BOOK of demarcation, by which the relative and political XXIV. 1790. Death of Charles III. king of Spain. Ac Charles IV. rights of both nations were clearly ascertained, the Spanish court referred to antient treaties, by which the rights of the crown of Spain were acknowledged in their full extent by Great Britain. Charles III. king of Spain, died December 1788, and his son Charles IV. the succeeding sovereign, cession of confiding in the justice of his claims, offered with dignified candor to submit the decision of this question to any one of the kings of Europe, leaving the choice wholly to his Britannic majesty. "It is sufficient (says the Spanish minister, count Florida Blanca) for the Spanish monarch, that a crowned head, from full information of the facts, shall decide as he thinks just; adding, that on a late application to the court of St. Petersburg, in relation to several encroachments on the part of the Russians, the empress had given the most positive orders that no settlement should be formed on that line of coast. As to the non-occupancy of the particular spot in question by the Spaniards, the court of Madrid justly observed, that such a plea, if admitted, would tend, by the incongruous intermixture of settlements, to the utter annihilation of all definite and permanent boundaries." The reply of the court of London to the memorial of the Spanish ambassador was high and haughty. "The act of violence mentioned in the memorial necessarily suspended any discussion till an adequate atonement had been made for a BOOK proceeding so injurious to Great Britain." On the statement of these facts in the royal message, the house unanimously joined in an address to the king, assuring his majesty of the de. termination of his faithful commons to afford his majesty the most zealous and affectionate support in such measures as may become requisite for maintaining the dignity of his majesty's crown, and the essential interests of his dominions. A vote of credit passed the house for the sum of one million; and vigorous military and naval prepa. rations were made in both kingdoms, in the contemplation of an immediate declaration of war. It must be acknowledged that the hostile procedure of Spain had reduced the English ministry to a difficult dilemma. The value of the settlement at Nootka, in a commercial and national view, was beneath all calculation of insignificance; and it argued culpable inattention in the British ministers, not to have been better and earlier apprised of the extent of the real or imaginary rights of Spain, whose jealousy at the slightest infringement upon those rights was sufficiently notorious. This extreme irritability was the more pardonable, as Spain had ever with the strictest honor abstain. ed from all violations of the similar claims and pretensions of other countries. A moment's reflection must have evinced, that a British settle XXIV. 1790. BOOK ment on the coast of California must be eventually XXIV. 1790. productive of a serious contention with the court of Madrid: and a slight degree of discretion would have sufficed to obviate this ground of national quarrel. But in consequence of the rash step taken by Spain, the NATIONAL HONOR was now at stake and Mr. Grey, in moving for papers relative to this transaction, justly observed, "that national honor was not, as some represented it, a visionary thing; a nation without honor was a nation without power. In losing this inestimable attribute, it inevitably lost the genuine spring of its spirit, energy, and action. Every nation therefore ought to be careful of its honor; to be careful lest by one mean submission it encouraged an attack upon the dignity of its character-that best security for the preservation of its peace." These high and elevated sentiments, suggested by the generous ardor of youth, Mr. Burke's long and eventful experience seemed to regard as susceptible nevertheless of some modification. hoped that the national honor would not be found incompatible with the means of amicable accommodation. As we never ought to go to war for a profitable wrong, so we ought never to go to war for an unprofitable right. He therefore trusted that the intended armament would be considered not as a measure calculated to terminate the war happily, but to carry on the negotiation vigo XXIV. 1790. rously. He wished the war might be avoided. BOOK He had seen three wars, and we were gainers by none of them. Our ability and resources were doubtless great; but then did a country prove its magnanimity most clearly, when she manifested her moderation to be proportionate to her power. What indeed had we to contend for? If all the distant territories of Spain were thrown into the scale of England, we should, like Spain, be only the weaker for our acquisitions." On the 10th of June, 1790, the king terminated the session, and in his speech signified the probability of a speedy dissolution of the present parlia'ment; assuring them in handsome terms of "the deep and grateful sense which he entertained of that affectionate and unshaken loyalty, that uniform and zealous regard for the true principles of the constitution, that unremitted attention to the public happiness and prosperity, which had invariably directed all their proceedings:" and on the day following the parliament was dissolved by proclamation. Conscious of her inability to contend alone with the power of England, Spain had in an early stage of the negotiation applied to the court of France, to know how far she could depend, in present circumstances, upon the fulfilment of the conditions of the family compact, in case of a rupture with Great Britain. BOOK 1790. From the period of the king's compulsive removal to Paris, no symptoms of opposition to the will of the nation had appeared; and by seeming cheerfully to acquiesce in the successive decrees of the Assembly, he had in some measure recovered, what of all things is most difficult to regain-LOST CONFIDENCE. For this purpose, and like other measures of deep deceit, it for a time answered the purpose-the king repaired, of his own spontaneous motion, in solemn form to the Assembly, at the beginning of the month of February, 1790, in order to testify his inviolable attachment to the principles of the new constitution. “ "Every plan (said the monarch, in the speech delivered by him on this memorable occasion,) that may have a tendency to shake the principles of the constitution, every scheme designed to overturn them or to weaken their salutary influence, will have no other effect than to introduce the terrible evils of discord; and even supposing the success of such an attempt against my people and me, the result would deprive us, without furnishing a compensation, of the various advantages of which a new order of things exhibits the prospect.-Let us give ourselves up with good faith to the hopes that we ought to conceive-Continue your labors: let it be known that your monarch applauds them. I should have many losses to recount, but I find my happiness in that of the nation. From the bottom |