precedent of Henry IV. and by the frank honesty of
the project. The secret was strictly kept. The general peace was
threatened afresh by the restless ambition of Joseph II. and by the
constant encroachments of the Empress Catherine. The Great Frederick was
now dead. After being for a long while the selfish disturber of Europe,
he had ended by becoming its moderator, and his powerful influence was
habitually exerted on behalf of peace. The future was veiled and charged
with clouds. M. de Vergennes, still possessing Louis XVI.'s confidence,
regarded with dread the bold reforms proposed by M. de Calonne; he had
yielded to the comptroller-general's representations, but he made all
haste to secure for France some support in Europe; he concluded with
England the treaty of commerce promised at the moment of signing the
peace. There was a lively debate upon it in the English Parliament. Mr.
Fox, then in opposition, violently attacked the provisions of the treaty;
Mr. Pitt, quite young as yet, but already established in that foremost
rank among orators and statesmen which he was to occupy to his last hour,
maintained the great principles of European policy. "It is a very false
maxim," said he, "to assert that France and England are not to cease to
be hostile because they have been so heretofore. My mind revolts at so
monstrous a principle, which is an outrage upon the constitution of
societies as well as upon the two nations. Situated as we are in respect
of France, it is expedient, it is a matter of urgency for the welfare of
the two countries, to terminate this constant enmity which has been
falsely said to be the basis of the true sentiments felt by the two
nations towards each other. This treaty tends to augment the means of
making war and to retard its coming."

Generous and sound maxims, only too often destined to be strikingly
belied by human passions! When he supported in the House of Commons, in
1786, an alliance with monarchical France, Mr. Pitt did not foresee the
terrible struggle he--would one day maintain, in the name of England and
of Europe, against revolutionary, anarchical, or absolutist France.

The treaty had just been signed (September 26, 1786). M. de Vergennes
was not long to survive his latest work: he died on the 13th of February,
1787, just before the opening of the Assembly of Notables, as if he would
fain escape the struggle and the crisis he dreaded. Capable and
far-sighted in his for