of Rouen wished to be distributed, but the answer of Necker to the application was evasive, and one of delay. On his dismissal from the ministry the second time, Barruel states that "the Parliament of Rouen had then obtained proof, that the same boats, laden with the same corn, had been sent from Paris-back again-then embarked at Rouen for Havre-and thence returned again, half rotten." *

Of the fearful fact of the famine and of its terrible consequences, there is evidence in the history of the time. In the attack on the bastile-" the courage of the besiegers was inflamed by the horrors of famine, there being at that time only twenty-four hours' provision of bread in Paris. For some days the people had assembled in crowds round the shops of the bakers, who were obliged to have a guard of soldiers to protect them from the famished multitude; while the women, rendered furious by want, cried in the resolute tone of despair-We must have bread for our children."t

.

And in the march to Versailles we have another frightful picture: "All the bread which could be procured in the town of Versailles was distributed among the Poissards,' who, with savage ferocity, held up their morsels of bread on their bloody pikes towards the balcony, where the queen stood, crying in a tone of defiance, We have bread.' Such are the vivid pictures of the scene, drawn by an eyewitness.

The miseries of the French people drew forth the sympathy of the people of Great Britain. But the trial and execution of a king, innocent of the calamities that befell his country, checked the current of feeling; and war

Barruel, vol. i. p. 264.

+ Letters of Helen Maria Williams, written in France, 1790.

Ibid.

followed, to carry into another channel the passions of the British nation. At length terror reigned in France, and chilled to the core all sympathy for her Revolution. What a dreadful blow was struck on the cause of rational liberty by the Revolution in France! The spirit of demons took possession of her public men, and the following answer of the Committee of Public Safety to the inhabitants of Montauban, who were alarmed by the want of provisions, is truly diabolical. "Fear not, France has a sufficiency for twelve millions of inhabitants, all the rest (about 12,300,000) must be put to death, and then there will be no scarcity of bread."

But after such terrible domestic convulsions, and fierce foreign wars that desolated Europe, has France gained nothing at the end of fifty years? Perhaps the half of her inhabitants who lived at the beginning of the Revolution, were pushed from existence ten or fifteen years earlier than they would have been, had the Revolution not taken place. It is appalling to reflect on such things, and to sum up in the imagination the miseries that ensued. But the victims of the guillotine, of the dungeons, of famine, of war, and of pestilence, are now at rest" after life's fitful fever," and what is the present state of France?-her population is 34,200,000 of souls, against 24,300,000 fifty years ago— She possesses a representative legislative system that guarantees her liberties-she has established the charter of her freedom, under a constitutional monarch, called

* Report of the "Comité de Salue Publique,” 8 Aug. 1795. vol. iv. page 443.

Barruel,

A sentiment approaching in atrocity to this announcement of the French demon, has been perceived, in the discussion by the organs of the dominant faction in England, on the decadence of the manufacturing interest of the country.

to the throne by the voice of the nation-she has abolished a hereditary legislative aristocracy, and attained an equalization of property by a law of inheritance, annulling the right of primogeniture-she has secured equal rights and privileges to all her citizens-she enjoys the inestimable blessings of trial by jury, liberty of the press, liberty of conscience, and religious toleration.

Her agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, have increased, and are now more flourishing than at any former period of her history; her military and naval power are as formidable as they ever were in past ages; her improvements in practical science, applied to roads and other public works, are equal to those of almost any other country, and her influence abroad is powerful enough to insure from other nations, a proper attention to her interests and her dignity.*

* Comparative Statement of the Condition of Great Britain and France :—

Our lands, either from greater fertility or from superior husbandry, give in wheat three bushels for two of the French lands; and notwithstanding this increase, the price of wheat, flour, or bread, is generally about fifty

per cent dearer in London than Paris. How arises this amazing disparity in price? On the consumption of bread this increase will make yearly about twenty millions of pounds sterling more than if bought in Paris. The direct land-tax in France is £10,000,000.

The direct land-tax in Great Britain is only £1,000,000

The duties on consumption of food and other articles in Great Britain and Ireland is 37,000,000. In France it is only £14,500,000.

These items explain at a glance the cause of the disparity. The twenty millions extra paid in the price of bread go to increase the rents of the lands.

Great

France has increased in strength since her great Revolution. Britain is suffering in her most vital interests in consequence of the debt incurred to arrest that Revolution, and of unjust and impolitic laws imposed since the peace of 1815.

CHAP. V.

SPAIN.

THE SPANISH ARISTOCRATIC POWER HAS ALMOST ROOTED UP THE TREE OF WEALTH, IN ORDER TO SEIZE THE FRUIT.

In the present circumstances of the world, particularly in those of Europe, as affecting the position of Great Britain and Spain, it is of great importance to both these nations to weigh well the question of their mutual interest, and to take a retrospective and prospective view of their relative condition.

The people of this country must remember that Spain in the sixteenth century, and in the beginning of the seventeenth, in the general affairs of the world, held a station and exercised an influence similar to what Great Britain possesses in the present age. Circumstances gave her the lead in colonization, and enabled her to plant settlements, undisturbed by any European power, throughout the West India Islands, North and South America, and in the Indian Ocean. Her ships spread over the globe, carried her commerce from East to West, and to the uttermost bounds of the known earth. Her naval ascendancy was undisputed for a long period; and it was on the shores of Britain, that it first received the shock to its greatness. Allusions have been frequently made in the course of this treatise to the circumstances of Spain as affording examples to this country and in referring again to that country, it is not