National Gazette

Many arguments have been made use of to refute those who have asserted that America ought to regard the king and not the nation of France as the object of our gratitude or the blessings which we now enjoy from independence, a good government, and a fertile country, the produce of which we can apply to our own use.

To prove to which of the parties our obligations are really due we will quote what follows from the Annual Register for the year 1776, page 184, under the head of The History of Europe "It is probable, that Europe is much indebted for the continuance of its tranquility, to the pacific disposition of the French monarch, which is supposed with difficulty to have restrained the activity or restlessness of a close ally and powerful neighbour, as well as the ardour of the princes of the blood, the nobility, and the nation in general, who are thought to be eagerly disposed for a war.

"Indeed from whatever cause it proceeds, the American party is so strong in France, that it seems nearly to include the whole nation, except the ruling part of the court. However, that may be, the present disposition of the court is favourable to the happiness of mankind, and, in the present state of affairs, particularly fortunate to Great Britain." The applicability of the above passage in the history of Europe, written and published by Englishmen, is a proof, beyond the possibility of doubt of the falsehood of those facts from which the inferences of certain writers are drawn, and too pointed not to enforce conviction on skepticism itself.