y the result.
It is not, however, any difficult matter to prophesy disappointment and
ill-success: if the prediction proved false, gentlemen would feel too
much satisfaction in the success of their country to think of it; if it
proved true, those who made it would triumph, as they would certainly
feel some satisfaction for their superior sagacity. But while I thus
give credit to the opposition for their predictions, I also claim some
credit for those on my own side of the question; for when Jacobinism was
at its greatest height, when its influence circulated through every part
of the French government, and when Robespierre governed the country with
the most absolute sway, even then its fall was foretold in that house,
and happily with truth. But let me not be misunderstood. I do not mean
that by the accession of the moderates to the sovereign power in France,
the possibility of our treating with them has become greater. The only
difference between them and the Jacobins is, that they professed the
intentions, though they had not the power of the latter. Their hostility
to this country is equal to that of the Jacobins; and the house will
have an opportunity of judging what reliance can be placed on their
moderation by the terms they may give to the Dutch, who were not
instigators of the war, but compelled to join in it; and if the terms
they give to the Dutch prove hard, what might this country expect? If we
could even have a peace now with France, it would be an insecure one.
It must be a peace with all the inconveniences and expenses of a war
establishment; such a peace as this country would never assent to."
On this occasion Pitt was mortified by the opposition of his friend
Wilberforce, who objected that the obvious tendency of the address was
to pledge the house to a prosecution of the war till there should be
a counter revolution in France. He expressed himself alarmed at the
terrible doctrines which had been promulgated from the throne and
reiterated from the ministerial side of the house. A perpetual war,
which could only cease with the restoration of the French monarchy, was
to him a startling proposition, calculated to shock his principles and
appal his feelings. Wilberforce deprecated both the speech and address,
and took an extensive view of the comparative state of both countries
after a long and sanguinary conflict, in which both had intensely
suffered; and he concluded with moving an amendment, embracing the