a defiant ring. The capture of three of the northern
fortresses of France, the gains in the East and West Indies (they
amounted to Pondicherry, Chandernagore, and Tobago, together with
Miquelon and St. Pierre), the blow dealt to her navy at Toulon, and the
impossibility of her continuing the recent prodigious exertions, were in
turn duly emphasized. And on 21st January 1794, when Fox moved an
amendment in favour of peace, the Prime Minister spoke even more
strongly of the madness of coming to terms with the present rulers of
France. Could any statesman not gifted with second sight have spoken
otherwise? At that time the Reign of Terror was approaching its climax.
The Goddess of Reason had lately been enthroned in Notre Dame amidst
ribald songs and dances. The schism between Robespierre and the
atheistical party was beginning to appear; and few persons believed that
France would long bend the knee before the lords of the guillotine,
whose resources were largely derived from the plunder of churches and
banks, forced loans from the wealthy, and a graduated Income Tax
resembling the Spartan proposals of Thomas Paine.

In such a case Pitt naturally repeated his statement of the previous
session, that he altogether deprecated a peace with France, unless it
possessed some elements of permanence, and secured due indemnity to
Great Britain. Nay, he declared that he would rather persevere with war,
even in the midst of disasters, than come to terms with the present
rulers of France, who were alike enemies of order and rabid foes of
England. They drove men into battle by fear of the guillotine; they
formed rapine and destruction into a system, and perverted to their
detestable purposes all the talents and ingenuity derived from the
civilization around them. He was careful, however, to correct the
mis-statement of Fox, that the Government was struggling for the
restoration of the French monarchy. While believing that that nation
would live most happily under a King, Pitt denied that a restoration was
the object of the present war. We have already seen that he held this
view in his correspondence with the Austrian Court. The House supported
Ministers by 277 votes to 59.

These declarations, backed by so large a majority, caused great
satisfaction at Vienna, and heartened that Government in the midst of
its many uncertainties. There was every need of encouragement. In that
age, when the great monarchs of the eighteenth century had p