Any other regard, my lords, indeed, it is not necessary to contend for; since it cannot be proved, that in this transaction we have acted otherwise than as with allies, or hired the troops on conditions which those of any other nation would not have obtained, or on any which they will not deserve; since your lordships have received assurances, that they are ready to enter the field, and to march into Germany against the common enemy. That we might have raised new troops in our own nation, and have augmented our army with an equal number of men, cannot be denied; nor do I doubt, my lords, but our countrymen would be equally formidable with any other forces; but it must be remembered, that an army is not to be levied in an instant, and that our natives, however warlike, are not born with the knowledge of the use of arms; and who knows, whether Europe might not have been enslaved before a British army could have been raised and disciplined for its deliverance?
Whether this account of our measures will satisfy those who have hitherto condemned them, I am not able to foretel. There are, indeed, some reasons for suspecting, that they blame not, because they disapprove, but because they think it necessary either to the character of discernment, or of probity, to censure the ministry, whatever maxims are pursued. Of this disposition it is no slight proof, that contrary measures have been sometimes condemned by the same men with the same vehemence; and that even compliance with their demands has not stilled their outcries. When the ministry appeared unwilling to engage in the war of Germany, without the concurrence of the other powers who had engaged to support the Pragmatick sanction, they were hourly reproached with being the slaves of France, with betraying the general cause of Europe, and with repressing that generous ardour, by which our ancestors have been incited to stand forth as the asserters of universal liberty, and to fight the quarrel of mankind. They were marked out as either cowards or traitors, and doomed to infamy as the accomplices of tyranny, engaged in a conspiracy against their allies, their country, and their posterity.
At length the Britons have roused again, and again declared themselves the supporters of right, whenever injured; they have again raised their standards in the continent, and prepared to march again through those regions where their victories are yet celebrated, and their bravery yet reverenced. The hills of Germany will again sound with the shouts of that people who once marched to her deliverance through all the obstructions that art or power could form against them, and which broke through the pass of Schellembourg, to rout the armies that were ranged behind it.
Now it might be expected, my lords, that, at least, those who were before dissatisfied, should declare their approbation; for surely where peace or neutrality is improper, there is nothing left but war. Yet experience shows us, that men resolved to blame will never want pretences for venting their malignity; and where nothing but malignity is the consequence of opposite measures, we must necessarily conclude, that there is a fixed resolution to blame, and that all vindications will be ineffectual.
Some have, indeed, found out a middle course between censure and approbation, and declare, that they think these measures now justifiable, because we have proceeded too far to retreat with honour; and that though at first a better scheme might have been formed, yet this, which has hitherto been pursued, ought not now to be changed.
I, my lords, though it is not of very great importance to confute an opinion by which the measures of the government will not be obstructed, cannot forbear to declare myself of different sentiments, and to assert, in opposition to artful calumnies and violent invectives, that the present measures were originally right, that they were such as prudence would dictate, and experience approve, and such as we ought again to take, if we have again the power of choice.
I am, indeed, far from doubting, but these measures will, in a short time, be justified by success; a criterion by which, however unjustly, the greatest part of mankind will always judge of the conduct of their governours; for it is apparent, my lords, that howsoever the French power, commerce, and wealth, have been exaggerated by those that either love or fear them, they will not long be able to stand against us; their funds will in a short time fail them, and their armies must be disbanded, when they can no longer be paid, lest, instead of protecting their country, they should be inclined to plunder it.
The abundance of our wealth, my lords, and the profit of our commerce, are sufficiently apparent from the price of our stocks, which were never before supported at the same height for so long a time; and of the fall of which neither an actual war with Spain, nor the danger which has been suggested of another with France, with France in the full possession of all its boasted advantages, has yet been able to produce any token. Another proof of the exuberance of our riches, and the prosperity of our commerce, by which they are acquired, is the facility with which the government can raise in an instant the greatest sums, and the low interest at which they are obtained. If we compare our state in this respect with that of France, the insuperable difficulties under which they must contend with us, will sufficiently discover themselves. It is well known, my lords, that we have lately raised the money which the service of each year required, at the interest of three for a hundred; nor is it likely that there will be any necessity of larger interest, though our annual demands were to be equal to those of the last war. But the French are well known to raise the sums which their exigencies require on very different terms, and to have paid ten for a hundred for all the money which their late projects have required; projects which they cannot pursue long at such enormous expense, and by which their country must in a short time be ruined, even without opposition.
While we can, therefore, raise three millions for less than the French can obtain one, and, by consequence, support three regiments at the same expense as one is supported in their service, we have surely no reason to dread the superiority of their numbers, or to fear that they will conquer by exhausting us.
Thus, my lords, I have delivered my opinion with freedom and impartiality; and shall patiently hearken to any objections that shall arise against it, supported by the consciousness, that a confutation will only show me that I have been mistaken; but will not deprive me of the satisfaction of reflecting, that I have not been wanting to my country; and that if I have approved or defended improper measures, I at least consulted no other interest than that of Britain.