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    for the fabric of her powder , and forged the irons which surrounded her churches and public edifices into weapons of war : the spirit which insp ired her was not merely the spirit of freedom , always undaunted however misdirected , but was inflamed and elevated by terror and despair , when caught in the moment of disorganization by the numerous armies which surrounded her , proscribed as she was by the whole European

    world . —It did not , m my opinion , require Mr . Fox ' s sagacity to predict the result of this unequal contest . — The nations of Europe at that period , whatever they might have had to fear , had then actually suffered nothing from the French revolution ; so that whilst on the one hand , the French

    armies , however undisciplined , were in fact a people in arms , the invading force was only brought up to the charge by the cold and lifeless principle of military discipline , without a national object , and by subjects rather disgusted with their own govern

    me « te , than with the changes they had only heard of in France . Well , therefore , might Mr . Fox on tliat occ / wo / i , when the conquest of France was anticipated , exclaim against the feeble pencil of Cervantes—from the

    very course then pursued to conquer lier , he conceived , she became invulneralle ; because having no means left of existence as a nation , but by forming her population into a vast camp , and depending for her security upon military skill and exertion , she was

    not at all likely to be the victim of auy combination amongst the old governments of Europe , jealous of one pother , and not excited by a counteracting motive , of an equally projectile force .

    When her government was thus established , no matter whether for good or for evil , and war had arisen fom resisting it in its commencement , Mr . Fox still more strongly reprototed as a monstrous proposition , that we was incapable in the pure abstract ° < Maintaining the usual relations of

    i * ace and amity . He admitted , of ^ e , most distinctly , that Great i ?! * ^ aH other powers were We justified in looking to their own *« irXi * f , but he thought they should ^ Ut once to the decision of the Unties they required , and not hafve

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    acted upon a declaration so vague and so unexampled . To this policy , which he condemned as erroneous , Mr . Fox imputed the disasters which followed in his time-France , being thus put under the

    banu of an undefined proscription , a looser rein was undoubtedly given by it to her impetuous and dangerous course ; and in faithfully recording Mr . Fox ' s principles-and opinions , it is impossible to refrain from saying , that for a season at least there was too

    much colour for her invasion of other nations . What other security had she for her own independence ? Sinco not only no terms were offered to her , but she was even denied the privilege of offering any herself . * Sfc * * ' JL *¦ Jfc

    It is impossible to close this review of Mr . Fox ' s parliamentary exertions , without adverting to the object of his very last motion in the House of Commons ;—an object for which he had laboured with many eminent men of all political parties and opinions , for nearly twenty years—its accomplishment which followed but a few months

    afterwards , would have raised our country , even if she had no other illustration , to stand unrivalled amongst nations , and to look up to God Himself to pronounce— " Well done thou good and faithful servant " , —the Abolition of the Slave Trade leaves

    every other triumph of humanity and justice almost out of sight behind it 9 and well entitled Mr . Fox to declare , " that if , during the fort ?/ years he had sat in parliament , he had oeen , so fortunate as to accomplish that object , and that only ; he should think he had

    done enough , and could retire from public life idith the conscious satisfaction that he had done his duty ?\ ? One short sentence more belongs imperiously to this subject - ™ the name of Wilberforce cannot be

    separated from it—it is of the utmost importance to mankind perpetually to remember , that immortal honour and reputation are the sure rewards of those by whose virtuous , patient , uirconquerable perseverence , the blessed cause of universal freedom has been

    advanced , and the lingering progression of the world urged on in its slow and mysterious course . Being now brought to the conclusion of my letter , and running it over

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    Lord * Erski 7 i&s Character ofMt . Fox , as an Orator and Statesman . SSt

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    * VL . X . *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1815, page 337, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1761/page/9/