The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12)Burke, Edmund
Philosophy
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12)
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820; Political science -- Early works to 1800
To return to the security for the peace. The author tells us, that the
original great purposes of the war were more than accomplished by the
treaty. Surely he has experience and reading enough to know, that, in
the course of a war, events may happen, that render its original very
far from being its principal purpose. This original may dwindle by
circumstances, so as to become not a purpose of the second or even the
third magnitude. I trust this is so obvious that it will not be
necessary to put cases for its illustration. In that war, as soon as
Spain entered into the quarrel, the security of North America was no
longer the sole nor the foremost object. The _Family Compact_ had been I
know not how long before in agitation. But then it was that we saw
produced into daylight and action the most odious and most formidable of
all the conspiracies against the liberties of Europe that ever has been
framed. The war with Spain was the first fruits of that league; and a
security against that league ought to have been the fundamental point of
a pacification with the powers who compose it. We had materials in our
hands to have constructed that security in such a manner as never to be
shaken. But how did the virtuous and able men of our author labor for
this great end? They took no one step towards it. On the contrary they
countenanced, and, indeed, as far as it depended on them, recognized it
in all its parts; for our plenipotentiary treated with those who acted
for the two crowns, as if they had been different ministers of the same
monarch. The Spanish minister received his instructions, not from
Madrid, but from Versailles.
This was not hid from our ministers at home; and the discovery ought to
have alarmed them, if the good of their country had been the object of
their anxiety. They could not but have seen that the whole Spanish
monarchy was melted down into the cabinet of Versailles. But they
thought this circumstance an advantage; as it enabled them to go through
with their work the more expeditiously. Expedition was everything to
them; because France might happen during a protracted negotiation to
discover the great imposition of our victories.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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