"It is a very false maxim," said he, "to assert that France and England are not to cease to be hostile because they have been so heretofore.

My mind revolts at so monstrous a principle, which is an outrage upon the constitution of societies as well as upon the two nations.

Situated as we are in respect of France, it is expedient, it is a matter of urgency for the welfare of the two countries, to terminate this constant enmity which has been falsely said to be the basis of the true sentiments felt by the two nations towards each other.

This treaty tends to augment the means of making war and to retard its coming." Generous and sound maxims, only too often destined to be strikingly belied by human passions! When he supported in the House of Commons, in 1786, an alliance with monarchical France, Mr.Pitt did not foresee the terrible struggle he--would one day maintain, in the name of England and of Europe, against revolutionary, anarchical, or absolutist France.
The treaty had just been signed (September 26, 1786).

M.de Vergennes was not long to survive his latest work: he died on the 13th of February, 1787, just before the opening of the Assembly of Notables, as if he would fain escape the struggle and the crisis he dreaded.