t proved to us,
that this prince would (I wish there was no reason to believe he would
not) lend us this body of his men, though we should be disposed to
take them into pay. _The Swiss cantons, therefore, now alone remain_;
and indeed from them we probably might procure a greater number; but I
leave it to the judgment of any man of sense and candour, whether any
minister of this nation could warrant the employment of sixteen
thousand Swiss in this service? For when we reflect upon the situation
of these provinces, and compare it with that of our British troops who
are now in Flanders, it is visible that they must pass four hundred
miles upon the borders of the Rhine, flanked by the strong places of
France, during their whole march, exposed to the garrisons and armies
upon that frontier, by whom it can never be supposed that they would
be suffered to pass unmolested, when France must so well know the
intention of their march to be for no other end, but to make a
conjunction with other troops in the British pay, in order afterwards
to invade, or at least to interrupt the views of that kingdom with
their united force.

These reasons, sir, prove invincibly to me, that if we are to assist
the house of Austria by an army, we must, of prudence, nay, of
necessity, in part, compose that army of the Hanoverian troops.

But yet there is another state of this question, an alternative of
which some gentlemen seem very fond, _whether it would not be better
to assist the queen of Hungary with money only?_

This opinion at first sight is extremely plausible; if the queen of
Hungary has been able to do so much with an aid of 500,000 _l_. what
might she not be able to do with a million more? Sir, a million more
would by no means answer in the same proportion. When a sum is given
her, which with the best economy can suffice barely to put her troops
in motion, when the enemy is at her very gates, her all at an
immediate stake, there can be no room for a misapplication of it. But
a sum so immense as that of a million and a half, would dazzle the
eyes of a court so little used to see such sums; and as an honourable
gentleman, [Mr. Horace WALPOLE,] long versed in foreign affairs, and
well acquainted with these matters, told you in a former debate, would
be much of it squandered among the Austrian ministers and favourites.
I make no scruple to add to this, that some small part might fall to
the share of ministers elsewhere. But there is ano