dventured to repeal, by which it is provided, that this nation
shall not be engaged in war for the defence of the Hanoverian dominions;
dominions of which we can have no interest in the protection or
preservation; dominions, perhaps, of no great value, into whatever hands
chance and negligence may throw them, which their situation has made
entirely useless to a naval power; but which, though they cannot
benefit, may injure us, by diverting the attention of our sovereign, or
withholding his affections.

Whether this clause, sir, has not sometimes been eluded, whether the six
thousand Hessians, which we once supported, were of use to any of the
British dominions, and whether a double number of the same nation, now
paid with our money for the defence of the queen of Hungary, have not
been stationed only where they might defend Hanover, without the least
advantage to our confederates; whether the nation has not been condemned
to double expenses in the support of this alliance, by raising, for the
queen's service, troops, which were only employed in the protection of
Hanover, and then in succouring her with pecuniary supplies, it is,
perhaps, at present unnecessary, though, I hope, not yet too late, to
inquire.

It is at present unnecessary, because the clause which is proposed
cannot be denied to be equally proper, whether the act of settlement has
been hitherto observed or violated; for the violation of it ought to
engage us in some measures that may secure us for the future from the
like injury; and the observation of it is a manifest proof how much it
is approved by all parties, since, in so many deviations from this
settlement, and an inconstancy of conduct of which an example is
scarcely to be found, this law has been esteemed sacred, the bulwark of
our rights, and the boundary which the sovereign power has not dared to
overleap.

As his majesty, sir, has, in a very solemn manner, called upon us for
our advice and assistance, what can be more proper than to lay before
him our opinion on this important question? War is, next to slavery, one
of the greatest calamities; and an unnecessary war, therefore, the
greatest error of government, an error which cannot be too cautiously
obviated, or too speedily reformed.

If we consider, sir, the present state of the continent, there is
nothing more probable than that the subjects of the elector of Hanover
may solicit the assistance of the emperor of Britain, and, therefore, i