il, in the general
conduct of the agents of France in her colonies--a habit of sudden
encroachment, a growing arrogance, and a full exhibition of that bitter
and sneering petulance, which was supposed to have been scourged out of
the French by their desperate defeats towards the close of the war. All
this insolence may, by possibility, pass away; but it also may go on to
further inflammation, and it may be necessary to scourge it again; and
this discipline, if once begun, must be carried through more effectually
than when the Allies last visited Paris. The respect felt for the French
king and his prime minister, as the friends of peace, naturally
restrains the language with which aggression deserves to be reprobated.
But the French government, if it desires to retain that respect, must
exhibit its sincerity in making some substantial effort to preserve
peace. No man of sense in Europe can believe in the necessity of the
seizure of Algiers, nor in the necessity of the war with Morocco. But
every man can see the influence of both on the freedom of the
Mediterranean. The seizure of the British consul at Otaheite shows a
spirit which must be summarily extinguished, or the preservation of
peace will be impossible. In the mean time, we hear from France nothing
but a cry for steam-ships, and threats of invasion. We ask, what has
England done? Nothing to offend or injure: there is not even an
allegation of any thing of the kind. But if war must come, woe be to
those by whom it is begun! The history of all the wars of England with
France, is one of French defeat. We have beaten the French by land, we
have beaten them by sea; and, with the blessing of Heaven on the
righteous cause and our own stout hands, we shall always beat them. We
have beaten them on the soil of the stranger--we have beaten them on
their own. From the fourteenth century, when English soldiers were
masters of the half of France, down to Waterloo, we have always beaten
France; and if we beat her under Napoleon, there can be no fear of our
not beating her under a race so palpably his inferiors. All England
deprecates war as useless, unnatural, and criminal. But the crime is
solely on the head of the aggressor. Woe to those who begin the next
war! It may be final.

The late visit of the Emperor of Russia to this country, which so much
perplexed the political circles of both France and England, now probably
admits of elucidation. The emperor's visit has been follo