The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 03 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
General
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 03 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
The whole of Vetus’s reasoning is founded on the false notions of
patriotism which we have here pointed out, and which we conceive to be
totally inconsistent with ‘the just principles of negociation.’ The
remainder of his letter, which unfolds his motives for a pacific
arrangement with Bonaparte, is founded entirely on the same jaundiced
and distempered views. Many wise, many honest, many virtuous persons, he
says, have maintained, not without reason, ‘the incompetency of _this
Corsican_ under any circumstances to discharge the obligations of a
state of peace.’ But he, more wise, more honest, more virtuous, sees a
hope, a shadow of peace, rising like a cloudy speck out of a quarter
where it was least expected. ‘The stone which the builders rejected, is
become the corner-stone of his Temple of Peace.’—‘It does not appear to
Vetus, that a peace with Bonaparte is now unattainable on terms
sufficient for our safety.’ He thinks there is no man so proper to make
peace with as this Corsican, this Revolutionist,—no one so proper to
govern France—to the complete exclusion of the Bourbons, whose
pretensions he scouts analytically, logically, and chronologically, and
who, it seems, had always the same implacable animosity against this
country as Bonaparte, _without a tythe of his ability_. [Surely this
circumstance might plead a little in their favour with Vetus.] And why
so? Whence arises this unexpected partiality shewn to Bonaparte? Why it
is ‘from the strong conviction that by no other means so decisive as the
existence of this man, with his consuming, depressing and degrading
system of government, can we hope to see France _crushed and ground down
below the capacity of contending for ages to come_ with the force of the
British Empire, _moved by the spirit of freedom_! Regarding France under
every known form of government as the irreconcileable foe of England, _I
have beheld with almost unmingled joy the growth and accumulation of
this savage despotism_!’ To be sure ‘while there appeared to some
persons,’ [Vetus was not one of them] ‘a _chance_ of his enslaving the
Continent, and hurling the mass of subjugated nations against our
shores—then, indeed, those who entertained such fears were justified in
seeking his _personal_ and political destruction. But once released from
the terror of his arm, _what genuine Englishman_ can fail to rejoice in
the privilege of consigning Bonaparte and the French people, for better
for worse, to the paradise of each other’s embraces?’ Vetus then
proceeds to inveigh at great length against the persons and pretensions
of the Bourbons. Leaving them to the mercy of this good-natured
remembrancer, we shall only observe, that he decides the impolicy of
restoring the Bourbons, by asking, whether their restoration would not
be advantageous to France, and consequently (he infers very consistently
with himself) _injurious to this country_. Looking forward but half a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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