untries, forming a great army for the service of
the common cause, was a wise, useful, and necessary measure,
manifestly tending to the support and encouragement of his majesty's
allies, and the real and effectual assistance of the queen of Hungary,
and the restoring and maintaining the balance of power, and has
already produced very advantageous consequences."

The earl of OXFORD spoke next, to the following effect:--My lords, the
necessity of supporting our reputation, and of preserving the
confidence of the publick, I am by no means inclined to dispute, being
convinced, that from the instant in which we shall lose the credit
which our ancestors have delivered down to us, we shall be no longer
considered as a part of the legislature, but be treated by the people
only as an assembly of hirelings and dependants, convened at the
pleasure of the court to ratify its decisions without examination, to
extort taxes, promote slavery, and to share with the ministry the
crime and the infamy of cruelty and oppression.

For this reason, it is undoubtedly proper, that we avoid not only the
crime, but the appearance of dependence; and that every doubtful
question should be freely debated, and every pernicious position
publickly condemned; and that when our decisions are not agreeable to
the opinion or expectations of the people, we should at least show
them that they are not the effects of blind compliance with the
demands of the ministry, or of an implicit resignation to the
direction of a party. We ought to show, that we are unprejudiced, and
ready to hear truth; that our determinations are not dictated by any
foreign influence, and that it will not be vain to inform us, or
useless to petition us.

In these principles I agree with the noble lord who has made the
motion; but in the consequences which are on this occasion to be drawn
from them, I cannot but differ very widely from him; for, in my
opinion, nothing can so much impair our reputation, as an address like
that which is proposed; an address not founded either upon facts or
arguments, and from which the nation can collect only, that the
protection of this house is withdrawn from them, that they are given
up to ruin, and that they are to perish as a sacrifice to the interest
of Hanover.

Let us consider what we are now invited to assert, and it will easily
appear how well this motion is calculated to preserve and to advance
the reputation of this house. We are to assert