hich their troops have gained over the king of
Sardinia, and with the entrance which they have forced into his
dominions; but this can afford them no long satisfaction, since they
will, probably, never be able to break through the passes at which
they have arrived, or to force their way into Italy; and must perish
at the feet of inaccessible rocks, where they are now supported at
such an expense that they are more burdensome to their own master than
to the king of Sardinia.

Of this prince, I know not why, it has been asserted that he will
probably violate his engagements to Britain and Austria; that he will
purchase peace by perfidy, and grant a passage to the army of Spain.
His conduct has certainly given, hitherto, no reason for such an
imputation; he has opposed them with fortitude, and vigour, and
address; nor has he failed in any of the duties required of a general
or an ally; he has exposed his person to the most urgent dangers, and
his dominions to the ravages of war; he has rejected all the
solicitations of France, and set her menaces at defiance; and surely,
my lords, if no private man ought to be censured without just reason,
even in familiar discourse, we ought still to be more cautious of
injuring the reputation of princes by publick reproaches in the solemn
debates of national assemblies.

The same licentiousness of speech has not, indeed, been extended to
all the princes mentioned in this debate. The emperour has been
treated with remarkable decency as the lawful sovereign of Germany, as
one who cannot be opposed without rebellion, and against whom we,
therefore, cannot expect that the troops of Hanover should presume to
act, since they must expose their country to the severities of the
imperial interdict.

The noble lords who have thus ardently asserted the rights of the
emperour, who have represented in such strong language the crime of
violating the German constitutions, and have commended the neutrality
of the king of Prussia, as proper to be imitated by all the rest of
the princes 'of the empire, have forgotten, or hoped that others Would
forget, the injustice and violence by which he exalted himself to the
throne, from which they appear to think it a sacrilegious attempt to
endeavour to thrust him down. They forget that one of the votes was
illegally suspended, and that the rest were extorted by the terrour of
an army. They forget that he invited the French into the empire, and
that he is guilty