We ought to be honest at all events; we are at liberty,
likewise, to be generous at our own expense, but I think we have
hardly a right to boast of our liberality, when we contract debts for
the advantage of the house of Austria, and leave them to be paid by
the industry or frugality of succeeding ages.
It is, therefore, at least, dubious, whether we ought to hazard more
than we promised in defence of the house of Austria; and,
consequently, the first proposition of those who have undertaken the
defence of the ministry requires to be better established, before it
becomes the basis of an argument.
But though it be allowed, that we ought to exceed our stipulations,
and engage more deeply in this cause than we have promised, I cannot
yet discover upon what principles it can be proved, that sixteen
thousand Hanoverians ought to be hired. Why were not our troops sent
which have been so long maintained at home only for oppression and
show? Why have they not at last been shown the use of those weapons
which they have so long carried, and the advantages of that exercise
which they have been taught to perform with so much address? Why have
they not, at length, been shown for what they had so long received
their pay, and informed, that the duty of a soldier is not wholly
performed by strutting at a review?
If it be urged, that so great a number could not be sent out of the
kingdom without exposing it to insults and irruptions, let it be
remembered how small a force was found sufficient for the defence of
the kingdom in the late war, when the French were masters of a fleet
which disputed, for many years, the empire of the sea; and it will
appear, whether it ought to be imputed to prudence or to cowardice,
that our ministers cannot now think the nation safe without thrice the
number, though our fleets cover the ocean, and steer from one coast to
another without an enemy.
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