a new instance of the
credulity of mankind, of the delusion of outward appearances, and of
the folly of hoping with too great ardour for any event, and of
trusting any man with too great confidence. No sooner were they
possessed of the power to which their ambition had so long aspired,
and of the salaries which had with so much eagerness been coveted by
their avarice, than they forgot the complaints of the merchants, the
value of commerce, the honour of the British flag, the danger of our
American territories, and the great importance of the war with Spain,
and contented themselves with ordering convoys for our merchants,
instead of destroying the enemy by whom they are molested.

The fleets which are floating from one coast to another in the
Mediterranean, and which sometimes strike terrour into the harmless
inhabitants of an open coast, or threaten, but only threaten,
destruction to an unfortified town, I am very far from considering as
armaments fitted out against the Spaniards, who neither feel nor fear
any great injury from them: their trade may be, indeed, somewhat
impeded; but that inconvenience is amply compensated by their
depredations upon our merchants: their navies may be confined to their
own ports, or to those of France; but these navies are not very
necessary to them, since they are not sufficiently powerful to oppose
us on the ocean; and therefore they who are thus confined, suffer less
than those who confine them. We have, indeed, the empty pleasure of
seeing ourselves lords of the sea, and of shaking the coasts with
volleys of our cannon; but we purchase the triumph at a very high
price, and shall find ourselves in time weakened by a useless
ostentation of superiority.

The only parts of the Spanish dominions in which they can receive any
hurt from our forces, are those countries which they possess in
America, and from which they receive the gold and silver which inflame
their pride, and incite them to insult nations more powerful than
themselves. By seizing any part of those wealthy regions, we shall
stop the fountain of their treasure, reduce them to immediate penury,
and compel them to solicit peace upon any conditions that we shall
condescend to offer them.

The necessity of invading these countries, my lords, was perfectly
understood, and very distinctly explained, when the forces destined
for that expedition were delayed, and when the attempt at Carthagena
miscarried; nothing was more patheti