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 BURKE 263 and reasonings of Burke on this subjeet, with much force. He thought them quite inconsistent with the general prin- ciples and conduct of one who so highly valued the British government and revolution: "The National Assembly," he said, "had exerted a firmness and perseverance, hitherto un- exampled, that had secured the liberty of France, and vindi- cated the cause of mankind. What action of theirs autho- rised the appellation of a bloody, ferocious, and tyrannical democracy" Burke, perceiving Sheridan's view of afairs iu France, differed entirely from him, and thinking his friend's construction of his observations uncandid, declared, that Mr. Sheridan and he were from that moment separated for ever in politics. "Mr. Sheridan," he said, "has sacri- ficed my friendship in exchange for the applause of clubs and associations: I assure him he will find the acquisition too insignificant to be worth the price at which it is purchased." The sentiments and opinions declared in the house of commons by Messrs. Fox and Sheridan, induced Burke to publish his "Reflections on the French Revolution," in a more enlarged form, and more closely to contemplate its probable influence on British minds. To account for his apparent change of opinion on the subjeet of civil liberty, he informs us in his Reflections, that he was endeavouring to "preserve consistency by varying his means to secure the unity of his end; and when the equipoise of the vessel in which he sails, may be in danger of overloading upon one side, is desirous of carrying the small weight of his reasons to that which may preserve the equipoise." In the session of 1790, he adhered uniformly to the sentiments which he had avowed in his discussions with Fox and Sheridan, identifying the whole body of the dissenters with Drs. Priestley and Price, and therefore looking upon them as the friends of the French revolation and the propagators of its principles in this country. He opposed a motion for the repeal of the test act, a measure which he had, at a former period, strepuously ądvocated.