It
is a sufficient vindication of their conduct, and an evident proof of
the wisdom with which the war has been conducted, that we have hitherto
gained more than we have lost.
This, my lords, will appear from a diligent and minute comparison of the
captures on each side, and an exact computation of the value of our
losses and our prizes. It will be found that if the Spaniards have
taken, as it is not improbable, a greater number of ships, those which
they have lost have been far more wealthy.
The merchants, indeed, seem to have distrusted the strength of the
evidence which they produced in support of their allegations, by
bringing it only before the other house, where, as an oath could not be
administered, every man delivered what he believed as what he knew, and
indulged himself without scruple in venting his resentment, or declaring
his suspicions; a method of allegation very proper to scatter reproaches
and gratify malevolence, but of very little use for the discovery of
truth.
Had they come before your lordships, every circumstance had been
minutely examined, every assertion compared with other evidence, all
exaggerations repressed, and all foreign considerations rejected; each
part would have been impartially heard, and it would have plainly been
known to whom every loss was to be imputed.
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