That this is in reality their intention, appears from the estimates to which an appeal has been so confidently made, but which, if they are compared with a contract made for the troops of the same nation in the last war, will show how much their price has risen since their sovereign was exalted to this throne; though I cannot find any proof that their reputation has increased, nor can discover, from their actions in Flanders, any reason to believe that their services will be greater.
It is now to little purpose to inquire, whether there are any other troops that could have been more properly employed, since it is certain, that whatever may be the general character, or the late conduct of other nations, it is the interest of Britain to employ rather any troops than these, as any evil is rather to be chosen than animosities between our sovereign and our fellow-subjects; and such animosities must inevitably arise from this detestable preference of the troops of Hanover.
[The question was carried by 67, the Ayes being 260; Noes 193. This affair was again debated with vehemence upon the report on Monday, December 13, 1742, upon a question, whether the levy-money should stand part of the general question, which was carried by 53; Ayes 230, Noes 177.]
HOUSE OF LORDS, FEBRUARY 1, 1742-3.
The order of the day for taking into consideration the several estimates of the charge of the forces in the pay of Great Britain was read, upon which lord STANHOPE rose up, and spoke in substance as follows:—
My lords, I have always understood, that the peculiar happiness of the British nation consists in this, that nothing of importance can be undertaken by the government, without the consent of the people as represented by the other house, and that of your lordships, whose large possessions, and the merits either of your ancestors or yourselves, have given you the privilege of voting in your own right in national consultations.
The advantages of this constitution, the security which it confers upon the nation, and the restraint which it lays upon corrupt ministers, or ambitious princes, are in themselves too obvious to admit of explanation, and too well known in this great assembly, by whose ancestors they were originally obtained, and preserved at the frequent hazard of life and fortune, for me to imagine, that I can make them either more esteemed or better understood.
My intention, my lords, is not to teach others the regard which the constitution of our government, or the happiness of the nation demands from them, but to show how much I regard them myself, by endeavouring to preserve and defend them at a time when I think them invaded and endangered.
Upon the examination of the estimates now before us, I cannot but think it necessary, my lords, that every man who values liberty, should exert that spirit by which it was first established; that every man should rouse from his security, and awaken all his vigilance and all his zeal, lest the bold attempt that has been now made should, if it be not vigorously repressed, be an encouragement to the more dangerous encroachments; and lest that fabrick of power should be destroyed, which has been erected at such expense and with such labour; at which one generation has toiled after another, and of which the wisdom of the most experienced and penetrating statesmen have been employed to perfect its symmetry, and the industry of the most virtuous patriots to repair its decays.