The friends of Spain discovered, sir, at length, that war was
necessarily to be proclaimed, and that it would be no longer their
interest to act in open opposition to justice and reason, to the policy
of all ages, and remonstrances of the whole nation.
The minister, therefore, after long delays, after having run round the
circle of all his artifices, and endeavouring to intimidate the nation
by false representations of the power of our enemies, and the danger of
an invasion from them, at length suffered war to be proclaimed, though
not till he had taken all precautions that might disappoint us of
success.
He knew that the state of the Spanish dominions exposed them in a
particular manner to sudden incursions by small parties, and that in
former wars against them, our chief advantage had been gained by the
boldness and subtilty of private adventurers, who by hovering over their
coasts in small vessels, without raising the alarms which the sight of a
royal navy necessarily produces, had discovered opportunities of landing
unexpectedly, and entering their towns by surprise, of plundering their
wealthy ships, or enriching themselves by ransoms and compositions; he
knew what inconsiderable bodies of men, incited by private advantage,
selected with care for particular expeditions, instructed by secret
intelligence, and concealed by the smallness of their numbers, had found
means to march up into the country, through ways which would never have
been attempted by regular forces, and have brought upon the Spaniards
more terrour and distress than could have been produced by a powerful
army, however carefully disciplined or however skilfuly commanded.
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