That those, my lords, who have expressed in terms so full of indignation their resentment of the imaginary neglect of the queen of Hungary's interest, have declared the house of Austria the only bulwark of Europe, and expressed their dread of the encroachments of France with emotions which nothing but real passion can produce, should be unwilling to assert their resolution of adhering to the Pragmatick sanction, and of defending the liberties of the empire, cannot be supposed.
And yet, my lords, what other reasons of their conduct can be assigned either by the emperour, or the people, or the allies of Britain; those allies whose claim they so warmly assert, and whose merits they so loudly extol? Will it not be imagined in foreign courts, that the measures now recommended by the emperour, are thought not consistent with the interest of the nation? Will it not be readily believed, that we propose to abandon those designs of which we cannot be persuaded to declare our approbation?
What will be the consequence of such an opinion artfully propagated by France, and confirmed by appearances so likely to deceive, may easily be foreseen, and safely predicted. The French will prosecute their schemes with fresh ardour, when they dread no longer any interruption from the only nation able to resist them; and it is well known, my lords, how often confidence, by exciting courage, produces success.
Nor, indeed, can the success of their endeavours, thus animated and quickened, be easily doubted, since the same appearances that encourage them will intimidate their enemies. Our allies will then think no longer of union against the general enemy; they must imagine their united force insufficient, and the only emulation amongst them will quickly be, which shall first offer his liberty to sale, who shall first pay his court to the masters of the world, and merit mercy by a speedy submission.
Thus, my lords, will the house of Austria, that house so faithful to Britain, and so steady in its opposition to the designs of the French ambition, be finally sunk in irrecoverable ruin, by those who appear to please themselves with declamations in its praise, and resolutions for its defence; and who never speak of the French without rage and detestation.
If on this occasion, my lords, we should give any suspicion of unusual discontent, what could be concluded but that we are unwilling any longer to embarrass ourselves with remote considerations, to load this nation with taxes for the preservation of the rights of other sovereigns, and to hazard armies in the defence of the continent? What can our allies think, but that we are at present weary of the burdensome and expensive honour of holding the balance of power in our hands, are content to resign the unquiet province of the arbiters of Europe, and propose to confine our care henceforward to our immediate interest, and shut up ourselves in our own island?
That this is the real design of any of those noble lords who have opposed the motion, I do not intend to insinuate; for I doubt not but they believe the general interest both of this nation and its allies, most likely to be promoted by the method of address which they recommend, since they declare that they do not think our state desperate, and confess the importance of the affairs on which we are required by his majesty to deliberate, to be such, that nothing ought to repress our endeavours but impossibility of success.
Such is the knowledge and experience of those noble lords, that the hopes which I had formed of seeing the destructive attempts of the French once more defeated, and power restored again to that equipoise which is necessary to the continuance of tranquillity and happiness, have received new strength from their concurrence, and I shall now hear with less solicitude the threats of France.
That the French, my lords, are not invincible, the noble duke who spoke last has often experienced; nor is there any reason for imagining that they are now more formidable than when we encountered them in the fields of Blenheim and Ramillies. Nothing is requisite but a firm union among those princes who are immediately in danger from their encroachments, to reduce them to withdraw their forces from the countries of their neighbours, and quit, for the defence of their own territories, their schemes of bestowing empires, and dividing dominions.
That such an union is now cultivated, we have been informed by his majesty, whose endeavours will probably be successful, however they may at first be thwarted and obstructed; because the near approach of danger will rouse those whom avarice has stupified, or negligence intoxicated; thus truth and reason will become every day more powerful, and sophistry and artifice be in time certainly detected.