But this inquiry, my lords, must be, in my opinion, reserved for another day, when it may become the immediate subject of our consultations, with which it has at present no coherence, or to which, at least, it is very remotely related. For I am not able, upon the most impartial and the most attentive consideration of the address now proposed to your lordships, to perceive any necessity of a previous inquiry into the conduct of the war, the transaction of our negotiations, or the state of the kingdom, in order to our compliance with this motion, by which we shall be far from sheltering any crime from punishment, or any doubtful conduct from inquiry; shall be far from obstructing the course of national justice, or approving what we do not understand.
The chief tendency of his majesty's speech is to ask our advice on this extraordinary conjuncture of affairs; a conduct undoubtedly worthy of a British monarch, and which we ought not to requite with disrespect; but what less can be inferred from an alteration of our established forms of address, by an omission of any part of the speech? For what will be imagined by his majesty, by the nation, and by the whole world, but that we did not approve what we did not answer?
The duke of ARGYLE spoke to the following purpose:—My lords, it is with great reason that the present time has been represented to us from the throne as a time of uncommon danger and disturbance, a time in which the barriers of kingdoms are broken down, in contempt of every law of heaven and of earth, and in which ambition, rapine, and oppression, seem to be let loose upon mankind; a time in which some nations send out armies and invade the territories of their neighbours, in opposition to the most solemn treaties, of which others, with equal perfidy, silently suffer, or secretly favour the violation.
At a time like this, when treaties are considered only as momentary expedients, and alliances confer no security, it is evident that the preservation of our rights, our interest, and our commerce, must depend only on our natural strength; and that instead of cultivating the friendship of foreign powers, which we must purchase upon disadvantageous conditions, and which will be withdrawn from us whenever we shall need it; we ought, therefore, to collect our own force, and show the world how little we stand in need of assistance, and how little we have to fear from the most powerful of our enemies.
Our country, my lords, seems designed by nature to subsist without any dependence on other nations, and by a steady and resolute improvement of these advantages with which providence has blessed it, may bid defiance to mankind; it might become, by the extension of our commerce, the general centre at which the wealth of the whole earth might be collected together, and from whence it might be issued upon proper occasions, for the diffusion of liberty, the repression of insolence, and the preservation of peace.
But this glory, and this influence, my lords, must arise from domestick felicity; and domestick felicity can only be produced by a mutual confidence between the government and the people. Where the governours distrust the affections of their subjects, they will not be very solicitous to advance their happiness; for who will endeavour to increase that wealth which will, as he believes, be employed against him? Nor will the subjects cheerfully concur even with the necessary measures of their governours, whose general designs they conceive to be contrary to the publick interest; because any temporary success or accidental reputation, will only dazzle the eyes of the multitude, while their liberties are stolen away.
This confidence, my lords, must be promoted where it exists, and regained where it is lost, by the open administration of justice, by impartial inquiries into publick transactions, by the exaltation of those whose wisdom and bravery has advanced the publick reputation, or increased the happiness of the nation, and the censure of those, however elate with dignities, or surrounded with dependants, who by their unskilfulness or dishonesty, have either embarrassed their country or betrayed it.
For this reason, my lords, it is, in my opinion, necessary to gratify the nation, at the present juncture, with the prospect of those measures, without which no people can reasonably be satisfied; and to pacify their resentment of past injuries, and quiet their apprehensions of future miseries, by a possibility, at least, that they may see the authors of all our miscarriages called to a trial in open day, and the merit of those men acknowledged and rewarded, by whose resolution and integrity they imagine that the final ruin of themselves and posterity has been hitherto prevented.
That the present discontent of the British nation is almost universal, that suspicion has infused itself into every rank and denomination of men, that complaints of the neglect of our commerce, the misapplication of our treasure, and the unsuccessfulness of our arms, are to be heard from every mouth, and in every place, where men dare utter their sentiments, I suppose, my lords, no man will deny; for whoever should stand up in opposition to the truth of a fact so generally known, would distinguish himself, even in this age of effrontery and corruption, by a contempt of reputation, not yet known amongst mankind.
And indeed, my lords, it must be confessed that these discontents and clamours are produced by such an appearance of folly, or of treachery, as few ages or nations have ever known; by such an obstinate perseverance in bad measures, as shame has hitherto prevented in those upon whom nobler motives, fidelity to their trust, and love of their country, had lost their influence.