nearly five hundred years had been almost uninterruptedly hostile, and which Fox, in the heat of his opposition, objected even to consider in any other light than that of an enemy.  He laid the foundation for all subsequent legislation connected with our colonies in his Bill for the Government of Canada; and he established a system for the government of our Indian dependencies on so statesman-like a principle, that all subsequent administrations concurred in upholding it, till subsequent events compelled the abolition of all the share in the government of the country previously possessed by the Company.

A great writer of the past generation,[109] who in some respects has done full justice to his genius and political virtue, has, however (partly, it can hardly be doubted, from regarding himself as a follower of his great rival, Fox), contrasted his capacity as a War-minister with that of his father, drawing a comparison on this point very disadvantageous to the son.  We need not stop to examine how far the praises which he bestows on Lord Chatham’s talents as a planner of military operations are deserved; but it may very fairly be contended that the disparaging views of Pitt’s military policy which he has advanced are founded solely on what is in this as well as in many other instances a most delusive criterion, success.  It is true, unquestionably, that in the campaigns of 1793-4-5 against the French revolutionists, while he took upon this country the entire burden of the naval war, on land he contented himself with playing a secondary part, and employing a comparatively small force (which, however, doubled that which his father had sent to Minden),[110] for the success of the military operations trusting chiefly to the far stronger Austrian and Prussian divisions, under the command of Prince Coburg and the Duke of Brunswick, to which the British regiments were but auxiliaries.  It is true, also, that the result of their operations was unfortunate, and that the German generals proved wholly unable to contend with the fiery and more skilful impetuosity of Jourdan and Pichegru.  But the question is not whether Pitt’s confidence in the prowess of his allies was misplaced, but whether he had not abundant reason to justify him in entertaining it.  And, to judge fairly on this point, we must recollect the reputation which for the last forty years the Austrian and Prussian armies had enjoyed.  The result of the seven years’ war had established the renown of the Prussians, and the Duke of Brunswick was understood to be a favorite pupil of the Great Frederic.  The same war had shown that the Austrians were not very unequal to the Prussians; while the reputation of the French troops had fallen to the lowest ebb, the most memorable event in their annals during the same war being the rout of Rosbach, when 60,000 of them fled before Frederic and 22,000.  At the breaking out of the Revolution, it might be said that De Bouille was the only French general of the slightest