"
Lord SANDWICH spoke next in support of the motion to the following
effect:--My lords, though I heard the noble lord with so much
pleasure, that I could not but wish he had been able to deliver his
sentiments more fully upon this important affair; yet I think the
motion so reasonable and just, that though he might have set it yet
more beyond the danger of opposition, though he might have produced
many arguments in defence of it, which, perhaps, will not occur to any
other lords; yet I shall be able to justify it in such a manner, as
may secure the approbation of the unprejudiced and disinterested; and,
therefore, I rise up to second it with that confidence, which always
arises from a consciousness of honest intentions, and of an impartial
inquiry after truth.
The measures, my lords, which have given occasion to this motion, have
been for some time the subject of my reflections; I have endeavoured
to examine them in their full extent, to recollect the previous
occurrences by which the ministry might have been influenced to engage
in them, and to discover the certain and the probable consequences
which they may either immediately, or more remotely produce; I have
laboured to collect from those who are supposed to be most acquainted
with the state of Europe, and the scheme of British policy which is at
present pursued, the arguments which can be offered in favour of these
new engagements; and have compared them with the conduct of former
ages upon the like occasions; but the result of all my searches into
history, all my conversation with politicians of every party, and all
my private meditations, has been only, that I am every hour confirmed,
by some new evidence, in the opinion which I had first formed; and now
imagined myself to know what I at first believed, that we are
entangled in a labyrinth of which no end is to be seen, and in which
no certain path has yet been discovered; that we are pursuing schemes
which are in no degree necessary to the prosperity of our country, by
means which are apparently contrary to law, to policy, and to justice;
and that we are involved in a foreign quarrel only to waste that
blood, and exhaust that treasure, which might be employed in
recovering the rights of commerce, and regaining the dominion of the
sea.
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