er from the capital, or to
raise works to keep off a general inundation, raise yet stronger
motions of indignation, when it is considered for what designs these
expenses are required.

We are now, my lords, raising armies, and hiring auxiliaries, for an
expedition of which no necessity can be discovered, and from which
neither honour nor advantage can be expected; we are about to force
from the people the last remains of their property, and to harass with
exactions those who are already languishing with poverty; not for the
preservation of our liberty, or the defence of our country, but for
the support of the Pragmatick sanction, for the execution of a very
unjust scheme formed by the late king, to which he purchased at
different times, on different emergencies, the concurrence of other
powers; but to which he failed to put the last seal of confirmation,
perhaps in hopes of a male heir, and left the design, which he had so
long and so industriously laboured, to be at last completed by the
kindness of his allies; having, by an unsuccessful war against the
Turks, exhausted his treasure, and weakened his troops.

Whether we shall now engage in this design; whether we shall, for the
defence of the Pragmatick sanction, begin another war on the
continent, of which the duration cannot be determined, the expense
estimated, or the event foreseen; whether we shall contend at once
with all the princes of the house of Bourbon, and entangle ourselves
in a labyrinth of different schemes; whether we shall provoke France
to interrupt our commerce, and invade our colonies, and stand without
the assistance of a single ally, against those powers that lately set
almost all Europe at defiance, is now to be determined by your
lordships.

It can scarcely be expected, that the French will treat us only as
auxiliaries, and satisfy themselves with attacking us only where they
find themselves opposed by us: they will undoubtedly, my lords,
consider us as principals, since they can suffer little more by
declaring war against us.

These, my lords, are the dangers to be feared from the measures which
we are now persuaded to pursue; but persuaded by arguments which, in
my opinion, ought to have very little influence upon us, and which
have not yet been able, however artfully or zealously enforced, to
prevail upon the Dutch to unite with us.

It has, indeed, been asserted, that the Dutch appear inclined to
assist us: but of that inclination str