A THIRD . 
 
 BETTER 
 
 To the Right Honourable 
 
 The EARL of B * * *. 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 The Caufes and Confequences of the 
 War between Great Britain and Spain 3 
 are fully confidered; 
 
 AND 
 
 The Conduit of a certain Right Honourable 
 Gentleman further examined. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for J. COOTE, at the King’s Arm?, 
 in Pater-nolter-Row. Mdcclxii* 
 
 (Price One Shilling and Six-pence.) 
 

M r^O/ 
 
 I 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 
 
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 11 
 
 £ 
 
 ► 
 
 I X is with the utmoft reluctance that I 
 intrude upon your lordlhip with a 
 new addrefs but the happy operation 
 tjf my two former letters upon the public, 
 tinder the fanCtion of your lordlhip’s 
 
 iiame, emboldens me to undertake a third. 
 
 «• 
 
 I am, my Lord, perhaps the only political 
 writer in this kingdom that ever wrote 
 with the profefleddefign of abolishing par¬ 
 ties in politics; I had, fome days ago, 
 the infinite fatisfa&ion of refle&ing that 
 parties were coalefced, or upon the point 
 of being fo; but, unhappily, the only 
 i . B event 
 
 ? I 1 jVN 
 
 * \ 
 
 • | 
 
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 kl j V 
 
 / 
 
/ 
 
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 ; '( O 
 
 event that ought moft loudly to call for 
 public unanimity has revived our animo¬ 
 sities. My Lord, was there not a lingle 
 man in his majefty’s dominions tofecond 
 me, I would fpeak and publish my opi¬ 
 nion, that there is a degree of popularity 
 that may be dangerous to a free people j 
 and that there may be fuch a thing as an 
 accidental, nay, an unmerited popularity; 
 I fay there may be, for I hope none fuch 
 exifts in this country. But, my Lord, 
 the writer of thefe lines is old enough to 
 have feen fuch a popularity exiting, 
 founded on falfe, foolilh, and frivolous 
 grounds. He has feen the people of 
 England do every thing but adore, and 
 fcarcely abftaining even from adoring the 
 
 I 
 
 advocates for a Spanifh war. He muff, 
 at the fame time, do them the juftice to 
 fay, that they recovered from their 
 phrenzy, and that they as heartily de- 
 fpifed, as they had before madly idolized, 
 thofe patriots , as it was then fafhionable 
 to call every man who had not coolnefs 
 , enough 
 
 \ 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 enough to think for himfelf or to feel for 
 the public. 
 
 I remember, my Lord, the time when 
 a certain admiral was, if pcffible, more 
 popular than a late minider ; but he lived 
 to be defpifed, and even his own friends 
 blulhed at their mistaken partiality in his 
 favour. At that time, this admiral might 
 
 I ' • 
 
 have raifed a rebellion ; and the diviiions 
 that happened on his account in the ca¬ 
 binet, in the parliament, and all over the 
 nation, effedted very little lefs than a re- 
 hellion ; nor ihall I at all decline fay¬ 
 ing, that, at lad, they virtually produced 
 one; becaufe nothing is more certain 
 than that the enemies of this happy con- 
 ditution were encouraged to take arms 
 in the year 1745, from the opinion they 
 
 had of our diviiions. 
 
 In ihort, my Lord, amongd a free, a 
 brave, and a generous people, fuch as the 
 Englilh are, popularity may be acquired 
 upon very eafy terms; and the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman, who is now the idol 
 
 B.2 of 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 ’ 4 
 
 of the people, has perhaps the cheapeft 
 bargain of it that any Englifhman ever 
 had j and has obtained it in the moft 
 unaccountable manner. The vir juftus et 
 tenax prcpojiti; that is, the man who pro¬ 
 ceeds on the principles he fet out with in 
 life, who is as unmoved by profperous, as 
 he is undaunted by adverfe, circum- 
 flances, ufed to be the venerable charac- 
 ter with a free people. The popularity 
 of a man who fhifts his pradice and prin¬ 
 ciples according to events, is a phsenome- 
 
 l 
 
 non referved for thefe times. 
 
 t 
 
 A man virtuoufly popular, my Lord, 
 will difclaim all imputed merit, and all 
 influence that arifes merely from mii- 
 taken opinion. A true patriot will be 
 glad of every opportunity to undeceive 
 his countrymen in their abfurdities ; be- 
 caufe, however well intentioned he may 
 be, and however well placed their confi¬ 
 dence in him is, they may from miftaken 
 motives, place the fame confidence in ar* 
 unworthy objed. The right honourable 
 
 gentleman. 
 
I 
 
 Us) 
 
 gentleman, therefore, and his friends, if 
 they really are patriots, never can take 
 ami Is any attempt that is made to let the 
 public right, as to the merits of his po¬ 
 pularity; and if he is poflefied of any, 
 merely by imputation, he will refign it 
 as willingly as he would an inheritance 
 to which he has no title either in law or 
 confidence. 
 
 Surmifes, my Lord, ftrengthened by a 
 late paragraph in our Gazette, indicating 
 the abrupt departure of our minifter from 
 the court of Madrid, has revived the po¬ 
 pular cry of a certain right honourable 
 gentleman’s political infallibility. All his 
 friends are now up in arms, Iheltered un¬ 
 der the approaching war, and are hurling 
 their defiances againft all who ever dared 
 to queftion his condudt. I happen to 
 be Angular enough, to think his conduct 
 to be quite out of the queftion, whether 
 we have or have not a Spaniih war. It 
 is true, if the letter publilhed in his name 
 is really his, he has told us that his poli¬ 
 tical 
 
I 
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 tical abdication was owing to a difference, 
 of fentiments with the reft of the king’s 
 fervants, with regard to what Spain had 
 done to our prejudice. 
 
 Your lordfhip is fenfible, that there 
 
 was not a fervant the king had, who dif¬ 
 fered with the right honourable gentle¬ 
 man, as to the fadts he urged at the C —1 
 B—d: nay, I will venture to fay that 
 fome who were there, and who were the 
 keeneft in oppofing him, had as bad an 
 opinion, as he had, of the deligns of 
 Spain •, but, my Lord, a king of Great- 
 Britain cannot proceed like a king of 
 France or Pruflia, upon felf-convidtion 
 merely. He cannot fay, “ I am fatisfied, 
 
 I have provocation, and therefore I will 
 go to war.” His majefty has proceeded 
 as a king of England ought to do, by 
 leaving nothing undone that can create 
 in the breafts of neighbouring people and 
 princes, or what is ftill more material in 
 thofe of his own fubjedfcs, the leaft 
 doubt as to the propriety of his own 
 
 - condudl, 
 
 * 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 conduct, and the injustice of that of 
 Spain. 
 
 The mod: clamorous of the right 
 honourable gentleman’s friends cannot, 
 therefore, impute to him the fmalleft 
 merit of his having forefeen or foretold 
 what had efcaped the obfervation of 
 others. There was no debate as to fadfs : 
 the only queftion was. Are we to proceed 
 like lawlefs ruffians, or in a regular man¬ 
 ner ? “ It is poffible, faid the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman’s opponents, that 
 Spain may have done fc or fo ; and it 
 is but too probable, that ffie has in her 
 head ill defigns againft this nation ; but 
 have they been fufficiently manifefted to 
 jultify our hurrying all at once into 
 hoftilities ?” Th is, my Lord, when we 
 conlider the temper, the flate, and the 
 fituation of this nation, at that time, 
 was no unreafonable fuggeftion, nor do I 
 believe there was any member who 
 
 fat at the C- 1 B——d, who did 
 
 not more than fufpedt what has fince 
 
 happened 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 Happened with regard to Spain, and who 
 did not expeft that a war muft be the 
 confequence fooner or later. In the 
 firft letter I had the honour to addrefs to 
 your lordfhip, far from entering into 
 the truth or falfhood of allegations, I 
 took the liberty to fay, that the people 
 of England thought a Spanifh war was 
 too good news to be true. The people of 
 England, my Lord, wifhed for a Spanifh 
 war, and it was to them the moft de- 
 lirable event that could have happened : 
 but, my Lord, I wifh it had happened two 
 years -ago, if our grievances are of that 
 Handing ; for I muft be of opinion, that 
 we fhall enter upon a Spanifh war, now* 
 under greater difadvantages than could 
 
 have attended any period for thefe fifty 
 
 » 
 
 years paftj and, my Lord, I own I muft be 
 fo unfafhionable as to think that if fuch 
 a war could have been avoided with any 
 tolerable degree of decency or dignity on 
 our parts, it ought to have been avoided. 
 
 It is not, my Lord, for a private man 
 2 or 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 \ 
 
 or writer, to call upon the right honour¬ 
 able gentleman for his reafons, why, if 
 he was furniffied with the proper docu¬ 
 ments, that rendered a Spaniffi war ine¬ 
 vitable, he fliould have outfate the only 
 time, when we could have entered upon 
 it with fuccefs. Did the right honour¬ 
 able gentleman, before he refigned the 
 feals of his office, fay to his mafter, or 
 the reft of the miniftry, “ You are in¬ 
 jured by Spain ; you muft come to an 
 ecclairciffement, and if fhe (hall refufe 
 to give you a categorical anfwer, you 
 ought to declare war.” 
 
 I cannot, my' Lord, help thinking, 
 that this would have been a proceeding 
 far more deferving the name of patriotic, 
 than that which the right honourable 
 gentleman has obferved. He catched the 
 advantage of the very nick of time, 
 when forms interfered with fubftance; 
 and he was for arrefting the Spanifti 
 ffiips, before we had made an affidavit, 
 or taken out a writ. Far be it, my Lord, 
 
 C from 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 from me to queftion the right honour¬ 
 able gentleman’s integrity; but, upon my 
 word, I cannot but think it extremely 
 odd, that he did not fuggeft to his ma- 
 jefty and the miniftry, the reafons why 
 they ought to enter into a Spanifh war, 
 before their flota and galleons arrived in 
 
 Old Spain. There is not a man fo 
 
 ✓ 
 
 poorly converfant in hiftory, as to be ig¬ 
 norant that the arrival of their galleons 
 and flota is the crifls of all their deli¬ 
 berations ; and that for Seventy years 
 paft, the Spaniards, before that arrival, 
 were always humble, and after it, info- 
 lent. Now, my Lord, let us join iflue 
 with the right honourable gentleman’s 
 popularity. Was he not furnilhed with 
 every fadt twelve months ago that he is 
 in pofleflion of at prefent, that could 
 juftify our going to war with SpHin ; 
 but did he ever before the tenth of Sep¬ 
 tember laft, give an intimation that fuch 
 a war was inevitable, or did he, before 
 the eighth or tenth of the following 
 . month. 
 
( II ) 
 
 J 
 
 month, ever in public or in private, de- 
 
 4 
 
 clare, that the oppofition he met with 
 on that account was the caufc of 
 his refolution to refign the feals of his 
 office. 
 
 It is, my Lord, impoffible to look 
 into thoughts, but common fenfe mull 
 teach any man, that the right honour¬ 
 able gentleman had no more reafon for 
 religning on the fifth of October lafl, 
 than he had on the fifth of October pre¬ 
 ceding. Forms amongll nations are 
 
 deemed to be efiential. A word and a 
 blow, it is true, has the vogue amongll 
 us bold Britons; but we may find it 
 difficult to make other nations adopt the 
 fame laconic method. Had the right 
 honourable gentleman,, even twelve 
 months before he religned the feals of 
 his office, declared his refolution not to 
 keep them, unlefs we went to war .with 
 
 v # • 
 
 Spain, we could not at that very time 
 have entered into war, but we mull have 
 proceeded in the manner we have done. 
 
 This 
 
 4 
 
( 12 ), 
 
 This nation, however, mull have been 
 greatly benefited by gaining a few months. 
 After forms were over, hoftilities might 
 have commenced, and the capture of the 
 flota or the galleons, might have enabled 
 us to pay part of the unjuft reckoning 
 our enemies have charged us with. The 
 cafe, however, was far different. The 
 only perfon who was pofitive the Spanifli 
 war was inevitable, flood aloof. He dal¬ 
 lied till we flipped the opportunity ; nor 
 did he once declare himfelf on the fub- 
 jedt, till the Spaniards got home their 
 treafures, and became in a condition to 
 bid us defiance. 
 
 What has been the confequence? Every 
 art of popularity, and various are the arts 
 employed to fupport it, has been employ¬ 
 ed with the giddy vulgar, to make them 
 believe that the right honourable gentle¬ 
 man’s prefcience and omnilcience has 
 been treated with undeferved negledt; 
 and every throat is now open to tell us, 
 that he forefaw more than all the nation 
 
 befides 
 
 T , * 
 
I 
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 befides did. The meaning of all this is, 
 that England muff be ruined if the right 
 honourable gentleman does not refume 
 the feals with as great a plenitude of 
 power, as he fhall pleafe to carve out for 
 himfelf. My Lord, I cannot help being 
 of opinion, that they who have had the 
 honour of conducting the affairs of the 
 miniftry, fince the right honourable 
 gentleman retired from them, have done 
 the very thing that he would have done, 
 or ought to have done, had he continued 
 in poft. They have loft no time in de¬ 
 manding that categorical anfwer, which 
 he ought to have demanded, but did not, 
 three years ago. My Lord, I muft look 
 upon thofe three years as fo much mifpent 
 time to Great Britain ; becaufe, if we are 
 now to enter into a war with Spain, we 
 do it with the difadvantage of their being 
 ten millions richer, and we forty millions 
 poorer than either of us would have been 
 three years ago. But, my Lord, I am 
 afraid a dill worfe confequence follows, 
 
 4 
 
 and 
 
( *4 ) 
 
 and that the credit of our arms, and even 
 
 of this nation, was much higher two 
 
 ® » 
 
 years ago than it is at prefent. The right 
 honourable gentleman and his friends can 
 heft account for the caufes of this reverfej 
 and if it was brought upon us by their 
 conduct, they fhewed themfelves the mod 
 able of all politicians, in clapping the col¬ 
 lar of their own manufacturing upon 
 the fhoulders of others. A little review 
 of our prefent fituation muft convince us 
 of their wifdom, in providing for their 
 own fafety at the expence of that of the 
 nation. 
 
 < Suppofing, my Lord, the right honour¬ 
 able gentleman and his friends to be at 
 this very time in poffeffion of the power 
 they held fome months ago, and that fome 
 honeft well meaning Englilh gentleman 
 fhould unfortunately alk them, “ Where 
 are the allies of Great Britain ; where has 
 fhe a friend to her back ?” I remember, 
 
 I 4 * 
 
 my Lord, the time when a minifter not 
 being able to anfwer that queflion, was 
 
( *5 ) 
 
 thought a fufficient foundation of a mo¬ 
 tion, for removing him from his majefty’s 
 prefence and councils for ever. That 
 minifter, my Lord, did not pride himfelf 
 upon the conquefts he had planned; and 
 the eternal objection to his adminiftratioa 
 was, that during it we were fixty-five, ot 
 
 9 m 
 
 fixty-fix millions in debt. The public debt 
 is now double that fum; and, as matters 
 go on, we mull triple it. Now, my Lord, 
 let me fit down with a reader equal¬ 
 ly cool as candid, and examine whether 
 the public of Great Britain has received 
 an equivalent for fuch an immenfe addi¬ 
 tion to her national debt. But to do this 
 cooly and difpaflionately, it is neceifary for 
 me to fuppofe this nation to be in that 
 flate which the right honourable gentle¬ 
 man’s conduct removed out of our fieht, 
 when he reje&ed the terms that were of¬ 
 fered by France. Let us then compare 
 that ftate with our prefent, deeply invol¬ 
 ved as we are in a war with one great 
 power, on the eve of one with another, 
 and dreaded or hated by all Europe. 
 
 . 3 * I ftiall 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 # 
 
 1 ill all, not for this purpofe, have any 
 
 # 
 
 retrolpedt to any part of the right honour¬ 
 able gentleman’s conduct, as a minifter, 
 
 that made a war, the only expedient we 
 
 # 
 
 could purfue to vindicate our national ho¬ 
 nour. I fhall confine myfelf to the 
 
 % v 
 
 period between this 'and November 25, 
 1759, when the duke of Brunfwick tranf- 
 
 f 
 
 mitted from the Hague to the minifters 
 of France, Vienna, and Ruflia, their Bri¬ 
 tannic and Prufiian majefties pacific de¬ 
 claration, and which was printed in the 
 London Gazette, of the 4th of Decem¬ 
 ber the fame year. It is remarkable, my 
 Lord, that at this time, Great Britain may 
 be faid to have been in the zenith of her 
 glory. She had conquered Canada ; fhe 
 had deftroyed the French marine j and 
 fome months before, the bonfires for one 
 victory were fcarcely expiring, when 
 others for other victories were lighted up. 
 Notwithftanding this flattering profpedt, 
 every bread; that entertained fentiments 
 of humanity, was pleafed to obferve his 
 
 late majefty’s moderation, when he de¬ 
 clared 
 
ft 17 ] 
 
 But no care being taken in the autumn 
 of 1706, to fend over proper reinforce¬ 
 ments to the affiftance of king Charles, 
 Philip began to recover ftrength; and in 
 April, 1707, the Duke of Berwick, who 
 commanded his forces, obtained fo com¬ 
 plete a vidtory at Almanza, and purfued it 
 with fo much Ipirit and diligence, that be¬ 
 fore the end of the year, the face of . af¬ 
 fairs was entirely changed in that kingdom. 
 
 It is indeed true, that after this the allies 
 
 % 
 
 made confiderable progrds, and in the 
 month of Auguft, 1710, gained the bat¬ 
 tle of Saragolfa, which opened a paffage 
 for Charles the Hid. to Madrid, into which 
 city he made his public entry in the mid¬ 
 dle of the following month ; but the dif- 
 pofitions of the Spaniards were now chang¬ 
 ed, and they adhered fo firmly to king Phi¬ 
 lip, that, after the clofe of that year, King 
 Charles was again, after lofing a battle, 
 driven back into Catalonia. 
 
 In the month of April, 1711, died the 
 
 emperor Jofeph, and thereby left King 
 
 Charles the Illd. foie heir male, of the 
 
 * 
 
 Houfe of Auftria, which extremely chang¬ 
 ed the flate of affairs, becaufe it appeared 
 now equally dangerous to give the Spanilh, 
 as well as Imperial dominions to this 
 prince, or to leave them to a branch of the 
 Houfe of Bourbon; and there remained 
 
 D 
 
 no 
 
- , [ >8 ] 
 
 no expedient that could be thought of to 
 prevent the one or other of thefe events. 
 
 The Houfe of Auftria was at that time 
 in pofieffion of the Spanifh Netherlands, 
 and all the dominions that had belonged 
 to that crown on the continent of Italy, 
 which gave an opportunity to the French 
 court to infinuate to the new miniftry in 
 England, the neceffity, as well as expedi¬ 
 ency, of putting an end to fo long a war, 
 upon terms agreeable to the firft fcheme of 
 the grand alliance; and this in the end 
 brought on the peace of Utrecht, which 
 was concluded in 1713. 
 
 By this treaty King Philip yielded to 
 
 Great Britain the town and caflle of Gi- 
 
 / 
 
 braltar, and the ifland of Minorca for 
 ever the kingdom of Naples, the 
 dutchy of Milan, and the ref! of the Spa- 
 nifh dominions in Italy, together with the 
 ifland of Sardinia and the Low Countries, 
 to the Emperor, Charles the YIth ; and 
 the ifland of Sicily, with the title of King, 
 to the Duke of Savoy. 
 
 It muft be allowed that the treaty of 
 Utrecht was liable to great exceptions} but, 
 however, the end of the great alliance 
 was, in fome meafure, anfwered by it. 
 The crowns of France and Spain were di¬ 
 vided, the power of the houfe of Auftria 
 confiderably augmented, and the balance 
 
 of 
 
 1 
 
r >9 ] 
 
 of power in Europe in tome meafure fet¬ 
 tled. But, notwithstanding, this King 
 Philip was not left in quiet poSTeSTion of 
 liie dominions, to which the emperor ftill 
 kept up his claim j and the principality of 
 Catalonia, and the iSland of Majorca, tho’ 
 evacuated by the Auftrian troops, refufed 
 to Submit, and were not reduced without 
 a great deal of trouble and much eftuSion 
 of blood ; fo that the force of Spain Seem¬ 
 ed, at the conclulion of this war, exhausted 
 to fuch a degree, that there v/as not much 
 to be feared from her, notwithstanding her 
 being left in poffeffion of a prince of the 
 Houfe of Bourbon. * 
 
 It was the policy of Lewis XIV. to 
 match both his grandfons, the Dukes of 
 Burgundy and Anjou, into the Houfe of 
 Savoy ; and although, in the firft inftance, 
 his policy feemed to be difappointed, Since 
 the Duke of Savoy took part with the al¬ 
 lies throughout the whole war, yet his 
 daughter, the Queen of Spain, by her en- 
 gaging behaviour, acquired the affedtion of 
 the Spanish nobility, and thereby contri¬ 
 buted not a little to maintain her confort 
 on the throne. 
 
 She died the 14th of February, 1714* 
 and left behind her two Ions; Don Lewis, 
 born in 1707, who became king of Spain 
 the resignation of his father •, and Don 
 
 D s Ferdi- 
 
I 
 
 L 20 ] 
 
 Ferdinand, born 23d of September 1713, 
 the late king of Spain. By her deceafe, 
 Philip was left at liberty to ftrengthen his 
 intereft by a fecond marriage, which he 
 concluded in a few months, with the prin- 
 cefs Elizabeth Farnefe, daughter of the 
 duke of Parma, and heirefs not only of 
 thatdutchy, but alfo expectant heirefs of 
 Tufcany ; which marriage was contracted 
 with a view to revive the intereft of the 
 houfe of Bourbon in Italy, which had 
 been in a manner extinguifhed by the late 
 peace. 
 
 The new Queen brought her father’s 
 minifter into power, who was afterwards 
 well known by the title of cardinal Al- 
 beroni. This man, who muft be allowed 
 a great genius, projected the revival of the 
 Spanifh power, and the recovery of the 
 Italian dominions, at a time when the 
 former was thought very difficult, and 
 the latter appeared totally impracticable. 
 
 It is true, that he did not abfolutely fuc- 
 ceed in this fcheme, but it is no lefs true, 
 that he came nearer to it than any body 
 could have imagined) for he put the af¬ 
 fairs of Spain into fuch order, that the had 
 fleets and armies capable of alarming her 
 neighbours, with which he actually ob¬ 
 tained poffeffion of Sardinia, and would 
 have recovered Sicily, if ths naval power 
 . ' • ■ . of 
 
[ 21 ] 
 
 of Britain had not interpofed, and given 
 fuch a blow at Medina to his Catholick 
 Majedy’s maritime forces, as ruined all his 
 fchemes at once ; and, which was dill 
 more, obliged his mader to part with him, 
 and to accede to the quadruple alliance, 
 which was fet on foot to fupply the defeats 
 of the treaty of Utrecht, and to fix the 
 tranquility of Europe upon a more folid 
 bafis. 
 
 By this alliance, Sardinia was given to 
 the Duke of Savoy indead of Sicily ; but 
 at the fame time, it was agreed that Don 
 Carlos, his Catholick Majedy’s fird born 
 fon by his fecond wife, fhould fuccced to 
 Parma and Tufcany. In 1721, a mar¬ 
 riage was concluded between the French 
 king Lewis XV. and the Infanta of Spain, 
 which however did not take efFedt; but 
 another concluded at the fame time did, 
 whereby Lewis, Prince of the Adurias, 
 efpoufed the fourth daughter of the duke 
 of Orleans, regent of France. Upon the 
 death of this lad mentioned prince, it is 
 believed that his Catholick Majedy enter¬ 
 tained fome hopes of returning into France, 
 and affuming the government of that king¬ 
 dom in the name of his nephew; but 
 whatever his motive was, on the 15th of 
 January 1724, he actually refigned the 
 kingdom to his fon Don Lewis, Prince of 
 
 Adurias 
 
[ 22 ] 
 
 Afturias ; who is allowed to have been 
 pofifeflfed of as great abilities as could be 
 expected in one of his years, whofe man¬ 
 ners as well as birth endeared him to the 
 Spaniards; and who, in the beginning of 
 his adminiftration, gave great hopes of 
 proving a wife and beneficent prince. But, 
 on the 30th of Augufl: following, he died 
 in the eighteenth year of his age, to the 
 inexpreffible grief of his father as well as 
 of his fubjedts. 
 
 Upon the demife of Don Lewis, it was 
 judged that in the natural courfe of things, 
 his brother Don Ferdinand, fhould have 
 fucceeded him in the throne ; but the fear 
 of minority, and perhaps fome other rea- 
 fons, induced the Spaniards to prevail up¬ 
 on Philip V. to refume the government, 
 which he did, but with reludlancy; whe¬ 
 ther real or feigned is hard to determine. 
 
 He applied himfelf very clofely to bu- 
 finefs, and being extremely provoked at 
 the fending back of the Infanta from 
 France, he began to meditate new and 
 ftrange defigns; or rather fuch were in- 
 fufed into his mind by the Queen and his 
 minifters. It is generally believed, and 
 not without good grounds, that Cardinal 
 Alberoni, who was then at Rome, con¬ 
 trived that amazing fcene which alarmed 
 all Europe: at lead it is certain, that it 
 
 was 
 
 1 
 
[ 23 ] 
 
 was managed and tranfaCted by one of his 
 creatures; a man born to make a figure in 
 unquiet times, and who, as he deferted 
 the fervice of his country, no other prince 
 ought to have relied on. 
 
 This was the famous Ripperda, who 
 negociated the treaty of Vienna, by which 
 the Emperor Charles VI. and King Philip, 
 in whofe quarrel fuch rivers of blood have 
 been (hed, and fuch immenfe treafures 
 expended, entered into a clofe alliance for 
 the mutual fupport of each other’s interefl:, 
 againfi: thofe very perfons who had facrificed 
 fo much for the aggrandizement of both. 
 The true motives to this ftrange alliance 
 are by many held to remain ftiil fecret; 
 but it feems to be pretty evident, that the 
 views of the Emperor were immediate, 
 and thofe of Spaing more remote and di- 
 ftant. 
 
 The former thought that by this means 
 he fhould eftablifli his Oftend Company, 
 by which he hoped to revive the trade of 
 the Low-Countries, though at the expence 
 of his old friends the Dutch ; the latter, 
 confented to the aggrandizing the Imperial 
 power, from the flattering expectation 
 that Don Carlos, by marrying the eldefl: 
 Arch-Dutchefs, at prefent Emprefs and 
 Queen of Hungary, would become fuc- 
 cedor of that branch of the Houfe of 
 
 Auftria, 
 
[ 24 ] 
 
 Audria, as himfelf had been of the other, 
 by which he feemed to renounce his en¬ 
 gagements with France.- 
 
 This drange turn was more extraordi¬ 
 nary, confidering the time in which it 
 happened, when both France and the 
 maritime powers, were labouring to bring 
 about in a rational and effectual manner, 
 fuch an accommodation as thefe Mo- 
 narchs hadily, and inconfiderately clapped 
 up, with views only to their private ad¬ 
 vantage. To ballancethis Vienna alliance, 
 France, the maritime powers, and Pruffia, 
 entered into the famous treaty of Hanover, 
 in order to provide for their own intereds, 
 which they thought could never be fafe, 
 while this unnatural conjunction fubfided. 
 
 The Emperor and the Catholic king, 
 feemed determined to perfid in the exe¬ 
 cution of fuch fchemes, from whence 
 they expeCted to derive fuch mighty ad¬ 
 vantages ; but the Hanover allies took 
 their meafures fo effectually, that they 
 were obliged, after fome fruitlefs attempts, 
 to fubmit to the old method of determin¬ 
 ing all differences by a negociation, which 
 produced the congrefs at Soiffons. 
 
 This congrefs was opened the 14th of 
 July 1728, but to very little purpofe, ex¬ 
 cept that it ferved to fhew the afcendency 
 which the French mtnider cardinal Fleury 
 
 had 
 
 i* ' 
 
 I 
 
( 2 5 ) 
 
 which, I am told, was difclaimed by his 
 
 f # • *• J 
 
 Pruffian majefty’s order, but I believe all 
 England, and all Europe are convinced, 
 that it was authentic j nor do I remem¬ 
 ber that the right honourable gentleman, 
 whole bufinefs it certainly was to dis¬ 
 claim it, if it was not authentic, ever re¬ 
 ceived his late majefty’s commands for fo 
 doing. It is certain, that France did 
 publiffi it as being authentic ; and it is as 
 certain, that the dignity of the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman’s office could not 
 have been tarniffied, had he fignified to 
 the public, by the king his mailer’s or¬ 
 ders, that no fuch letter ever was receiv¬ 
 ed. I mull, therefore* my Lord* fup- 
 pofe, though I will not affirm, that fuch 
 a letter once had an exigence. The con- 
 fequence of this fuppofition is, that there 
 was a time when his late majefty 
 thought that the interefl of his electoral, 
 as well as regal, dominions required his 
 withdrawing from a German war j but 
 that the tribunitial power of the Veto, 
 
 jfe which 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 which his Pruffian majefty had acquired 
 by treaty, prevented him. Pray, my 
 Lord, could a Britilh minifter have a 
 ftronger Ipecimen, that it was our great 
 ally’s determined refolution, to maintain 
 his claim of our having taken him for 
 better and worfe; at leaft, while the 
 term of the treaty fubfifted ? It is true, 
 this nation, at that time, was next to in- 
 toxicated with our Pruffian alliance; but, 
 my Lord, I am lingular enough to think 
 that the judgment of a great minifter 
 ought not to be borne down by a popular 
 current, however ftrong it may run. A 
 few minutes of cool reflection mult have 
 made him fenfible, that his Britannic 
 majefty’s views, and thofe of his Pruffian 
 majefty, were incompatible, and he ought 
 to have felicitated himfelf upon the near 
 profpeCt he had of rendering them en¬ 
 tirely independent of one another. Jn- 
 ftead of that, engagement was heaped 
 
 upon engagement, and one treaty tacked 
 
 > . \ 
 
 to another, till onr interelt became inex- 
 
 tr icable ; 
 
( 2 7 ) 
 
 tricable ; and the convulfions of our ally 
 catched fuch hold of us in his agonizing 
 moments, that it appears as if we muft 
 now fwim or fink together. Can it be 
 faid that this implication, this intricacy, 
 of concerns with a power, that, to all 
 eternity, never can ferve Great-Britain in 
 the moft minute interefi: (he has, has 
 been effected by a firm patriot and a 
 Britilh conduct ? Let us figure to our- 
 felves the worft profpedt we can figure, 
 and that after the convention at Haften- 
 beck, Great Britain had fhook herfelf 
 loofeof all continentalconnedlions; would 
 Ihe in fuch a cafe, have pofiefled a fingle 
 foot of territory lefs than file does now ? 
 Yes, fays the right honourable gentle¬ 
 man and his friends, Quebec and Gua- 
 daloupe were conquered in Germany. 
 
 t 
 
 My Lord, the fuffering fuch a paradox 
 to efcape uncenfured, is perhaps the 
 greatest evidence that any minifter ever 
 
 brought of his triumph over the under- 
 
 • 0 
 
 Handing of the people of Great Britain. 
 
 E 2 • On 
 
( *8 ) 
 
 On the 26th of June, 1759, the whole 
 embarkation deftined againft Quebec ar¬ 
 rived at the ifle of Orleans. The Frencn, 
 about that time, had placed their whole 
 refource for the recovery of their affairs 
 upon an invafion of Great-Britain, which 
 did not fuffer them to fpare a fingle (hip 
 to the affiflance of their American colo¬ 
 nies. They hadlikewife, at that very time, 
 fuch a fuperiority of force in Germany, 
 that it was every day expected theBritifh 
 army under prince Ferdinand mull fur- 
 render prifoners at difcretion; and no¬ 
 thing but the miraculous event of the 
 
 O 
 
 battle of Minden could have prevented 
 their doingfo. There was but thefpaceof 
 thirty-five days between that battle and 
 the landing of our troops on the ifle of 
 Orleans. The profpedt we then had of 
 
 ' - m 
 
 fuccefs,as appears by general Wolfe’s let¬ 
 ter, was next to none, perhaps lefs than 
 none; and the French had above io,ooq 
 regular trpops in Canada, commanded by 
 two able generals to difappoint all our 
 attempts there. It 
 
( 2 9 ) 
 
 It happened, how unaccountably I {hall 
 not fay, that the army which effected that 
 conqueftdid not exceed 9000 men. Now, 
 my Lord, let us confider what mufl have 
 been the confequence, if neither the 
 French nor we had had a Angle battalion 
 in Germany, at the time when we -had 
 25,000 of our beft troops in that coun¬ 
 try. The French, confidering the vafl 
 fuperiority they had over us in Canada, 
 never could have dreamed of fending re- 
 inforcements thither ; efpecially when 
 they knew the abfolute impoflibility of 
 fuch reinforcements arriving there while 
 we were in full polfeffion of the naviga¬ 
 tion of the river of St. Laurence. No¬ 
 thing can illuftrate what I here fay, better 
 than the unexceptionable authority of ge¬ 
 neral Wolfe himfelf, who, in the placart 
 he publilhed as commander in chief of 
 
 K, , 
 
 the troops of his Britannic majefty on his 
 arrival in the river St. Laurence, in the 
 month of Auguft, 1759, has the follow¬ 
 ing remarkable paragraph: “The Cana- 
 
 4 1. 
 
 1 
 
I 
 
 ( 3 ° )■ 
 
 dians, fays he, cannot be ignorant of 
 their tttuation. The Englilh are matters 
 of the river, and blocking up the paflages 
 to all fuccours from Europe. They have, 
 
 belides, a powerful army on the conti- 
 nent, under the command of general 
 Amherft.” 
 
 From this pregnant quotation, my 
 Lord, it is extremely plain, that while 
 Mr. Saunders had polfeffion of the river 
 
 St. Laurence, as the French well knew 
 
 ✓ 
 
 he had, the fending to Quebec the whole 
 130,000 men, which they were luppofed 
 then to employ in Germany, could have 
 brought no manner of relief to that 
 place ; nor indeed is it poflible for one to 
 fuggeft to himfelf, as things were then 
 circumttanced, even thefhadow of an ar- 
 
 t i ^ , • * . 
 
 gument, to prove that there fubfifted the 
 moft diftant connection between our Ger¬ 
 man and our American war. 
 
 But to deprive the advocates for war, 
 of all fubterfuge from that trite, tho’ I 
 am forry to fay it, too prevailing an argu- 
 
 6 ment. 
 
( 3 1 1 .) 
 
 ment, as if our maintaining an army ill 
 Germany had given us Quebec; let me 
 purfue the other part of the argument I 
 have laid down, which was, (and it is al¬ 
 lowing more than ever I heard demanded) 
 that had thefeas even been open to France, 
 fhe had no manner of occafion to fend 
 more troops to Canada than the already 
 had there. In Mr., Wolfe’s letter, dated 
 from his head-quarters at Montmorenci, 
 in the river St. Laurence, September 2, 
 1759; he very plainly, and very truly, in¬ 
 forms the right honourable gentleman, 
 ♦‘that the enemy was not onlyfuperior to 
 him in numbers, but that the marquis de 
 Moncalm, the French general, wifely de¬ 
 pended on the natural ftrength of the 
 • • * 
 
 country.” He then proceeds in the dis¬ 
 patch as follows: “ When, fays he, I 
 learned that fuccours of all kinds had 
 been thrown into Quebec; that five bat- 
 tallions of regular troops, completed from 
 the belt inhabitants of the country, fome 
 of the troops of the colony, and every Ca¬ 
 nadian 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 nadian that was able to bear arms, be- 
 fides fcverai nations of favages, had taken 
 the field in a very advantageous fituation j 
 I could not flatter myfelf that I fhould be 
 able to reduce the place.” The remain¬ 
 ing part of this difpach, tho' written by 
 as brave and as judicious a commander as 
 England ever perhaps produced, breathes 
 
 nothing but defpondency. “ By the lift, 
 fays he, of difabled officers, (many of 
 whom are of rank) you may perceive. 
 Sir, that the army is much weakened. By 
 the nature of the river, the moft formi¬ 
 dable part of this armament is deprived 
 of the power of acting j yet we have al- 
 moft the whole force of Canada to op- 
 pofe. In this fituation, there is fuch a 
 choice of difficulties, that I own myfelf 
 
 at a lofs how to determine. The affairs 
 
 # , • x 
 
 of Great Britain, I know, require the mofl 
 vigorous meafures j but then the courage 
 of a handful of brave men fhould be ex¬ 
 erted only where there is fome hope of 
 a favourable event.” 
 
 Now, 
 

 ( 33 ) 
 
 Now, my Lord, if general Wolfe did 
 not impofe upon the right honourable 
 gentleman by this intelligence, what had 
 France to apprehend for the fafety of 
 Quebec, when general Wolfe arrived in 
 the river of St. Laurence ? It is plain, 
 
 from his own words, that while he lay 
 
 • • * « 
 
 there, he was to be eonfidered as a be- 
 fieger, and the French as the befieged, 
 even before our army faced the walls of 
 Quebec. It is true, the fpirit and the in¬ 
 trepidity of the Britifh troops conquered 
 the natural ftrength of the country ; but 
 it is true, that that conqueft neither had 
 nor could have the fmalleft operation 
 upon the conduct of the French in 
 Europe. It was what they no more ex¬ 
 pected than they did to be beaten at 
 Minden. Their own public papers pro¬ 
 claimed to all Europe, that they were 
 • ^ 
 
 quite fafe with regard to Quebec ; and, 
 indeed, to all human appearance, they 
 well might be fo; and our conqueft was 
 owing to a miraculous providence, that 
 
 F may 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 may not again happen in a thoufand 
 vears: and which the French never could 
 
 j * 
 
 think of guarding againft. 
 
 But, my Lord, I believe that the futili¬ 
 ty of the argument of our having con¬ 
 quered Quebec in Germany admits al- 
 moil of a demonftration, a degree of 
 evidence that feldom happens in political 
 controverlies. Had the French forefeen 
 
 their danger j had they apprehended our 
 
 1 
 
 fuccefs, it was not in their power to have 
 fent troops to the relief of Canada, and 
 that for a very plain reafon ; becaufe Ca¬ 
 nada actually could not fubfift her own 
 inhabitants. It is notorious, that the hu¬ 
 manity and generality of the Britiffi gene¬ 
 ral and officers prevented the Canadians, 
 who furrendered themfelves to our fubjec- 
 tion, from ftarving. If the right honour¬ 
 able gentleman or his friends ffiould 
 pretend that France might have fent the 
 means of fubfiftence along with the 
 troops deftined for the relief of Canada, 
 the anfwer is plain, that the thing itfelf 
 
 was 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 0 t 
 
 was impoflible; or admitting it to be pof- 
 lible, they could not have carried with 
 them proviiions for above a fortnight. 
 Upon the whole, therefore, there is not 
 perhaps in all hiftory, a propofition more 
 certain than that our fuccefs in Canada 
 muft have been the fame as it was, tho’ 
 we had not had a company of foot in Ger¬ 
 many. 
 
 This being the cafe, my Lord, what 
 apology can the conduct of the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman admit of ? Far from 
 difowning the fa<ft of having involved us 
 in a German war, which has coft us 
 twenty millions, he glories in it, and has 
 faid, in defence of his notorious apoftacy 
 from anti-continental meafures, that Ca¬ 
 nada was conquered in Germany. La¬ 
 mentable mull the ftate of a people’s un¬ 
 demanding be, who can be brought to 
 fwallow fuch abfurdities. Did our hav¬ 
 ing an army of 25,000 men in Germany 
 favour Sir William Johnfon’s fuccefs 
 againfl Niagara ? did it force the French 
 
 F 2 to 
 
f 
 
 ( 3 6 ) 
 
 to abandon Crown Point and Ticonde- 
 rago ? did it level the heights of the river 
 Montmorenci, or bring the Canadians to 
 fubrnit to our government ? No, my 
 Lord, thofe events had not the mod; re¬ 
 mote connection with German opera¬ 
 tions ; and if the right honourable gentle¬ 
 man and his friends deferve praife, it is 
 for putting his defence upon an intelligi¬ 
 ble, though eadly confuted, principle. 
 
 We forget, however, all this time, that 
 we either are, or foon fhali be, if we pro¬ 
 ceed as we do, about a hundred and thirty 
 millions in debt ,; that the intered of this 
 debt muft be paid by the public ; that 
 the public cannot pay it but out of the 
 produce of popular indudry; and that the 
 right honourable gentleman’s meafures 
 have cut off the right hand of that in- 
 dudry, by employing aimed every fourth 
 able bodied man in the kingdom in war, 
 either by fea or land. It may be a fecret 
 to your lorcfhip, and 1 believe it is fo to 
 
 mod of his majedy’s fervants in high da- 
 
 tions, 
 
 \ 
 
 ) . 
 
1 
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 tions, but it is a moil melancholy truth, 
 that a middling labouring man at prefent, 
 (and by fuch our manufactories are all 
 carried on) has no trade to purfue equal¬ 
 ly profitable as that of war. What ftill 
 makes this truth the more deplorable is, 
 that the profeflion of a foldier, at leafb a 
 foldier ferving in England, is attended 
 with much lefs fatigue than that of any 
 manufacturer. A foldier, for I look upon 
 our militia in no other light than as re¬ 
 gular troops, when he enlifis for three 
 years, which is 1095 days, receives ten 
 guineas, which anfwers to 802 three¬ 
 pences and one half-penny. Add this 
 to a foldier’s regular pay, together with 
 what he may get by odd jobs, &c. not 
 forgetting the care which the publ ic is 
 obliged to take of his wife and family ; 
 and what life of a common labouring 
 manufacturer is to be compared to his, 
 in the points either of profit or eafe ? My 
 lord, I know none 3 and there is not a 
 truth more alarming to a Britifii minifiry, 
 
 < (I mean 
 
t 
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 (I mean an honed one) that every encou¬ 
 ragement you give to your army fub- 
 
 dra&s fo much from the intered of your 
 
 % 
 
 date. 
 
 Unfortunately does it happen, that this 
 is a time thofe truths are ridiculed as un- 
 
 v . ' 
 
 feafonable. There is fcarcely a family 
 now in Great Britain, be its confideration 
 what it will, from the palace to the cot¬ 
 tage, that has not a relation either in the 
 army or the navy. No topic, therefore, 
 is fo general as the praifes of our brave 
 foldiers and cur brave failors. Every Bri- 
 tifh fubjedt almod is intereded in them : 
 but, my lord, was it thus that Britain 
 rofe to renown, to dignity, to impor¬ 
 tance ? No, the iilent advances of her 
 trade were made when the character of 
 her arms and power was the lead: confpi- 
 cuous. We were infatuated enough to 
 rail almod for twenty years againd a mi- 
 nifter, (I mean Sir Robert Walpole) who 
 kept on foot an army of not fo many as 
 19,000 men. There is not a man of lenfe 
 
 in 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 in England at this time, who recollects 
 the anniverfary debates on that head, who 
 does not laugh at the nonfenfe of the ar¬ 
 guments ufed againft the keeping up that 
 army as being dangerous to our liberties} 
 but, my lord, we have not heard a Angle 
 whifper of that danger, fince above ten 
 times that number of Britons have been 
 employed in the purpofes of war. To 
 what can this be owing ? Had that dan¬ 
 ger an exigence ? No. Then what merit 
 can they pretend to, who declaim them- 
 felvesintopofts and powers upon an empty 
 Ihadow, and yet have introduced into the 
 conftitution a real fubftance of that very 
 danger ? The argument againft a ftand- 
 ing-army, I am forry to fay it, is more an¬ 
 tiquated than it is unjuft. The pream¬ 
 ble to the mutiny-bill exprefles a ftand- 
 ing-army to be inconftftent with the li¬ 
 berties of this country. What was the 
 argument the right honourable gentle¬ 
 man and his friends built upon this ? If a 
 ftanding-army, faidthey, is (as it certainly 
 , . • - ^ 
 
t 
 
 , ( 40 ) 
 
 is) dangerous to liberty, let us have a 
 
 militia. • _ 1 
 
 This lure of a militia was hung out, or 
 tofs’d about, for feveral years, and the pub¬ 
 lic adopted it with the utmoft raptures. 
 Little, however, did they know what it 
 meant; and that the whole boafted patri¬ 
 ot’s fcheme of militia, in contradiftinction 
 to a ftanding-army, mud: end in rendering 
 that militia, to all intents andpurpofes, a 
 
 ftanding-army fubjedt to that very mili- 
 
 * > 
 
 tary command which the right honour- 
 able gentleman and his friends had, for 
 almoft twenty years, exclaimed againft j 
 and I may defy any man alive to define it, 
 excepting the duration of fervice (and 
 even in that there is fome ambiguity)— 
 what the difference is between aftanding- 
 army and our prefent militia. Both are 
 equally fubjedt to that military law, which 
 the right honourable gentleman and his 
 friends fo often condemned, as being in- 
 
 confiftent with the liberties of this na- 
 
 • - 
 
 tion. 
 
9 
 
 ( 4i ) 
 
 Having faid thus much, my Lord, i 
 think myfelf obliged to clear myfelf from 
 all imputation of being an enemy to a 
 militia, or even to a ftanding-army; be- 
 caufe I fincerely think that the officers 
 and leaders of neither can ever be brought 
 into any fchemes that are deftru&ive to 
 the country. All I mean to ffiew is, that 
 the public ought to lay no manner of de¬ 
 pendence upon the hackneyed topics of 
 oppofition ; and that even the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman himfelf and his 
 friends now laugh at the credulity of 
 the public, in believing a fingle word of 
 thofe profeffions they made ufe of to raife 
 
 themfelves into power. 
 
 But I ffiall now defifl from combating a 
 
 phantom, for fuch was their public fpirit, 
 and proceed-to realities. The next pe¬ 
 riod of our late negotiation was, when the 
 French king had conquered the unac¬ 
 countable omiffion of two principals in 
 the war againft the king of Pruffia, and 
 had brought his allies to confent to the 
 
 G negotiation 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 negotiation going forward. My Lord, I 
 am far from being an advocate for the 
 lincerity of the French court; but I can¬ 
 not help thinking that it is moft fincerely 
 well dilpofed in favour of its own inte- 
 refts; and that, at the period I now treat 
 of, viz. the 26th of March, 1761, the in- 
 terefts of both nations were the fame. 
 France had loft fo much by the war that 
 fhe wanted to conclude it, and we had 
 
 t 
 
 gained fo much by it that we ought to 
 have done the fame. Matters appeared 
 in another light to our minifter; and his 
 conduit was fuch as demonftrated that he 
 
 V. - .. *-•.*- «. _ * ■ 
 
 thought the intereft of Great Britain was 
 placed, not upon a commercial or civil, 
 but on a military foundation. The boafts 
 of France, of having conquered the ifland 
 of Minorca, of being in polfeffion of Fla- 
 nau and the landgraviate of HelTe, with 
 the town of Gottingen, were not only ridi¬ 
 culous, but plain demonftrations of her 
 impotence. Some allowances, however, 
 ought to have been made to her defire of 
 
 maintaining 
 

 ( 43 ) 
 
 maintaining her importance, as a capital 
 ftate in Europe. My Lord, I can fee no 
 manner of impropriety in indulging her 
 with a little tinfel, provided we could fe- 
 cure to ourfelves that which, of all things, 
 ought to be confidei'ed as mold precious 
 to a trading people, a fafe and an honour¬ 
 able peace. But it feems even that gew¬ 
 gaw tinfel mull be ript off. Our minister, 
 confcious of his infignihcancy, fhould he 
 mingle with the dregs of the people, that 
 is, with thofe who reafon cooly and fo- 
 berly on the advantages of peace to a trad¬ 
 ing nation, catched at every circumfl.mcc 
 to break off the negotiation. 
 
 I fhall, my Lord, admit thatFrance was 
 unreafonable in infixing as fire did, upon 
 rendering the emprefs-queen the miftrefs 
 of Wefel and Gueldres; but was her ob- 
 
 9 
 
 flinacy in this refped: to be put in com¬ 
 petition with the bleflings which peace 
 muff have brought to this nation, and the 
 quiet poifeffion of all, I may fay, that we 
 
 have really gained in this war. Was 
 
 G 2 the 
 
 * 
 
 ft 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 the right honourable gentleman to em¬ 
 ploy all the declamatory power he is pof- 
 felled of, in blazoning out his impropriety 
 of fubmitting to fuch terms, the whole 
 could not amount to the hundredth part 
 
 of the expence we have been at in reject¬ 
 ing them. 
 
 I lhall now, my Lord, take the liberty to 
 proceed to a third period of the treaty in 
 queftion : but I mult beg leave to lay out 
 of it all mention of epochs and uti pojji- 
 deatis terms which both our minilter 
 
 r .... 
 
 and that of France knew extremely well 
 lignified nothing ; and which they made 
 ufe of only to amufe or puzzle the under¬ 
 standings of the people whom they want¬ 
 ed to guide. On the 19th of April, 
 
 ' ■ • • /' f 4 
 
 1761, the French king intimates that his 
 Britannic majelty (and I dare to fay there 
 
 ; r fc *. . ... 
 
 was fome foundation for his intelligence) 
 
 • ’ . • • , . 1 
 
 agreed that the nature of the objedts 
 
 ■which had occalioned the war between 
 
 • ' • ; . * • 
 
 France and England was totally foreign 
 
 • 1 
 
 from the dilputes which had given rife 
 
 i r ’ . * 4 * "•«'** ■ f , 1 
 
 \ 
 
I 
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 to the war in Germany. Now, my Lord, 
 if his Britannic majefty was candid 
 enough to admit of that Ample, that un¬ 
 deniable, proportion, where, in the name 
 of common fenfe, was the juftice or pro¬ 
 priety of admitting a Angle German con- 
 Aderation into the negotiation ? We did 
 
 not connect ourfelves with PruAia on ac- 
 
 / 
 
 count of our American concerns; they 
 had not thefmalleft regard to theballance 
 of power in Germany. Had Great Brit¬ 
 tain taken France at her word, and faid 
 to her. Let us put the conAderation of 
 the German war out of the queAiion, and 
 fettle our American affairs, where could 
 have been the harm of fuch a proceed¬ 
 ing to us ; unlefs the faving twenty mil- 
 lions of money is to be reckoned amongft 
 our misfortunrs ? But, fays the right 
 honourable gentleman’s friends, it would 
 be dishonourable in us to defert our ally, 
 his PruAian majeAy. To this I anfwer, 
 it is more diflionourable for us to defert 
 ourfelves, and to abandon every principle of 
 
 our 
 
/ 
 
 ( 4 6 ) 
 
 • our iatereft, liberty, or conffitution. In 
 what fenfe can we be faid to defert him, 
 in putting an end to a war to which he 
 never had, and never can have, the 
 
 ' J 
 
 y 
 
 imalleft relation ? This, my Lord, is the 
 plain Hate of the cafe, and all the torrent 
 of popular phrenzy never can over throw 
 ft. There is not a writer or fpeaker in 
 England, who has had the courage to re¬ 
 view our late negotiation for peace, in a 
 mild, calm, light. They who have defended 
 our minifter, think that he could not do 
 lefs than rejedt it they who blame him, 
 think he did too much in the conceffions 
 he made. 
 
 My Lord, I am bold enough to fay that 
 had he ffruck the bargain offered him by 
 France, he would have done neither too 
 much nor too little. And, however, he 
 might have facrificed a foolifh, imma¬ 
 terial, unmeaning pundtilio or two, he 
 would have lfuck to the folid interelf of 
 this nation.- Can any man, my Lord, of 
 fober fenfe imagine, that his Britannic 
 
 O * 
 
 majeffy 
 
 
 1 
 
( 47 ' ) 
 
 6 
 
 majefty was in honour obliged to adopt 
 the quarrel in which he never was en¬ 
 gaged ? Can the higheft drained vein of 
 politics pretend that, even fuppofing we 
 had fettled our American difputes with 
 France, his Prufiian majefty would have 
 had the fmalleft handle for complaining 
 of a breach of the treaty fubfifting be¬ 
 tween them ? The very preamble to that 
 treaty implies, that it is for granting his 
 Pruffian majefty fpeeay and powerful af- 
 fiftance; but where ; not furely in Ame¬ 
 rica? Our treaty with him had not the 
 leaft regard to our difputes with F ranee 
 upon that continent. Had we confulted 
 
 the fpirit of the treaty, we muft have 
 known, and fo muft the French have 
 known to their coft, that our finifhing 
 our American difputes was the greateft 
 advantage that could have accrued to the 
 king of Pruftia ; and, my Lord, I am forry 
 to fay, that I am afraid our not finifhing 
 them has ruined him. 
 
 2 
 
 Had 
 
C 48 } 
 
 Had our minifter had nothing in his 
 eye but a fteady attachment to the ho¬ 
 nour and intereft of his country, he could 
 not have deliberated for one inftant be¬ 
 tween the continuance of war, at the im- 
 
 / 
 
 menfe real expence we are now at, and the 
 conclufion of peace at the imaginary ex¬ 
 pence of what can fcarcely deferve the 
 name of a punctilio. It foon appeared 
 that the duration of war was not fuffici- 
 ent for his purpofes, unlefs it was like- 
 wife extended ; and we mull grapple with 
 Spain as well as with France. I fhall 
 not here recapitulate what I faid in my 
 laft, on the fubjedt of aSpanifh war; but 
 , I mufb be of opinion, that we enter at 
 prefent into it, if we are about to enter 
 into it, with infinite difadvantages. 
 
 Spain, my Lord, has not for thefe hun¬ 
 dred years pail been near fo powerful as 
 fire is at prefent, if we confider the three 
 particulars thatconftitute national power, 
 
 I mean her land army, her fleet, and her 
 finances. It may be faid, and I fhall not 
 
 difpute 
 
( 49 ) ) 
 
 dilpute It, that our fleet is far fuperior to 
 hers; but we are to reflect that, confider- 
 
 #• * /.*. m % j 
 
 ing our national debt, our means for fup- 
 porting that fleet are far inferior; unlefs 
 
 • . y ^ J 
 
 we have a mind to plunge ourfelves into 
 a national bankruptcy. This mud be 
 the confequence, fliould we continue the 
 war at the fame expence we now are at, 
 even fuppofing, what can by no means be 
 admitted, that a war with Spain will not, 
 while that with France continues, be at¬ 
 tended with any additional expence. Had 
 we, while frelh and falling, as the faying 
 is, entered into a Spanilh war, and I can 
 by no means fee that the fame reafons 
 for it, did not fublilf then, as much as 
 they do now, the cafe had been very dif¬ 
 ferent, and it is more than probable, that 
 
 * J 
 
 we might have made the Spaniards de¬ 
 fray the expences of both wars. But he 
 
 % W * 
 
 mull be a novice in politics who does not 
 
 % 
 
 know that Spain never makes a claim, 
 that Ihenever gives a furly look, or a harlh 
 
 anfwer, before the arrival of her treafure 
 
 H from 
 
' ( 5 ° ) 
 
 ® * * ** • • 
 
 from America. Even the infolent me¬ 
 morial which was focontemptuoufly, and, 
 
 % 
 
 I think, juftly returned by our minifter 
 to Monf. Bully, who prefented it, did 
 not provoke the court of Madrid into any 
 indecent refentment. Far from that, the 
 Spanilh minifter at London cloaked all 
 under the mafk of candor and ftncerity. 
 The reafon, my Lord, is plain, it was be- 
 caufe they had not then got home their 
 
 <r - \ # * \ * 
 
 plate-fleet and galleons from America. 
 Had the cafe been otherwife with them, 
 they would have fpoken the very lan¬ 
 guage that their ambaflador the count de 
 
 f » • 
 
 Fuentes fpoke beiore he left England, 
 in his famous memorial, an infult fo grofs 
 to the crown of Great Britain, that no¬ 
 thing but its not being authentically con¬ 
 tradicted, could induce me to believe it 
 genuine. 
 
 But, my Lord, tho’ moderation and 
 decency are neceftary obfervances amongft 
 
 f ' f ( * ■ • » • 
 
 great ftates, yet I cannot help doing one 
 piece of juftice to our late minifter, by 
 
 acknow- 
 
 I 
 
( 5 1 ) 
 
 acknowledging that we ought to have 
 begun to talk in a peremptory tone to 
 the court of Madrid fooner than we did. 
 The reftitution of the captures fhe 
 claimed was highly inlolent; becaul'e the 
 legality of them was to be determined by 
 laws that are uncommon to a’l nations. 
 His Britannic majefty had it not in his 
 power to comply with fuch demands; 
 becaufe, if the captures were legal, they 
 were the property of his fubiects. If 
 they were illegal, they mud be redored, 
 in courfe, to the fubjects 01 Spain, with¬ 
 out the intervention of that court. The 
 privilege claimed for the Spanilh nation ; 
 for fithing upon the banks of Newfound¬ 
 land, is fo infolent, that one can fcarcelv 
 
 * if 
 
 think it was made in earned:. It is true, 
 in the 15th article of the treaty of 
 Utrecht, between Great Britain and 
 Spain, mention is made that the Guipuf- 
 coans pretend to certain rights of hilling 
 at Newfoundland; and it is agreed that 
 
 t • 
 
 all fuch privileges as they, and other 
 
 H 2 people 
 
 lib 
 
 Aft y 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 

 '( , 52 ) 
 
 people of Spain are able to claim by 
 right fhall be allowed to them. But, 
 my Lord, though I think this to be 
 the moil indefenfible article, in that 
 or any other treaty, concluded at that 
 time ; yet I think, at prefent, the mean¬ 
 ing of is next to nothing, as it never was 
 heard, that the Guipufcoans, or any 
 other people of Spain, had been able to 
 make out this pretended unheard-of 
 claim. It is true, that the liberty of 
 filhing upon the banks of Newfound¬ 
 land would be a very pretty perquifite to 
 Spain, becaufe it would furnilh out all 
 the tables of that kingdom, for almoft 
 half the year; but it is as true, a claim 
 does not eftablhh a right ; and they 
 might, with equal juftice, have demand¬ 
 ed the arfenal of the tower of London to 
 be delivered up to them. 
 
 The next demand of the Spaniards, I 
 mean that for demolishing the Englifh 
 - fettlements in the bay of Honduras, is 
 equally unjuft and unreafonable ; unleis 
 
 v 
 
- ( 53 ) 
 
 they can prove, what they never have at¬ 
 tempted to do, the right of pre-occu¬ 
 pancy to be in their favour ; whereas, 
 we have proved it, as far as the nature 
 of the thing can admit of, to be in ours. 
 
 But, my Lord, all thofe claims of 
 the Spaniards are founded in the capital 
 maxims of their monarchy, which we 
 ought long ago to have difputed and 
 deftroyed. It is true, we entered into 
 the laft war with them entirely upon the 
 principle of our being exempted from all 
 kinds of fearch on the open feas ; but we 
 never have been able in exprefs terms to 
 obtain from them an acknowledgement 
 of that exemption. But, on a review of 
 of treaties, have we no other demands 
 upon Spain ; and, why ought we not to 
 enter our claims in return ? The exclufive 
 right of the Spaniards to the commerce 
 with their own fettlements in America is 
 by the eighth article of the treaty of 
 Utrecht eftablifhed by common confent 
 as a fundamental rule ; the fame article 
 
 provides 
 
I 
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 provides, “ That no licence fhall at any 
 time be given to the French, or any 
 other nations to introduce negroes, goods, 
 merchandize, or any things whatfoever, 
 into the Spanish American dominions.” 
 And, “ It is futher agreed, that none of 
 the Spanifh dominions in America fhall 
 ever be alienated from the crown of 
 Spain, to the French, or other nation.” 
 Have thofe flipulations been obferved by 
 Spain, or rather has floe not grofly vio- 
 
 ' * 1 v J 
 
 lated every one of them ? Do not the 
 French, at this very time, openly trade 
 to her American colonies j and has fhe 
 not put them in adtual poffeffion of one 
 half of the ifland of St. Domingo, by 
 which they have been enabled to infult 
 and diflrefs the Britifh navigation ? 
 
 I fhould be glad to know, why, during 
 the courfe of this ruinous war with 
 France, • our late minifter, who could 
 with fuch fpirit refent the delivery or a 
 filly ridiculous paper, did not talk with 
 the Spaniards concerning thofe monftrous 
 , violations 
 
 
• ( 55 ) 
 
 violations of treaties, in which this na¬ 
 tion is fo capitally interefted? Far from 
 that, we winked at them out of tender- 
 nefs to Spain, and we even boggled at 
 feizing French property, when bound 
 either to or from St. Domingo. What 
 is Fill more extraordinary and incredible 
 is, that, for many months paid, there 
 has not been a lingle memorial prefented 
 on our parts, complaining of thofe in¬ 
 fractions ; fo that, it is very poffible, the 
 court of Spain now conurues our ac- 
 quiefcence into a right to themfelves. 
 What conftrudtions can be put upon fuch 
 an acquiefcence, fo long continued with 
 our eyes open, and fo fuddenly interrupt¬ 
 ed, but that our minifter found it con¬ 
 venient for him to make that a pretext 
 for retiring from a poft he no longer 
 could hold with fafety ? To pretend, in 
 general terms, that Spain had already 
 done things that were prejudicial to 
 Great-Britain, was childifh and nugatory. 
 Why were not thofe things fpecified ? 
 
 - 5 > and. 
 

 ( 56 ) 
 
 1 «*■ 
 
 • r ? 5 \ 9 
 
 and, why did not our minifter manfully 
 
 * t i 
 
 fay, “I cannot,Iwill not, hold a place in 
 the government, fo long as Spain keeps 
 up pretenfions, and obferves a condudt, 
 inconfiftent with the faith of treaties ?‘* 
 Five hundred detentions, my Lord, fuch . 
 as that of the Antigallican privateer, and 
 a thoufand Spaniards failing under French 
 colours, were not of equal importance 
 with the explicit clearing up a fmgle right 
 that belongs to us by treaty. An apo¬ 
 logy for the forwardnefs of a governor j 
 a check given to a captain, or comman¬ 
 der j are looked upon amongll nations as 
 
 fufficient atonements for temporary of¬ 
 fences ; and, if our gazette does not mis¬ 
 inform us, fuch atonements have been 
 
 % 
 
 accepted of, and that too very lately. 
 But, my Lord, we have, upon record in 
 the Englilh hiftory, a precedent of one 
 of the greateffc men this nation ever pro¬ 
 duced, having loft his head upon a fcaf- 
 fold, for being guilty of what was con- 
 ftrued to be a violation of the treaties 
 
 , ’ 4 fubfihing 
 
 i 
 
I 
 
 ( . 57 ) 
 
 fubfifting between England and Spain ; 
 I mean Sir Walter Raleigh. I< am far 
 from vindicating the manner of his 
 death ; but I will venture to fay, that we 
 never can have a folid or a firm peace 
 with Spain, unlefs the principle upon 
 which it was effected is purfued. 
 
 The law of nations confiders the vio¬ 
 lator of a treaty in the fame light as the 
 Englifh law does the violator of an adt 
 of parliament; and the maxims of found 
 policy require that the one fhould be as 
 feverely punifhed as the other. If any 
 difference is made it ought to be in 
 favour of the criminal who is guilty of 
 a felony, which affedts only one or two 
 individuals, and not of the firebrands 
 
 • f . 
 
 who fet nations on flames. But, to con- 
 flitute an offence, there muff be a law; 
 and he who trangrefles no law cannot be 
 deemed an offender. That treaties are 
 laws, or ought to be laws, to the re- 
 ipedtive contradting parties, is without 
 all manner of doubt; but, my Lord, in- 
 
 I genuoufly 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 genuoufly and impartially Speaking, I 
 know not of a Angle treaty, now fub- 
 fifting between Spain and us, that the 
 fubjedts of Spain think themfelves bound 
 by, with regard to their and our Ame¬ 
 rican commerce, the capital point of con- 
 fequence between us. Can it be faid, 
 that the article of Uti UPoflidetis, which 
 is the third in the American treaty, is 
 binding upon Spain, while She infifts 
 upon our abandoning our logwood fettle- 
 men ts, which we were undeniably in 
 pofieflion of before that treaty was con¬ 
 cluded ? Can it be pretended, that we 
 have the fmalleft benefit from the article 
 Stipulating that we Shall have a free na¬ 
 vigation from one of our own colonies to 
 another, while the court of Spain has 
 never diredtly given up her claims of 
 fearching our fhips, and confifcating their 
 cargoes, upon the American feas, which 
 
 file, in fact, pretends to be all within her 
 
 * 
 
 dominions ?• What benefit can we reap 
 
 by the stipulation that provides for the 
 
 exclufion 
 
 i 
 
( .59 ) 
 
 exclufion of the French, and other na- 1 - 
 tions from trading with the Spanifh fet- 
 tlements in America, while the Spaniards 
 lay down as a principle, that they have 
 a right to break through thofe ftipula- 
 dions, and to give to the French there 
 what indulgences they fhall find proper ? 
 Has not both France and Spain of late 
 avowed that Great-Britain has no right 
 to interfere in any fuch indulgences ? 
 Have not even the Dutch* entered their 
 claims to a free navigation and com¬ 
 merce with the Spanifh and French 
 Weft-Indies, provided they can obtain 
 'licences from the courts of Madrid and 
 Verfailles for that purpofe ? 
 
 Thefe are points, my Lord, of too fe- 
 rious, too national, a concern, to be 
 blended with the cafe of any minifter, 
 not even of the great one who latelv re- 
 figned the feals of his office. They 
 ought to ftand on the footing of their 
 own importance, and on that only. Let 
 us, therefore, fuppofe all minifterial con- 
 
 I 2 fiderations 
 
/ 
 
 ( 6 o), 
 
 lideratlons to be out of the queftion. 
 But, how is Great Britain then to pro¬ 
 ceed ? My Lord, if it could have been 
 done with honour, and confidently with 
 her own fafety, fhe ought to have avoid¬ 
 ed going to war with Spain 3 but, as fhe 
 is driven to that difagreeable neceffity, 
 
 fhe ought never to put up the fword, 
 till lhe obliges Spain to a peace, which 
 may prevent her from ever being under 
 the neceffity of again drawing it, on ac¬ 
 count of her commerce, which is the 
 only account that can create any differ¬ 
 ence between the two nations. Since I 
 took the pen in my hand, a war with 
 Spain has been declared 3 but that de¬ 
 claration does not in the fmallefi: degree 
 operate towards my altering what I have 
 had the honour to lay before your lord- 
 fhip. It rather impels the expediency 
 both of blaming and bewailing the con¬ 
 duct, that rendered fuch a war a neceffa- 
 #■ ' ' r 
 
 ry meafure on the part of Great-Britain, 
 at fo critical a time. Had they, whom 
 
 b- , \ - the 
 
, ( 6 ' ) 
 
 the right honourable gentleman differed 
 
 with, been as lavifh of their appeals to 
 the world, or as forward in publifhing 
 them ; or had they thought that fuch 
 appeals were confiftent with their fer- 
 vices, as privy-counfellors to his majefty, 
 and the nation, a very different fcene, 
 long before this time, would have been 
 exhibited. The juncture, or to ufe the 
 modern term, the epoch is now elapfcd, 
 that rendered fuch a filence expedient in 
 point of decency, and neceffary in point 
 of duty. It would then have appeared 
 that fuch of his majefty’s fervants, as have 
 been branded for their tamenefs, I will 
 not fay by whom ; (for I cannot yet pre- 
 . vail with myfelf to believe the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman to be the author of 
 the letter publifhed under his name,) 
 becaufe they differed in opinion from 
 
 him and his brother, did not do it from 
 
 • ... 
 
 any over cautious difpolitions they want¬ 
 ed to entertain towards Spain, but as to 
 
 g 0 • 
 
 the manner in which thofe difpolitions 
 
 were 
 
( 6 * ) 
 
 were to be exprelfed. There was not at that 
 board a member, and I appeal to your lord- 
 fhip for the truth of what I fay, who dis¬ 
 covered the fmalleft hefitation as to de- 
 
 l 
 
 daring war, if the Spaniards Ihould infill 
 upon their iniquitous demands. It was a- 
 greed by all, that thofe demands gave too 
 propable an appearance of the existence 
 of a treaty to our prejudice between 
 France and Spain. That the declaiming 
 thofe terms was the llrongell proof that 
 
 fuch a treaty did not exiltj and that their 
 
 % 
 
 giving an equivocal anfwer to a formal 
 
 0 
 
 demand made by our miniller, as to the 
 reality of that treaty, was the fureft evi¬ 
 dence of their intending not only to in¬ 
 fill upon their demands, but to hurt us 
 in our moll important concerns ; and if 
 fuch was the cafe, it was unanimoully 
 agreed not to defer the declaration a 
 fingle moment. 
 
 The difference therefore, my Lord, 
 was, whether by our proceeding regular¬ 
 ly, we Ihould proceed the lefs rapidly ? 
 
 whether 
 
 I 
 
(- 63 ) 
 
 whether our conduct fhould be firm or 
 flafhy ? whether we fhould deprive Spain 
 of all pretences, as we now have done, of 
 appealing to the reft of the powers of 
 Europe, and of charging us with piracy, 
 and breach of faith j or leave her at li¬ 
 berty to make hers the common caufe of 
 every civilized nation, I had almoft faid of 
 ' humanity itfelf? 
 
 A war, a momentous war, is not to be 
 conducted as fome towns, my Lord, are 
 taken, by a coup de main. The laws 
 of nations have eftablifhed regular ap¬ 
 proaches, and the more regular they are 
 made, the fuccefs has always been found 
 the greater. Moderation is no enemy to 
 vigour, and fuaviter in modo,fortiter in re> 
 has always been an approved maxim, not 
 only by the ablefi: flatefmen, but the 
 greatefl generals. I do not mean by this, 
 to infinuate that we were to dally with 
 the Spaniards; but I think we are right 
 in rendering their condud inexcufable. 
 The people of Great Britain, my Lord, 
 
 think 
 
( H ) 
 
 * • ♦ <■ p •» 
 
 think more for themfelves than any peo¬ 
 ple in the word, perhaps, than all the 
 people in the world do ; and they have 
 a better right to do fo, becaufe they pay 
 dearer than any other people ever did, for 
 that ineftimable privilege. Our public 
 treaties with Spain give no countenance 
 to a coup de main war, and what muft 
 our public have thought, had the govern¬ 
 ment not only plunged them into fuch a 
 
 t m 
 
 war, but had negledted every previous 
 meafure that effablilhes the difference 
 between warrantable hoftilities and ille¬ 
 gal piracies ? Had fuch a war been enter¬ 
 ed into, and, as nothing is impoffible in 
 war, had its commencement been unfuc- 
 cefsful on our part, would the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman and his brother have 
 
 • 4 I 
 
 llepped forth and faid to the people and 
 parliament of Great Britain, “We alone 
 are to blame, our credit carried at the 
 
 C- 1 B-d the manner of making 
 
 this war, in oppolition to the fentiments 
 
 of his majedy, and the fenfe of his mini- 
 • ' -> ftr y ?” 
 
' ( **5 ) 
 
 _ a 
 
 ftry ? I fay, my Lord, is it confident with 
 common fenfe, to fuppofe that they would 
 have made fuch a declaration ? On the 
 other hand, what a pitiful figure mull; the 
 reft of his majefty’s fervants have made 
 in vindicating themfelves; if all they 
 could alledge in-their own defence was, 
 that fifty or fixty of them were over-rul¬ 
 ed by two of their own number ? And 
 yet had they not made that defence, the 
 indignation, and perhaps the vengeance, 
 of the public muft have fallen equally on 
 the whole board, as was in a great mea- 
 fure the cafe with thofe who acquifced in 
 the partition-treaty, and thofe who went 
 with the majority, even of parliament, in 
 
 that of Utrecht. • • 
 
 But, my Lord, how did the cafe actu¬ 
 ally ftand between the right honourable 
 gentleman and his opponents ? He had 
 guided the affairs of the nation near fix 
 years. Was his quarrel with Spain a 
 fudden eruption, like thofe of AStna or 
 Vefuvius? Was it but of yefterday’s Hand¬ 
 ing ? Then, undoubtedly, there was the 
 
 K ' more 
 
( 66 ) 
 
 more reafon for caution and regularity on 
 our part; becaufe, whatever we may ima¬ 
 gine, a rupture with Spain is not fo de- 
 firable an event at prefent, as the right 
 honourable gentleman and his friends 
 want to reprefent it. If, as I believe, it 
 really was the cafe, Spain has been hoard¬ 
 ing up her wrath, and laying up her ma¬ 
 terials for war, during all the time of the 
 right honourable gentleman’s adminiflra- 
 tion? why did he not, four years ago, 
 take the refolution that he has put in 
 pra&ice within thefe four months ? It is 
 no fecret to the public, that the nature 
 of his department, in the adminiff ration, 
 made him the only minifler who was in 
 poffeffion of all the fecrets of our affairs 
 with Spain. What adds to the misfor¬ 
 tune of the public is, that no council 
 
 x 0 
 
 under that of the great council of the na¬ 
 tion, had a right, without his majeffy’s or¬ 
 der, to demand thofe fecrets from him. 
 Therefore, tho’ a fecretary of ffate, if like 
 the right honourable gentleman, he is a 
 
 firfl minifler, after he lays an event, a 
 
 tran- 
 
V (■>7 ) . 
 
 tranfadtion, or a meafure before the C—1 
 B—d, has no more vote than any other 
 member there, as to this decifion, yet he 
 has it in his own bread, without an ab- 
 folute command from his majedy to the 
 contrary, whether he fhall, or fhall not, 
 fubmit the matter to their judgment. 
 And this, my Lord, brings me to a period 
 very iimilar to the prefent. 
 
 Four and twenty years ago we had a 
 fil'd minider, who, though no fecretary of 
 date, podeffed an abfolute and uncon- 
 troulable power in the government. This 
 fird minider’s plan of government, my 
 Lord, was as pacific as that of his fuccef- 
 for was warlike, and yet both purfiued 
 their ends in the fame manner. Sir R. 
 W. correfponded perfonally with our 
 ambaifador at Spain, who, to our misfor¬ 
 tune, was a very weak minider, and kept 
 not only the parliament, but the council 
 board, in the dark, as to all the fhocking 
 things the Spaniards were carrying on to 
 our prejudice, becaufe he knew if they 
 
 were known here, he could not prevent 
 
 K 2 a 
 
( 68 ) 
 
 a war. My Lord, I fhould be forry if 
 any of his fucceffors in miniderial power, 
 have rendered our tranfa&ions with Spain 
 equally impenetrable, in order to prevent 
 a peace. It happened, however, that 
 Geraldino, the Spanifh minider here, took 
 all opportunities of declaring that Sir R. 
 W. was impoling upon the public, and 
 that his mailer had no fuch pacific inten¬ 
 tions. The nation believed Geraldino 
 focner than they did Sir R. W. and at 
 lait he was driven into a war, by which 
 he loll his pod and his power, but gain¬ 
 ed a penfion, and a title in his family. 
 
 Tho’, for very different purpofes, the 
 like condudl feems lately to have been 
 purfued, I will venture to fay, neither 
 the public, nor the parliament, nor even 
 the reft of the king’s fervants, till the 
 difeafe was pafc remedy, received that in¬ 
 formation concerning our differences 
 with Spain, as could enlighten and enable 
 them to proceed in a path, which might 
 have led to the end of thofe differences j 
 
 which was far from being impra&icable, 
 
 had 
 
( 69 ) 
 
 had the matter been taken up in time. 
 The cry of No fearch, which the nation 
 adopted at the beginning of the laft war 
 with Spain, was a ftrong ftubborn prin¬ 
 ciple, and obftinately difputed on both 
 fides; and yet, though the Spaniards 
 never could be brought formally and 
 lincerely to give up the point, it has 
 fcarcely ever been mentioned lince the 
 peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. The demand 
 of fatisfadlion for captures of Spanifli 
 flrips is childifh and trifling, becaufe it is 
 well known, that it does not depend 
 upon his majefty or our court; for, if 
 fuch fatisfadlion is due, it muft be ob- 
 tained in a legal regular method, which 
 is open to the Spaniards, as well as all 
 the other nations of Europe. The very 
 mention of their demand for liberty to 
 fifh on the banks of Newfoundland is 
 ridiculous, and proves them not to have 
 been fincere in making it. The difpute 
 about the logwood trade has fubfifted 
 thefe two hundred years ; and, though 
 
 I am far from faying, that a Britifli mi- 
 
 nifter 
 
( 7° ) 
 
 * « » 
 
 niller could give up our rights in the bay 
 of Honduras, yet I cannot think it ought 
 to have been beneath the attention of any 
 • minifter to have entered upon a negotia- 
 
 % ' f* • 
 
 tion for regulating that trade. 
 
 O O 
 
 Now, my Lord, I rnuft be free enough 
 to fay, that I think two periods exiftea, 
 during the right honourable gentleman’s 
 adminiftration, of very different natures. 
 
 * ^ *• *s f* • 
 
 The firfl was, when they would, and we 
 would not. The fecond, when we would, 
 and they would not. They would have 
 
 compromifed all differences with us, be- 
 
 » • 
 
 fore his catholic majefty’s acceffion to 
 
 that crown, when his predeceffor and his 
 
 • ■* / 
 
 miniftry were well inclined to England j 
 when the ill ftate of th*eir king’s health 
 enfeebled their government j when we 
 
 were fifty millions lefs in debt than we 
 are at prefent ; when the affairs of our 
 great ally on the continent wore a pro- 
 mifing afpedt ; and when our fucceffes 
 muflhave daunted any other nation from 
 
 J 
 
 embracing their caufe, or abetting their 
 
 iryuffice. 
 
 + . 
 
 It 
 
( 7i ) 
 
 It is plain the alteration of the filia¬ 
 tions has altered their conduct ; they, 
 and all Europe, believe that if England 
 fhould continue the war for a few years, 
 fhe muft run into an inevitable national 
 bankruptcy. They are convinced, at the 
 fame time, that his Pruflian majefty, in 
 the vineyard of whofe caufe we have fo 
 faithfully laboured, totters on the brink 
 of perdition. They know that France, 
 far from being in the defperate flate that 
 flte has been reprefented in, by the right 
 honourable gentleman and his friends, 
 is through the plenty of the feafons, and 
 
 the loyalty of her fubjedts, who are more 
 difgufted with the haughtinefs of our 
 minifler’s perfonal behaviour than with 
 the fteadinefs of his political conduct, is 
 at this very time, in a better condition 
 to continue the war, than fhe has been 
 any time within thefe two years pail. 
 Spain has a formidable army, and a re- 
 fpedtable navy. Though France did un¬ 
 doubtedly make a moil unnatural con¬ 
 junction with the court of Vienna, yet 
 • flie 
 
( - 7 2 ) 
 
 flie has gained one great point by it, 
 which is, that by introducing the Ruf¬ 
 fians into the empire, fhe has obtained a 
 powerful check upon the court of Vienna 
 and the Germanic empire, if fhe fhould 
 again break with the houfe of Auftria, 
 an event, which is perhaps not fo dis¬ 
 tant as fome may imagine ; for it muft 
 take place the moment the king of 
 Pruffia is flript of Silefia. I could per¬ 
 haps mention fome matters of a more 
 domeflic concern, which would heighten 
 
 this pidture. 
 
 0 
 
 Our commercial concerns with Portu¬ 
 gal, next to thofe with our own colonies, 
 are undoubtedly the molt confiderable we 
 have; in what a condition, my Lord, 
 mufl they be, if that prince fhould have 
 no alternative but that of oppofing in the 
 field an army of 30,000 Spaniards, or 
 taking fhelter under the cannon of our 
 fhips. It is certain, that his frontiers are 
 unprovided for refiflance; that he has 
 not in all Portugal 15,000 troops j that 
 the afFedtion of his fubiedts, through the 
 
 feve- 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 A /' %. 
 
 feverity, if not barbarity, of his minifters, 
 are mod miferably alienated from his 
 government j and that Spain has a power¬ 
 ful party in the very heart of his capital. 
 
 Such being the cafe, what a comforta¬ 
 ble profped: have we on that fide, when 
 inftead of receiving from Portugal a mil¬ 
 lion yearly on the balance of our trade, 
 we may expedt that trade to be in the 
 hands of our enemies, and England once 
 more giving refuge to an exiled king of 
 Portugal ? It is true, that during the late 
 war, the crown of Portugal remained 
 neutral, and our trade to it ftill continu¬ 
 ed j but what, my Lord, was that ow¬ 
 ing to, but to the ambition of the queen- 
 mother of Spain, who no longer governs 
 there ? The Italian war; bv which fhe 
 
 J 
 
 obtained a kingdom for one of her fons, 
 and a dutchy for another, and during the 
 continuance of that war, from firfttolaft, 
 it cofl Spain above 150,000 lives, befides 
 mod immenfe treafures. But to clofe this 
 uncomfortable profpedt, we are to remem¬ 
 ber that it is polTible, at this very time, 
 
 L . the 
 
 1 
 
( 74 ) 
 
 the^ifland of Minorca, which gave us 
 fuch decifive advantages in our differences 
 
 with that crown, is again in the hands of 
 
 € 
 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 Now, my Lord, though I am far from 
 infinuating that thofe are confiderations 
 which ought to operate at prefent, yet 
 they ought certainly to have operated be- 
 
 * \ I • 
 
 fore matters were reduced to extremities; 
 in which cafe we could eafily have cooled 
 the courage of our new enemies. To 
 mention but one particular; why were 
 not the grievances we fuffered from Spain, 
 and which are mentioned by the right 
 honourable gentleman, in his famous 
 letter, as the caufe of his refignation be- 
 caufe they were not refented, laid before 
 the parliament and the public, that we 
 might have obtained a categorical anfwer 
 before the arrival of her treafures from 
 America ? I believe it would puzzle the 
 
 j L, . ' . . j j i *» r . , 
 
 right honourable gentleman and his friends, 
 to give a tolerable reafon for thisomifiion. 
 I know they fay, that, the icafon why 
 Mr. P. refigned is juftihed by our declar- 
 
« 
 
 I 
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 ing war with Spain ; but that is faying 
 nothing at all, unlefs he can prove that 
 he again and again endeavoured to make 
 his late and his prefent majefty, theirpar- 
 liament, and their council, fenfiblc that 
 a war with Spain, was inevitable, unlefs 
 we could reduce her to juftice and mode- 
 ration. It is evident that till within at 
 moft two months before the right ho¬ 
 nourable gentleman’s refignation, the ne- 
 ceffity of a rupture with Spain never was 
 dreamed of, by the people or parliament 
 of England, or, I believe known to any 
 Britilh fubjedt, but the right honourable 
 gentleman himfelf. > . • , 
 
 The next confideration, my Lord, that 
 mud affedt a Britith fubjedt, upon the ap¬ 
 proaching rupture, is the cafe of the Dutch. 
 Their barrier may be faid to be now no 
 more. Little of her marine power re¬ 
 mains ; and if France, aflifted by Spain, 
 fhould demand their abandoning their 
 neutrality, what can they do ? I know 
 what they ought to do, and what perhaps 
 would be the wifeft thing they could do, 
 
 L 2 
 
 to 
 
( 7 6 ) 
 
 to join themfelves to Great Britain with 
 ipirit and vigour. But have we any reafon 
 to believe from the temper and difpoli- 
 tions of the prefent governing party in 
 Holland, that that will be the cafe ? I am 
 afraid not. I am far from being under any 
 great alarms as to the prejudice, which 
 the power of Holland by fea and land, 
 
 i 4 • 
 
 could do us, even if ihe fhould declare 
 
 f / 
 
 againft us. But what tmift be the confe- 
 quence to our public credit, upon which, 
 I may fay the exiftence of this nation de- 
 
 T * . 
 
 pends ? Could it fupport theDutch with- 
 
 * , 
 
 drawing from it, all that they have in 
 our funds ? Could it withstand the thockit 
 
 <. * * * c * 
 
 muft receive from the ftagnation of all 
 
 commercial intercourfe between the fub- 
 
 , . • . • * . * . 
 
 jedts of Great-Britain and Holland. 
 
 *. v • • • 
 
 In fhort, my Lord, I am one of the 
 
 very few, who think that the Dutch 
 
 \ - * ' 
 
 being forced to declare againft us, would, 
 tho’ they never (hould ftrike a ftroke, be 
 the moft fatal event that could happen 
 to this kingdom, the French having fo 
 eafy an accefs as they have to their coun¬ 
 try. 
 
 , * 
 
( 77 ) 
 
 try. It is therefore, my Lord, natural to 
 enquire, whether the right honourable' 
 gentleman, during his adminiftration,had 
 it in his power to have finifhed one war 
 for us before we were plunged into an¬ 
 other. It is certain that the count de 
 Fuentes, during the negotiation, afferted 
 that he had. In the note delivered by 
 him to Mr. P. No. 24, of the Hiftorical 
 Memorial, he fays, that, “ His Catholic 
 majefty will always be pleafed, whenever 
 he fees that they make that progrefs, 
 which he has ever defired, in the nego¬ 
 tiation of peace ? whether it be feparate 
 between France and England, or general; 
 as his fincere wifhes are to make it per¬ 
 petual, by obviating every fource which 
 might hereafter, unhappily, renew the 
 war.” In the memorial the fame mini- 
 fter left behind him, when he left Eng¬ 
 land, he is ftill more explicit; for he 
 there fays, that, “ His Catholic majefty 
 wrote to his coufin, the moft Chriftian 
 king, that fince the junction of the affairs 
 
 of Spain obftruded in England the in¬ 
 tended 
 
( 7 8 ) 
 
 tended peace, he would rather abandon the 
 fame, than lay the leaf): obstacle thereto.” 
 
 Now, my Lord, fuppoling thofe fads 
 
 • • * ■ • - 
 
 to be true, and they have never yet 
 been contradided, was it worth our ' 
 while, for the fake of thofe few unim¬ 
 portant points, or rather pundilios, that 
 broke off the treaty between us and 
 France, not only to continue our war 
 with her, but to enter into a new one 
 with Spain, who comes, as we may fay, 
 frefh and failing, into the field ; nitidus 
 
 • - , * • % l 
 
 ctqiie inun&us in arenam defcendit. Franee, 
 my Lord, can do a great deal with Spain. 
 Spain can do very little without France. 
 
 It may be faid, that fuppofing we had 
 
 made a peace with France, the Spanifh 
 
 » * » * - 
 
 claims fiill lay over our heads, and that 
 they were flill unrelinquifhed by her. 
 There let them lie; fo long as fhe was 
 detached from France, we had nothing 
 to fear from them. But I forefee, I may 
 be called upon, to reconcile the dodrine 
 I have here laid down, of the firft letter 
 
 I had the honour to addrefs to your lord- 
 
 fhip. 
 
 i 
 
( 79 ) 
 
 {hip, with what I have faid above. I 
 have there (page 57, et feq.) faid, “ that 
 the Spaniards, in a war with England, 
 had every thing to fear, and nothing to 
 hope for; and that England could main¬ 
 tain a war againfl both the crowns, with 
 as little expence as fhe is at with one.’' 
 
 5-., . , *o » 
 
 My Lord, 1 am flill of that opinion, if we 
 Amply con fide r the operations of the war; 
 but the confequences of it give it a very 
 different complexion. 
 
 I am proud, my Lord, before I clofe 
 this letter, to refled: that I have the ho¬ 
 nour of being countenanced in all it con¬ 
 tents, by no lefs than royal authority. His 
 majefty’s declaration of war againfl: Spain, 
 
 « » + 4 * J « , . 
 
 confirms every word I have advanced, 
 with regard to the merits of the right 
 honourable gentleman, in abdicating his 
 port; becaufe we did not proceed in a 
 manner that is thought barbarous 
 
 amongft barbarians. A word and a 
 blow is the defcription of impatient re- 
 fentment; but his impatience was fuch, 
 
 that the word was to be emitted, and the 
 
 2 blow 
 
( 8o ) 
 
 blow to take dace: a condudl which hii 
 
 JL 
 
 majefty tells us, he was bound in juftice 
 and prudence to forbear, elpecially as the 
 profound diffimulation of the Spamfh 
 court, and the declarations of their mi- 
 nifters, prefented no handle for coming 
 to extremities. As matters have turned 
 out, Spain, in fact, is the party who has 
 firft declared war, upon the falfe and 
 
 foolilh pretence that war was declared by 
 the fair and friendly application of our 
 minifters, to know the truth of a pre¬ 
 vailing report. The right honourable 
 gentleman’s friends may now fet their 
 wits to tvork, in comparing his conduct 
 with that of his majefty, and the reft of 
 the council. Let them prove that a 
 lingle moment has been loft, except that 
 which was due to thofe forms that are fo 
 indifpenfible amongft nations, that they 
 are thought to be indifpenfible to juftice. 
 
 I have the honour to be. 
 
 Your Lordlhip’s moft obedient 
 humble Servant, 
 
 F I N I S. 
 
5 ft? be continued, a Volume a Month , till the Whole is finiftjcd, 
 
 9 
 
 On the Firft of FEBRU ARY, 1762, will be publifhed, 
 (Price Two Shillings and Sixpence fewed, or Three Shillings bound) 
 The Whole to be comprized in Seven Volumes, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Embellished with a Head of the Author, 
 
 Of a New and Eleeant Edition of 
 
 * . 
 
 * 0 
 
 . ’ . THE 
 
 H I S T O R Y 
 
 O F 
 
 Sir CHARLES GRANDISON; 
 
 I N A 
 
 SERIES OF LETTERS. 
 
 0 4 1 . 
 
 By Mr. S. R I C H A R D S O N, 
 
 % 
 
 Author of PAMELA and CLARISSA. 
 
 M., .LONDON: 
 
 Printed by Aflignment from the Executors of Mr. Richardson, 
 for J. Riv incton, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard ; C. Hitch and 
 L. Hawes, J. Richardson, R. Baldwin, S. Crowder 
 and Co. and J. Coote, in Pater-Nofter-Row. 
 
 «OOGeO9OeO8C50O5O0C>^)eO9O0O8O0GeOeGOOeO5C5eOeOsOOCie:5fiO 
 
 To the PUBLIC. 
 
 N O apology can be wanting forufhering into the world a new and 
 elegant edition of the History of Sir Charles Grandison, 
 a work which has received that approbation it juftly deferves, from the 
 rnoft celebrated authors. Many great and learned men have given 
 .public teftimony to its merit, but from thefe wc (hall only feleft a lew. 
 
The Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton, in his Dialogues of the Dead, p. 
 318, fays 44 In the character of Sir Charles Grandifon is a noble 
 “ pattern of every private virtue, with fentiments fo exalted as to ren- 
 “ der him equal to every public duty.” 
 
 Mr. Johnfon, author of the Rambler, fpeaks of Mr. Richardfon in 
 the following manner, 44 He has enlarged the knowledge of human 
 <4 nature, and taught the paftions to move at the command of virtue.’* 
 
 See N°. 97 of the Rambler. 
 
 Mr. Warton has the following remarkable pallage, relative to a cha¬ 
 racter in Sir Charles Grandifon, 44 Of all reprefentations of madnefs, 
 44 that of Clementina, in the Hiftory of Sir Charles Grandifon, is the 
 44 moil: deeply interefting. I know not whether even the madnefs of 
 * Lear is wrought up, and expreffed, by fo many little ftrokes of na- 
 <c ture and genuine paifion. It is abfolute pedantry to prefer and 
 44 compare the madnefs of Oreftes in Euripides, to this of Clemen- 
 44 tina.” Warton’s Effay on the Writings and Genius of Pope, p. 276* 
 
 The reputation of the author of Sir Charles Grandifon is far from 
 being confined to his own country ; he has been read in many of the 
 languages, and known to moft of the nations of Europe ; and has 
 been greatly admired, notwithftanding every diflimilitude of manners, 
 or every difadvantage of tranflation. Several writers abroad, where' 
 no prepoffeffion in his favour could pollibly take place, have expreffed 
 the hicrh fenfe which thev entertained of the merit of his works. Di- 
 derot, one of the prefent moft celebrated French authors, fpeaking of 
 the means employed to move the paffions, in the 96th page of his 
 effay on dramatic poetry, mentions Richardfon particularly as a per¬ 
 fect matter of that art: 44 How ftrong,” fays he, 44 how fenfible, how 
 44 pathetic his deftriptions ! his perlonages, though filcnt, are alive 
 44 before me; and of thofe who fpeak, the aCtions are ftill more af- 
 44 feCting than the words.” The famous Rouffban of Geneva, fpeak- 
 ing, in his letter to Monfieur d’Alembert, of Mr. Richardibn’s novels, 
 afferts, 44 that nothing v/as ever written equal, or even approaching to 
 44 them, in any language.” 
 
 We could almoft fill a volume with commendations of this work 
 from different authors, but the great names abovementioncd are fully 
 fnfftcient, werr any recommendation wanting, to entitle it to the public 
 favour.