f great efficacy to the success of military
undertakings, or all arguments which have been used in the defence of a
standing army fall to the ground.

In answer to this proposal, we shall probably be once again intimidated
with an invasion, whether from the pretender, the Spaniards, the French,
or any other power, it is of no great importance. An invasion is a
formidable sound; the sack of towns, the destruction of villages, the
captivity of our children, the ruin of our fortunes, and the desolation
of our country, are frightful images, and may, therefore, be
successfully produced, on this occasion, to perplex our thoughts, and
embarrass our inquiries.

To remove, therefore, this panick, and to dissipate, for ever, the
phantoms of invasion, I will lay before the house the opinion of the
great commander whose name has already been introduced in this debate.
In the late reign, on a day when the great officers of the crown, and
many of the council, were at a publick feast in the city, a report was
suddenly spread that the duke of Ormond had landed in the west, with two
thousand men. This account was, in appearance, well attested, and
universally believed; all jollity was, therefore, at an end, the company
departed, the council was summoned, and every man offered such
expedients as his present thoughts, confused and oppressed with the
proximity of the danger, suggested to him. One proposed, that a body of
troops should be sent to a distant part of the kingdom, to restrain the
seditions of the populace; another apprehended more danger from a
different quarter, and advised that the inhabitants should be awed by
another detachment sent thither; the most experienced easily saw the
unprofitableness of the measures proposed, but could not so easily
strike out more efficacious expedients, and therefore sat in great
perplexity. Lord Somers, particularly, shook his head, and seemed to
consider the kingdom as in the hands of the invaders, and the dreadful
pretender as seated on the throne.

At last, the duke of MARLBOROUGH, who had hitherto sat silent, asked
calmly, whether they were certain that any forces were really landed,
and was answered, that though it might not be absolutely certain, yet
they were to consult and send orders upon that supposition. Then, says
he, I will lay down this great rule to be observed invariably, whenever
you are invaded. Attend only to one point, nor have any other purpose in
view than that of destr