CHAP. IX. 1792. "There is no loss of friends," said Mr Fox.-"Yes," said Mr Burke, "there is a loss of friends. I know the price of my conduct: I have done my duty at the price of him I love our friendship is at an end. With my last breath I will earnestly entreat the two right honourable gentlemen who are the great rivals in this house, whether they hereafter move in the political hemisphere as two flaming meteors, or walk together like brethren hand in hand, to preserve and cherish the British constitution; to guard it against innovation, and save it from the dangers of theoretic alterations. It belongs to the infinite and 1 Parl. Deb, unspeakable Power, the Deity, who with his arm hurls a 366, 380, comet, like a projectile, out of its course, and enables it to endure the sun's heat and the pitchy darkness of the chilly night, to aim at the formation of infinite perfection; to us, poor, weak, incapable mortals, there is no safe rule of conduct but experience."1 xxix. 364, 388; and Burke's Speeches, iv. 3, 8, 9, 17, 23. 45. separation. Mr Fox rose to reply, but tears at first choked his Their final utterance, and they continued to roll down his cheeks even for some time after he had begun his speech. He commenced by expressing, in the strongest terms, his love and affection for Mr Burke, which had begun with his boyhood, and remained unbroken for five-and-twenty years; but by degrees the subject of their present division again rushed upon his mind, and although he called him his right honourable friend, yet it was evident to all that their friendship was at an end. A meeting of the Whigs was held to consider this great schism which had broken out in their party, and the following resolution appeared in their official journal, the Morning Chronicle, on the subject:" The great and firm body of the Whigs of England, true to their principles, have decided on the dispute between Mr Fox and Mr Burke; and the former is declared to have maintained the pure doctrines by which they are bound together, and upon which they have invariably acted. The consequence is, that Mr Burke retires from parliament." Mr Burke, in alluding May 12, 1791. IX. 1792. to this resolution, said, on the same night, that he knew CHAP. he was excommunicated by one party, and that he was too old to seek another; and though in his age he had been so unfortunate as to meet this disgrace, yet he disdained to make any recantation, and did not care to solicit the friendship of any man in the House, either on one side or the other.1 1 Burke's iv. 34, 38. Speeches, 46. on the event. 2 Mackin Nothing can be imagined more characteristic of both these illustrious men, and of the views of the parties of Reflections which they severally were the heads, than the speeches now given. On the one side are to be seen, warm affection, impassioned feeling, philanthropic ardour, vehemence of expression, worthy of the statesman who has been justly styled by no common man, "the most Demosthenian orator since the days of Demosthenes."2 On the tosh. other, an ardent mind, a burning eloquence, a foresight guided by observation of the past, benevolence restrained by anticipation of the future. In the impetuosity of the latter, in support of the truths with which he was so deeply impressed, there is perhaps some reason to lament the undue asperity of indignant prophecy; in the former, too great stress is laid upon political consistency under altered times. But time, the great test of truth, has now resolved the justice of the respective opinions thus eloquently advanced, and thrown its verdict, with decisive weight, into the scale with Mr Burke. There is, perhaps, not to be found in the whole history of human anticipation, a more signal instance of erroneous views than those advanced by Mr Fox, when he said that the French consitution was the most stupendous fabric of wisdom ever reared in any age or country; that no danger was to be apprehended to the balance of power in Europe, now that France had obtained democratic institutions; and that, if that great power was subverted, no peril was to be apprehended to European liberty from the strength or ambition of Russia. On the other hand, all must admit the extraordinary sagacity with which Mr Burke not 1792. CHAP. merely predicted the consequences to itself and to IX. Europe, which necessarily would arise from the convulsions in France, but also pointed out so clearly that vital distinction between the Anglo-Saxon and the Gallic race on the shores of the St Lawrence, and the remarkable difference in their capacity to bear democratic institutions, which was destined not to produce its natural effects for half a century, and of which we are now only beginning to see the ultimate results. 47. State of 1 Hard. i. 32. Unwearied in perseverance, firm in purpose, unchangeable in ambition, the Austrian government was the most formidable rival with which the French Republic had to anticipate a contest on the continent of Europe. This great empire, containing at that time nearly twenty-five millions of inhabitants, with a revenue of ninety million florins, or about £9,000,000 sterling, numbered the richest and most fertile districts of Europe among its provinces. The manufacturing wealth of Flanders, the agricultural riches of Lombardy, added not less to the pecuniary resources than did the energetic valour of the Hungarians, and the impetuous zeal of the Tyrolese, to the military strength of the empire. The possession of the Low Countries gave it an advanced post, formerly strongly fortified, immediately in contact with the French frontier; while the mountains of the Tyrol formed a vast fortress, garrisoned by an attached and warlike people, and placed at a salient angle between Germany and Italy, the certain theatre of future combats. Its armies, numerous and highly disciplined, had acquired immortal renown in the wars of Maria Theresa, and maintained a creditable place, under Daun and Laudohn, in the scientific campaigns with the Great Frederick. Its government, nominally a monarchy, but really an oligarchy, in the hands of the great nobles, about three hundred in number, possessed all that firmness and tenacity of purpose, and, at the same time, that selfish monopolising disposition,1 by which aristo IX. cratic powers have always been distinguished; and which, CHAP. under unparalleled difficulties and disasters, brought them at last successfully through the long struggle in which they were shortly after engaged. 1792. of Maria Maria Theresa was the soul of the Austrian monarchy : 48. it was her heroic spirit, sage administration, and popular Character character, which brought its fortunes safe through the Theresa. terrible crisis that occurred in the middle of the eighteenth century, and laid the foundation of its present grandeur and prosperity. Never was seen greater moral courage, or steadiness of purpose, than in this most remarkable woman. She may almost be said to have been the real founder of the Austrian empire, for she found it on the verge of perdition, and she raised it, by the vigour of her counsels and heroism of her conduct, to the highest pitch of glory. When the Hungarian chiefs, with tears in their eyes, drew their swords, and said with one voice, "Moriamur pro rege nostro Maria Theresa!" they expressed the sympathy of noble minds for such signal intrepidity and resolution as she evinced in her distress. Unlike Catherine of Russia, her private character was irreproachable. Profoundly influenced by religion, she found in its consolations a bulwark of strength amidst all her difficulties; strictly regular in her conduct, she maintained unsullied purity amidst all the seductions of the Imperial court. Her elevation of mind may be judged of by one circumstance. When on her deathbed, she was so feeble as to be with difficulty preserved from dropping into a slumber; but she Wraxall's insisted upon being prevented: "I would meet," said she, i. 456. "my Creator awake." The annals of Rome contain 471, App. nothing more sublime.1 At the accession of her son Joseph II. in 1780, new maxims of government succeeded: the ancient spirit of the monarchy seemed about to expire. His mind was cultivated, his views benevolent, his habits simple; but these amiable qualities were combined with others of a more dangerous nature. An ardent reformer, a philan Hist. Mem. Weber, i. IX. 1792. 49. and im order of the day. CHAP. thropic philosopher, deeply imbued with the delusions of perfectibility, he was impatient to change everything in the civil, religious, and military administration of his vast Accession of states; and, in the warmth of his benevolence, urged on Joseph II. Innovation many reforms neither called for by, nor beneficial to, his provement subjects. Endowed with an ardent and innovating tembecame the perament, he, at the same time, was animated by a desire for territorial acquisition and military glory. Strongly impressed with the inconvenience and expense attending the possession of the Low Countries so much exposed to France, so far removed from the hereditary states-and relying on the support of Catherine, Empress of Russia, in whose ambitious designs on Turkey he was participant, he was extremely desirous of incorporating Bavaria with his vast possessions, by giving the elector the Low Countries in exchange, with the title of king. Frederick of Prussia instantly sounded the alarm on this dangerous March 17, proposal, and by his influence, a treaty was concluded at Berlin between Prussia, Saxony, and Hanover, which was the last act of that great man, and for the time caused this ambitious project on the part of Austria to miscarry. But the Imperial cabinet never lost sight of the design ; and their attempts to carry it into execution, during the course of the revolutionary war, became, as will appear in the sequel, the source of numberless calamities to themselves and to Europe.1 1786. 1 Hard. i. 32, 36. 50. Military forces of Austria. 1 The Austrian forces, at the commencement of the war, amounted to two hundred and forty thousand infantry, thirty-five thousand cavalry, and one hundred thousand artillery; and the extent and warlike spirit of the Imperial dominions furnished inexhaustible resources for the maintenance of the contest. Sincere and honest in principle, attached to old institutions, and powerfully swayed by religion, the inhabitants of these varied dominions were, with the exception of some of the Italian provinces, unanimous in their horror of the French republican principles; while the power and firm ascendant of the nobility |