seen among us.

All this is very desirable, but it is not certain that it can be easily
attained. Large tracts of America were added, by the last war, to the
British dominions; but, if the faction credit their own Apollo, they
were conquered in Germany. They, at best, are only the barren parts of
the continent, the refuse of the earlier adventurers, which the French,
who came last, had taken only as better than nothing.

Against the Spanish dominions we have never, hitherto, been able to do
much. A few privateers have grown rich at their expense, but no scheme
of conquest has yet been successful. They are defended, not by walls
mounted with cannons, which by cannons may be battered, but by the
storms of the deep, and the vapours of the land, by the flames of
calenture and blasts of pestilence.

In the reign of Elizabeth, the favourite period of English greatness, no
enterprises against America had any other consequence than that of
extending English navigation. Here Cavendish perished, after all his
hazards; and here Drake and Hawkins, great as they were in knowledge and
in fame, having promised honour to themselves, and dominion to the
country, sunk by desperation and misery in dishonourable graves.

During the protectorship of Cromwell, a time of which the patriotick
tribes still more ardently desire the return, the Spanish dominions were
again attempted; but here, and only here, the fortune of Cromwell made a
pause. His forces were driven from Hispaniola; his hopes of possessing
the West Indies vanished; and Jamaica was taken, only that the whole
expedition might not grow ridiculous.

The attack of Carthagena is yet remembered, where the Spaniards, from
the ramparts, saw their invaders destroyed by the hostility of the
elements, poisoned by the air, and crippled by the dews; where every
hour swept away battalions; and, in the three days that passed between
the descent and reembarkation, half an army perished.

In the last war the Havanna was taken; at what expense is too well
remembered. May my country be never cursed with such another conquest!

These instances of miscarriage, and these arguments of difficulty, may,
perhaps, abate the military ardour of the publick. Upon the opponents of
the government their operation will be different; they wish for war, but
not for conquest; victory would defeat their purposes equally with
peace, because prosperity would naturally continue the trust in those
hands which had