ick is, indeed, such as makes its
alliance not valuable, on sudden emergencies, in proportion to its
wealth and power. The determinations of large assemblies are always
slow; because there are many opinions to be examined, many proposals
to be balanced, and many objections to be answered. But with much more
difficulty must any important resolution be formed, where it must be
the joint act of the whole assembly, where every individual has a
negative voice, and unanimity alone can make a decision obligatory.
Wherever this is the form of government, the state lies at the mercy
of every man who has a vote in its councils; and the corruption or
folly or obstinacy of one may retard or defeat the most important
designs, lay his country open to the inroads of an enemy, dissolve the
most solemn alliances, and involve a nation in misery.

This, my lords, I need not observe to be the Dutch constitution, nor
need I tell this assembly, that we are not always to judge of the
general inclination of that people by the procedure of their deputies,
since particular men may be influenced by private views, or corrupted
by secret promises or bribes; and those designs may be retarded by
their artifices which the honest and impartial universally approve.
This is, perhaps, the true reason of the present delays which have
furnished occasion to such loud complaints, complaints of which we may
hope quickly to have an end; since it can hardly be doubted, but the
general voice of the people will there, as in other places, at last
prevail, and the prejudices or passions of private men give way to the
interest of the publick.

That the queen of Hungary is now equally distressed, and that she has
received no advantage from the assistance, which we have, at so great
an expense, appeared to give her, is, likewise, very far from being
true. Let any man compare her present condition with that in which she
was before Britain engaged in her cause, and it will easily be
perceived how much she owes to the alliance of this nation. She was
then flying before her enemies, and reduced to seek for shelter in the
remotest part of her dominions, while her capital was fortified in
expectation of a siege. Those who then were distributing her
provinces, and who almost hovered over her only remaining kingdom, are
now retiring before her troops. The army by which it was intended that
her territories in Italy should be taken from her, is now starving in
the countries wh