The king of Sardinia has openly engaged to hinder the Spaniards from erecting a new kingdom in Italy; and though he has hitherto been somewhat embarrassed in his measures, and oppressed by the superiority of his enemies, has at least, by preventing the conjunction of the Spanish armies, preserved the Austrians from being overwhelmed. Nor can the situation of his dominions, and the number of his forces, suffer us to doubt, that in a short time he will be able entirely to secure Italy, since he has already recovered his country, and drove back the Spaniards into the bosom of France.
The condition of the other Spanish army is such, as no enemy can wish to be aggravated by new calamities. They are shut up in a country without provisions, or of which the inhabitants are unwilling to supply them: on one side are neutral states, to which the law of nations bars their entrance; on another the Mediterranean sea, which can afford them only the melancholy prospect of hostile armaments, or sometimes of their own ships falling into the hands of the Britons; behind them are the troops of Austria ready to embarrass their march, intercept their convoys, and receive those whom famine and despair incite to change their masters, and to seek among foreign nations that ease and safety, of which the tyranny of their own government, and the madness of their own leaders, has deprived them. Such is their distress, and so great their diminution, that a few months must complete their ruin, they must be destroyed without the honour of a battle, they must sink under the fatigue of hungry marches, by which no enemy is overtaken or escaped, and be at length devoured, by those diseases, which toil and penury will inevitably produce.
That the diminution of the influence of the house of Bourbon is not an empty opinion, which we easily receive, because we wish it to be true; that other nations, likewise, see the same events with the same sentiments, and prognosticate the decline of that power which has so long intimidated the universe, appears from the declaration now made by his majesty of the conduct of the Swedish court.
That nation which was lately governed by the counsels, and glutted with the bounties of France, which watched the nod of her mighty patroness, and made war at her command against the Russian empire, now begins to discover, that there are other powers more worthy of confidence and respect, more careful to observe their engagements, or more able to fulfil them. She, therefore, requests the British monarch to extricate her from those difficulties, in which she is entangled by a blind compliance with French dictates, to restore to her the dismembered provinces, and recall that enemy which now impends over her capital, and whom the French have neither interest to appease, nor strength to resist.
Such, my lords, is the present prospect which offers itself to him who surveys Europe with a political view, and examines the present interest and dispositions of neighbouring potentates; such is the order which has been produced from general confusion, and such the reestablishment of equal power, which has succeeded these concussions of the world.
It is no small addition to the pleasure which this change must afford every man, who has either wisdom to discover his own happiness, or benevolence to rejoice in that of others, that it has been the effect not of chance but of conduct; that it is not an unforeseen event, produced by the secret operation of causes fortuitously concurring, but the result of a political and just design, well concerted and steadily pursued; that every advantage which has been gained, is the consequence of measures laid to obtain it; that our happiness has been procured by prudence, and that our counsels have not been lucky but wise.
If we reflect, my lords, upon the causes which have contributed to the rescue of Europe from impending slavery, which have reestablished the queen of Hungary in her dominions, enabled her to lay waste the territories of her invaders, confirmed her friends in their fidelity, and intimidated those whom rival interests inclined to wish her fall, or the hope of sharing in the plunder, had incited to form designs against her. If we inquire to what it is to be ascribed, that she is able to form new alliances, and defend her dominions with confederate armies, we shall find it easy to trace all these revolutions to one cause, the steady and prudent conduct of the king of Britain.
Our sovereign, my lords, has looked on the troubles of Europe with that concern which publick virtue inspires; he has seen the sufferings of this illustrious princess with that compassion which is always due to magnanimity oppressed, and formed resolutions for her assistance with that ardour, which courage naturally kindles; but with that caution, likewise, and secrecy, which experience dictates. But he remembered, my lords, that, though he was the friend of the queen of Hungary, he was to consider himself as the father of the people of Britain; that he was not to exhaust the forces of this nation in romantick expeditions, or exhaust its treasures in giving assistance which was not needed.
He therefore waited to observe the event of the war, and to discover whether the incessant struggles of the Austrians would be able to throw off the load with which they were oppressed; but he found that their spirit, however ardent, could not supply the want of strength; he found, that they were fainting under insuperable labours, and that, though they were in no danger of being conquered by the valour of their enemies, they must, in a short time, be wearied with their numbers.
His majesty then knew, my lords, that, by sending them speedy assistance, he at once promoted the interest of his people, and gratified his own inclinations; he therefore supplied the queen with such sums as enabled her to levy new forces, and drive her enemies before her. By procuring a reconciliation with the king of Prussia, he freed her from the nearest and most formidable danger, and gave her an opportunity to secure herself against the menaces of other powers.