The following is a concise and just summary of the causes and effects of the French Revolutionary War :

"France, in the beginning of the Revolution, had conceived many romantic notions; she was to put an end to war, and produce, by a pure form of government, a perfectibility of mind which before had never been realized.

The monarchs of

Europe, seeing the prevalence of these new principles, trembled for their thrones. France, also, perceiving the hostility of kings to her projects, supposed she could not be a republic without the overthrow of thrones. Such has been the regular progress of cause and effect; but who was the first aggressor, with whom the jealousy first arose need not now be a matter of discussion. Both the republic and the monarchs who opposed her acted on the same principles;-the latter said they must exterminate Jacobins, and the former that they must destroy monarchs. From this source have all the calamities of Europe flowed; and it is now a waste of time and argument to inquire farther into the subject."

Adverting, in his speech on the Negotiation with France, to the overtures that had been made for a maritime truce, he says, with that national feeling which rendered him at this time so popular,

"No consideration for our ally, no hope of advantage to be derived from joint negotiation, should have induced the English Government to think for a moment of interrupting the course of our naval triumphs.--This measure, sir, would have broken the heart of the navy, and would have damped all its future exertions. How would our gallant sailors have felt, when, chained to their decks like galley-slaves, they saw the enemy's vessels sailing under their bows in security, and proceeding, without a possibility of being molested, to revictual those places which had been so long blockaded by their astonishing skill, perseverance, and valour? We never stood more in need of their services, and their feelings at no time deserved to be more studiously consulted. The north of Europe presents to England a most awful and threatening aspect. Without giving an opinion as to the origin of these hostile dispositions, or pronouncing decidedly whether they are wholly ill founded, I hesitate not to say, that if they have been excited because we have insisted upon enforcing the old-established maritime law of Europe, because we stood boldly forth in defence of indis

putable privileges,-because we have refused to abandon the source of our prosperity, the pledge of our security, and the foundation of our naval greatness, they ought to be disregarded or set at defiance. If we are threatened to be deprived of that which is the charter of our existence, which has procured us the commerce of the world, and been the means of spreading our glory over every land,-if the rights and honours of our flag are to be called in question, every risk should be run, and every danger braved. Then we should have a legitimate cause of war;-then the heart of every Briton would burn with indignation, and his hand be stretched forth in defence of his country. If our flag is to be insulted, let us nail it to the top-mast of the nation; there let it fly while we shed the last drop of our blood in protecting it, and let it be degraded only when the nation itself is overwhelmed."

He thus ridicules, in the same speech, the etiquette that had been observed in the selection of the ministers who were to confer with M. Otto :

"This stiff-necked policy shows insincerity. I see Mr. Nepean and Mr. Hammond also appointed to confer with M. Otto, because they are of the same rank. Is not this as absurd as if Lord Whitworth were to be sent to Petersburgh, and told that he was not to treat but with some gentleman of six feet high, and as handsome as himself? Sir, I repeat that this is a stiff-necked policy, when the lives of thousands are at stake."

In the following year M1. Pitt was succeeded, as prime minister, by Mr. Addington. The cause assigned for this unexpected change was the difference of opinion that existed between the king and Mr. Pitt, with respect to the further enfranchisement of the Catholics of Ireland. To this measure the minister and some of his colleagues considered themselves to have been pledged by the Act of Union; but, on finding that they could not carry it, against the scruples of their royal master, resigned.

During the early part of the new administration, Mr. Sheridan appears to have rested on his arms, having spoken so rarely and briefly throughout the session as not to have furnished to the collector of his speeches a single specimen of

oratory worth recording. It is not till the discussion of the Definitive Treaty, in May, 1802, that he is represented as having professed himself friendly to the existing ministry:"Certainly," he said, "I have in several respects given my testimony in favour of the present ministry,-in nothing more than for making the best peace, perhaps, they could after their predecessors had left them in such a deplorable situation.” It was on this occasion, however, that in ridiculing the understanding supposed to exist between the ex-minister and his successor, he left such marks of his wit on the latter as all his subsequent friendship could not efface. Among other remarks, full of humour, he said,

I should like to support the present minister on fair ground; but what is he? a sort of outside passenger, -or rather a man leading the horses round a corner, while reins, whip, and all, are in the hands of the coachman on the box! (looking at Mr. Pitt's elevated seat, three or four benches above that of the Treasury.) Why not have an union of the two ministers, or, at least, some intelligible connection? When the ex-minister quitted office, almost all the subordinate ministers kept their places. How was it that the whole family did not move together? Had he only one covered waggon to carry friends and goods? or has he left directions behind him that they may know where to call? I remember a fable of Aristophanes's, which is translated from Greek into decent English.-I mention this for the country gentlemen. It is of a man that sat so long on a seat (about as long, perhaps, as the ex-minister did on the Treasury-bench), that he grew to it. When Hercules pulled him off, he left all the sitting part of the man behind him. The House can make the allusion.'

The following is another highly humorous passage from this speech :-

"But let France have colonies! Oh, yes! let her have a good trade, that she may be afraid of war, says the learned member, that's the way to make Buonaparte love peace. He has had, to be sure, a sort of military education. He has been abroad, and is rather rough company; but if you put him behind the counter a little, he will mend exceedingly. When I was reading the treaty, I thought all the names of foreign places,

viz., Pondicherry, Chandenagore, Cochin, Martinico, &c., all cessions. Not they,-they are all so many traps and holes to catch this silly fellow in, and make a merchant of him! I really think the best way upon this principle would be this :-let the merchants of London open a public subscription, and set him up at once. I hear a great deal respecting a certain statue about to be erected to the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Pitt) now in my eye, at a great expense. Send all that money over to the First Consul, and give him, what you talk of so much, Capital, to begin trade with. I hope the right honourable gentleman over the way will, like the First Consul, refuse a statue for the present, and postpone it as a work to posterity. There is no harm, however, in marking out the place. The right honourable gentleman is musing, perhaps, on what square, or place, he will choose for its erection. I recommend the Bank of England. Now for the material. Not gold no, no!—he has not left enough of it. I should, however, propose papier maché and old bank-notes!"

A few extracts from the speech of Mr. Sheridan upon the Additional Force Bill,-the only occasion on which he seems to have spoken during the year 1804,-will show that the rarity of his displays was not owing to any failure of power, but rather, perhaps, to the increasing involvement of his circumstances, which left no time for the thought and preparation that all his public efforts required.

Mr. Pitt had, at the commencement of this year, condescended to call to his aid the co-operation of Mr. Addington, Lord Buckinghamshire, and other members of that adminstration, which had withered away, but a few months before, under the blight of his sarcasm and scorn. In alluding to this coalition, Sheridan says :—

"The right honourable gentleman went into office alone ;but, lest the government should become too full of vigour from his support, he thought proper to beckon back some of the weakness of the former administration. He, I suppose, thought that the ministry became, from his support, like spirits above proof, and required to be diluted; that, like gold refined to a certain degree, it would be unfit for use without a certain mix. ture of alloy; that the administration would be too brilliant

and dazzle the House, unless he called back a certain part of the mist and fog of the last administration to render it tolerable to the eye. As to the great change made in the ministry by the introduction of the right honourable gentleman himself, I would ask, does he imagine that he came back to office with the same estimation that he left it? I am sure he is much mistaken if he fancies that he did. The right honourable gentleman retired from office because, as was stated, he could not carry an important question, which he deemed necessary to satisfy the just claims of the Catholics; and in going out he did not hesitate to tear off the sacred veil of majesty, describing his sovereign as the only person that stood in the way of this desirable object. After the right honourable gentleman's retirement, he advised the Catholics to look to no one but him for the attainment of their rights, and cautiously to abstain from forming a connection with any other person. But how does it appear, now that the right honourable gentleman is returned to office? He declines to perform his promise ; and has received, as his colleagues in office, those who are pledged to resist the measure. Does not the right honourable gentleman then feel that he comes back to office with a character degraded by the violation of a solemn pledge, given to a great and respectable body of the people, upon a particular and momentous occasion? Does the right honourable gentleman imagine either that he returns to office with the same character for political wisdom, after the description which he gave of the talents and capacity of his predecessors, and after having shown by his own actions, that his description was totally unfounded ?"

In alluding to Lord Melville's appointment to the Admiralty, he says:

"But then, I am told, there is the First Lord of the Admiralty,—' Do you forget the leader of the grand Catamaran project? Are you not aware of the important change in that department, and the advantage the country is likely to derive from that change?' Why, I answer, that I do not know of any pe culiar qualifications the noble lord has to preside over the Admiralty; but I do know, that if I were to judge of him from the kind of capacity he evinced while Minister of War, I should entertain little hopes of him. If, however, the right honourable gentleman should say to me, 'Where else would you put