a
damning corollary, the decree of 15th December, which flung defiance at
all Governments of the old type. Like Mohammed, Lebrun stood forth with
the "Contrat Social" in one hand, the sword in the other, and bade the
world take its choice.

For England there could be no doubt. Pitt and Grenville had decided that
the only chance of peace lay in offering a firm front to every act of
aggression. In this they had general support. Fox might choose to
distort facts by declaring that Ministers were about to plunge the
country into war on a matter of form[147] (the refusal to treat
officially with the French Republic); but everyone knew that the first
aggressive action was that of France, directed against the Anglo-Dutch
alliance. The firmness of Ministers gained them support in unexpected
quarters. On 20th December, when they asked for a vote for 25,000
seamen, including 5,000 marines, Sheridan heartily declared that he
would have supported a vote for 40,000 seamen if that number had been
deemed necessary. He also made a suggestion that the British Parliament
or people should appeal to the generous instincts of Frenchmen to spare
the life of Louis XVI. The proposal came somewhat oddly in a debate for
increasing our forces against France; and it brought up Burke in one of
his most acrid moods. Such an appeal, he said, was futile, for Louis was
in the custody of assassins who were both accusers and judges: his death
was inevitable. Sheridan and Fox heartily reprobated this recklessly
vindictive language.

Pitt then pointed out that on 17th August George III had expressed an
earnest desire for the safety of Louis and the Royal Family of France in
terms which were then read out. The same was the desire of every Briton;
and the sentiments now expressed in that House would be heard and noted
at Paris. If any more formal measure were to be adopted, he suggested
the entering a protest in the Journals of the House; but any public
representation, he said, must be couched in terms of indignation which
must tend to defeat its own object. With this method of procedure Fox
and Sheridan expressed their entire concurrence.[148] It is therefore a
malicious falsehood to say that Pitt opposed their suggestion.[149]
Burke certainly did so, and in the worst possible taste; but Pitt
carried it out so far as was deemed desirable. If Sheridan and Fox
wished for a public appeal, it was for them to set it on foot.

I must here notice the vague and