XXI. 1796. after broke out in the mutiny at the Nore, and what CHAP. serious financial embarrassments were already pressing upon the treasury, and preparing the dreadful catastrophe which led to the suspension of cash payments in the following spring, it must be admitted that the nation then stood upon the edge of an abyss; and that, if ever Providence interferes in human affairs otherwise than by the energy which it infuses into the cause of justice, and the moral laws to which the deeds of free agents are rendered subservient, its protection never appeared in so remarkable a manner to the British islands since the winds and the waves dispersed the Spanish Armada. Empress The close of this year was marked by the death of the Empress Catharine, and the accession of the 10th Nov. Emperor Paul to the Russian throne: an event of Death of the no small importance to the future fate of the war Catharine. and destiny of the world. Shortly before her death, she had by art and flattery contrived to add Courland to her immense dominions. She had recently made herself mistress of Derbent in Persia; and the alliance with Great Britain and Austria secured to her the concurrence of these powers in her favourite project of dismembering the Turkish dominions, and placing her youngest son on the throne of Constantine. She thus seemed to be fast approaching the grand object of her ambition, and might have lived to see the cross planted on the dome of St Sophia, when death interrupted all her schemes of ambition, in the sixty-seventh year of her age, and the thirtysixth of her reign. Her latest project was the formation of a powerful confederacy for the defence of Europe against the French Republic; and she had given orders for the levy of a hundred and fifty 1 CHAP. thousand men, destined to take a part in the German XXI. campaigns, a design which, if carried into effect by 1796. her firm and intrepid hand, might have accelerated Ann. Reg by nearly twenty years the catastrophe which closed 1796, 200, the war.1 202. ter. Few sovereigns will occupy a more conspicuous Her charac- place in the page of history, or have left in their conduct on the throne a more exalted reputation. Prudent in council, and intrepid in conduct; cautious in forming resolutions, but vigorous in carrying them into execution: ambitious, but of great and splendid objects only; passionately fond of glory, without the alloy, at least in public affairs, of sordid or vulgar inclinations; discerning in the choice of her counsellors, and swayed in matters of state generally by lofty intellects; munificent in public, liberal in private, firm in resolution, unwearied in purpose, she dignified a despotic throne by the magnanimity and patriotism of a more virtuous age. But these great qualities were counterbalanced by as remarkable vices-and more truly perhaps of her than of the Virgin Queen of England it might be said, in Burleigh's words, "that if to-day she was more than man, to-morrow she would be less than woman." Vehement, sensual, and capricious in private life, she seemed, as a woman, to live only for the gratification of her passions; her successive lovers under the name of favourites, formed as regular a part of her establishment as her ministers of state, and received a much larger share of her revenues; tyrannical, overbearing, and sometimes cruel in her administration, she filled her subjects with unbounded awe for her authority. Like Henry VIII. of England, she spared neither man in her lust, nor woman in her hate. She was not always able to withstand XXI. the influence of her favourites in affairs of state; CHAP. they were frequently selected from the officers of her guard, from no other quality but personal beauty, 1796. and many of the worst acts of her government may be traced to their influence. In the lustre of her administration, however, the career of her victories, and the rapid progress of her subjects under so able a government, mankind overlooked her dissolute manners, the occasional elevation of unworthy minions, frequent acts of tyranny, and the dark transaction which signalized her accession to the throne; they overlooked the frailties of the woman in the dignity of the princess; and paid to the abilities and splendour of the Semiramis of the North that involuntary homage which commanding qualities on the throne never fail to acquire, even when stained by irregularities in private life.* ment of The end of the same year witnessed the resigna- Retiretion of the presidency of the United States of America Washingby General Washington, and his voluntary retirement ton from public life. into private life. Modern history has not so spotless His perfect a character to commemorate. Invincible in resolu- character, tion, firm in conduct, incorruptible in integrity, he rable valebrought to the helm of a victorious republic the sim-address to plicity and innocence of rural life; he was forced his coun * The elegant flattery of France applied to the Empress the noble lines of Voltaire in Semiramis, perhaps written with that very view. Que de Semiramis les beaux jours pleins de gloire Effacent ce moment heureux ou malheureux Qui d'un fatal hymen brisa le joug affrecux, Ninus, en vous perdant Madame, eut perdu Babylone, Babylone et la terre avaient besoin de vous: Et quinze ans de virtus et de travaux utiles, Semiramis, Act I, Scene V. and admi dictory trymen. XXI. CHAP. into greatness by circumstances, rather than led into it by inclination, and prevailed over his enemies rather by the wisdom of his designs, and the perseverance of his character, than any extraordinary 1796. 17th Sept. genius for the art of war. A soldier from necessity 1796. 1 See Ann. Reg. 1796. State Pa pers, 293. and patriotism, rather than disposition, he was the first to recommend a return to pacific counsels when the independence of his country was secured; and bequeathed to his countrymen an address on leaving their government, to which there is no composition of uninspired wisdom which can bear a comparison.1* This great man observes, in that admirable composition: "Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanence of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other human institutions; that experiment is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the mere credit of hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember especially, that, for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigour as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is indeed little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprizes of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. "Let me now warn you, in the most solemn manner, against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. It is unfortunately inseparable from our nature, having its roots in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or oppressed, but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and it is truly their worst enemy. The alternate dominion of one faction over another, sharpened by the XXI. He was modest without diffidence; sensible to the CHAP. voice of fame without vanity; independent and dignified without either asperity or pride. He was a 1796. friend to liberty, but not licentiousness; not to the dreams of enthusiasts, but to those practical ideas which America had inherited from her English descent, and which were opposed to nothing so much as the extravagant love of power in the French democracy. Accordingly, after having signalized his life by successful resistance to English oppression, he closed it by the warmest advice to cultivate the friendship of Great Britain; and by his casting vote, shortly before his resignation, ratified a treaty of friendly and commercial intercourse between the mother country and its emancipated offspring. He was a Cromwell without his ambition; a Sylla without his crimes: and, after having raised his country, by his exertions, to the rank of an independent state, closed his career by a voluntary relinquishment of the power which a grateful people had bestowed. If it is the highest glory of England to have given birth, even amidst Transatlantic wilds, to such a man ; and if she cannot number him among those who have extended her provinces or augmented her dominions, she may at least feel a legitimate pride in the vic spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a most horrid despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of a single individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able, or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this despotism to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty." What words, to be spoken by the founder of the American Republic, the refuser of the American crown, at a time when the career of Napoleon had hardly commenced in Europe!-See Ann. Reg. xxxviii. 298; State Papers. |