Before I proceed, my lords, to confirm the character of the bill by a
distinct consideration of the particular paragraphs, and an enumeration
of the several improprieties and defects which may be found in it, I
think it not superfluous or unseasonable to remark one general errour,
common to this with all other laws of the same kind, the errour of
prescribing rules to military operations, of attempting to fix what is,
in its own nature, variable, as it must depend upon external causes to
which the British legislature has yet found no means of extending its
authority.
To direct, upon remote conjectures and uncertain prospects, the conduct
of a commander, is, in my opinion, my lords, not more rational than to
trace upon a chart the course of a ship, and pronounce it criminal to
deviate from it. The one supposes a foreknowledge of the motions of the
wind, and the other of the counsels of our enemies; nor can any thing be
expected from such regulations, but overthrow and disgrace. I believe,
my lords, that in running over the histories of the world, and examining
the originals of the mightiest empires, and the sudden revolutions which
have been produced by the overpowering torrents of war, which, at
different periods of time, have swept the powers of the earth before
them, it will be found that all rapid conquests, and sudden extensions
of empire, have been effected by sovereign princes at the head of armies
which acted only by immediate command, that few memorable actions have
been performed by delegated commanders, and that of those few whose
names have descended to posterity, those have generally been most
successful who were invested with the largest powers, who acted without
control, and were at liberty to snatch every opportunity, and improve
every favourable conjuncture, without any necessity of communicating
their schemes, of waiting for the result of tedious deliberations, or of
soliciting a relaxation of former orders.
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