IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A^ , '., oeOne F;: andSii-. ■'■'■i-V. V- "?, fi-^ ■;.^1 ■'' '.V'W.i'i ?**'■ , . ;-^^ ,.,. / l^. / •'^wvwmi^' ^swr'"' '- r^^ ''^v f^Vj 1-. Jf »._* »- -.. > > I .•«ijiH:--i^«?-»ii^r «i««- v» ,..■..-•, 1 «TJH t*. •*• .^ HU i lM l* i l fc—ltl—tMl IMPARTIAt REFLECTIONS UPONTHE Prefent State of Affairs, WITH INCIDENTAL REMARKS • UPON Certain Recent Transactions. In a LETTER to a FRIEND. i i Read Pamphlets with Sufpicion ; negleft all Declamation ; weigh the Reafoning ; and advert to Fa£ls. BOLINOBROKE. 1 ■A LONDON: Printed for J. COOTE, at the King's Arms, in Patcr-Nofter-Row. Mdcclxi. ■' Vii ■ .m h kiijte.. '^.i^-i - fMihi, • « J I l-- . J f f I I . t i n bf^l v.» H . i-laiio rSaffirnmiMw 1 iwii Hi IMPARTIAL REFLECTIONS, &c. -J •A IT IS, Sir, to your candor that I fub- mit the following juftification of the opinion of numbers befides myfelf, upon the public affairs j a juftification which is, ift fome meafure, extorted by the appellation of fool or knave, fo po- litely bellowed on all who prefume to rc- fufe their admiration to the great man, or to his political conducft, to his invincible conftancy, and even to his profound dif- intereftednefs. All I in treat of you, if you deign to afford the following (heets a perufal, is a fufpenfion of prejudice ; im- partiality is what a reader owes, at lead, to himfelf, as much as a writer owes it to both the reader and himfelf. That vul- B gar ( 2 ) gar pafHon of a pre-determination againfl: a juft convidtion, is not furely the cha- raderidic of a lover of reafon and truth : and fuch I take it for granted you are, or the addrefling my fentiments to you would be labor knowingly loft. At the fame time I aiii^ fo far from deprecating your fcorn and indignation,'.fliould you have juft caufe to think that I am defignedly employing thoie iacred names of reafon and truth for covers to fophiftry ahd falie* hood, that in that cafe I befpeak their falling on me with redoubled weight. - And now, without farther preface, al- low me to lead you back to that cele- brated, or, to exprefs myfelf with more propriety, to that infamous epoch, when it was impoflible to defpife mere than it deferved, the imbecillity of a mini- ftry, and the confequent damage and dif- honor to the nation from the faint, un- adequate manner, in which our war was coridudled : when to point our the utter- mort bathos into which we were funk, it may fuffize to obferve that an ifland, I re- peat it, an ifland, belonging to ufe a ma- ritime power, indifputably fuperior in na- val ftrength as well as in many others to our enemy, was (hamefully loft, after fuch a precedent (3.) a precedent manifeflation of preparatives and menaces from that enemy, as aggra- vated, beyond meafure, the infamy of our lofs. It was then, no wonder, that the na- tion alarmed in good earned, at fo (hock- ing an event, fhould look out for fome defenders of its deferted or betrayed in- tered. In this impatience, it was natu- ral, though perhaps not quite fo wife, to take the readieil. i There was then a man who had once before made a figure in the oppoiition to court-meafures, which oppofition he h^d quitted for that valuable conlideration» called a pod, and quitted it with fuch a quicknefs of turn and converfion, as not to keep the meafures of common decency either with the public, or with himfelf, after which he for a number of years ran as tame and mute along with the mini- fterial pack, as the moft thoroughly broke of them all, however Jirange he might always look upon them. Upon this oc- cafion, however of the national diftrefs, nothing could be eafier than to forefee that the a(f^tual management of things could not long hold out againft the cla- B 2 mors ( 4 ) mors of a people roufed, cxafpcratedt and never famous for their tame endu- rance of palpable mifmanagement. Nei- ther did it require any very deep reach of policy to imagine that a (how. of concern for the public good, might advance a private intereft, by the ac(^uifition of popularity. As to ;any obje^ion to a pcrfon re" afluming the part of a patriot, after hav" ing before deferted it, you will fee by th^ fubjoined note * that it has been long a 'y fettled It t( <( « << <( << «< t< 4< «i <( C< <( tt «< <« • " Whoever is but qualified with impudence enough to back his ignoranctf and enable him to become a SMALL orator, he prefently expefts his retaining fee, and //// he has retcived it, is implacable. As foon as he has it, like a regenerate man, his eyes are opened pre- fently, and he puts off the old man. and has Nf w thoughts, and opinions and judgments, as if he had lived before in error and darknefs all his life-time. Of thefe there are not more at a time than a dozen or twenty at moft who govern all the reft of the houfe by com- bining together and feconding one another, and ftudy- ing every man his part. By which artt they ca^ eafily prevail upon the greater number of the houfe, who only come as fpe&ators, not to ail but look on, and cry up or down all that they fee others do, whom they have chofen for their proxies. And as thefe grandevs as they call t)iem, are taken off with bribes or preferment, others Jlart up in their room, and keep the party on foot, who, if there was nothing to be got by it, would give it over themfclves. But wjiep tl|is kind of juggling js rendered the readiejt way to ♦• advancement. •■t. I 9 ( s ) fettled point in this country, that a pa- triot is entitled to the privilege of a Turk- i{h fanton or deroifch, who, when ar- rived to a certain degree of perfection, can no longer Jin : nay the moft flagrant enormities are imputed to him as right- eoufnefs. And indeed, it has been evi- dently proved that modern patriotifm has in this the advantage of thofe (laic tricks of pricking in the belt or guinea-drop- ping, that whereas thefe will ftill hardly *< advancement, and that nothing is more common than <' to fee thofe who have done their exercifes heft in thoft «' liberal arts \\\ the houfe of commons, to be always ** promoted to the houfe of lords, there will never *• want profcienls, and thofe of the ivorft men ; while *' princes reiuard thofe beft ivho fer've them luorjiy and truft *« none with the grcateft charges of the nation, but *• only fuch as have forced their way by oppofmg the ** intereft f of king and people, that can give no fecu- •* rity for ihtxv faith and integrity, but the perfidious- ** NESS of thofe courfes which they took befire to put •' themfelves into a capacity of preferment. And this *' indeed has for fome years been reputed the Test of " mens parts and abilities, by which they only can de- »* ferve to be either trufted ox employed ; as if treach- •• ERY was like the small-pox, which every man is tp M.expeft one time or other, and thofe who have had it «• are FREE for ever after." Butler's J^^m^iw. N.B. f How much more foul is the cafe where the pppofition by which a man forces his way into power, and delerts that oppofition afterwards, has been not to Jhe intereft of king and country, but in favor of it ? pafs ( 6 ) pafs ^wicc on the verieft countryr boobies that have been once taken in by them, and efpecially if pradifed by the fame lharper, there are numbers that the of- tener they have been bit by a mock-pa- trjot, feem but the keener for being bub- bled again, by him. The great man then who, to do him but jufticc, appears to have taken pretty right mcafure of the ** credulity'* of thofe he had to deal with, once more Aood forth, and once more donning the patriot buikins, rent the roof with rants againft the ruinous tendency to both king and country, of fuch meafures as linked us too clofely to the continent, or could occafion the facrifice of Britifh treafure and blood to foreign interefts. This was a fubjedt upon which there could be no hyperbole, no oratorial exageratiqn'. The moftbold figures of fpeech were eveu beneath reality. That this fpeech-raaker then could perfuadc, others of fo fclf-evi- dent a truth, as that of the deftru^ivenef? of continental meafures, is not the wonder. The wonder is that any Briton, in a point of fuch intuitive clearnefs, ftiould need any perfuafion at all But the much greater wonder ( 7 ) Wonder yet was that the very individual identical man, who, in the memory of numbers prefent, had bat a few years be- fore with all the powers of a kind of bow- wow eloquence barked himfelf into a place, by railing againft continental con- nexions, fhould not only be liftened to with common patience, (hould not only procure admirers fand adherents, but even out«- brazen his colleagues of that old fadtion or leaven, who, had they had nothing to re- proach to him, but his ever having ac- cepted a confideration for joining them at all, would have had enough to have filen- ced one of a lefs unembarafTed counte- nance. The noife however that he made within doors foon got without, and had even a greater efFeo- mentary occalion might have changed the permanent fiftem of thofe courts, in ref- pe(fl to each other, and change it, perhaps, greatly, through our own fault and im- policy. In this aukward (ituation were, tho members of that blefledold fa the greater madnefs, for ( 11 ) for that fome of them had a large Aake in it; xhtfecond, that their plan of em- ploying fuch a tpol is not abfolutely a new one, as the fubjoined note will {hew, on the fubjedt of princes having unnational points to carry*. This untriumphable point then they carried: and as, for their own ends and fpecial purpofes, that peribn could hardfy have too much popularity, while he fhould continue to do that work they wanted him to do, and which they had neither fpirit nor influence enough to dare to take upon themfelves, it was no wonder that all their «( 4( •« «( tt «* «( (( « (( CC f* «C «< " * Findinf that other men of fortune and figure would TZi\itveb/iru3t\\An promote their intentions, they thought it more conducive to their ends, to be ferved by another fort of people, and did therefore bring into the inanage- ment of their affairs all along, a fet of minifters, toeiik, ambitious, light, dijtgning, rajh, unfiilful in the arts of Wise adminiftration, and 'vtrfed in nothing but craft And tricks I but at the hend of thefe they had always fome one that was to be the Forlorn hops, and who would venture to go greater lbkgths than any of his companions. And for this peft, they generally chbfe a PUSHING MAN, of a bold fpirit, a ready wit, zfittnt tongue, obfcure, and low in the world, and fuch an one whom fortune conld hardly leave in a worfe condiAn than Ibe found him." * Dav.'0/> Private Metfs Duty in the Jdminijixa- tion of Public Affairs, C 2 little / 'll 1 iv J! i. f I ■:( «2 ) little creatures of power fhould take the cue from their patrons, and join to fill up that public cry, by which the virtues of the great patriot were fo loudly extolled. One would however .naturally enough have imagined that a man with any head at all, mud have miftrufted, at lead, t/ietr applaufe, confidering the quarter from which it came, He might have juftly .doubted of his being in the right way, if for no other reafon, than his being ap- proved 'by them ; approved by thofe \yhom he had either greatly wronged by railing at and affecting to defpife them; or they muft have undergone an inilantaneous change or regeneration, for him to fet any great value on their approbation, and ef- pecially for him to adopt thofe meafures which himfclf had treated as crimes in them, but were now miraculoufly to b.e- come a£ls of virtue and patriotifm in him. And this is what the poor deluded people applauded under the fpecious name of Una- nimity! Alas! little did they confider, t^iat where one's enemies are at variance, there may be fome hope ; but that their unanimity mud be an incrcafe of danger. And in what had certain perfonages ever giv^n proofs of thpir having ceafed to be, what ( '3 ) wliat the people had always thought them, at leafl: in their politics and condud:, the enemies of this country? Or could he be the friend of it who joining them, went fo far beyond them in the purfuit of thofe very meafures, which even they durft not attempt J while their difpofition to attempt them, was what he had fpecifically de- claimed againft in them, as an unccntcd- able mark of their enmity to this country ? To thofe however to whom this great man could hardly be a problem, after their having confidered his firft defertion on the acceptance of a place, with fuch a fud- dennefs and fcorn of keeping meafures with common decency and common po- licy, as every one may remember, it could be little or no furprize to fee him give the public a fecond proof of what he was ca- pable of. And to fay but the truth, the public deferved it : the firft deception of their confidence was undoubtedly his fault, biit the fecond theirs: excufable , however in this, that no one elfe prefent- ing themfelves to the fervice of their country, they thought him perhaps better thjin none : perhaps too they imagined that it was not poflible for a human creature . .--.'.•;, .:., :tO '{ ( 14 ) to repay fb unmerited a confidence with another -defertion^ R . II 11 ll To whom is it unknown, how, after his acceptance of his poft he behaved, iti confequenceof thathis deteflation of con- tinental connedtions to which he fo pal- pably owed all his popularity and confe- lequence ? A popularity and confequence that did not howevc fail him, even after he had juftly forfeited them, but were continued to him on account of certain events .during his adminiilration, which had a falfe air of fucceffes, and were af- cribed to him, who had little or more hand in them than the not having hindered them, and whofe fault it will perhaps be found, when too late, that they were not Juccejfes indeed; whereas reding as they jioiv do, upon fo falfe a bo'ttom, as that of our double war, they are only proofs of the excellence of a naval fyftem of ope- rations : while even our vi<5tories on the cbntinent could produce us nothing, but the prolongation of a ruinous war upon it, without the poflible obtainment of one valuable end, or even of honor by courage fo miferably thrown away on the execution of the plans of ignorance and falfe policy, in the abettorfhip of a caufe branded by pub- 'i "J. ■'€" :,«,;• ( «5 ) public judicial decrees, with the odious ap- pellations of contumacy and rebellion. Alasl from that fatal epoch, in which there appears no reafon on earth for our going fuch lengths in efpoufing the Pruf^ ' fian caufe, except its ferving for a pretext to get the German troops o.ice more rc- inftated (lipendaries to us under the more dignified name of allies, we might have mifcarrriages> we might have unfavorable accidents, but nothing could, properly fpeaking, give us fucceffes. The inocula- ting us that difeafed branch of a continen- tal quarrel could at the bed: produce a Vain fhew of bloflbms, but never fruiL What we C2\\fucceffes are, not improbably, worle than adual difadvantages, which might perhaps have let us fee that precipice of which thofefucceffes were but the flowers that covered the b>irik from our light. A mock-flatefman as incapable as the loweft of the populace, of farther views than the parade or ila(h of the moment, might indeed, in his falfe eflimate of things, think he was giving wondrous proof of his abilities, in planning expeditions^ the meafures for fome of which were taken fb (hort, that nothing but iuper-human Bri- tifli i i ( '6 ) tifh valor , could have fupplcmented the blundering deficiency, and others were as infallible as they were obvious, from their being in our natural naval channel. But to thofe who looked a little deeper than the mere furface of things, ev^n thofe fuc- ceiTe* wore and ftill wear a deplorable ca- daverous afpedt, from the rotten bottom given to, them, by that fatal conne(5lion of the continent, which mud ultimately de- cide of the fum of things, decide whether after being the bubbles of thofq fuctiefTes we may not be the vidtims of therrii And in the. mean while has not that oilentation of them with which fome people are ib dazzled, fomething of the air of what is called chambermaid's play, at wbift. when fome novice-player hurries out at feft ihree or four winning-cards, with gfeat exul- tation,, ignorant of the art of hulbanding his game, and unaware of the fuperiority in the adverfaries hand, that befides the honors is fure to give him the odd trick ? c|- I Who does not know that oftqn in the courfe of a war between nations, the final vidory is by no means the confequence of intermediate ones j and that fuccefles of thefecond rank are fo far from fecuring thofe of the firft, tliat they are often the very ^^i? a ■ / '7 ) . very caufcs of their not being obtained ? Where thd true principles of policy have fjccndcferted or facrificcd:. where the ifluc %f an undoubtedly-fair national oaufe has "bicn (hifted frctm its own foundation, and made to rfeft upon a foreign ' one, at bed dubious as to right, and certainly an im- politic one in-thc higheft degree, what have we better to expedt, but that we fliall pay dearer yet than we have done for that perfidious glare- of our moft hollow fuc- cefTes ? Can we poflibly doubt it, unlefs we fhould be mad enough to imagine that it is fit and reaibiikble that th& fiflem of ^Europe fhould adjuft itfelf to our humors, pafiions, and cohVettience, the very thought of which every true Briton, one ihould think, would rather deteft and difown, as being fo contrary to that fpirit of liberty jbf commercev and of humdnicy, which ^m^fces this natioij the univerfaJ friend to maihkind, and efpecially the mbftfintercilcd in the general pacification and welfare of Europe ? ''^In-What^execratlonthen (hould we not hold the propagfltioh of fuch lies as thofe •with Which the-Britifti public iias. been fo ' bfteh attempted' to be tricked andiamufcd ; while the fuppofition that fuch inventions '"'-•■ D i^^ijiSiiii.: could lliai ( «8 ) could be agreeable to it. is not but the higheft infult at once to their undiprAand- ings and humanity? HoW often have not motions and preparations^ war been falfe- ly attributed to the kings of Denmark, and Sardinia ?— Then again the Turks are breaking into the Ukrain:«— the Czarina is dying or dead : with other fidions of this ilamp ; as if Britain had no hopes or re- fources but in the death of potentates, or in new fcenes of blood, confuiion,. or re- bellion being opened in every part of the globe. And thefe fo^tinaents fo hoilile to univerfal fociety are imputed not only to a commercial nation, but to the moil hu- mane nation in the world I till; i... rii.' f In the rhean while,, it has been faid that the neutral nations beheld the mighty change operated in thid country by the great man's acceptance jof power, with " amazement QiViA verieraiiofi" ^ , ,.'■. As to " amazement," there can be na doubt of our having fubicribed full fuffi- cient caufe for it. Unfortunately fof Bri- tain^ there exifted a prince fo evidently in . the career of perdition, that not only his greateft welK withers, fubje(5ts, and rela- tions, lamented his obftinacy in embark- ing die ind- not alfe- and arc na is 'this ( 19 ) ing in it, but even his fucceffes, for he too had his fucceJfeSf at firft, were but the more a/Tured pledc^es, if not of his deftruc^ tion, at leaft of the utmod danger of it : while his procedure was fuch as would make the faired caufe a foul one, (ince it was publicly detefted by our late fovercign, who did not the lefs join him ; and it was with this very prince, that the great cham- pion of anti-continentalifm, was pleafed not only to draw our ties clofer than they already unhappily were ; but in the man- ner by which the Hanoverians and Hef- fians were encouraged by their re-admif- fion into our pay« (only think of who made, who countenanced this motion!) left it problematical to all Europe, on which iide it was that a mod facred convention v/as broke. And hbw brok^ ! to the di/honor of a prince of our nation who had been expofed to a fu • perior French army, without any affiftance from hence, merely for fear of the loud cla- mors of the very man, who afterwards, when the juncture for fending troops was incom- pr^rably more forbidding, could i'tl his face to the fending near thirty thoufand of the flower of our army, after having in cx- prefs terms declared, thut with his con- fent not a fingle m^n fhould ever ftir upon that errand. But it feems, that, more duc- D 2 tile i i ^ ^20 ( 20 1 tile at tUat tlm?, herathercnQfe torraiign himfelf thfln to rcfign his poft. , Or r&i;her was not tl^at refignation. of himfelf ^thc wretched ^ bargain of. his poft ? Thus our forces, which it .was certainly sii ways eligible not to export to Germany»7were with-held, when there was at leaft a re^- fon of dignity for letting them go, and a chance for their doing fome good; whereas they were, through the inconftancy of pur excellent patriot, fen t when it was impof- ftble for them to be of fervice eitfier to ourfelves or to our allies, or indeed tp do any thing but mifchief . to both, ^^^. „^ The inconfiftence then of our politics with our intereft might well excite /the amazement of neutral nations ; but U is harder to account for its not exciting oiir own. But may that amazement not come too late! when Britain reftored to her fenfcs can hardly fail of feeing that her treafures have been fquandered away, and her blood not even over-honorably flowing, not only in a caufe not her own, but while (he had a mofl fair and juft one of her ovvn d^- pending» of which the ifTue was hardly doubtful, if fhe would but have been true to herfelf. ( i As T" ( 21 ) As to the " 'veneration* of neutral na-^ tions, I likewifc grant that, if by venera- tion is meant their keeping their d'ftance; and not chufing to have any thing to do with us ; to fuch a point, that they would hardly dare to take our money> as fond aS they are of it, to connedt with us, even if the bottomlefs pit of Germany had left us a fixpence to fpare to them. There is fcarcely I prefume to be found among the neutral powers another Pruffia, for us to ruin, by fuch another injudicious alliance. And indeed the encouragement this na- tion has been unhappily betrayed to give to that potentate, has been fo much againft the intereft of Pruffia, that confidering» him in the light of the natural' friend to France, from his enmity to the houfe of Auftria, perhaps the moft antigallican ftep in the whole war is our having, undoubt- edly without defigning it, contributed to the danger, and, may it not be! to thedc-^ ftrudlion of that prince. A prince vvhole fall or redudtion either France will moft probably have reaibn to rue j or our poli- tics will have been the occafion of connec- ting her fo iiidiffolubly with Auftria, that the reft of Europe will not have a little to reproach us for the higheft danger to its liber- I I ( 21 ) Iib<;rties from that union : and this is in- deed what the neutral powers cannot too much confider, nor be toojealousof it. .^ ■-■■ ■ :^uiiV ' unh- In the mean while only confider with yourfelf what muA be the fentiments of France, allowing France to have but com-^ mOn fenfe, of the part we have taken in the tragedy now acting on the German theatre, for her benefit, let the cataftrophe be what it will. ^ il '■I k If Pruflia (hould happily not be cruflied, we (hiill have, at an immenfe expence, and in confequence of our having difguded or turned hoflile to us fo many friendly powers-, have prefefved; one, who never cared a pinch of fnuff for us, before he thought he wanted us ; and whofe perma- ner^t natural intereft is, for a thoufand ob- vious reafons, to be the fall friend of France, to whom to be fure he would not facri£ce us, if a fair occafion, or the exi- geqt^y of his affairs required it. If on the other hand PrufHa (hould hap- pen to be cruihed or reduced fo low as to be no longer of any weight in the balance againfl Auilria, then France cannot fail pf afTuming to herfelf, with foipe color of . c:i reafon. in- too ( «3 ) reaibiiy fome merit for having, at lead, made a (how of! co-operating to his reduc-^ tion, and fbrd proof produce thofe h^r lolTes, Which we are nbw fo loudly boaft- ing as fucceflcs ; though they will afford France fo fine a handle of claim, not im- probably to the Auftrian Netherlands, as IVdl as to other confiderable territories of which (he is already in pofTeffion, more thin equivalent to all that (he h«'s lofl to us, and which will be fuch an acceil^oa of drength to her, as may (bon enable her either to recover what (he has loft, or to make the holding our concjuefts a very bad bargain to us, at the expence of a pc*^- tual war not with her alone, for that might not-be much, rior even with Spain joined tb her, but w»ith the whole continent, or at lea(l with the grcateft part of it, which 'may not iniprobably be armed againft us^ In' confequence of our efpoufal of the Frufi- *^an caufe^ and of our ble(fed continents^ engagements; . where we are now holding the wolf by the ear; (ince we can neithelr Well quit Act Well adhere to them. A fif^ tem of politics this for which Britain may with as mticb propriety thank thc^ne quo^ .non promoter or father of it, as France cither exult at his going out of office, or mourn in fackcloth and aihes hts return into ■I < I ' 11 • 1 'i ' ' ( ?4 ) into it. A i^rojat ^yhi^)^, .as ihing^^, iio one would ha«e any ri^tvit tP be ipj^r .prhed, 9r indce^^t any tHin^ upl^fs fte j>re vaieqce of ^a^n, or of . ih^ j^ue. interfft iJji.y IS nation.:, r i But as to France, I defy ^^r. with ilj her fkill in politics, with all the impudenc;^ of hf r p|-ct-eniion^ to plaix meifpfes WJ^y lijkcfly to be ultimately , pT.T^rijqe 'Sq'.bkf ^gd of detrii^ient to Bnta/ni!|than,. thpf^ .^hich: have .l?cen already purfued ; for a(^ .ter all, confidering her miferahjie behisivJQUf jnjthe field, conlidering the difadvantagip /^e, has fuf^ained in thofe.of hex colonies by,whicfi Oi,e ever got any thing, and iii hqr.^aritime conimerce, not entirely per- haps compenfated by the prodigious iri- jCrCjafe of hec inland trade,, or by the fup- plemental ijntervention of neutrgj bottoms, 1 -iay confidering all thefe, fhe could riot ^lell expedl fo fair a^game; a? we have hce^ collaterally playing, into Her hands, iiot ^(bjply by jthe part wc have , takpn againft oiij jiticicnt and natural ally, bpt in ' favor (rf" .)ier- ancient and, natural ally. She could •iiot well expei^t fo great an advantage .ihouTd come to her, quite, clear of all de- dudlions. That would have been tpo gop^ ^ bargain. She muft have been unreafon- u,;. able ( «s ) able with a vengeancp, if Aie could grucjge iis the joy of two or three neutral iflands dropping to us, in the courfe of our naval fuperior^ty» or even the reduftipn, on her coad, of a pauhry infignificant one, how* ever affedtedly dubbed with the appellation of ** Importaj^t," at the expence of fo niariy lives, and of ^ much treafure; when this is. all we have to (how for the fuccefs oif one year (1761) for more than twenty millions Aerling expence : and even that fuccefs refling on a hollow fotttidalioo. Cotild (he be otherwife than plea(<^ tp fee a people, her enemies, intoxicated with fuch trifling and falfe advantages, while their attention was taken off from the in-' comparably greater objedt of her politics on the continent ? What a joke mud it have been to have %ured to herielf our prodi|;y of a great man, wrapped up in nis owil t/emendous importance, out-bluf- tering the \eCs clamorous voice of (bund po- licy, and, to the unmeaning waf^e of the national wealth and blood, planning ex- peditions as fchoolboys n^ake nontenfe- verfes, where nothing but the found is con* fulted, the fenfe being out pf the quedipn. In this light of compenfation France may very well laugh at our Igipping a few E of I I I! *i I i / ( 26 ) of her branches, and fome of them notd- rioufly barren ones, while her root and flem have been demonftrably all the while gathering but the more vigor for that ope* ration. '^ii, „ i*. ^ I Then why was Bufly-fept, why did (he fue for peace ? I will incft prefume to give my conjedtures what' it was he could not come foi: ; and next upon what may have been the real views of that court in his ^m^i^on ; all which I huqibly fubmit to better judgment. * ■ I * "* tn the aflual difpofitipn of things, France n^uilbave been as much her own enemy, in fa\5t, as we are in intention, if fhehad entertained but fo frantic a thought as that of wlihin^ to break the minifterial UNA- >iiMiTY in that continental career which we were fo felf-dcftrudtivcly purfuing. No, her' ilale dividing; arts (lie would naturally referve for, fuch nations as were adhering €o their own natural intereH;, in oppofition ro her*^,' which was far/rom the cafe with USf She'^ could not but with infinite plea- iitfe iTee'aboafting praditioner adnxinifter- big* againd our cpmplaints,r a medicine >eryjuftly reckoned a fpccific, but joined witR ft mortal poifon that would infallibly worfc . &_ e- { i7 ) wprfip than frudrate all its/ucce/s. In this condition of treatment, what had Prance to do but to put up prayers in all her cli arches for the continuance of our em- ploying fuch a practitioner; inftead of her fending ever a man to procure his remo- val, or to difunite either thofe that ad- mired his pradtice, or could meanly ac- quiefce in it ? Still a difunion followed. It did fo i lif- ter Bufly came, and perhaps in confe* (juence of his coming, but not moft cer- tainly of any influence he had or could wifh to have to that efFeft. So much the worfe for France that that difunion followed at all^ and for us that it happened fo late, as not improbably to be too late. Now to anfwer this queflion, why did Bufly come ? This is a queflion eafier to be anfwered than why he was at all admitted. There might be a hundred good reafons to be given w hy the court of Fra nee (hould wifh to pafs upon other nations and even upon their own fubjeifts the appearance of feeking a peace, or rather wiQi not to be accufed of deiiring to continue the war ; but there was not a fingle good one for her being in ear- ned or fincere in feeking peace. Her de- £ 2 ference I ih ■I a \ s •I ( 28 ) ference perhaps, for ibme neutral nations whofe amicable mediation (he might not chuf^ too manifeilly to flight j her deflgn to impofje on the Turks t)y a (lep that miglu ihow them the poflibility of an union among the chriilian powers, in or- der to countera(5t the influence of the Pruflian machinations at the Port ; a fa- tisfa •I ) , ( 3« ) purpofe in the behalf of the Spanish nati* on, nothing can be plainer than by that prepared interlude, that he was fent ra- ther to infult and folemnly banter our court than with any real defign of treating for a peace. That memorial then feems purely to have been provifionally calculated for an ob/lacle to concluiion ; in cafe our con- tinental engagements had no( of themfelvea been a fufHcicnt one, and rendered the in- fiflence on the other needlefs. Bufly was perhaps too hafly in the prefentation of that memorial, prepared, as it Should feem, to elude a concluiion, in cafe he fhould, againil expc(5tation, have found too great a forwardnefs to renounce an ally, who, on a like occaHon, would fcarce have been over-ilrupuloufly tender of re- nouncing us. However, if France was really Hncere :in that negotiation, which is furely not the mod probable fuppolition j hard indeed is tlie fate of Britain to be fo fettered with an ally fo infigniiicant, fo detrimental ,to her^ and to whom all our high heroics of declaring we will fupport him with " effi^ cacy and good faith," can- do him Ui little fervice, while they load us with an intolerable burthen of endlefs expence of aU ( 23 ) allkin<)8» and what is wqiCe, yet with thd gene;ral odiuip. On the other hand, if in thoie overtyres, of hers, (he laid a fnare for the. anfwer ihe bcfpoke and wiihed from us, it cannot be faid that Buiiy haa not fvlfi)led the capital ot>je^ of his, n;iif- »c[?iv; I^m! ?-'. . •-■'•;, -Jib i't And. if fubordinately he was employed in creating any breach, it was not moil certainly among ouniiinift^rs; butbetW9cn nations^ . ^betweeii thofe ; ,pf r Britain and Spain : and It is,y^t;far from clear that this point is not gained., And here I iir-^ treat every fenfible Briton to confiderwhc* ther an open rupture between this court and Spain, is not the very game that France has beei), with all her arts, driv- ing for the whole war; and if fo, whc;» ther thpfe are the enemies of their couh- try who WPUJd wiflj, if poiiible, to, parry that. French -blow* or thofe who want rafhly to precipitate us into a Spanifh war^ while our contine;ntal on^ exifls, of which the whole weight m^y perhaps fall upon us but too foon. There. are many* no-dQubt, who can well remember the Jaft Spanifti war. The, people, with their, ufu^ldudility, wherv F fpccious r •/ ,1 \t ii j i ■ I Tpecious itafi)n8 are giY^n ihtiny had l^ecn work«d u{) into a pitch offireftzy tind butrageous clamor lot a war With ^pjiiti. Nothing was dreri»ed of btut capu tured gialleohs, VigoexpeditibDi, alld plun- d^ing if iralt /c6iit|U '^ all the fucceiTes a few privateers met with, "which certainly did iiot rnuch eriric^ thena- tion 5 for all our Jbc^effei, for fyccefles we had, the moiLieM: that &i!»f c<^tincntal con^ iiedtibns began to make us feel t^eir oppt-ef' live wcigl? t, all ^oftr ^otts were baulked . A great air^-m^ly no longer l^fc^uh^ wkh the emphatic terms of ** N(f feat^c/i, my lordsi no fe&rch :" ^nd that capital and primaiy objeO: ahd vtre cftme to an accommodation with Spainv 4ffier hav- ing received fuuh dinfiinution anij damages in our trade wkh that aatioi^r ^^ ^re not to this day repaired, and are perhaps ir- reparable. But granted^ that a war with Spliin, cohfidered only iis a war with Spain, f t privy-^counfellor ; the name of Qnq of the • prny-^counfeUors i« very franWy: and without ceremony inferted atfuU l^gthj while thit of. the writerhimfelf, .i? as im-« properly as it is unncccltarily fqppreflhdi iince the contents implicitly make it im- poflible to iniftake it, Aud.wba^ con- tents li what a i^ile 1 what an aiTurance ( Woijl^ any ^,^My great minift^r, dQ you thinks Jiave fc'. ^ichtioned it as matter of complaint, or m the way of difculpa- tion,! that he was not fuifered to *♦ oyiPE" his fov^reign and her council ? Could a PERPETUAt DICTATOR have employed a more impudent expreflion ? In fliort, is there a grain of common fenfe, and eipe- cially of modefly, in the whole letter> ex*- cept indeed in its being publiihed without the name being %ned to' it. i ^1 To carry on this raiferable farce, a name-* lefs citizen takes upon him, without any apparent authority, to anfwer it in the name of the city ; and in thS anfwer, while the memory of the city is extolled, it is a pity that fo little is faid in favor of ^eir judgment. And even perhaps their memory 1 ( 39 ) ftiemory ivould not have done them an ill office* if while it was fuggefting to them the treucheroufly flattering fide of things, it had not fufFered them to forget all that infinitely outweighed what they are fo good as to remember. It might not have been either unwife or unreafonable to re- flect:, that at the very moment of this well-timed reiignation, our armies and navies had heen vidtorious in vain ; ^ that our fucceffes had io little of fubflance in them, that they had only made our na- tion le& beloved, without being more fear- ed, more eileemed, or even the more ftrengdiened j that the fo loudly ibunded gains by trade were fcarce a farthing in the pound, to the adlual expences, and to thofe which our fatal politics threaten to intatl upon us ; that the French fuit to us for peace was probably rather an infuldng ban* . ter than a proof of their being reduced ; the French having at this very inftant a far more hopeful game to play than our fb: glorioufly ** guided'* politics have left to US) that the continental abifs of Britifli treaiiure and blood had been unmeafura* bly widened by the very man, who might never have emerged out of his obfcurity, but for. his outrageous declamation againil it ; that it was in the face of a maii ho- 3 norable Mi fi ■■■< l-i I I! y'li /! ( 40 ) nonorable ailembly declared by him, that not half a man was to go to Genpany„ whereas above twenty five thoufand whole men have been fince fent, of whom in^ deed it is well if the half ever come back again. *3T 01 At the fame time,.! fincerely agree witK the letter-writer, not indeed in calling people fools, and knaves, but in allowing: fuch to be miftaken, as call the great man's reiignation a defertion oi tht public. No« It was not when he went out of his office that hz deferted th^ public, but precifely when he went into his office. Theriy then^. was the fatal epoch of his defertion : and it is on that epoch the people (hould fix their eyes ; and not on his late gentle fet- down, on a downy annuity, not to men- tion the feather in his lady's cap. And now, to go farther yet, in his favor, than even that affectionate friend of his, the anfwcrer of his moll curious epiflle : fince things are fo very florifhing, and fince Britain is faid to have reaped fuch immenfe advantages by his adminiflration, my fincere wifh is, that fifty thoufand pounds a year fhould be fettled upon him, to be duly and regularly paid him and his . heirs ( 4' ) heirs for evcr> out of fuch emoluments or neat profit as ihall accrue, or by any fair argument from his continuance in power, be proved poflible to :\ccrue to this nation fron^ his prodigious fervices. And yet I am afraid that if he was never to touch any thing but what fhould come to him from the produce of that fund, he would be one of the pooreft private gentlemen in the kingdom } he might then indeed be driven by dint of real diftrefs- to part with bis coach-horfes *, and the advertifement for their fale, would not need to put even his captivated admirers to the blufh ; his admirers whom, if they had been fo many new negroes, he could nothave more grofly infulted> than in that opinion of their underflandings which that advertife^ ment implies, in his fuppoiing that it could make any other imprcdion on* them than that of the mod thorough difdain of fo mean and paultry an artifice. Well ! but the city returned hiih their lamentable thanks in form. They did fo. Peace be to the city ! They hive their rea- fons, and conflitute, without doubt, one of the mofl refpedable public bodies in the kingdom. They might be willing to keep up the fhuttlecock. Inwardly ,per>r G haps m: l'...i 'i\ haps confcious of having paid worship to t'"» I'nknnwn man, to as little purpofe as t e Athenians did to the unknown God, iiicy .night be forry to think they had thrown away any thing fo precious as their elleer 1 and gold boxes, when boxes of another metal would be of more fervicc to keep up the virtue of what is fo likely to be much wanted for him, an unembar- rafled countenance. In (hort they are men, and do not, I prefume, pretend to infalli- bility. And few indeed are thofe great minds who make even a merit of confef- ing an error. Few conlider that if truth has a wreath for thofe who have originally defended her, (he has a much more glo- rious one in referve for thofe who yield to her, after having combated her : and reafon good : that yielding implies the moft honorable as it is the hardeft of all conquefts, the conqueft over one's felf. . As for the anfwer to the refolution of thanks ; it is as pretty a piece of cold po- etical profe as a man would wilh to read on a I'ummer's day. What a turgid vein uf importsnt banter ! But efpecially how moving, wherewith a moft pindaric tran- iition from the citizens to the military, that moft gracious prince the orator is pleafed to I <( « €€ ( 43 ) to deck his viSiims for facrifice, at leaft^ with flowers of rhetoric ! It is really a pity that that line theatrical panegiric of the matchlefs intrepidity of the Britifh Tailors and foldicrs, conduced by officers juftly famed through all the quarters of ** the world" fhould not be red at the head of the Britifh troops now perifhing with fuch amazing ** propriety" in the dreary fields of Germany. It would be an admi- rable cordial to them, almofl equal to the thanks of their German general. But, at this rate, tne navy and army cannot fail of being taken in, as well as the good city. Well done, Mr. Bayes, " pit, box, and gallery it,, egad I" I hope however we {hall never more hear the names of Demofthenes and Tully proftituted and burlefqued by a naufeous mif-application. What is extant of their writings proves, I thing, pretty clearly, that at leaft, they could write their uwn lan- guage. Whereas, only figure to yourfelf , a modern orator, in the midft of a public aflembly, fixing a haggard look, on one whom he fufpe&ed to have written againft him, and flaring at him with an air that feemed archly to fay, ** I am at you,Jir* and then by way of an overwhelming re- G 2 p roach '■•^ ! f rlf' ( 4+ ) proach, bringing out, ** / never ivrote a ** pamphlet." When the whole honorable afTcmbly might, on their own knowlcdgCi have anrwcrcd him with one voice, ** Sir^ ** you could not,'* No, nor half a page of common Englifh, even in buHnefs which generally almofl writes itfelf. Re^ verba fequuntur. But not with modern orators* Witnefs certain occafional fpecimens of writing, fuch for example as ** thofe ever " memorable y?fr^/ inftrudtions in the pure '< hurlothrumbo ilrain, fo decently and ♦* no doubt fo warrantably publifhed with " his majejiys title gutted of its vo^Oels^ ** prefixed tp them." Witnefs various let- ters and anfwers, in the ftile of his decla- matory jargon, afFedtcdly pathetic, and fonoroufly empty. Perhaps I e^^ag&rite. Only examine them yourfelf, and deny i( if you can. , I But now, to refumc niofe important con- fiderations. I have before hinted that the reafon allcdged for a late refignation was rather a pretext than a motive. That a motive it could not be, the plain ftatc of things muft inconteftably de- monftrate. The Spaniards were it feems fuf- ' I,. i( ( 45 ) fufpedlcd, and I really believe very juAly, of hoflile intentions towards us ; nay, if we believe that famous anonimous letter, they had atftually done enough to draw upon them our immediate refentment. I will not even deny that. But once more, what then ? fo much the wbrfe for whoe* ver could be judly accufed of his meafures being the caufe why the privy counfellors were againd a precipitate declaration of war. They might have many reafons for fighting Spain at her own weapon of tem- porizing, and for winking hard at her known partiality to France. They might not chufe to imitate the example fet them by the Pruflian heroe, of too rafli an ag- greffion, or of but the appearance of an aggreflion. Spain as only connected with France they might hold as cheap as the great projei^or of expeditions himfdf may himfelf affedt to do: there might even more be got than loft by a war with her, if the war refted fingly on the Britifh bot*. torn. But as things ftandon the continent (and whofe fault is it that they ftand fb ?) might not it be rather rafli, prematurely to plunge headlong into another war : or is there that ftep in the worM to be taken that could give France more joy ? Then indeed Badly might not be faid to have come I ! / ' ( 46 ) come over in vain. But, with fiich an overload of debt as has been incurred fincc the commencement of thh ** ar^iuous" war } and if not with fome diminution of the live- force of this country, at lead with the already fuch multiplied calls for its difperfion as can hardly be afforded out of the numbers of ovr population ; are the members of the privy council to be in- fulted, or to have the mob raifed upon them for paufing, for fcrupling to embark the nation farther in a war to which already they fee no enc' .' But with what inexprcf- fible fcorn and indignation mud the pro^ pofal be heard by them from the very man whofc ftriking fo deep into thofe continen- tal meafurcs he had fo often detefled or cipoufcd, juft as he happened to be in or out of place, might be fo judifiably a caufe of their demur ? Might they not have unanimouily faid to him, with infinite truth and propriety ? ** Yourfelf, fir, your- ** felf are the caufe ; nor do we chufe to ** be the engines guided by you to pufh •* the nation down that precipice to the *' brink of which you have brought her." In fhort, is there any man's mouth out of which the orator could be more juftly conr demned than out of his own ? It ( 47 ) , It is not then credible that his reli^na- tion could be the effedt of a difTent of which his own departure from that great politi- cal principle, the pofTeflion of which had made his fortune, was notoriouilv the caufe. Nor is it but obfervable, that in that anonimous letter the word Jicklenefs, with regard to people's ** withdrawing " their good opinion from one who has " ferved his country with fidelity and fuc- " cefsy* is ftudioufly and very wifely avoid- ed. It would have been hard indeed for the mob itfelf to go beyond him in fickle- nefs : neither could any be faid to leave him, but he them. As to Jidelityf I hope he does not mean to his declarations : and as to fuccefs, it remains I fancy to be prov ed, whether it ultimately deferves that name or not ; unlefs he means his own ob- tainment of an annuity and title in his fa- mily. And now as to the real, not the pre- tended motive of this refignation, there is a conjecture offered only as a conjecture, the degree of probability of which is en- tirely lubmitted to your own knowledge of things. Judge and pronounce* I' 1 1 h Weigh ft ( \ f . ( 48 ) Weigh then with yourfelf the ^{pedt and (ituation of things upon the continents at the time this refignation took place. Consider whether the events expelled in Germany were likely to be of a favorable nature. A mifchance there might not im- probably turn the tide of popularity againft the perlbn accufable at leaft of our (hare having been fo deep as it is in that theatre of all the horrors of a civil war, in which we had originally fo little to do. Nay Hanover itfclf had been ofFeed a neutra* Jity, before the convention was fo unfor* tunately broke. That which arguments, which reprefentations had not been able to do, there was fome reafon to think that on any untoward accident on the conti-f ffenty ad:ual feeJings would effect ; that is to fay, open the eyes - No mat- ter with wl\at impropriety this motioa ihould come, efpecially from the perfoa whence it did come. The tub thrown out to the multitude might at leaO divert their attention from the capital obje^ on the continent,^ while himfelf ihould efcape in all the confulion he will have created. Nor is he wholly miftaken. There are doubt- lefs too many of the well- meaning lb very prejudice- ridden, that to his leaving his office, thofe very events will be by them imputed of which his own meafures will be the caufe, and his own forefeeing that H they r lona ?! II Vh if ,11 ii ) ( 5^ ) they are, humanly fpeaking, not to be prevented, is his Ible motive for leaving his office. And yet what numbers have extolled to the fkies thofe meafures, who have already felt, or will mod probably in future feel the fevere confequences of them, in their property, as well as per- haps in the blood of their dearefl relations ! In fliort, what is there fo grofs as \n\l not pafs upon an infatuated people ? It is on that he depends, and I (hould be very loth to be too fure that he will not meet wi*h his u{u2L\Jucce/s. At leaft, I fhould mot be at all furprifed to fee him trium- phantly riding the blaft, and once more iJfiobbed into power j again perched upon the pinnacle, and crowing over king, and country. The improbability of fuch an event, and its tendency to fealthe utter perdition of this nation, already in no fmall jeopardy, are but reafons tne more for believing that this event will take place. In fliort, there is nothing fo contradidlory that humor and prejudice will not them- felves fwallow, or attempt to cram down the throats of others. They will, for proofs of a man's fteadinefs, produce in- ftances of his having three or four times renounced his principles, and of the purity of { 5' ) of his difintereftednefs, his acceptance of 9n annuity and a title. For thefe laft however, if he is but half as grateful to the people for their real be- nefits, as they are to him for his imagi- nary ones, he owes them a mod oratorial addrefs of thanks ; fince the court's ap- prehenfion of their opinion of him, how- jever unaccountably got, and more unac- countably kept after repeated forfeiture, had cjoubtlefs no fmall (hare in the re- wards beftowed on his moll invaluable fervices^i It may howcirer on this occafiori not be improper to recommend to the confidera- tion of.thofe happy enough to poflefs their liberty of judgment, untirannized over by popular prejudice, by particular humor, or by falfe intereft, whether it would not be rather too impolitic for us, in favor of the king of Pruffia, whom we might en- courage to his ruin but never ferve, to ihut up all door of reconciliation with thofe our ancient and natural allies, who have been alienated from us by our efpoufal of his caufe. 11 H2 Now, n 9 Hi II r> I { S' ) Nbw, wftuld any of them, and tCpechWy the court of Vienna, in any occurrence of renewing or treating with us feparately from France, the only way of treating with us we ought to wi(h, upon fuch a point, for example fo infinitely interefting to usy as the guarding the Aullrian Nether*^ lands againft the French invafion, or their more dangerous infinuation, chufe to have any thing to fay to a court ** guiDed" by the very man, who drew our ties fo clofe with its capital enemy ? would it chufe to concert meafures with the man whofb traniltions from one point of politics to another diametrically oppoiite« were fo rapid, fo ill-timed, fo indecent, as to have rather the air of folly than of ficklenefs, or even of felf-intereft ? Befides, that in the tranfad^ion of buGnefs of ilate, the figura- tive itile of tropes, metaphors, and fimi- lies, goes for very little. The fpirit of affairs is very different from the f^liy fpirit of arrogance and felf'-fufficitncy. Surely the flupidity of worfhipping fuch an one, for Q cackle that, inflead of preferving the <:apitol from the enemy, bids much fairer to let him in, is not even exceeded by that of the poor Oftiacs of Siberia, worfhipping a brazen goofe, In H ( 53 ) In the mean while k fhouH nck pate quite unremarked, that among the caufcs which have unhappily contributed to keep up that frantic humor of extolling our great ^uide for thofe enterprizes that cbuld only perpetuate our double war and feed per- dition, while the ^yes of the people were by the falfe glare of them, taken off from incomparably the foperior obje^ on the continent, by which kll muft be decided ; there may be reckoned a dirty, littlej par- tial vein of lucre, of which war in the pe* cuniary operations it creates, keeps the fprings open to a fet of people who fatten and tnrive amazingly upon the public dif" trefTes and dangers. Thpfe are I will not fay thofe of th^'tftb^ neyed in contradiftindlion to the landed in- tereft, bccaufe, I fancy, they may be de- monftrated to be it bottom nearly the fame j but only thofe vulturs and extor* tioners upon the public, who turh their money and their credit in the jobs of the alley, and carry on pradices fo eilentially different from thofe of the fair merchant, who employs and animates the induflry of his countrymen. No : thefe are fuch as prey on the vitals of their own country, and accumulate riches difproportioned to the 1 1 9 i ^ ( 54 ) the time and pains naturally requifite in the due courfe of things, and accumulate them in a way reprobated by all wife go- vernments. Thefe fucceed not by honed arts, or juft dealings, but by low cunning and little vile tricking. It is in (hon of thefe that the landed interefl have fuch room to complain, fince the fecurity which is afforded by their vifible real eftates, is made the very bottom upon which thefe people found their gaming. And a mod infamous game it is : fince they fo pal- pably and wantonly fport away the welfare and reputation of this country, that any little pu£r of news, any idle tale, any lie accidental or originally of their own in- vention, is fufBcient to give, at their dif- cretion, to fo capital a concern of the flate, as the flocks undoubtedly are, a fluctua- tion, which mufl very reafonably give ill imprefHons of the folidity of the flocks to all thinking perfons, when they obferve them capable of being funk or raifed by means fo defpicable, apd fo much beneath their intrinfic importance. Such as thefe may well join the cry in favor of all that impolicy and unthrift which fubje<5t the nation to the neceflity of negociating to their advantage thofe immenfe liims, which are the matter of their gaming : while / ( 55 ) while for the payment of fuch debts (ho»v much in vain incurred !) the landed inte- reft, and the induftry of the artift, are not only adtually fainting under the bur- then, but fee no profpedt of relief, but sather of its augmentation, till the whole ftate (hall link under it. It is fuch as ihefe, or their agents and puffers, that value the nation upon its facility of funding and borrowing, in which (lile we may then with propriety be faid to be worth con- fiderably above a hundred millions of disbt. But while that facility of borrowing is fo much admired, it were to be wifhed that the neceffity or purpofes of borrowing hiad been a little more (Iridly examined thtin they appear to have been. ' But furely thofe who have not refolutely fet their own reafon at defiance, will hard- ly, upon exercifing their own faculty of thinking, in fcorn of fufFcring others to think for them, who have long made a trade and practice of deceiving them, not fee how cruelly, how grofsly this nation has been •* guided" not only to its own de- ftrudtion, but to that of thofe to whom (he wifhed well. \l Many nations have madly ruined them- felves }' I ** 'i I. { 56 ) - (clvds to ruin their enemies ; but it was ceijpryed for the bedlam -born politics of our illuilrious *' guide" to exhibit the fad fight of anation palpably mining herfelf to no better purpoie than to ruin her friends and allies, and to give her enemies advan- tages that muid ultimately far, far,, over* compenfate the loi&s they might juft, at thq firil flaih, fudain by her ; loiGfes more thar^ itv£ignifkant to tne fuot of things, iiace they are rather the prediipofing caufes of ultimately fuperior gain to thofe very enemies, we have (o vainly imagined were to be reduced to ^he nece:Sity of mumping a peace of us qpqa their knees, and upon Nor are fuch events in the clafs of thofe that, to the •* guides* chargeable with t)iem» afford a j unification in *the difficulty of forefeeiog them. Could the madnefs of our continental connections have efcaped thof^ who had not enough confidered that point ; with what face can the not feeing that madnefs be pleaded by the very man who had piqued hinifelf upon his dear- fightednefs and penetration iQr difcovering all that pregnancy with deflrudtionin them* which was in truth of itfelf fo obvious ? But precifely when he veered about* the rea- ( -57 ) the reafons for his perfev^rahce, if a re- gard for the public had been any thing elfe but a mere pretext with him, were a thoufand times more flrong than what they had been at the commencement of his clamor and oppofition. The Pruflian caufe, which had before happily hung fo loofe that it was liot impoffible to have (haken it off, was now double-rivetted, and "for its impolicy, I will not fay its injudice, could, in the nature of things, only make ours a bad one; but could never itfelf by ours be made a good one, taking the word, ?* good," but in the fenfe of fuccefsful. By this fatal adoption our war was totally tranfubftantiated, totally changed its own juft, noble, fair, and defenfible nature. We made ourfelves the guarantees of ^ caufe we had never fufficiently examined, and which, in truth, we had no right to examine or judge either, and which we had actually begun by condemning, and by arming the Rufiians againft ii. Thus was a falfe, adulterative, crazy bottom fub^ flituted fo the true bafis of our national politics. And upon fo wrong a bottom, is it fuch a wonder that every thing . (hould in courfe be wrong even to our very fiic- ceffes ? Succefles which we have too light- ly taken for evinced to be real ones, while I in 'I A I. 1^ U ■^ u ' ( i' ) in th^t fldfckitious bottom, they felf-ftVi- dcntly carry a principle of perdition, tin- Icfs all Europe ihoald be the inferior clb- jedt, and Our conquefls the fuperior one, which might fo well have had their jgfeat^ their folid value, on kny other footing than what they now totter upon. May they all be found retainable! for furely every unretffinable coiKJueft 'coniidering the eypence of blood and treafurc in the atchieving it, and the difhonor and pain of parting with it, is rather in the confequence, a wound re- ceived than a wound given ; a barbed ar- row, not to be extracted without anguifl)^ (hame, and periAiment of fubflance. But (hould the nation 6nd herfelf at laft indifpenfably compelled by the united voice of Europe, and by the neceffity of circumftances, to give up points that (he would difdain to give up, but for fuperior confiderations of her good and perhaps even of her fafety, what will be ihe confer quencc ? An obvious one. Thecry ofpufilla- nimity, of cowardice, poffibly even of trea- chery, will be raifed by the very man and the deluded admirers of that man, whofe levity, whofe defertion of his own politic cal ( 59 ) oal principle, that is to fay, if he had aiiy» wil];havfi given to thofe fuccefTes, as falfely attributed to hin^ as they are impudently arrogated; by him» that collateral rotten caufe of their being worfe than only good for nothing ; unle(s. perhaps to perpetuate a w^r that muft confume all profit to be ex- pected from the immenfe revenue of our conque^y and to. diftrefs a government that wilLjuilly apprehend giving even the ihadow of offence to the people. A peo- ple whofe feniibility of honor, and bra- very, renders them refpedtablc ; but who are at the fame time but too liable, from, their own (corn and difdain of all impo- fition, not enough to fuppofe thofe who are exceptions among them being capable of it. To thefe they have been fo mif- guided as to give their confidence, and to. continue it after the.forfeitureof it, to fuch apoint that, not improbably to a man's go- ing out o£ a pofl, they will impute fuch unfavorable incidents as would never have exiftedy , but for his having come into it : vrhile thofe favourable ones, of which the honor has been given to him, migh'^ mod probably have taken place without the folly or guilt of giving them a collateral, connection that would fo much worfe than fmftratfi.thfim. I 2 How- I f h'l! ( 60 ) However, even to thofe under the mod' fanguine prepofleflion in favor of the late guidance of things, fome queftions may be flated, for their own refolving, upon their own reflexion and knowledge, that can hardly not lead them to a right fenfe of things, that is to fay, if they are not pre- determined againil being fincere with themfelves, which^ by the by, is not a very uncommon, though always a ihameful cafe. Let any one then refledt, the flate of things conildered, whether, had we, at the beginning of the war with France, fingly ventured to reft the ifTue on the exertion of the national force, in the naval channel; there has appeared any fuch fuperiorlty of flrength in her, allowing even that (he had not fent a fingle man to oppofe that mi> ferable diverfion we have made in Ger-* many, as needed to make us de/pair of heartily fickening her of the warj ay, even, if Spain had been joined to her. Had our conquejls too in fuch cafe been fewer and lels brilliant, can there be a doubt of their being more folid ? Whofe fault then was it that the war was no^ carried on upon that naval plan ? who ^\i ( 6i ) who was it that ** guided* us (b much farther than before, into a land war, upon fuch terms of a difhonorable fubordina- tion, and efpecially of impolicy, ?s no re* cords of Hidory can (hew any thing ap- proaching to it ? Is it for that man then or his adherents to dare to reproach his honeft, his innocent countrymen with thofe diftrefles and difficulties into which his own defertion of his own tenets, and his hanging the Britifh caufe on a rotten thread will have brought them ? At lead fuch a man can hardly have more elo-> quench, and certainly not more effrontery than will be neceffary even to the but de-» fending h^mfelf $ fo far from being fo much as fuffered to take the advantage of attacking others uppn that cruel dilemma which himfelf will have created. But efpecially will thofe who juftify the Pruflian alliance on the flrange prin- ciples, of its flrengthening us by decrea(ing our friends, and multiplying our enemies; and upon the falfe fuppofition too that we were fingly inferior to France, at the com- mencement of the war, before our debt was fo enormoufly augmented, before that fo niany of our brave defenders were fcnt to fo little purpofe to the butchery on the fields p > It- '\ ,1 (' 62 \ fields of Qermaay, or to periih yet mojro cruelly by the diAemperaturc of a fbreigA climate ; will thefe, I fay, contend fbrouc heing now,, in ^ condi^iba to, war down all Europe ? Gr by what w;ay of ceafoning, unlefs fuch frantic realbning. w^e dated from Bedljam, can it be averred that we were t/ien inferior to France, anda^ now ib incomparably fiiperioc to ker, as to be ready for undertaking to niake headagainil sU Europe, if neceflary ; enabled as we are, by. that piodigioua revenue received or likely foon to be received fcom ouc i^nighty ' conquefts, tl;ie *'. mportant/ Bel|- ieiJc, the " opulent" Guadaloupe, and the fisrtik Canada* ajs well a^ by the number of true and loyal fubjeds we have, made in them; nof to. mention the vaflacceffioa to our fide of ihofc neujtcal nations whom our T^olitics have filled with " amazement'* " veneration.'* ana If j But, alas ! inftead of ^q^ fuccejfes hav- ing brought us. any real augmpntation of ftreogth, either aiftu^i or reputed^ nothing is more likely than that they, will fuinifS one proof more of its being, far fcom itpr poffible for a nation to fee its influenge and credit dimiiiifhed, not only, in, fpite of her fuc^^'ciFcs, but even, by \i<^i, fucceiTes, while i %^ ^^ ( ^ ) •HHrhile ft'6t fclahded dti hit b\Hrh natural, juft, fti^ Ihorio'ra'b'fe politics. Let us then ^a?n all hKe jgafcotiade : all boaftfal iftfiftcrice on bur hollow ftrcceffes, with ^hat dtffimuk^ion of our difadvahtages, incurred fey the fault bf falfe guides, which is fo ttifuch to bur o^n Wtortg, and to buf farther mif^uida'rice, e^edalty while it iS ^6t yet clear 'but 'that trre damage done tb 'iis h'f our hnnatiofral rhealiire^ and connec- tions-, is already irre'parabl-e. But if not ir- ¥cpk'rable as I hope it wii'l feve'r be as much ^enelatlh iBriti'fh magnahimity "to confidet 'them as it'bug;ht to be beneath Sritilh faga- •cJty not to fee difficulties where they really ibxift, or to miftake the authors of them j the pointthein wfllbe to wi¥h, and devoutly to 6x- pedt, the reparation there only frorti whenc6 it can properly and conftitutionally come 5 from a Briti^ king aiid a SHtim parlia- ment; from a patriot fc^ereign, aflifted by fe patriot fenate, in cbn tempt of all thofe little dirty feffifli cabals for pbWer and ih^ fluence whidh have otHfy ferved to difgrace the highefft offices of tlie Me by bringing into thenfi the men on earth the mod un- fet for them, to the infinite da'mage and difhbnor of the natibn. Whi^le at the fame time, to a king of any fenfe or fpirit, it .1 1 ( H ) it muft give the mod mean opinion of mankind, as well as n;iake him blufh for having fuch fubjedts, oi^ his feeing the mod worthlefs among them impudently taking the lead, and others, without the excufe of want, fubmitting for fome point of vile intereft, and that intereft a falie one, to footman it to their inferiors, to fell, in fhort themfelves and their country, in a manner that made it hard to pronounce whether the flupidity or the infamy of the proftitution was the greateft. A want of ipirit that mufl thin the nation of effective defenders, and fill a court withfoftideotsor unefTential triflers, without a grain of merit but that of a Cappadocian fervility, that would turn the flomach of a man of any fenfe or tafte but to think of it If then not to defpair of feeing the great national council aid with the moft faithful and loyal advice a Briti(h king, loved and deferving to be loved for his meaning well to his fubjedts : if to wifli, by their efficacious concurrence, to fee things replaced on the good old honed: Britiih bottom : if, without the lead perfonal animofity, and with fcntiments rather of pity than indignation againf): even thofe wretched guides who were the authors of 3 thofe ^il ( 65 ■) thoCc breacbes, to wifh a (blemn author i- fati^e inquiry:. bow that fpirit came to J^cedominatG wbich has cffentially violated the, mod impoi^tant article .of the Adf of Settlement i wh^t councils have tended ito f weaken and impoveriih the kingdom by domeftic corruption, and to what end thiat' corruption ; what pra<^iccs have unadly wafted the weahh, and blood of •thie nation, efpecially in bring.ing' another i^ar upon hen hands, as to which (he had nothing fo well to do as to keep clear of it ', how that capitulation at Clofter-Seveu fa devoutly to have been wished by Great Britain came to be broke, and why the neutrality cf^^^ied to Hanover was re- jeded ', and this retrofpedt to be made without aiiy malignity towards particulnr delinquents, but purely to apply the belt remedies that cool determinate vviidom may fuggeft againft the pernicious confe- quences of pad meafures to the welfare of this country, and to prevent the like in future ; if, in (hort, to wi{h that that management of affairs, and thatonly, may take place, which fhall be big with the greateft good to this great, this worthy, this refpedabie, this generous, and much deceived nation, be a crime, it is at the K leaft i :-r Wf «•*■-" 9' ' v^ ■ !| I- :- t. ■ *A5. -■ ■ ■ : ( 66 ) lead the only crime ijitended ui the fbre^ going refle^idn^, of wlkich may tvcrf word that is not did^ated by the pursft fpirit of well-wifhing to this country, b6 received and treated with all the tcorh and indignation not the le& due to fnch aft inveighing agikinft fMc pretences to candor and impartiality in others, muft be in<* comparably the more guilty on their i(l^ curring diat reproach themfelves, for thk infamous practice being fo ftale and ib trite an one! |i^ , (; I am. S I R> Yours, &c^ l.i •i '^USf ♦ f ■ 1, ... ^ neft ht utii aft lor hk