398 LIFE CR OOBDEN, joss.
1883, Cabinet, ag well as from the narratives of Tory historians
Zr, -«, like Scott and Alison, that the alleged grounds of the War
were not the real motives either of the English Government
or the English people. The French had opened the navigation
 of the Scheldt; they had invaded Holland; the
Convention had passed the famous decree of fraternity,
declaring in the name of the French nation that it would
grant assistance to all peoples who should wish to
vecover their liberty, and charging the executive power t0
give the necessary orders to its generals. These were ho
three nominal grounds of quarrel. The real ground behind
them all was the violent hatred which a conservative nation
like the English, inevitably felt towards the revolutionary
policy of France. For the actual motives we must look 0
Burke's philippics, and not to Lord Grenville’s despatches:
But deep-rooted hatred can be no evidence that a War
prompted by it is necessary or just; and as a matter of fach
there are very few persons now alive who, having examined
the records of English policy in 1793, do not condemn the
war of that year as both impolitic and nonecessary. Cobden
would be justified by most modern students of the period in
his contempt for the plea that the French were the first 0
declare war. It was manifest from the middle of December
1792, that the English Government intended to join the
continental powers, and for the very plain reason, apart from
the captivity and imminent death of the king, that France
had shown herself more than their match. For a time it was
believed that the Revolation had broken up the army and
dispersed the resources of the country. It wes expected
that Prussia and Austria wonld find the restoration of the
old system in France easy to accomplish, For so long the
English Ministry looked with a certain complacency OF
avents which promised finally to lower their natural rival,
and to punish France for the aid and comfort that she bad