number
of separate governments independent on each other, but subject, in
some degree, to the emperour as the general head. The subjects of each
state are governed by their prince, and owe no allegiance to any other
sovereign; but the prince performs homage to the emperour, and having
thereby acknowledged himself his feudatory, or dependant, may be
punished for rebellion against him. The title of the emperour, and
consequently his claim to this allegiance, and the right of issuing
the ban against those who shall refuse it, is confirmed by many solemn
acknowledgments of the diet, and, amongst others, by the grant of a
pecuniary aid; this the present emperour has indisputably received, an
aid having been already granted him in the diet, of a subsidy for
eighteen months; and, therefore, none of the troops of Germany can now
be employed against him, without subjecting the prince to whom they
belong to the censure of the ban, a kind of civil excommunication.

To what purpose, then, my lords, are we to hire, at a rate never paid,
or perhaps demanded before, troops which cannot serve us without
subjecting their prince to the charge of rebellion? Or how shall we
assist the queen of Hungary, by collecting forces which dare not act
against the only enemy which she has now to fear? Or in what new
difficulties shall we be engaged, should the inestimable dominions of
Hanover be subjected to the imperial interdiction.

These, my lords, are questions to which, I hope, we shall hear a more
satisfactory answer than I am able to conceive; for, indeed, I do not
see what remains, but to confess, that these troops are hired only for
a military show, to amuse this nation with a false appearance of zeal
for the preservation of Europe, and to increase the treasures of
Hanover at the expense of Britain.

These are designs, my lords, which no man will avow, and yet these are
the only designs which I can yet discover; and, therefore, I shall
oppose all the measures that tend to their execution. If the heat of
indignation, or the asperity of resentment, or the wantonness of
contempt, have betrayed me into any expressions unworthy of the
dignity of this house, I hope they will be forgiven by your lordships;
for any other degree of freedom I shall make no apology, having, as a
peer, a right to deliver my opinion, and as a Briton, to assert the
independence of my native country, when I see, or imagine myself to
see, that it is ignominiously and i