absolutely false and groundless. If it be, it is a stronger mark of
their audacity and insolence, and still a stronger proof of the support
they mean to give to the mischievous faction they are known to nourish
there, to the ruin of those States, and to the end that no British
affections should ever arise in that important part of the world, which
would naturally lead to a cordial, hearty British alliance, upon the
bottom of mutual interest and ancient affection. It shows in what part
it is, and with what a weapon, they mean a deadly blow at the heart of
Great Britain. One really would have expected, from this new
Constitution of theirs, which had been announced as a great reform, and
which was to be, more than any of their former experimental schemes,
alliable with other nations, that they would, in their very first public
act, and their declaration to the collected representation of Europe and
America, have affected some degree of moderation, or, at least, have
observed a guarded silence with regard to their temper and their views.
No such thing: they were in haste to declare the principles which are
spun into the primitive staple of their frame. They were afraid that a
moment's doubt should exist about them. 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_,