n taken from
every circumstance that could admit of misrepresentation. The
constitution of the empire has been falsely quoted, to prove that they
cannot act against the emperour, and their inactivity in Flanders has
been produced as a proof, that they do not intend to enter Germany.

Whoever shall consult the constituent and fundamental pact by which
the German form of government is established, will find, my lords,
that it is not in the power of the emperour alone to lay any of the
states of Germany under the ban; and that the electors are independent
in their own dominions, so far as that they may enter into alliances
with foreign powers, and make war upon each other.

It appears, therefore, my lords, that no law prohibits the elector of
Hanover to send his troops to the assistance of the queen of Hungary;
he may, in consequence of treaties, march into Germany, and attack the
confederates of the emperour, or what is not now intended, even the
emperour himself, without any dread of the severities of the ban.

Nor does the continuance of the forces in Flanders show any
unwillingness to begin hostilities, or any dread of the power of
either Prussia, whose prohibition is merely imaginary, or of France,
who is not less perplexed by the neighbourhood of our army than by any
other method that could have been taken of attacking her; for being
obliged to have an equal force always in readiness to observe their
motions, she has not been able to send a new army against the
Austrians, but has been obliged to leave the emperour at their mercy,
and suffer them to recover Bohemia without bloodshed, and establish
themselves at leisure in Bavaria.

Nor is this, my lords, the only advantage which has been gained by
their residence in Flanders; for the United Provinces have been
animated to a concurrence in the common cause, and have consented so
far to depart from their darling neutrality, as to send twenty
thousand of their forces to garrison the barrier. Of which no man, I
suppose, will say that it is not of great importance to the queen of
Hungary, since it sets her free from the necessity of distracting her
views, and dividing her forces for the defence of the most distant
parts of her dominions at once; nor will it be affirmed, that this
advantage could have probably been gained, without convincing our
allies of our sincerity, by sending an army into the continent.

If it be asked, what is farther to be expected from these tr