REFLECTIONS ON THE PEACE.

The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, however unstable or inglorious it might appear to those few who understood the interests, and felt for the honour of their country, was nevertheless not unwelcome to the nation in general. The British ministry will always find it more difficult to satisfy the people at the end of a successful campaign, than at the conclusion of an unfortunate war. The English are impatient of miscarriage and disappointment, and too apt to be intoxicated with victory. At this period they were tired of the burdens, and sick of the disgraces, to which they had been exposed in the coarse of seven tedious campaigns. They had suffered considerable losses and interruption in the article of commerce, which was the source of their national opulence and power; they knew it would necessarily be clogged with additional duties for the maintenance of a continental war, and the support of foreign subsidiaries; and they drew very faint presages of future success either from the conduct of their allies, or the capacity of their commanders. To a people influenced by these considerations, the restoration of a free trade, the respite from that anxiety and suspense which the prosecution of a war never fails to engender, and the prospect of a speedy deliverance from discouraging restraint and oppressive impositions, were advantages that sweetened the bitter draught of a dishonourable treaty, and induced the majority of the nation to acquiesce in the peace, not barely without murmuring, but even with some degree of satisfaction and applause.