It is first asserted, that we are indispensably obliged to assist the
queen of Hungary against France, and to support her in the possession
of the hereditary dominions of the Austrian house, and from thence is
precipitately inferred the necessity of assembling armies, and hiring
mercenaries, of exhausting our treasure, and heaping new burdens upon
the publick.
That we concurred with other powers in promising to support the
Pragmatick sanction is not to be denied, nor do I intend to insinuate,
that the faith of treaties ought not strictly to be kept; but we are
not obliged to perform more than we promised, or take upon ourselves
the burden which was to be supported by the united strength of many
potentates, and of which we only engaged to bear a certain part. We
ought, undoubtedly, to furnish the troops which we promised, and ought
to have sent them when they were first demanded; but there is no
necessity that we should supply the deficiencies of every other power,
and that we should determine to stand alone in defence of the
Pragmatick sanction; that we should, by romantick generosity,
impoverish our country, and entail upon remotest posterity poverty and
taxes.
Pages:
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345