d of a regiment, and exalted above many officers whose known
bravery and frequent hazards entitled them to favour.

I do not assert that he was undeservedly promoted, or condemn those who
either solicited or granted his commission; I maintain only, that what
was then reasonable and just, is not now either iniquitous or
ridiculous, and different persons in the same circumstances have a right
to the same treatment.

In the reign of queen Anne, a reign, sir, which every Briton recollects
with so much satisfaction, and which will for ever afford examples of
the wisest councils, and most successful wars, when new regiments were
to be raised, it was far from being thought necessary to observe this
gentleman's favourite method of rotation; posts were filled, not with
the officers of other regiments, that room might be left for the
promotion of serjeants, but with gentlemen who had never seen a battle,
or learned any part of the military discipline.

But though, sir, the regulation of our army be thus violently attacked,
the greatest crime of the ministry is, in this gentleman's opinion, that
of levying new troops, when we have no employment for our standing
forces, of laying unnecessary impositions upon the nation, and alarming
with the fears of an invasion, only that the army might be increased.

On this head, sir, a declaration of the duke of MARLBOROUGH has been
produced, with a great pomp of circumstances, and such a seeming
accuracy of narration, that the attention of the house was engaged, and
the account was received with all the solemnity of universal silence,
and with the veneration due to so high an authority in a question of so
much importance.

The subject is, indeed, so worthy of regard, that I think, sir, every
man ought to contribute to its elucidation, and, therefore, I take the
liberty of adding to the honourable gentleman's relation, what I hope
will be heard with equal curiosity, the method by which that great
commander proposed to put a stop to an invasion with so small a number.

He was very far, sir, from imagining that he should be able to repel
them by open force, he was far from being so confident of his
superiority in military skill, as to imagine that he should defeat them
by stratagem, and, therefore, he designed, by burning the villages, and
destroying the country, to deprive them of the means of subsistence, and
harass them with famine; to hover at a distance, and cut off those
parties which