indolent despair and tame acquiescence in the attempts of the
French, by representations of the wealth and force, the influence and
alliances of our own nation. I have often asserted, that I did not
doubt but her conquests might be stopped by vigorous opposition, and
that the current of her power, which had by artificial machines of
policy been raised higher than its source, would subside and stagnate,
when its course was no longer assisted by cowardice, and its way
levelled by submission.

These, my lords, were my sentiments, and this was my language, at a
time when all the powers of Europe conspired to flatter the pride of
France by falling at her feet, when her nod was solicitously watched
by all the princes of the empire, when there was no safety but by her
protection, nor any enterprise but by her permission; when her wealth
influenced the councils of nations, when war was declared at her
command in the remotest corners of Europe, and every contest was
submitted to her arbitration.

Even at this time, my lords, was I sufficiently confident of the power
of my own country, to set at defiance, in my own mind, this gigantick
state. I considered all additions to its greatness rather as the
tumour of disease than the shootings of vigour, and thought that its
nerves grew weaker as its corpulence increased. Of my own nation I
saw, that neither its numbers nor its courage were diminished; I had
no reason to believe our soldiers or our sailors less brave than their
fathers; and, therefore, imagined that whenever they should be led out
against the same enemies, they would fight with the same superiority
and the same success.

But for these hopes, my lords, I was sometimes pitied by those who
thought themselves better acquainted with the state of Europe than
myself, and sometimes ridiculed by those who had been long accustomed
to depress their own country, and to represent Britain as only the
shadow of what it once was; to deride our armies and our fleets, and
describe us impoverished and corrupted, sunk into cowardice, and
delighted with slavery.

That my opinion is now likely to be justified, and that those who have
hitherto so confidently opposed me, will soon be obliged to
acknowledge their mistake, is of very small importance; nor is my
self-love so predominant as to incline me to reckon the confirmation
of my predictions, or the vindication of my sagacity among the
benefits which we are now about to receive. We are