The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...

Online Library of Liberty: The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2
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CHAPTER XLV.
Letter to Mr. Parish. Reflections on Bonaparte’s intervention in Germany. Ideas on
the re-election of Jefferson. Letter to John Penn, of London. The political world of
America. Takes no active part in politics. Letter to Aaron Ogden. Believes the
Constitution has received a mortal wound. Letter to the Duke of Orleans. Gives his
opinion on the chances of the Bourbon restoration. Comments on European affairs.
Morris never ceased, naturally, to take an active interest in the affairs of the Continent
of Europe, as well as in the political condition of Great Britain, and from time to time
gave Mr. Parish the benefit of his reflections. Bonaparte’s intervention in Germany
called forth a long letter on October 2d, in which he says: “In reflecting on the
misfortunes which have befallen your city of Hamburg, I am forced to recollect a
reproof I gave to one of your merchants for a want not only of Christian charity and
national sentiment but, as it seemed to me, common humanity, when, the neutrality of
the North being secured, Frankfort-on-the-Main was greatly distressed. I told him the
time would probably come when Hamburg would, in her turn, experience the same
distresses from the same cause. He seemed to suppose, and that opinion was indeed
pretty general among you, that you were all safe under the protection of Russia. On all
this subject I have had for many years of my life but one opinion. Ever since
Frederick put himself at the head of the North to protect the rights of the Germanic
body, there have, in my opinion, been two German Emperors, and the fault which I
have perceived in Austrian politics was not to see the affair in that simple light, and
agree at once to a partition. This alone would, in my poor opinion, have saved that
country from France.
“It is now organized in such a way that of three parties, the Austrian, the Prussian, and
the French, this last must be the strongest and, playing off the two first against each
other, will govern the whole. Russia cannot, I think, act efficiently so far from home
without deriving great resource from Britain or making the scene of war support her
troops. Both may be needful, and France will certainly pursue those plans by which
she has hitherto succeeded. If, therefore, you are to be protected you must pay for that
protection, and if you are conquered you must pay for being conquered, and if you are
plundered alternately by both parties you must pay liberal contributions for the honor
thus conferred upon you. After all, you will find that you are depending on a dream,
which for people wide-awake is a strange economy. This dream is what you call the
Constitution of the Empire; in other words, the Treaty of Westphalia. Now when the
constitution of a State exists only in and by a treaty it has, in effect, no constitution at
all. Its fate must ever depend on its neighbors. Thus the condition of Germany
depended on the relation of force between Austria and France till Prussia rose to a
certain degree of eminence. Then the balance was destroyed; France had an ally to
whom she could give the North whenever sufficient objects elsewhere might require
it.
“The incidental circumstance that a King of Great Britain should be at the same time
Elector of Hanover threw a small wheel into the machine which could only embarrass
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