Conftitution, we feel in
•' common with them the deepeft anxiety
B 2 " and

( 4 )

" and concern, when we fee thofe meafures
'* adopted by the Executive Government,
" which the law authorizes only in cafes of
" infurrecYion within this realm.

" That His Majefty's faithful Commons,
" aifembled in a manner new and alarming
u to the country, think it their fir ft duty,
" and will make it their firft bufmefs, to
" inform themfelves of the caufes of this
" meafure, being equally zealous to enforce
" a due obedience to the laws on the one
" hand, and a faithful execution of them
" on the other."

My motive for this meafure was, that
I thought it highly important, both in a
conftitutional and a prudential view, that
the Houfe fhould be thoroughly informed
of the ground of calling out the militia, and

of

( 5 )

of its own meeting, before it proceeded
upon other bufinefs.

The Law enables the King, in certain
cafes, by the advice of his Privy Council,
having previoufly declared the caufe, to call
forth the militia — and pofitively enjoins,
that, whenever mch a meafure is taken,
Parliament fhall be fummoned imme-
diately.

This law, whiqh provided that we
mould meet, feemed to me to point out to
us our duty when met, and to require of us,
if not by its letter, yet by a fair interpre-
tation of its fpirit, to make it our firft buli-
nefs, to examine into the caufes, that had
been flated in the Proclamation as the mo-
tives for exercifing an extraordinary power
lodged in the Crown for extraordinary oc-
oafions ; to afcertain whether they were

true

( 6 )

true in fact, and whether, if true, they
were of fuch a nature as to warrant the
proceeding that had been grounded on
them.

Such a mode of conduct, if right upon
general principles, appeared to me peculiarly
called for by the circumftances under which
we were ailembled ; and by the ambiguity
with which the caufes of reforting for the
iirft time to this prerogative were dated
and defended.

The infurreclions (it was faid) at Yar-
mouth, Shields, and other places, gave i\ii-
niflers a legal right to ad ; and the general
ftate of the country, independently of the'e
infurredions, made it expedient for them to
avail themfelves of this right. In other words,
mfurrecYion was the pretext t the general
ftate of the country the caiife of the mea-

fure,

( ; )

fure. Yet infurre&ion was the motive
ftated in the Proclamation ; and the Adl of
Parliament enjoins the difclofure, not of
the pretext, but of the caufe : fo that it ap-
peared to be doubtful whether even the let-
ter of the law had been obeyed ; but if it
had, to this mode of profeffing one motive
and acting upon another, however agreeable
to the habits of fome men, I thought it my
duty to diflliade the Houfe of Commons
irom giving any fan&ion or countenance
whatever.

In a prudential view, furely information
ought to precede judgment ; and we were
bound to know what really was the ftate of
the country, before we delivered our opi-
nion of it in the Addrefs. Whenever the
Houfe is called upon to declare an opinion
of this nature, the weight which ought to
belong to fuch a declaration, makes it highly

important

( 3 )

important that it mould be founded on the
moft authentic information, and that it
mould be clear and diftinct. Did the Houfe
mean to approve the meafure taken by
Adminiftration, upon the ground of the
public pretence of infurrections ? If fo,
they were bound to have before them the
facts relative to thofe infurrections, to the
production of which no objection coujd be
ftated. Did they mean by their Addrefs
to declare that the general fituation of the
country was in itfelf a juftifi cation of what
had been done ? Upon this fuppofition,
it appeared to me equally neceffary for
them fo to inform themfelves, as to enable
them to ftate with preciiion to the public
the circumftances in this fituation to which
they particularly adverted. If they faw
reafon to fear impending tumults and in-
furreclions, of which the danger was immi-
nent and preffing, the meafures of His Ma-
jesty's

( 9 )

jefty's Minifters might be well enough
adapted to fuch an exigency ; but furely
the evidence of fuch a danger was capable
of being fubmitted either to the Houfe or
to a Secret Committee ; and of its exiftence
without fuch evidence, no man could think
it becoming for fuch a body as the Houfe
of Commons to declare their belief.

If therefore the Addrefs was to be founded

upon either of the fuppofitions above ftated,

a previous enquiry was abfolutely neceffary.

But there were fome whofe apprehenfions

were directed not fo much to any infurrec-

tions, either actually exifting or immediately

impending, as to the progrefs of what are

called French opinions, propagated (as is

fuppofed) with induftry, and encouraged

by fuccefs ; and to the mifchiefs which

might in future time arife from the fpi-

rit of difobedience and diforder, which

thefe doctrines are calculated to infpire.

C This

( 1° )

This danger, they faid, was too notorious
to require proof ; its reality could better be
afeertained by the feparate obfervations of
individual members, than by any proceeding
which the Houfe could inflitute in its col-
lective capacity ; and upon this ground,
therefore, the Addrefs might be fafely voted,
without any previous enquiry.

To have laid any ground for approving
without examination, was a great point
gained for thole W'ho wifhed to applaud
the conduct of Adminiftration ; but in this
inftance 1 fear the foundation has been laid,
without due regard to the nature of the fu-
perftructure, which it is intended to fupport;
for, if the danger confift in falfe but feduc-
ing theories, and our apprehenfions be
concerning what fuch theories may in
procefs of time produce, to fuch an evil it is
difficult to conceive how any of the mea-
fures which have been purfued are in any

degree

( 11 )

degree applicable. Opinions mud: have
taken the fhape of overt ads, before they
can be refitted by the fortifications in the
Tower -, and the fudden embodying of the
Militia, and the drawing of the regular
troops to the capital, feem to me meafures
calculated to meet an immediate, not a
diftant mifchief.

Impreffed with thefe notions, I could no
more vote upon this laft vague reafon, than
upon thofe of a more definite nature;
fmce, if in one cafe the premifes wanted
proof, in the other, where proof was faid
to be fuperfluous, the conclufion was not
juft. If the majority of the Houfe thought
differently from me, and if this laft ground
of general apprehenfion of future evils (the
only one of all that were Mated, upon which
it could with any colour of reafon be pre-
tended that evidence was not both practi-
cable and neceffary), appeared to them to

C 2 juftify

( 12 )

juflify the meafures of Government; then
I fay they ought to have declared explicitly
the true meaning of their vote, and either
to have difclaimed diftincUy any belief in
thofe impending tumults and infurrections,
which had rilled the minds of fo many thou-
fands of our fellow fubjects with the mod
anxious apprehenfions ; or to have com-
menced an inquiry concerning them, the
refult of which would have enabled the
Houfe to lay before the public a true and
authentic ftate of the nation, to put us upon
our guard againft real perils, and to diflipate
chimerical alarms.

I am aware that there were fome perfons
who thought that to be upon our guard
was fo much our firft intereft, in the pre-
fent pofture of affairs, that even to conceal
the truth was lefs mifchievous than to dimi-
nish the public terror. They dreaded in-
quiry, left it mould produce light ; they

felt

( 13 )

felt fo ftrongly the advantage of obfcurity
in infpiring terror, that they overlooked its
other property of caufing real peril. They
were fo alive to the dangers belonging to
falfe fecurity, that they were infenfible to

thofe arifing from groundlefs alarms. In

this frame of mind they might for a mo-
ment forget that integrity and fincerity
ought ever tc be the characleriflic virtues
of a Britifh Houfe of Commons ; and while
they were compelled to admit that the
Houfe could not, without inquiry, profefs
its belief of dangers, which ^if true) might
be fubflantiated by evidence, they might
neverthelefs be unwilling that the falutary
alarm (for fuch they deemed it) arifing
from thefe fuppofed dangers in the minds of
the people, mould be wholly quieted.
What they did not themfelves credit, they
might wifh to be believed by others.
Dangers, which they confidered as diftant,

they

( '4 )

they were not difpleafed that the public
fhould fuppofe near, in order to excite
more vigorous exertions.

To thefe fyftems of crooked policy and
pious fraud I have always entertained a kind of
inftincYive and invincible repugnance ; and,
if I had nothing elfe to advance in defence
of my conduct but this feeling, of which I
cannot diveft myfelf, I mould be far from
fearing your difpleaiure. But are there,
in truth, no evils in a falfe alarm, befides
the difgrace attending thofe who are con-
cerned in propagating it ? Is it nothing to
deftroy peace, harmony and confidence,
among all ranks of citizens ? Is it nothing
to give a general credit and countenance to
fufpicions, which every man may point as
his won't paflions incline him ? In fuch a
Hate, all political animofities are inflamed.
We confound the miftaken fpeculatift with
the defperate incendiary. We extend the

prejudices which we have conceived againft

indi-

( >5 )

individuals to the political party or even to
the religious feci: of which they are mem-
bers. In this fpirit a Judge declared from
the bench, in the laft century, that poifon-
ing was a Popifh trick, and I mould not be
furprifed if fome Bifhops were now to preach
from the pulpit that fedition is a Prefbyte-
rian or a Unitarian vice. Thofe who differ
from us in their ideas of the conftitution, in
this paroxyfm of alarm we confider as con-
federated to deflroy it. Forbearance and to-
leration have no place in our minds; for who
can tolerate opinions, which, according to
what the Deluders teach, and rage and fear
incline the Deluded to believe, attack our
Lives, our Properties, and our Religion ?

This fituation I thought it my duty, if
pofiible, to avert, by promoting an inquiry.
By this meafure the guilty, if fuch there are,
would have been detected, and the inno-
cent liberated from fufpicion.

My

( 16 )

My propofal was rejected by a great ma-
jority. I defer with all due refped to their
opinion, but retain my own.

My next motion was for the infertion of

the following words into the Addrefs :

M Trufting that your Majefty will employ
cc every means of negociation, confiftent
" with the honour and fafety of this coun-
" try to avert the calamities of war."

My motive in this inftance is too obvious
to require explanation ; and I think it the
lefs neceffary to dwell much on this fubjecl:,
becaufe, with refped to the defirablenefs of
peace at all times, and more particularly in
the prefent, I have reafon to believe that
your fentiments do not differ from mine.
If we looked to the country where the caufe
of war was faid principally to originate, the
fituation of the United Provinces appeared
to me to fumtfh abundance of prudential
9 argu-

( >7 )

arguments in favour of peace. If we looked
to Ireland, I faw nothing there that would
not difcourage a wife flatefman from putting
the connection between the two kingdoms
to any unneceiTary hazard. At home, if it
be true that there are feeds of difcontent,
War is the hot-bed in which thefe feeds will
fooneft vegetate ; and of all wars, in this point
of view, that war is moil to be dreaded, in
the caufe of which Rings may be fuppofed
to be more concerned than their fubje&s.

I wiiTied, therefore, raoft earneftly for

peace ; and experience had taught me, that

the voice even of a Minority in the Houfe of

Commons, might not be wholly without

effect:, in deterring the King's Minifters from

irrational projects of war. Even upon this

occafion, if I had been more fupported, I

am perfuaded our chance of preferving the

bleifings of peace would be better than it

appears to be at prefent.

D 1 come

( i» )

I come now to my third motion,
" That an humble addrefs be prefented
f< to his Majefty, that his Majefty will be
44 gracioufly pleafed to give directions, that
44 a Minifter may be fent to Paris, to treat
" with thofe perfons who exercife provi-
" lionally the functions of executive go-
" vernment in France, touching fuch points
44 as may be in difcuffion between his Ma-
" jefty and his Allies, and the French Na-
44 tion 5" which, if I am rightly informed,
is that which has been mod generally dis-
approved. It was made upon mature con-
fideration, after much deliberation with
myfelf, and much confutation with others ;
and notwithftanding the various mifrepre-
fentations of my motives in making it, and
the mifconceptions of its tendency, which
have preporTeiTed many againfl it, I cannot
repent of an act, which, if I had omitted,
I mould think myfelf deficient in the duty

which

( *9 )

which I owe to you, and to my country at
large.

The motives which urged me to make
it were, the fame defire of peace which
actuated me in the former motion, if it
could be preferved on honourable and fafe
terms, and if this were impoffible, an
anxious wifh that the grounds of war
might be juft, clear, and intelligible.

If we or our ally have fufFered injury or
infult, or if the independence of Europe
be menaced by inordinate and fuccefs-
ful ambition, 1 know no means of pre-
ferving peace but by obtaining reparation
for the injury, fatisfadion for the infult, or
fecurity againft the defign, which we appre-
hend ; and I know no means of obtaining
D 2 any

( 20 )

any of thefe objects but by addreffing
ourfelves to the Power of whom we com-
plain.

If the cxclufive navigation of the Scheld,
or any other right belonging to the States
General, has been invaded, the French
Executive Council are the invader?, and of
them we mud afk redrefs. If the rights of
neutral nations have been attacked by the
decree of the 19th of November, the Na-
tional Convention of France have attacked
:, and from that Convention, through
the organ by which they ipeak to foreign
courts and nations, their Minifter for fo-
reign affairs, we mull demand explanation,
difavowal, or fuch other fatisfat~tion as
the cafe may require. If the manner
in which the lame Convention have re-
ceived and anfwered fome of our country-
4 men,

( 2. )

men, who have addreffed them, be thought
worthy notice, precifely of the fame per-
fons, and in the fame manner, mu ft we
demand fatisfa&ion upon that head alfo. If
the fecurity of Europe, by any conquefts
made or apprehended, be endangered to
fuch a degree, as to warrant us, on the
principles as well of juftice as of policy,
to enforce by aams a reftitution of conquefts
already made, or a renunciation of fuch as
may have been projected, from the Exe-
cutive Power of France, in this inftance
again, muft we afk fuch reftitution, or fuch
renunciation. How all, or any of thefe
objects could be attained, but by negotia-
tion, carried on by authorifcd Minifters,
I could not conceive. I knew indeed that
there were fome perfons, whofe notions
of dignity were far different from mine,
and who, in that point of view, would
have preferred a clandeftine, to an avowed

nego-

( M )

negociation ; but I confefs I thought this
mode of proceeding neither honourable
nor fafe ; and, with regard to fome of our

complaints, wholly impracticable. Not

honourable, becaufe, to feek private and
circuitous channels of communication, feems
to fuit the conduct, rather of fuch as fuc
for a favour, than of a great nation, which
demands fatisfacYion. Not fafe, becaufe nei-
tber a declaration from an u n a uthori fed
agent, nor a mere gratuitous repeal of the
decrees complained of, (and what more
could fuch a negociation aim at ?) would
afford us any fecurity againft the revival
of the claims which we oppofe; and laftly,
impracticable with refpect to that part of the
queftion, which regards the fecurity of
Europe, becaufe fuch fecurity could not be
provided for by the repeal of a decree, or
any thing that might be the refult of a pri-
vate negociation, but could only be ob-
tained

( 23 )

tained by a formal treaty, to which the
exifting French government mud of necef-
fity be a party ; and I know of no means
by which it can become a party to fuch a
treaty, or to any treaty at all, but by a Mi-
nifter publicly authorifed, and publicly re-
ceived. Upon thefe grounds, and with
thefe views, as a fincere friend to peace, I
thought it my duty to fuggeft, what ap-
peared to me, on every fuppofition, the
moft eligible, and, if certain points were to
be infilled upon, the only means of pre-
ferving that invaluable bleffing.

But I had dill a further motive ; and if
peace could not be preferved, I confidered
the meafure which I recommended as
highly ufeful in another point of view.
To declare war, is, by the Con fti tut ion,
the prerogative of the King ; but to grant

or

( 24 )

or with-hold the means of carrying it on,
is (by the fame Conftitution) the privilege
of the People, through their Reprefenta-
tives ; and upon the People at large, by a
law paramount to all Conftitutions — the
Law of Nature and NecefTity, mud fall the
burdens and fufferings, which are the too
fure attendants upon that calamity. It
feems therefore reafonable that they, who
are to pay, and to fuffer, ihould be diftinctly
informed of the object for which war is
made, and I conceived nothing would tend
to this information fo much as an avowed
negociation ; becaufe from the refult of
fuch a negociation, and by no other means,
could we, with any degree of certainty,
learn, how far the French were willing to
iatisfy us in all, or any of the points, which
have been publicly held forth as the grounds
of complaint againfl them. — If in none of

thefe

( 2J )

thefe any fatisfa&ory explanation were
given, we mould all admit, provided our
original grounds of complaint were juft,
that the war would be io too:— if in fome —
we mould know the fpecific fubjects upon
which fatisfattion was refufed, and have
an opportunity of judging whether or not
they were a rational ground of difpute : —
if in all — and a rupture were neverthelefs
to take place, we mould know that the
public pretences were not the real caules
of the war.

In the laft cafe which I have put, I mould
hope there is too much fpirit in the people
of Great Britain, to fubmit to take a part
in a proceeding founded on deceit ; and
in either of the ethers, whether our caufe
were weak or ftrong, we mould at all
events efcape that laft of infamies, the l'uf-
picion of being a party to the Duke of
E Brunfwick's

( 26 )

Brunfwick's Manifeftoes *. But this is not
all. Having afcertained the precife caufe
of war, we fhould learn the true road to
peace ; and if the caufe f'o afcertained ap-
peared adequate, then we fhould look for
peace through war, by vigorous exertions
and liberal fupplies: if inadequate, the Con-

* I have heard that the Manifeftoes are not to be con-
fidered as the acts of the Illuftrious. Prince whofe name
I have mentioned, and that the threats contained
in them were never meant to be carried into execution.
I hear with great fatisfaction whatever tends to palliate
the Manifeftoes themfelves j and with ftill more any
thing that tends to difconnect them from the name
which is affixed to them, becaufe the great abilities of
the perfon in queftion, his extraordinary gallantry, and
above all his mild and paternal government of his fub-
jects, have long fmce imprefled me with the higheft
refpect for his character ; and upon this account it gave
me much concern when I heard that he was engaged
in an entcrprize, where, according to my ideas, true
glory could not be acquired.

ftitution

( 27 )

ftitution would furnifh us abundance of
means, as well through our reprefentatives,
as by our undoubted right to petition King
and Parliament, of imprefiing his Majefty's
Ministers with fentiments fimilar to our
own, and of engaging them to compromife,
or, if neceffary, to relinquifh an object, in
which we did not feel intereft fufficient to
compenfate to us for the calamities and ha-
zard of a war.

To thefe reafonings it appeared to me,
that they only could object with con-
fiftency, who would go to war with France
on account of her internal concerns ; and
who would confider the re-eftablimment of
the old, or at leaft fome other form of go-
vernment, as the fair object of the conteft.
Such perfons might reafonably enough ar-
gue, that with thofe whom they are deter-
mined to deftroy, it is ufelefs to treat.

E 2 To

( *8 )

To arguments of this nature, however,
I paid little attention j becaufe the eccen-
tric opinion upon which they are found-
ed was exprefsly difavowed, both in the
King's Speech and in the Addrefles of the
two Houfes of Parliament : and it was an
additional motive with me for making my
motion, that, if fairly debated, it might
be the occafion of bringing into free difcuf-
fion that opinion, and of feparating more
distinctly thofe who maintained and acted
upon it from others, who from different
motives (whatever they might be) were
difinclined to my propofal.

But if the objections of the violent party
appeared to me extravagant, thofe of the
more moderate feemed wholly unintelligible.
Would they make and continue war, till they
can force France to a counter-revolution? No;
this they difclaim. What then is to be the ter-
mination

( *9 )

mination of the war to which they would
excite us ? I anfwer confidently, that it can
be no other than a negociation, upon the
fame principles and with the fame men as that
which I recommend. I fay the fame princi-
ples, becaufe after war peace cannot be obtain-
ed but by a treaty, and a treaty neceffarily
implies the independency of the contracting
parties. I fay the fame men, becaufe though
they may be changed before the happy hour
of reconciliation arrives, yet that change,
upon the principles above ftated, would be
merely accidental, and in no wife a necefTary
preliminary to peace : for I cannot fuppofc
that they who difclaim making war for a
change, would yet think it right to continue
it ////a change; or, in other words, that th*
blood and treafure of this country fhould be
expended in a hope that— not our efforts —
but time and chance may produce a new
government in France, with which it would

be

( 3° )

be more agreeable to our Minifters to negO8-
ciate than with the prefent. And it is fur-
ther to be obferved, that the neceffity of
fuch a negociation will not in any degree
depend upon the fuccefs of our arms, fince
the reciprocal recognition of the indepen-
dency of contracting parties is equally ne-
celfary to thofe who exadt and to thofe who
offer facrifices for the purpofe of peace.
I forbear to put the cafe of ill fuccefs, be-
caufe to contemplate the fituation to which
we, and efpecially our ally, might in fuch an
event be placed, is a tafk too painful to be
undertaken but in a cafe of the laft neceffity.
Let us fuppofe therefore the fkill and gal-
lantry of our failors and foldiers to be
crowned with a feries of uninterrupted vic-
tories, and thofe victories to lead us to the
legitimate object of a juft war, a fafe and
honourable peace. The terms of fuch a
peace (I am fuppofmg that Great Britain

is

( 3* )

is to didate them) may confift in fatif-
fadion, reftitution, or even by way of in-
demnity to us or to others, in ceflion of
territory on the part of France. Now that
fuch fatisfadion may be honourable, it muft
be made by an avowed Minifter ; that fuch
reftitution or ceffion may be fafe or honour-
able, they muft be made by an independent
power, competent to make them. And thus
our very fucceffes and vidories will necef-
farily lead us to that meafure of negociation
and recognition, which, from the diftorted
mape in which paflion and prejudice repre-
fent objeds to the mind of man, has by fome
been confidered as an ad of humiliation
and abafement.

I have reafon to believe there are fome

who think my motion unexceptionable

enough in itfelf, but ill-timed. The time

was not in my choice. I had no opportu-

2 nity

( 3* )

nity of making it fooner ; and, with a view
to its operation refpecting peace, I could not
delay it. To me, who think that public
intercourfe with France, except during ac-
tual war, ought always to fubfift, the firft
occafion that prcfented itfelf, after the inter-
ruption of that intercourfe, feemed of courfe
the proper moment for prefling its renewal.
But let us examine the objections upon this
head of Time in detail. They appeared to
me to be principally Four

lft. That by fending a Minifter to Paris
at that period, we fhould give fome counte-
nance to a proceeding*, moft unanimoufly,

and

* Since this was written, we have learned the fad
eataftrophe of the proceeding to which I alluded.
Thofe, however, who feel the force of my argument,
r,-ill perceive that it is not at all impaired by this re-
volting act. of cruelty and injuftice- Indeed, if I were
inclined to fee any connection between the two fubjects,
I fhould rather feel additional regret for the rejection

of

( 33 )

and mod juftly reprobated, in every country
of Europe*

To this objection I need not, I think,
give any other anfwer, than that it refts
upon an opinion, that by fending a Minifter
we pay fome compliment, implying approba-
tion, to the prince or ftate to whom we fend
him j an opinion which, for the honour of
this country, I muft hope to be wholly erro-
neous. We had aMinifter atVerfailles, when
Corfica was bought and enflaved. We had
Minifters at the German courts, at the time
of the infamous partition of Poland. We
have generally a refident Conful, who ads
as a Minifter to the piratical republic of
Algiers ; and we have more than once fent

of a motion which might have afforded one chance
more of preventing an act concerning which (out of
France) I will venture to affirm that there is not
throughout Europe one diflentient voice.

F embaflies

( 34 )

cmbaflies to Emperors of Morocco, reeking
from the blood through which, by the
murder of their ncareft relations, they had
waded to their thrones. In none of thefe
inftances was any fanttion given by Great
Britain to the tranfa&ions by which power
had been acquired, or to the manner in
which it had been exercifed.

sdly. That a recognition might more
properly take place at the end, and as the
remit of a private communication, and (in
the phrafe ufed upon a former occafion) as
the price of peace, than gratuitoufly at the
outfet of a negotiation.

I cannot help fufpecting, that they who
urge this objection have confounded the
prefent cafe with the queftion, formerly fo
much agitated, of American Independence.
In this view they appear to me wholly dif-

fimilar

( 35 )

fimilar — I pray to God that, in all other
refpects, they may prove equally fo. To
recognize the Thirteen States, was in effect
to withdraw a claim of our own, and it
might fairly enough be argued that we were
entitled to fome price or compenfation for
fuch a facrifice. Even upon that occafion,
I was of opinion that a gratuitous and pre-
liminary acknowledgment of their inde-
pendence was moft confonant to the prin-
ciples of magnanimity and policy ; but in
this inftance we have no facrifice to make,
for we have no claim ; and the reafons for
which the French mud wifh an avowed and
official intercourfe, can be only fuch as
apply equally to the mutual intereft of both
nations, by affording more effectual means
of preventing mifunderftandings, and i'e-
curing peace.

I would further recommend to thofe who
F 2 prefs

( 36 )

prefs this objection, to confider ' whether,
if recognition be really a facrifice on our
part, the Miniftry have not already made
that facrifice by continuing to act upon the
commercial treaty as a treaty ftill in force.
E> ery contract muft be at an end when the
parties have no longer any exift-
eit ier in their own perfons or by their
reprefentatives. After the tenth of Auguft
the political exiftence of Louis XVI. who
was the contracting party in the treaty of com-p
merce, was completely annihilated. The only
qneflion therefore is, Whether the Execu-
tive Council of France did or did not repre-
fent the political power fo annihilated. If
we fay they did not, the contracting party
has no longer any political exiftence either in
his perfonor byreprefentation, and the treaty
becomes null and void. If we fay they did,
then we have actually acknowledged them as
reprefentatives, (for the time at lead) of

what

( 37 )

what was the Executive Government in
France. In this character alone do they
claim to be acknowledged, fince their very
ftyle defcribes them as a Provifional Exe-
cutive Council and nothing elfe. If we
would preferve our treaty we could not do
lefs ; by fending a Minifter we fhould not
do more *.

3dly. That our AmbafTador having been
recalled, and no Britifh Minifter having
refided at Paris, while the conduct of the

* If my argument is fatisfactory, I have proved
that we have recognifed the Executive Council ; and
it is notorious, that through the medium of Mr.
Chauvelin we have negociated with them. But
although we have both negociated and recognized,
it would be difhonourable, it feems, to negociate in
fuch a manner as to imply recognition. How nice
are the points upon which great bufinefies turn !
how remote from vulgar apprehenfion !

I French

C 3$ )

French was inoffenfive with refpecl: to us
and our ally, it would be mortifying to
fend one thither, juft at the time when
they began to give us caufe of com-
plaint.

Mortifying to whom? Not certainly to the
Houfe of Commons, who were not a party
to the recall of Lord Gower, and who, if my
advice were followed, would lofe no time
in replacing him. To the Miniiters poffi-
bly*; and if fo, it ought to be a warning to
the Houfe, that it mould not, by acting like
.the Miniiters, lofe the proper, that is, the
firft opportunity, and thereby throw ex-

* I do not think it would have been mortifying even
to them, becaufe in confequence of the difcinuons which
had ar ien, a meafure which had been before indifferent
might become expedient ; but as this point made no part
of my confideration, I have not thought it incumbent
upon me to ar^ue it.

trinfii

( 39 )

trinfic difficulties of its own creation in the
way of a meafure, in itfelf wife and falutary.

4thly. That by acting in the manner
propofed we might give ground of offence
to thofe powers, with whom, in cafe of
war, it might be prudent to form connection
and alliance.

This objection requires examination. Is
it meant that our treating with France in its
prefent ftate will offend the German Powers,
by ihewing them that our ground of quarrel
is different from theirs ? If this be fo, and
if we adhere to the principles which we
have publicly ftated, I am afraid we mult
either offend or deceive, and in fuch an
alternative I trufh the option is not difficult.

If it be faid, that, though our original
grounds of quarrel were different, yet we

may

( 40 )

may, in return for the aid they may afford
us in obtaining our objects, aflift them in
theirs of a counter-revolution, and enter
into an offenfive alliance for that purpofe —
I anfwer, that our having previoufly treated
would be no impediment to fuch a mea-
fure. But if it were, I freely confefs that this
coniideration would have no influence with
me ; becaufe fuch an alliance, for fuch a
purpofe, I conceive to be the greater!; cala-
mitv that can befall the Britiih nation : for
let us not attempt to deceive ourfelves; what-
ever poffibility or even probability there
may be of a counter-revolution, from in-
ternal agitation and difcord, the means of
producing fuch an event by external force,
can be no other than the conqueft of France.
The conqueft of France ! ! ! — O ! calum-
niated crufaders, how rational and mode-
rate were your objects ! — O! much injured
Louis XIV. upon what flight grounds have

5 y°u

( 4' )

you been accufed of reftlefs and immode-
rate ambition ! — O ! tame and feeble Cer-
vantes, with what a timid pencil and faint
colours have you painted the portrait of a
difordered imagination !

I have now dated to you fully, and I truft
fairly, the arguments that perfuaded me to
the courfe of conduct which I have purfued.
In thefe confifls my defence, upon which
you are to pronounce ; and I hope I fhall
not be thought prefumptuous, when I fay,
that I expect with confidence a favourable
verdict.

If the reaibnings which I have adduced
fail of convincing you, I confefs indeed that
I fhall be difappointed, becaufe to my un-
derstanding they appear to have more of
irrefragable demonftration than can often be
hoped for in political difcuflions j but even

G ia

( 4» )

in this cafe, if you fee in them probability
fufficient to induce you to believe that,
though not ftrong enough to convince you,
they, and not any finifter or oblique mo-
tives, did in fact actuate me, I have ftill
gained my caufe ; for in this fuppoiltion,
though the propriety of my conduct may
be doubted, the rectitude of my intentions
rnuft be admitted.

Knowing therefore the juftice and can-
dour of the tribunal to which I have appeal-
ed, I wait your decifion without fear — Your
approbation I anxioufly defire, but your
acquittal I confidently expect.

Pitied for my fuppofed mifconduct by
fome of my friends, openly renounced by
others, attacked and mifreprefented by my
enemies, — to you I have recourfe for refuge
#.nd protection; and confcious, that if I had
6 {hrunk

43 )
fhrunk from my duty, I mould have merited
your cenfure, I feel myfelf equally certain,
that by a&ing in conformity to the motives
■which I have explained to you, I can in
no degree have forfeited the efteem of the
city of Weftminfter, which it has fo long
been the firft pride of my life to enjoy, and
which it fhall be my conftant endeavour to
preferve.

C. J. FOX.

South Street, Jan. 26, 1793.

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