No accusation against the late ministry was more general, more
atrocious, or more adapted to incense the people, than that of
neglecting the war against Spain: this was the subject of all the
invectives which were vented against them in the senate, or dispersed
among the people; for this they were charged with a secret confederacy
against their country, with disregard of its commerce and its arms,
and with a design to ruin the nation for no other end than to punish
the merchants.
To this accusation, my lords, diligently propagated, willingly
received, and, to confess the truth, confirmed by some appearances, do
those owe their power, who now preside over the affairs of the nation;
and it might, therefore, have been hoped, that by their promotion, one
of our grievances would have been taken away, and that at least the
war against Spain would have been vigorously prosecuted.
But this ministry, my lords, have only furnished a new instance of the
credulity of mankind, of the delusion of outward appearances, and of
the folly of hoping with too great ardour for any event, and of
trusting any man with too great confidence. No sooner were they
possessed of the power to which their ambition had so long aspired,
and of the salaries which had with so much eagerness been coveted by
their avarice, than they forgot the complaints of the merchants, the
value of commerce, the honour of the British flag, the danger of our
American territories, and the great importance of the war with Spain,
and contented themselves with ordering convoys for our merchants,
instead of destroying the enemy by whom they are molested.
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