Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-01-25


pruhenc', or rash attempts too often retard
the slow and sure march of experience.-
dence arose those difficulties aud unhappy
d!strusts, which in their nature produce,
and have IN tact produced. hatred. resist
ance, aud baneful resentments. The en-
teebi,ng, the rum of powers, the oblivion
OF Religion, tire contempt of the laws. the
tl'ssoNtion ct social bonds, were iii France
the immediate consequence of this pre-
sumptuouS enterprise. "A general alarm
soon spread abroad; she has rs might be
expected, provoked wars without bounds
and without measure. France, when the
mark OF all nations, displayed an extraor
binary energy; all the states have suffered
from her sffnrts she has carried almost
every where her victorious armies but
we must confess. every where she has
conqne ed, she has excited fears. provoked
| revenge, and Sindlcd rese ntments, which
on time. great m Iteration, pcrseverng
and invari2ble prudence will be able to
| calm.
Aou have been witnesses of the explosi-
ON OF these r&scntments, when at the Sc
cond appearance of that man, so fatal to
France, who attempted to make to him
self power which he thought intlestructi-
bic, out of the terror which the revolution
airy principles and the courage of the
French armies had every where spread
abroad-when, ] say, Europe at this ter
rioie apparition feared to sec itself again
suodued by the soldiers, whom the same
Illusion possessed, and who seemed ANNA
ted with the same enthusiasm, a common
interest OF preservation has, as it were in
| stanteousy concentrated upon the same
| object all the fears, all the hatreds, all the
| Interests of the terrified nations Policy
forgot Its rivalries al the products of
| agriculture, OF commerce, al kinds CT
property. were offered in sacrifice; age.
sex, all classes of population, have been
carried away by Common impu Sc, and
more than million of soldiers precigitated
| themselves upon our frontiers.
| Without doubt such preparation Of
force was unnecessary to put down what
Tar, as was supposed out of France,
| from being seconded in France by the ma
tlonal wishes, by the appreciation of public
! opinion, and there is too much ground for
! US to say to foreign nations, that they were
| IN anerror as to the true amount of forces
which they had to combat, and that It the
very moment when the fact on caused their
Jury To break forth, the French people
were united by their wishes to their sove-
| reign; but their efforts were paralysed by
| the perverseness OF those who had betray-
| ed them; and the generous men, WHO from
| all parts OF the monarchy were preparing
tor the ruin of the usurped power, not hav.
! ing been able to commence their operati-
| ons before those of the allied armies, thew
| hal considered the fall Of the tyrant as
the Immediate effect of their victories and
france by the combination of unfortun 4te
| circumstances, saw herself thus exposed
| to answer for all the sacr fees, losses and
damages experienced, although they were
the result OF an exaggerated alarm.
1 ne extreme rigor of this principle
| might have been tempered in this applca-
ton by the enquiry and magnanimity of
/ the SovereiSns, but there exist some con-
| siderarons which have lead them TO their
| determination and which it is INDISPENSABLE
| to know.
Sovereigns exert an influence over the
destinies OF the people by the exercise of
Their power, and the people in their turn,
Influence the councils of severe ems, hy the
powerful action of public opinion. This
action acquires new force, when the o.
pin'on ofthe people is strengthened by the
argument OF many others, and when it has
become, in the nature of events, one of the
| most efhcac;ous Causes of their trumDhs
| and the recolle ction of VIC ent procee ,iines.
OF lively alarms, of evils long time suf-
tered and often renewed, come to be u
| nited to the cxultation of sue ess, then the
sovereisns themselves are, as IT were, inyo-
unfairly led into measures which are re-
Pugnant to their personal sentiments and
IN spite OF themselyes, doubtless, their de-
examinations SAVIOR even of passions whicn
thorpe sonal generosity reproves.
have thought it my duty gentle men, to
preface with these observations, the COM
mun'catiOn of the two conventions, in adj
ditlon to the treaty, which remains for me
to read to you. The burdens which have
been imposed upon us are heavy, and the
dist'usts which they manifested towards
us are we'll calculated to affect us-but re-
hect, gentlemen, upon the baneful impress
sion which the unfortunate catastrophe of
which France has been the victim, has
made upon astonished and irritated Eu-
rope, and still more, the facility with which
the sedItious have been able to triumph
over their own country-reflect that the
times in which we have the misfortune to
live, Immediately succeed fatal epoch.
IN which during Is years, the respect due
to treaties, to the engagements of peace,
fidelity to promises, good faith, loyalty,
those bases formerly SO much revcred, as
the security of states, have been shaken to
their foundatlon-observe that the habitu-
al, ard SO to say, tae systematic violation
OF all the moral rules IF policy, is as it
were Inherent in the very principle of re-.
vcluticns principle frighful and bane-
ful,ot which there has been made i'm France
and with so much eclat, a profession I'M
fortunately so recent think in fine, that
these ATTRACTIONS SO multiplied, of every
thing which is held sacred among nen,