Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914 | Page 6

of the
whole nation of France? If he was told that it was impossible for the
crowned heads, acting in concert upon this great occasion, to have any
but just and honourable views, he would answer that the subject was of
too much magnitude to be allowed to pass in such a manner; and in his
suspicions he was justified by the example, and fortified by the
observation of an honourable gentleman (Mr. Jenkinson) with respect

to the father of the present Emperor, that no man ought to take his word
for one hour. No material alteration, he believed, had taken place in the
views of that Court since the death of that prince, nor of others in the
present confederacy. Were we to forget that the King of Prussia
encouraged the Brabanters to revolt, and then left them to their fate?
Were we to forget the recent conduct with respect to Poland? Were we
to forget the taking of Dantzic and Thorn? Indeed he thought that those
who every day told us, in pompous language, of the necessity there was
for kings, and of the service they did to the cause of humanity, they
should at least have spared the public the pain of thinking of these
subjects, by not entering into the views of that unnatural confederacy.
Indeed it was impossible for him to dismiss the consideration of Poland,
without adverting to an eloquent passage in the work of a right
honourable gentleman, who was an enthusiastic admirer of the late
revolution there. Here Mr. Sheridan quoted the following passage of
Mr. Burke's Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs:
The state of Poland was such, that there could scarcely exist two
opinions, but that a reformation of its constitution, even at some
expense of blood, might be seen without much disapprobation. No
confusion could be feared in such an enterprise; because the
establishment to be reformed was itself a state of confusion. A King
without authority, nobles without union or subordination, a people
without arts, industry, commerce, or liberty; no order within, no
defence without; no effective public force, but a foreign force, which
entered a naked country at will, and disposed of everything at pleasure.
Here was a state of things which seemed to invite, and might, perhaps,
justify bold enterprise and desperate experiment. But in what manner
was this chaos brought into order? The means were as striking to the
imagination, as satisfactory to the reason, and soothing to the moral
sentiments. In contemplating that change, humanity has everything to
rejoice and to glory in, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to suffer. So
far as it has gone, it probably is the most pure and defecated public
good which ever has been conferred on mankind. We have seen
anarchy and servitude at once removed, a throne strengthened for the
protection of the people, without trenching on their liberties, all foreign
cabal banished, by changing the crown from elective to hereditary; and

what was a matter of pleasing wonder, we have seen a reigning King,
from an heroic love to his country, exerting himself with all the toil, the
dexterity, the management, the intrigue, in favour of a family of
strangers, with which ambitious men labour for the aggrandizement of
their own. Ten millions of men in a way of being freed gradually, and
therefore safely to themselves and the State, not from civil or political
chains, which, bad as they are, only fetter the mind, but from
substantial personal bondage. Inhabitants of cities, before without
privileges, placed in the consideration which belongs to that improved
and connecting situation of social life. One of the most proud,
numerous, and fierce bodies of nobility and gentry ever known in the
world, arranged only in the foremost rank of free and generous citizens.
Not one man incurred loss, or suffered degradation. All, from the King
to the day-labourer, were improved in their condition. Everything was
kept in its place and order, but in that place and order everything was
bettered. To add to this happy wonder (this unheard-of conjunction of
wisdom and fortune) not one drop of blood was spilled; no treachery;
no outrage; no system of slander more cruel than the sword; no studied
insults on religion, morals, or manners; no spoil; no confiscation; no
citizen beggared; none imprisoned; none exiled: the whole was effected
with a policy, a discretion, an unanimity and secrecy, such as have
never been before known on any occasion; but such wonderful conduct
was reserved for this glorious conspiracy in favour of the true and
genuine rights and interests of men. Happy people, if they know how to
proceed as they have begun! Happy prince, worthy to begin with
splendour, or to close with glory, a race of patriots and of kings: