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Search - Despatches From Paris 1784-1790 - Vol II

Despatches From Paris 1784-1790 - Vol II
Author: various

PREFACE I was unable to write a preface to the first volume of these despatches in consequence of a severe illness. I am now writing only a very scanty preface for a different reason. The conditions for the publication of this series demand that each volume shall not contain more than a certain number of pages, and if the whole of these despatch... more »es had been printed without omission, the allotted number of pages would have been exceeded. It, therefore, became necessary to leave out some of the less important documents, and, for a stronger reason, to reduce the preface and the notes to the scantiest dimensions. It is surely more important to give to the public as many of these valuable state papers as possible, than to print any observations which the Editor might have to make upon them. The despatches are, of themselves, of such very high interest and importance, that they are likely to receive much attention, and there is no call for me to point out to the historical scholars, for whose immediate benefit they are published, in what direction their attention should be turned. These despatches, taken together with those of Lord Gower, which were published for me by the Pitt Press, many years ago, at the instigation of my friend, M. Hippolyte Taine, form a complete account, subject to the above exigencies, of our diplomatic relations with France, from the accession of the younger Pitt to power in 1784, to the rupture of those relations when they had become impossible. To make the story complete, it is necessary to study the despatches of William Eden, which concern the Treaty of Commerce in 1786 and the French disclaimer of negotiations for an alliance with Holland in 1787. These will be found in the Life and Letters of William Eden , published by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and are also treated of in a volume of my own, entitled The Flight to Varennes and other Essays . The chief interest in the history of these relations lies in the attitude of Pitt towards a friendly understanding with France. There can, I think, be no doubt that Pitt had, from the very first, a strong, and even a passionate desire for a friendship with France, and that he disliked and even despised the girding jealousy and suspicion which rankled in the mind of his Foreign Secretary, as it did in the hearts of most English statesmen. To prove this, and it would be possible to prove it, would require the publication of many more documents, and the expenditure of considerable labour. The subject has been much discussed in America, and some young historians from that country are of opinion that Pitt, from the very first, desired war with France, a judgement which appears to me opposed to all the evidence which we possess on the subject. My own views on this question have been fully set forth in the chapter on the Foreign Policy of Pitt, which I contributed to the Revolution Volume of the Cambridge Modern History, and a fairly complete list of Authorities will be found in the bibliography attached to it. Other evidence exists in the Windham Papers, recently made accessible to students in the British Museum. Our conclusion must be that William Pitt was, in dignity, in foresight, in breadth of view, and in unflinching courage, if not the greatest, at least one of the greatest statesmen, who ever swayed the destinies of England, and the more closely his careet is studied, the more clearly will this be shown...

ISBN-13: 9781408639856
ISBN-10: 1408639858
Publication Date: 1/31/2008
Pages: 344
Rating:

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Publisher: Read Books
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
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