Since, therefore, the troops of Hanover were hired, without the
consent of the senate, they have hitherto performed nothing; and since
it is reasonable to expect, that without being paid by Britain they
will be employed against the French, I think it expedient to discharge
them from our service, and to delay the pay which is required for the
last four months, till it shall appear how they have deserved it.
Mr. FOX then rose, and spoke to the following purport:--Sir, though
the observations of the right honourable gentleman must be allowed to
be ingenious, and though the eloquence with which he has delivered
them, naturally excites attention and regard, yet I am obliged to
declare, that I have received rather pleasure than conviction from his
oratory; and that while I applaud his imagination and his diction, I
cannot but conclude, that they have been employed in bestowing
ornaments upon errour.
I shall not, indeed, attempt to confute every assertion which I think
false, or detect the fallacy of every argument which appears to me
sophistical, but shall leave to others the province of showing the
necessity of engaging in the war on the continent, of employing a
large force for the preservation of the house of Austria, and of
forming that army with the utmost expedition, and of taking
auxiliaries into our pay, and confine myself to this single question,
whether, supposing auxiliaries necessary, it was not prudent to hire
the troops of Hanover?
Nothing can be, in my opinion, more apparent, than that if the
necessity of hiring troops be allowed, which surely cannot be
questioned, the troops of Hanover are to be chosen before any other,
and that the ministry consulted in their resolutions the real interest
of their country, as well as that of our ally.
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