s Powers was inevitable; sooner or later the evil must
have been encountered; and it was of little importance whether England
took a share in it somewhat earlier than, by fallible judgments, might
be deemed necessary, or not. The frankness with which the faults that
were committed have been acknowledged entitles the writer to some
regard, when, speaking from an intimate knowledge of the internal state
of France at that time, he affirms, that the war waged against her was,
in a liberal interpretation of the words, _just and necessary_. At all
events our Nation viewed it in this light. A large majority of the
Inhabitants of Great Britain called for the war; and they who _will_ the
end _will_ the means: the war being deemed necessary, taxes became
indispensible for its support. Some might prefer one mode of raising
them--some another; but these are minor considerations. Public men,
united in bodies, must act on great principles. Mutual deference is a
fundamental requisite for the composition and efficiency of a Party:
for, if individual judgment is to be obtruded and insisted upon in
subordinate concerns, the march of business will be perpetually
obstructed. The leaders will not know whom they can depend upon, and
therefore will be at a loss what to recommend, and how to act. If a
public man differs from his Party in essentials, Conscience and Honour
demand that he should withdraw; but if there be no such difference, it
is incumbent upon him to submit his personal opinion to the general
sense. He, therefore, who thought the prosecution of the war necessary,
could not condemn the public Imposts; on this consequence the steady
adherents of Ministers rest their claim to approbation, and advance it
boldly in defiance of the outcry raised against the Government, on
account of the burthens which the situation of Europe compelled it to
lay upon the people.

In matters of taste, it is a process attended with little advantage, and
often injurious, to compare one set of artists, or writers, with
another. But, in estimating the merits of public men, especially of two
Parties acting in direct opposition, it is not only expedient, but
indispensible, that both should be kept constantly in sight. The truth
or fallacy of French principles, and the tendency, good or bad, of the
Revolution which sprang out of them; and the necessity, or
non-necessity--the policy, or impolicy--of resisting by war the
encroachments of republican and imperial