In their very infancy they were
in haste to put their hand on their infernal altar, and to swear the
same immortal hatred to England which was sworn in the succession of all
the short-lived constitutions that preceded it. With them everything
else perishes almost as soon as it is formed; this hatred alone is
immortal. This is their impure Vestal fire that never is extinguished:
and never will it be extinguished, whilst the system of Regicide exists
in France. What! are we not to believe them? Men are too apt to be
deceitful enough in their professions of friendship, and this makes a
wise man walk with some caution through life. Such professions, in some
cases, may be even a ground of further distrust. But when a man declares
himself your unalterable enemy! No man ever declared to another a rancor
towards him which he did not feel. _Falsos in amore odia, non fingere_,
said an author who points his observations so as to make them
remembered.
Observe, my Lord, that, from their invasion of Flanders and Holland to
this hour, they have never made the smallest signification of a desire
of peace with this kingdom, with Austria, or, indeed, with any other
power that I know of.
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