much as we should have lamented the
indiscriminate rashness and abhorred the atrocities with which their
design was carried out, we should still have adhered to the
unquestionable maxim, that no nation is justified in interfering in the
internal affairs of another. But the Jacobin and Girondin demagogues,
who had now the undisputed sway in Paris, did not limit their views to
their own country, but openly declared themselves the enemies of all
established governments in every country; and the Convention passed a
formal resolution in which they proffered "fraternity and assistance" to
every people which might be inclined to rise against their governments.
Their resolutions were officially communicated to the sympathizing
societies in England, and emissaries were secretly encouraged to cross
the Channel in the hope of gaining converts. Nor were their exertions
barren. Two men were convicted in Scotland of a plot to seize Edinburgh
Castle, to massacre the garrison, to imprison the judges, and to rise in
arms to compel the government to a change of policy. In London the King
was fired at on his way to open Parliament, and on his return his
carriage was attacked by a furious mob, and was only protected from
serious injury by a troop of the Life Guards. Such outrages proved the
existence of a new danger, against which no previous government had ever
been called on to provide, and such as, in the opinion of the cabinet,
could only be met by novel measures of precaution.

The first was directed against the foreign propagators of revolution.
The resolutions of the Convention had been promulgated in November,
1792; and at the meeting of Parliament in December, Lord Grenville, as
Foreign Secretary of State, introduced in the House of Lords an alien
bill, to enable the government to deal in a summary manner with any
foreign visitors whose conduct or character might seem to call for its
interference. It provided that all foreigners who had arrived in the
kingdom since the preceding January should give in a statement of their
names and residences; that any one who should arrive in future should
furnish an account of his name, his station in life, and his object in
visiting England; that the King, by proclamation, order in Council, or
sign-manual, might direct all foreigners to reside in such districts as
might be thought suitable; that no one might quit the residence in which
he first settled without a passport; and that the Secretary