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Ruins of Hougoumont, after the battle of Waterloo.

WHILE England was, for some time after the king's recovery, enjoying a more than usual share of tranquillity, France became the scene of a frightful revolution, which so much affected England that it may be necessary to tell you a few particulars of it.

In that great country the government was become exceedingly poor, chiefly in consequence of its officious interference in the American war, and the necessity of making many reforms in the system of conducting public affairs was strongly felt. Even the king, Louis XVI., a virtuous and well-meaning man, conceded every thing he could to promote this end. But a gradual reform was too slow a measure to suit the impetuosity of the French populace, who burst through all restraint, and, confounding the innocent with the guilty, rose on the nobles and clergy, and satiated themselves with every kind of cruelty. The government was assumed by a sort of parliament, which took the title of the National Convention. This body, becoming at length intoxicated with the almost unlimited power which it possessed, began to thirst after foreign conquest; it openly avowed principles utterly subversive of all established authorities; it promised alliance to the revolutionists of other countries, and even announced that "France had declared war against all the world.” One of its acts was to put to death the king, who after a mock trial was beheaded; or, to speak more properly, was guillotined, on the 21st of January, 1793. The guillotine was a machine for beheading, which was brought into use by the revolutionists. The queen, who was for many reasons peculiarly obnoxious to the populace, was dragged from her children, and confined seven months in a

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damp cell, with only straw to lie on. then tried for various alleged offences, and guillotined. The scaffold streamed with the blood of all those who were suspected of favouring monarchy, and this period of the revolution has been aptly termed the reign of terror.

The many atrocious and sanguinary proceedings to which the fury of this revolution gave birth, and more particularly the murder of the king, caused a general consternation amongst all good men in every country in Europe. Prussia and Austria had already taken up arms, and had invaded France in the summer of 1792 with the intention of restoring the king's authority. The duke of Brunswick had the command of the allied army, and gained some slight successes at first; but he was soon compelled to retreat. The army of the revolutionists then pressed its advantage, and took possession of almost all the Austrian Netherlands.-Such was the commencement of a most unparalleled contest, which, with little intermission, ravaged Europe for above twenty years, and was attended with a series of more signal events than any other, perhaps, in the history of the world.

The English government could not behold this ferment on the continent without much alarm and perplexity. It was anxiously desirous to avoid a rupture; but at length thought it necessary to oppose a serious resistance to the offensive proceedings of the Convention. In the month of

January, 1793, the English ministers refused to acknowledge the French ambassador in London by the title of the ambassador of the French republic, as he now styled himself; and on the 1st of February the Convention declared war. About the same time a French army invaded the Dutch territories; and the duke of York, the king of England's second son, was sent from England to the assistance of the Dutch, with a considerable army under his command. In this campaign he had some partial success; but in 1794 he was compelled to retire. He effected, with much difficulty, a retreat to some of the fortified towns of the United Provinces, and returned to England in the following winter.

The frost of this year was very intense, and permitted the French to cross the Waal on the ice. It also gave them other unexpected advantages, which they followed up with so much zeal and ability, that they were enabled to take possession of Amsterdam on the 16th of January, 1795. The rest of Holland, and the other provinces, then submitted, and taking the title of the Batavian republic, entered into an alliance with France. Prussia also soon afterwards deserted her coalition with Austria.-But while the French arms were thus successful by land, a signal victory was obtained at sea by lord Howe, who, on June 1st,

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1794, defeated the French fleet off Brest. Several French islands also in the West Indies were taken. In the year 1795 the internal affairs of France began to assume a more settled appearance. Robespierre, Danton, and other sanguinary monsters, who had been the authors of the worst excesses of the revolution, had in their turns fallen sacrifices to popular fury; and an executive directory was established, with which it seemed possible to treat for peace. In 1796 Mr. Wickham, the English minister in Swisserland, was instructed to make overtures for a negotiation, but the attempt was fruitless. Lord Malmsbury was afterwards sent to Paris, for the purpose of making another effort, but his mission proved equally ineffectual. I shall not think it necessary to particularise other overtures of the same kind which were made afterwards in the following years of the war.

The campaign of 1796 on the continent was extremely active and important. The French generals, Moreau and Jourdan, entered Germany. They were ultimately repulsed by the archduke Charles. The retreat which Moreau effected is much celebrated. On the side of Italy the command of the French army was given to Buonaparte, who acquired his first great distinction in this campaign. This extraordinary man was a native of Corsica, and had been educated in a military

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