Star.
London, England, 1814-01-29 00:00:00

/

I

,

- _

FRANCE TXE DISTURBER`OFBUROPE.
•
The following Observations contain a decisive an-
swer to the contemptible Historical Sketch; in which
the French Government has attempted to impute the
.
general wars of Europe to England. ` They arsi.
chiefly extracted from the political reflections in Mr.
GAIT'S Voyages and Travels i
gg France, both from her situation and character;
has long been the great influential nation of the con-
- tinent. Her central situation makes her the natural
barrier to the ambition of the other nations ; but her
enterprizing character makes her, more dangerous
to them all than any other, while her position facili-
tates the execution of hee schemes.
The rivalrys'
however, with which- she is regarded by Britain, cows.
. teracts the effects that arise from her character.--;..
Britain by her situation, is enabled to become the
ally of the enemies of France, in such a manner u
greatly to impair the advantage which France de-,
rives from her place on the continent. The weight,
. of Britain, in the political scale, lessens ao much the,
preponderancy of France, that th independence of
other nations depends on the -opposition which she is
enabled to afford. Thete is, therefore, a natural
predisposition in all the continental nations; arising
wholly from political considerations; to connect their&
selves with Britain. •-•
-
64 France, by her central situation, is inimediately.
interested in the movement of. all the surrounding
states ; and is neiessitateci. to take a lively interest,
and an active share, in all-41We intentions.-
by her insular position, not being immediately aft.:
fected by the political fluctuations of the continent,
is the natural arbiter of the dispittes among the conti-
nental nations.
66 France has, under no change of circumstances,
ever altered her settled purpose, to become the ruling
nation- of the Continent. This ambition is the ac-
tuating principle of trench policy ; and in succes-
sive wars, during a course of upwards of three hun-
dred years, it has been so clearly manifested,' that it
cannot be ascribed. to the fantasy of any individual,
however extraordinary his fortuaes or his measures..
66 This national 'passion of France is of great anti-
quity; though not observable, in any authentic form,
• earlier than the reigns of the Tudors in England.—
Henry VII. of England could not pretend to the in
heritance of the crown of France, merely upon his
- riarht as a successor of Henry-W. ; but only by re-
viving 'the ancient claim of the ,13lantagenets, in
• right of ,his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of Ed-'
ward IV. He was too muelrpkupied with• the esta-
blishing of his own throne, to think of reviving so
obsolete a claim. The French monarchs, being thus
, relieved from the a'rttient pretensions of the English
kilfgs, turned their attention to the recovery of that
grand preeminence which, they believed, they had
taherited from Lewis I. • t
4$ Charles VII. of France married the daughter
of Lewis lle king of Naples, by whoM he had
• Lewis XI. Isiisuccessor on the throne of France. This
Lewis, afcer.a turhuient reign, was succeeded by his
son, Charles VIII. in whose time began those famous
Italian wars, of which Guicciardine has written the
history. % He pretended that Naples had been ceded
• to his grandfather, (although his father had never
. set forth this claim) and, on that pretence demanded
the feudal subnlission of the Kingdom. He col-
lected an army, and proceeded to Rome as rapidly
as General'Bonaparte, where he was acknowledged
by Pope Alexander VI. to be Emperor of the West.
l e th.gr'went fin-ward to N.Tl,ts, having subdtied or
intimidated all the ptincipalities of Italy, and seated
himself on the throne ; bat the Italian States reco-
vering courage, theNeapolitatts rebelled, and the
rope, with the Republic of Venice, and the Duke of
Milan, leagued to intercept his return id 'France,
and gave him battle at Toiniivo, where; nowever,
they %ere defeated ; but he liud. not much to' boast
. of by the victim y. Hre died in WA: Thus ended
the first direct attempt of France-co: recover her an-.,
tient pretended superiority. -, , _
_ ,d Charles VIII. was,Wcceeded by his consin,,the
puke of Orleans, Leyns XII. who a4opteJ the pre-''
tensions of his predecessors on Italy. But, nuiimi-
Kin, the German Emperor, who was fully as active
and no less ambitious, greatly thwarted his schemes,
• and the Italian 4tates and Princes, headed by the
. martial Pope Julius 11. comprehending -all the pro-
..
ject, opposed them with unexpeetpd vigour and suc-
cess. Disappointed of reducing Italy- by force,
France had recourse to fraud, And, fostered dr it fa-
mous schism in die Church, which drew Henry VIII;
of England to be 'a party in thy war. The boarded
.treasures of Henry's fathir,- enabled him to attack
France with'a force and superiority not unworthy of
the Plantagenets themselves.
66 The peace which Lewis adroitly concluded steer
the taking of Tournay, may he regarded as tbetfai-
lure of the second grand attempt of France to *wo-
ver her supremacy. In the ,enterprise of Charles,
there was only a rash Macedonian spirit of conquest,
but the schemes of Lewis embraced, in the means of
accomplishment, all the artifices of diplomatic -dissi..
- sbulation,andabe pretensions4d.religiun, at, well as
the force-of arms. Lewis died soon after chiles*
and was succeeded bylerancis I.
66 Francis, on his accession, assntried, in addition,
to the ordinary titles dl the French Kings, that of
• Puke of Milan, which duchy be claimed on some
pretence, as little valid as that of his predecessors tQ
the kingdom a Naples. At the death of Maximi-
lian,, Francis aspired to the Empire of Germany ; but
was thrown out, in the election by Charles V. He
then undertook to indemnify himself in Italy for the
4s . / disappointment. The proceeding's' of the rival' po.
senates indticed England to contrive gut balance
system, which she maintained with so much glory
• ,and success WI the epoch of the nench•Revolution.
Tist tfround work of this system was laid in
lava of London; most ably concluded by Cardinal
Wolsey, Its consequence of this great compact of
rations, Henry VIII. took the part of Charles V. till.
the event of the battle 'RI Pavia threatened to render'
she House of Austria as, dangerous as the French
nation to the freedom of the world. From iheaime
of Francis I. till the accession of the celebrated Henry
IV. France was kept in such;e sta*of turbulence, by
religious.factionit, that she- had no.4eisure to plan fo-
reign projects ; but lichgt the f*Tourite of contend'
sag zealots was no sooner seated on she tbeone, than
the national passion appeared, in all its original vi-
gour, in the famous scheme of universal peace ; a •
• peace whic4 vw.49be fe.411.e4 by u 14194% au inde!

..... '

I

r=

I

...

I

s

,• 1 '
r
• $ . , -

I ,
•••• a•

.
pen deal stain The fortunate death of Heal'
rescued the world from the conflagration of his fla-
gitious purpose, and tehninated the third regular de.
sign. He was succeeded by Lewis Xnl.
" In the reign of Lewis, the French at home, were
again occupied with murder and iniquity, for the
sake of. Religion, as they were lately for the sake of
liberty; and • by the distressses of France, the world
had time to breath. He died in 1643, and was suc.
seeded by his son, Lewis XIV.
64 The very name of Lewis-RIV. is equivalent, in
the history of Europe, for ambition. In his time,
the ancient imperial pretension of France began to.
shew itself, and was, as the former attempts, strongly
resisted. The peace of Riswick failed to procure
for Europe the repose which should follow a treaty
of that kind. It was a hollow truce, an experiment
of the time, like the treaty of Amiens.'" The death
of the Spanish Charles H. in 1700, occasioned the
war of the succession. Charles left, by his will, a
French Prince his heir, whom Lewis the XlVth, im-
**dieter), on his death, sent to Madrid, where he
was, proclaimed King by the name of Philip V. The
German Emperor put in a claim, in Tight of lineage,
Air one of the Austrian Princes. This being opposed
by France, a war ensued—Britain took the part of
robe Emperor. • .
." The events pf the war form one of the moat.
glorious periods in English history ; but the treaty
of peace in 1710, was not such as might have bees
:otpected to follow the achievements of Marborough. '
Still, however, the original objects of the war weft
procured. Philip solemnly renounced all right and
'pretensions to the crown of France ; and toe other
:French, Princes,-ft Weir part, all right to the crown
of Spain& which they might derive from their rela-
tionship to Philip. Thus failed the fourth attempt
of France to recover the Sovereignty of Europe.
44 Prance, disappointed in her coercive means,
with her natural ingenuity, had recourse to others,
unheard of in'the rivalry of nations before the age of
Louis XIV.

".Smarting with the chastisement 'which she had
teceilltedirom England, she put forth new pteten.
siods : she set herself up as transcendant in the arts
and sciences, as the paragon of civilization, and the
mirror and example of all that was refined and ele..
gant in manners, philosophy, and dancing.- By the
blazon which she made of her frivolous proficiency
in trifles, she atquired no small ascendancy in the
.minds of the admiring vulgar. It obtained for hes
more real power than all the political projects of her
Princes ; and had not the quackery been eiposed by
the stupendousocrimes of .Paris, during the Revolu-
tion, we might still havg heard that Frenchmen were
the models of social urbanity.
44 After the death of Louis XIV.. the intrigues
consequent to a regal minority kept the French from
molesting their neighbours ; but Voltaire, and others
of his school and class, with the Parisian
and dancing masters, were still advancing the great.
Nation to the spperiority that it merited.
44 The Avar'of 1756, which began in movements
among the continental nations, and was entered into
by Britain, from the necessity of her natural position,
AND AS HIE GUARDIAN OF TOE INDEPENDENCE OF
STATES, furnished a more distinct view of the un-
quenchable ambition of France in the notorious com.'
fact of the Bourbons—a treaty which has served as
the substance. and model of that system which Napa
reoß is endeavouring tt carry into effect by his Tetate
tives."-L-Fortunately; since this was written, that

system has been put an end to.
Mr. GALT then proceeds to observe, that in the
year 1762 France was actually united with Russia,
Austria, the German Empire (Comfrieration of ar
Rhine), Spain, and Naples ; and over Denmark. she
had greatinfluence.—But with all these, being un-
able to make 'war with success against the genius of
'the" first Pitt and the activity of Frederick of Prussia,
she contrived thlit measure, by which the whole race
of the Ben:tens' was incorporated into one political
frathe—runder the name of the Family Compact.—
The Author,.aftei- exposing the grasping and factious
principles of chat famous conspiracy against indepen.
:Jett States, tertninatesfiis vies of the war by consi.
dering,the peace 01' 1788 aelstifting concluded the
-fifth grand attethpt VI the French tanttain the poli-
tical supinnfaey of Europe.
After pointing out what had been tl4 conduct of
,France during. the rebellioa of our Atherkan pro:,
vinces, and-adverting to the effects of that successful
treason, Mr. Galt continues :
66- Tbe French Revglution brings the whole sys-
tem of Fiance fully into view. The different factions,
which, during that great commotion, so rapidly suc:
ceeded each other, have. alj shewn themselves actu-
ated' by one unifOrm spirit, with respect to- odder
countries. What began with an intention to ;mike
slaves of all sovereigns, ended in a resolution to nialce
slaves also of people. The peace of Amiens was ra-
;cher an event.in the Reiolution, than the termination
of the wart but it became an zra. Flom the date
of that event, the obsolete pretensions to the• sove-
reignty of Europe in the person of the French ruler
again became evident to all the world. The various
occurrences, since the renewal:of hostilities, have
placed the ambition of France in its true light."
The Author having brought down his reflectioni
to that period when the Continental Systesm was at
its greatest degree of completeness—namely, at the
close of Isll, when his work was first printed, ob-
serves : . ,„
" But the very nature of •the *ley of' the British
Nation will, more than their arms, enable them to
overcome the hydra. Her allies are now mankind ;
and the superiority,Of a commercial over a military
.system begins to be acknowledged by the most fans:
dcaj worshippers of -French glory. The aim ore
commercial system is to maintain the existing state
of things; because security is essential to the prosper
riff- of commerce. But the security necessary to
commerce does not imply that the existing state of
things should be forcibly maintained : on
,the con-
traty, only tijis, that it.should not be soddenly al-,
tered. The tendency of a commercial system is to
improve the existing state 6f things ; and improve-
ment is not at variance with, but the sustenance of
stability."
Having alluded•to the then state of the Contineit,
he adds thit cruel. coercion, which has sent
from the shores of so many States so many batm.
less and helpless beings, cannot long endore.-4,6
it is already at an end. Each individual victim it
that bigotrrwhich persecutes industry, even with'
aa faggot, has his desire of distinction


'.

.1

t

, u

:rff' , ,

, '

".%
A 1

•

• - • . • .

~._,

strongly as the Princes of the Continent; and it is
not in the nature of things, that this desire should
not manifest itself,,t-Thank HILAyitN! it hal math,
felted itself. But it is' not against the wretched
ciples of the Prophet of Oppression (Napoleon) that
the wrath or-mankind should be directed ; k is
against that nation, which, for a vain-gloriohs pur-
pose, is the innate enemy of all that is just, vene-
rable, and holy. Until Fiance be reduced again to
a moderate condition, there can be no moral advance-
ment, no hope of prosperity, to the Continent of
Europe.'
Happily for the world, Frailce is in a fair way of
being so reduced. But the Princes and people of
all nations should at this moment reflect on the va-
nity, the presumption, and the almost total dire-
lection of morality which has so long characterized
the French nation. They should remember—they
should have it written upon their standards, that there
is not an individual• at present a member of the
French Government who would not in every well-re-
gulated country be regarded as apart—that there
is not one among them who is not an atheist in prin-
ciple, and who has not either committed theft, sacri-
lege, murder, or incest. No Ambassador can sit
down in the company of any of the miscreants inte-
rested in the preservation of Napoleon's Govern-
ment, without being sensible that he degrades him-
self as a human being, arid that such is the humilia-
tion he commits, thati, every one pretending to the
character of a gentleman—to the character of a
man—ought to shun such a firmistet as an outcad4
,There are about seventy persons in power in Frantes
whoF outages on human maw and law:have been
so Breit, • that before entering win any treaty with
the nation, their heads •shaild be presented*as a
peace-offering to the public of Europe. If this gang
are permitted to escape, (confirmed in their usurpa-
tions they 'cannot be,) every one of the sovereigns
concerned in it Oast cease to allow the punishment of
delinquents in their dominionsor they must bei-ozoe
criminals thelnselves. . •