s, was a change only to be effected by a patient
expectation of opportunities, and a politick improvement of casual
advantages, and by contriving methods of reconciling the interest of
Prussia with the friendship of the queen of Hungary; for princes, like
other men, are inclined to prefer their own interest to all other
motives, and to follow that scheme which shall promise most gain.

That all this, my lords, has been effected, cannot be denied; nor can
it be said to have been effected by any other causes than the conduct
of Britain: had this nation looked either with cowardly despair, or
negligent inactivity, on the rising power of France and the troubles
of the continent; had the distribution of empire been left to chance,
our thoughts confined wholly to commerce, and our prospects not
extended beyond our own island, the liberties of Europe had been at an
end, the French had established themselves in the secure possession of
universal monarchy, would henceforth have set mankind at defiance, and
wantoned without fear in oppression and insolence.

These, my lords, are consequences of the measures pursued by his
majesty, of which neither the reality nor the importance can be
questioned, and, therefore, they may doubtless be approved without
hesitation. For surely, my lords, the addition of the Hanoverian
troops to the forces of our own nation can raise no scruples, nor be
represented as any violation of the act of settlement.

Of the meaning of that memorable act, I believe, I do not need any
information. I know it is provided, that this nation shall not be
engaged in war in the quarrel of Hanover; but I see no traces of a
reciprocal obligation, nor can discover any clause, by which we are
forbidden to make use in our own cause of the alliance of Hanover, or
by which the Hanoverians are forbidden to assist us.

I hope, my lords, this representation of the state of our transactions
with Hanover, will not be charged with artifice or sophistry. I know
how invidious a task is undertaken by him who attempts to show any
connexion between interests so generally thought opposite, and am
supported in this apology only by the consciousness of integrity, and
the intrepidity of truth.

The assistance of Hanover, my lords, was, at this time, apparently
necessary. Our own troops, joined with the Hessians, composed a body
too small to make any efficacious opposition to the designs of France;
but by the addition of sixteen thousan