more declared, in proposing an enormous subsidy to Russia, that the existence of the present government of France was incompatible with the security of the other Powers of Europe. It was against that government, he said, acting on its present principles that he would wage war, and he accompanied his observations by an apology for the Cabinets of St. Petersburg and Vienna, an apology which Lord Lansdowne ridiculed, returning to the conduct of the allies towards Poland, and again insisting on the impolicy of even seeming to dictate to another country the form of government which it was to possess. He added that in his opinion there was no valid ground for the expectations held out by Ministers of the general deliverance of Europe.[1] Within another year the battles of Marengo and Hohenlinden had been fought, and the Peace of Luneville signed. The new century opened for England amid distress, despondency and defeat.
The speech of Lord Lansdowne, which has just been quoted, was made remarkable by the formal declaration of his complete change of opinion on the question of neutral rights. Ever since the outbreak of the war, England had been engaged in renewed wrangles on this subject with the Northern Powers, especially with Denmark. It was even attempted to bring food and provisions within the category of contraband, and the controversy between Count Bernstorff and Mr. Hailes in 1793 on this point remains a cause célèbre in the annals of international law. To these extreme applications of belligerent rights Lord Lansdowne had at all times been opposed, and he pronounced the Memorial of Bernstorff, in reply to the English Instructions of the 8th of June 1793, "one of the boldest, wisest, and most honourable replies he had ever read. It was a State Paper that should be kept for the model of every cabinet in Europe."[2] He now went further, and after freely confessing that he had formerly advocated the opposite doctrine, asked, using the arguments which
