With regard to the address under our consideration, if it be allowed
either that we have not been unsuccessful in any opprobrious degree, or
that ill success does not necessarily imply any defect in the conduct of
his majesty, or debar us from the right of acknowledging his goodness
and his wisdom, I think, sir, no objection can be made to the form of
expression now proposed, in which all sounding and pompous language, all
declamatory exaggeration, and studied figures of speech, all appearance
of exultation, and all the farce of rhetorick are carefully avoided, and
nothing inserted that may disgust the most delicate, or raise scruples
in the most sincere.
Yet, sir, that we may not waste our time upon trivial disputes, when the
nation expects relief from our counsels, that we may not suspend the
prosecution of the war by complaints of past defeats, or retard that
assistance and advice which our sovereign demands, by inquiring whether
it may be more proper to thank, or to counsel him, I am willing, for the
sake of unanimity, that this clause should be omitted; and hope that no
other part of the address can give any opportunity for criticism, or for
objections.
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