]
France, the author of the Treaty of Westphalia, is the natural guardian
of the independence and balance of Germany. Great Britain (to say
nothing of the king's concern as one of that august body) has a serious
interest in preserving it; but, except through the power of France,
_acting upon the common old principles of state policy_, in the case we
have supposed, she has no sort of means of supporting that interest. It
is always the interest of Great Britain that the power of France should
be kept within the bounds of moderation. It is not her interest that
that power should be wholly annihilated in the system of Europe. Though
at one time through France the independence of Europe was endangered, it
is, and ever was, through her alone that the common liberty of Germany
can be secured against the single or the combined ambition of any other
power. In truth, within this century the aggrandizement of other
sovereign houses has been such that there has been a great change in the
whole state of Europe; and other nations as well as France may become
objects of jealousy and apprehension.
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