To the measures which are now pursued, were there no other arguments to be alleged against them, I should think it, my lords, a sufficient objection that they are unnecessary, and that this is not a time for political experiments, or for wanton expenses. I should think, that the present distresses of the publick ought to restrain your lordships from approving any steps by which our burdens may be made more heavy, burdens under which we are already sinking, and which a peace of more than twenty years has not contributed to lighten.
But that they are unnecessary, my lords, is the weakest allegation that can be offered; for they are such as tend not only to obstruct the advancement of more advantageous designs, but to bring upon us the heaviest calamities; they will not only hinder us from increasing our strength, but will sink us to the greatest degree of weakness; they will not only impoverish us for the present, which may be sometimes the effect of useful and beneficial designs, but may depress us below a possibility of recovery, and reduce us to receive laws from some foreign power.
This is, indeed, a dreadful prospect; but what other can arise to us from a war with France, with the most wealthy empire of the universe, of which we were sufficiently shown the strength in the late war, by the resistance which all the surrounding nations found it able to make against their united efforts, and which the debts that they then contracted, and the towns that were then destroyed, will not easily suffer them to forget. Of this empire, my lords, thus powerful, thus formidable, neither the dominions are contracted, nor the trade impaired, nor the inhabitants diminished. The French armies are no less numerous than under their late mighty monarch, their territories are increased by new acquisitions, their trade has long been promoted by the destruction of ours, and their wealth has been, by consequence, increased. They have not, my lords, like this unhappy nation, been exhausted by temporary expedients and useless armaments; they have not harassed their merchants to aggrandize the court, nor thrown away the opportunities which this interval of quiet has afforded them, in the struggles of faction; they have not been multiplying officers to betray the people, and taxing the people to support their oppressors; but have with equal policy, diligence, and success, recovered the losses which they then sustained, and enabled themselves to make another stand against a general confederacy.
Against this empire, my lords, are we now to be engaged in a war, without trade, and without money, loaded with debts, and harassed with exactions; for what consequences can be expected from sending our troops into the frontier towns, but that the French will charge us with beginning hostilities, and declare war against us, or attack us without a declaration; and that we shall be obliged to stand alone against the whole power of the house of Bourbon, while all our ancient allies stand at a distance spiritless and intimidated, or, perhaps, secretly incite our enemies against us, in hopes of sharing our plunder, or of rising on our ruin.
I know it has been alleged, and alleged with such a degree of confidence, as it is reasonable to hope nothing could produce but a consciousness of truth, that the Dutch have already consented to assist us; nor is it without regret, that I find myself obliged to declare, that this assertion is nothing more than one of those transient visions with which it has been for a long time the custom of British ministers to delude the people, to pacify their clamours, and lull them in security; one of those artifices from which nothing more is expected, than that it shall operate upon the nation, till the circumstances of our affairs furnish out another, which is likewise, in a short time, to be exploded only to make way for new falsehoods in a perpetual succession.
Such, my lords, is the art of government discovered by the wonderful sagacity of modern statesmen; who have found out, that it is easier to palliate than to cure; and that the people maybe quieted by political soporificks, while diseases are preying upon them, while their strength decays, and their vitals are consumed.
That these falsehoods prevail upon mankind, and that after the discovery of one cheat, another equally gross is patiently borne, cannot but raise the wonder of a man who views the world at a distance, and who has not opportunities of inquiring into the various motives of action or belief. Such an one would be inclined to think us a nation of fools, that must be stilled with rattles, or amused with baubles; and would readily conclude, that our ministers were obliged to practise such fallacies, because they could not prevail upon us by motives adapted to reasonable beings.
But if we reflect, my lords, upon the different principles upon which reports like these are propagated and opposed, it will easily be discovered that their success is not to be imputed either to superiour art on one side, or uncommon weakness on the other. It is well known that they are promoted by men hired for that purpose with large salaries, or beneficial employments, and that they can be opposed only from a desire of detecting falsehood, and advancing the publick happiness: it is apparent that those who invent, those who circulate, and, perhaps, part of those who counterfeit belief of them, are incited by the prospect of private advantage, and immediate profit; and that those who stop them in their career by contradiction and objections, can propose no other benefit to themselves, than that which they shall receive in common with every other member of the community; and, therefore, whoever has sufficiently observed mankind, to discover the reason for which self-interest has in almost all ages prevailed over publick spirit, will be able to see why reports like these are not always suppressed by seasonable detections.
A minister ought not to flatter himself that he has always deceived those who appear to credit his representations; their silence is not so often the effect of credulity, as of cowardice or indolence. Many are overborne by the pomp of great offices, and others who distinguish more clearly, and judge with greater freedom, are contented to enjoy their own reflections, without reproving those whom they despair to reform.
This report of the engagement of the Dutch in our measures, shall, however, furnish our ministers with no opportunity of boasting their address, nor shall it pass any longer without contradiction; for I shall, without any scruple, affirm in the presence of this august assembly, that the Dutch have hitherto appeared absolutely neutral; that they have not shown any approbation of our measures, nor any inclination to assist us in them. I know, my lords, how disagreeable this assertion may be to those, whose interest it is that mankind should believe them of no less importance in the eyes of foreign powers than in their own, and should imagine that the remotest nations of the world are influenced by their motions, and directed by their counsels; but however they may resent this declaration, I defy them to confute it, and now call upon them to show that the Dutch have engaged in any measure for the support of the queen of Hungary.