and to morrow the enemy may be masters of the channel. It is unnecessary to press the consequences of these facts upon your lordships' minds. If the enemy were to land in full force, either upon this coast or in Ireland, where is your army? where is your defence? My lords, if the house of Bourbon make a wise and vigorous use of the actual advantages they have over us, it is more than probable that on this day month we may not be a nation. What military force can the ministry show to answer any sudden demand? I do not speak of foreign expedi tions, or offensive operations. I speak of the interiour defence of Ireland, and of this country. You have a nominal army of seventy battalions, besides guards and cavalry. But what is the establishment of these battalions? Supposing they were complete to the numbers allowed, which I know they are not, each regiment would consist of something less than four hundred men, rank and file. Are these battalions complete? Have any orders been given for an augmentation, or do the ministry mean to continue them upon their present low establishment? When America, the West Indies, Gibraltar, and Minorca, are taken care of, consider, my lords, what part of this army will remain to defend Ireland and Great Britain? This subject, my lords, leads me to considerations of foreign policy and foreign alliance. It is more connected with them than your lordships may at first imagine. When I compare the numbers of our people, estimated highly at seven millions, with the population of France and Spain, usually computed at twenty-five millions, I see a clear, selfevident impossibility for this country to contend with the united power of the house of Bourbon, merely upon the strength of its own resources. They who talk of confining a great war to naval operations only, speak without knowledge or experience. We can no more command the disposition than the events of a war. Wherever we are attacked, there we

must defend.

I have been much abused, my lords, for supporting a war, which it has been the fashion to call my German war. But I can affirm, with a clear conscience, that that abuse has been thrown on me by men, who were either unacquainted with facts, or had an interest in misrepresenting them. I shall speak plainly and frankly to your lordships upon this, as I do upon every occasion. That I did in parliament oppose, to the utmost of my power, our engaging in a German war, is most true; and if the same circumstance were to recur, I would act the same part, and oppose it again. But when I was called upon to take a share in the administration, that measure was already decided. Before I was appointed secretary of state, the first treaty with the king of Prussia was signed, and not only ratified by the crown, but approved of and confirmed by a resolution of both houses of parliament. It was a weight fastened upon my neck. By that treaty, the honour of the crown and the honour of the nation were equally engaged. How I could recede from such an engagement; how I could advise the crown to desert a great prince in the midst of those difficulties, in which a reliance upon the good faith of this country had contributed to involve him, are questions I willingly submit to your lordships' candour. That wonderful man, might, perhaps, have extricated himself from his difficulties without our assistance. He has talents which, in every thing that touches the human capacity, do honour to the human mind. But how would England have supported that reputation of credit and good faith, by which we have been distinguished in Europe? What other foreign power would have sought our friendship? What other foreign power would have accepted of an alliance with us?

But, my lords, though I wholly condemn our entering into any engagements which tend to involve us in a continental war, I do not admit that alliances with some of the German princes are either detrimental or useless. They may be, my lords, not only useful, but necessary. I hope, indeed, I never shall

see an army of foreign auxiliaries in Great Britain; we do not want it. If our people are united; if they are attached to the king, and place a confidence in his government, we have an internal strength sufficient to repel any foreign invasion. With respect to Ireland, my lords, I am not of the same opinion. If a powerful foreign army were landed in that kingdom, with arms ready to be put into the hands of the Roman Catholicks, I declare freely to your lordships, that I should heartily wish it were possible to collect twenty thousand German protestants, whether from Hesse or Brunswick, or Wolfenbuttle, or even the unpopular Hanoverian, and land them in Ireland. I wish it, my lords, because I am convinced, that whenever the case happens, we shall have no English army to spare.

I have taken a wide circuit, my lords, and trespassed, I fear, too long upon your lordships' patience. Yet I cannot conclude without endeavouring to bring home your thoughts to an object more immediately interesting to us than any I have yet considered; I mean the internal condition of this country. We may look abroad for wealth, or triumphs, or luxury; but England, my lords, is the main stay, the last resort of the whole empire. To this point every scheme of policy whether foreign or domestick, should ultimately refer. Have any measures been taken to satisfy, or to unite the people? Are the grievances they have so long complained of removed? or do they stand not only unredressed, but aggravated? Is the right of free election restored to the elective body? My lords, I myself am one of the people. I esteem that security and independence, which is the original birthright of an Englishman, far beyond the privileges, however splendid, which are annexed to the peerage. I myself am by birth an English elector, and join with the freeholders of England as in a common cause. Believe me, my lords, we mistake our real interest as much as our duty, when we separate ourselves from the mass of the people. Can it be expected that Englishmen will unite heartily in the defence of a government, by which they feel them

selves insulted and oppressed? Restore them to their rights; that is the true way to make them unanimous. It is not a ceremonious recommendation from the throne, that can bring back peace and harmony to a discontented people. That insipid annual opiate has been administered so long, that it has lost its effect. Something substantial, something effectual must be done.

The publick credit of the nation stands next in degree to the rights of the constitution; it calls loudly for the interposition of parliament. There is a set of men, my lords, in the city of London, who are known to live in riot and luxury, upon the plunder of the ignorant, the innocent, the helpless,upon that part of the community, which stands most in need of, and best deserves the care and protection of the legislature. To me, my lords, whether they be miserable jobbers of 'Change-alley, or the lofty Asiatick plunderers of Leadenhall-street, they are all equally detestable. I care but little whether a man walks on foot, or is drawn by eight horses or six horses; if his luxury be supported by the plunder of his country, I despise and detest him. My lords, while I had the honour of serving his majesty, I never ventured to look at the treasury but at a distance; it is a business. I am unfit for, and to which I never could have submitted. The little I know of it has not served to raise my opinion of what is vulgarly called the monied interest; I mean that blood-sucker, that muckworm, which calls itself the friend of government that pretends to serve this or that administration, and may be purchased, on the same terms, by any administration-that advances money to government, and takes special care of its own emoluments. Under this description I include the whole race of commissiaries, jobbers, contractors, clothiers, and remitters. Yet I do not deny that, even with these creatures some management may be necessary. I hope my lords, that nothing I have said, will be understood to extend to the honest, industrious tradesman, who holds the middle rank, and has given

repeated proofs, that he prefers law and liberty to gold. I love that class of men. Much less would I be thought to reflect upon the fair merchant, whose liberal commerce is the prime source of national wealth. I esteem his occupation, and respect his character.

My lords, if the general representation, which I have had the honour to lay before you, of the situation of publick affairs, has, in any measure, engaged your attention, your lordships, I am sure, will agree with me, that the season calls for more than common prudence and vigour in the direction of our councils. The difficulty of the crisis demands a wise, a firm, and a popular administration. The dishonourable traffick of places has engaged us too long. Upon this subject, my lords, I speak without interest or enmity. I have no personal objection to any of the king's servants. I shall never be minister; certainly not without full power to cut away all the rotten branches of government. Yet, unconcerned as I truly am for myself, I cannot avoid seeing some capital errours in the distribution of the royal favour. There are men, my lords, who if their own services were forgotten, ought to have an hereditary merit with the house of Hanover; whose ancestors stood forth in the day of trouble, opposed their persons and fortunes to treachery and rebellion, and secured to his majesty's family this splendid power of rewarding. There are other men, my lords, who, to speak tenderly of them, were not quite so forward in the demonstrations of their zeal to the reigning family; there was another cause, my lords, and a partiality to it, which some persons had not at all times discretion enough to conceal. I know I shall be accused of attempting to revive distinctions. My lords, if it were possible, I would abolish all distinctions. I would not wish the favours of the crown to flow invariably in one channel. But there are some distinctions, which are inherent in the nature of things.

* Looking sternly at lord Mansfield.