at the cup of our wealth will be
gradually replenished. There will, doubtless, be no few ready to indulge
in regrets and repinings; and to feed a morbid satisfaction by
aggravating these burthens in imagination; in order that calamity so
confidently prophesied, as it has not taken the shape which their
sagacity allotted to it, may appear as grievous as possible under
another. But the body of the nation will not quarrel with the gain,
because it might have been purchased at a less price; and, acknowledging
in these sufferings, which they feel to have been in a great degree
unavoidable, a consecration of their noble efforts, they will vigorously
apply themselves to remedy the evil.

Nor is it at the expense of rational patriotism, or in disregard of
sound philosophy, that I have given vent to feelings tending to
encourage a martial spirit in the bosoms of my countrymen, at a time
when there is a general outcry against the prevalence of these
dispositions. The British army, both by its skill and valour in the
field, and by the discipline which rendered it, to the inhabitants of
the several countries where its operations were carried on, a protection
from the violence of their own troops, has performed services that will
not allow the language of gratitude and admiration to be suppressed or
restrained (whatever be the temper of the public mind) through a
scrupulous dread lest the tribute due to the past should prove an
injurious incentive for the future. Every man deserving the name of
Briton adds his voice to the chorus which extols the exploits of his
countrymen, with a consciousness, at times overpowering the effort, that
they transcend all praise.--But this particular sentiment, thus
irresistibly excited, is not sufficient. The nation would err
grievously, if she suffered the abuse which other States have made of
military power to prevent her from perceiving that no people ever was or
can be independent, free, or secure, much less great, in any sane
application of the word, without a cultivation of military virtues. Nor
let it be overlooked, that the benefits derivable from these sources are
placed within the reach of Great Britain, under conditions peculiarly
favourable. The same insular position which, by rendering territorial
incorporation impossible, utterly precludes the desire of conquest under
the most seductive shape it can assume, enables her to rely, for her
defence against foreign foes, chiefly upon a species