Some weeks later, at the opening of Parliament, Burke allowed himself to be carried away by his prejudices to a gloomy and severe review of the beginning of the French Revolution. "Since the house has been prorogued," said he, "there has been much work done in France. The French have shown themselves the ablest architects of ruin that have appeared in the world: in one short summer they have completely pulled down their monarchy, their church, their nobility, their law, their army and their revenue. They have done their business for us as rivals in a way in which twenty Ramillies and Blenheims could never have done. Were we absolute conquerors, with France prostrate at our feet, we should blush to impose on them terms so destructive to their national consequence as the durance they have imposed on themselves."
Pitt did not join in the joyous enthusiasm of Fox, regarding the first and tumultuous efforts of the National Assembly and the French people; still less did he abandon himself to the gloomy forebodings of Burke. "The convulsions which now agitate France," said he, "will lead one day or another to general harmony and regular order; and although this situation will render France more formidable, it will perhaps render her less dangerous as a neighbor. I desire the re-establishment of tranquillity in that country, although it seems to me as yet far removed. When her system shall be re-established, and that system proclaims liberty, well defined, the liberty proceeding from order and good government, France will become one of the most brilliant powers of the world. I am unable to regard with distrust, those tendencies in neighboring states that so closely resemble the sentiments which characterize the English people."
The excesses and disorders of revolutionary passions, which were soon to threaten Europe with a vast conflagration, turned Mr. Pitt from his benevolent views. He was reproached, when subsequently he was compelled to struggle against the revolution, both at home and abroad, for not being inclined to the violences of Burke. It was his glory always to choose that difficult path, alone worthy of men called by God to govern their fellow creatures, that path which remains equally distant from either extreme, and which resists the excesses of liberty as well as the arbitrary tendencies of absolutism. In England, Mr. Pitt repressed both the revolutionary passions and the tendencies to despotism; upon the Continent, in his efforts against the contagious violence of France, he branded as infamous the frenzy of the Reign of Terror, and he protected the threatened European governments, as he subsequently defended the national liberties, against the encroachments and ambitions of absolute power.
The disagreement existing between the two chiefs of the opposition first publicly manifested itself upon the presentation, by Mr. Pitt, of a bill regarding the internal administration of Canada. The state of France occupied all minds; allusions to France entered into all discussions. Some expressions used by Fox had wounded Burke: he resolved to publicly define his position. Fox was informed of this intention; he went to the house of Burke, praying him to delay, at least, before commencing hostilities. Burke, for the last time, entered the House of Commons arm in arm with Fox. The entire opposition were uneasy and excited; they attempted to prevent the discussion by recalling the orators to the affairs of Canada. Burke would not permit himself to be turned aside: he immediately attacked Mr. Fox for the fatal counsels he had given to England; and suppressing the title of friend that he was accustomed to give "that very honorable member," he said: "Certainly, it is indiscreet at any period, but especially at my time of life, to provoke enemies or give my friends occasion to desert me; yet if my firm and steady adherence to the British Constitution place me in such a dilemma, I am ready to risk all, and with my last words to exclaim—'Fly from the French Constitution!'" Fox here whispered that there was "no loss of friendship." "Yes," solemnly exclaimed Burke, "I regret to say there is. I know the value of my line of conduct. I have indeed made a great sacrifice. I have done my duty, though I have lost my friend. There is something in the accursed French Revolution, which envenoms everything it touches."
Burke seated himself. When Fox rose to respond, he remained, for some moments, standing, unable to speak. The tears ran down his cheeks. The whole house was moved like himself. When he found words to reply, it was with touching tenderness, that he spoke of "the very honorable member, but lately his most intimate friend." He declared that he had ever felt the highest veneration for the judgment of his honorable friend, by whom he had been instructed more than by all other men and books together; by whom he had been taught to love our Constitution; from whom he had acquired nearly all his political knowledge, certainly all that he most valued; and that the separation would be most grievous to him to the end of his life. He was nevertheless firm in his belief that "the new Constitution of France, considered altogether, was the most stupendous and glorious edifice of liberty which had been erected on the foundation of human integrity in any time or country." The ancient despotism had disappeared, and the new system had for its object the happiness of the people. Upon this ground he would continue to stand.
Some hasty words of Burke confirmed the rupture. Fox did not continue the discussion; but a friendship of twenty-five years, cemented by their united efforts in behalf of American liberty, sank beneath the waves of the French Revolution, to the grief and amazement of the representatives of the English nation. Separated from his former friends, Burke formed no new ties: sometimes passionate and exalted, always loyal and sincere, he had sacrificed all to his conscience. With the progress of events in France, a certain number of Whigs embraced the opinions that Burke had proclaimed at the outset; when the phalanx formed behind him, he continued to march with a firm step at the head of the resistance. "We have made many enemies here, and no friends, by the part we have taken," wrote Burke, regarding himself and his son, to the agent of the French emigrants; "in order to serve you we have associated with those with whom we have no natural affiliations. We have left our business, we have broken our engagements. For one mortification that you have suffered, we have endured twenty. But the cause of humanity demands it."
The disturbances in Europe began to have some effect in England, and even in Parliament; a momentary disagreement with Spain was terminated in a satisfactory manner, but the persistent hostilities between Russia and the Porte appeared to necessitate an increase of the naval forces. Mr. Pitt presented a bill to this effect, which was coldly received by the house. He withdrew it in time to avoid a defeat, not however without a decrease of his renown at home and abroad. Notwithstanding the growing apprehensions of the friends of France, and the anxiety that the situation of King Louis XVI. inspired, Pitt resolutely maintained the neutrality of England. When the declaration of Pilnitz, signed by the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, appealed to all the sovereigns of Europe to aid the King of France, by arms, if necessary, England remained deaf to the appeal. Pitt refused to lend to the emigre princes the funds necessary for their military operations.