t of it under the strong controul of
an absolute despotism, as opportunity invites, for a definite
object--plunder and conquest. It is, I allow, a frightful spectacle--to
see the prime of a vast nation propelled out of their territory with the
rapid sweep of a horde of Tartars; moving from the impulse of like
savage instincts; and furnished, at the same time, with those implements
of physical destruction which have been produced by science and
civilization. Such are the motions of the French armies; unchecked by
any thought which philosophy and the spirit of society, progressively
humanizing, have called forth--to determine or regulate the application
of the murderous and desolating apparatus with which by philosophy and
science they have been provided. With a like perversion of things, and
the same mischievous reconcilement of forces in their nature adverse,
these revolutionary impulses and these appetites of barbarous (nay,
what is far worse, of barbarized) men are embodied in a new frame of
polity; which possesses the consistency of an ancient Government,
without its embarrassments and weaknesses. And at the head of all is the
mind of one man who acts avowedly upon the principle that everything,
which can be done safely by the supreme power of a State, may be done
(_See Appendix F_.); and who has, at his command, the greatest part of
the continent of Europe--to fulfil what yet remains unaccomplished of
his nefarious purposes.

Now it must be obvious to a reflecting mind that every thing which is
desperately immoral, being in its constitution monstrous, is of itself
perishable: decay it cannot escape; and, further, it is liable to sudden
dissolution: time would evince this in the instance before us; though
not, perhaps, until infinite and irreparable harm had been done. But,
even at present, each of the sources of this preternatural strength (as
far as it is formidable to Europe) has its corresponding seat of
weakness; which, were it fairly touched, would manifest itself
immediately.--The power is indeed a Colossus: but, if the trunk be of
molten-brass, the members are of clay; and would fall to pieces upon a
shock which need not be violent. Great Britain, if her energies were
properly called forth and directed, might (as we have already
maintained) give this shock. 'Magna parvis obscurantur' was the
appropriate motto (the device a Sun Eclipsed) when Lord Peterborough,
with a handful of men opposed to fortified cities