contributed, however loaded with taxes, oppressed with a standing
army, and plundered by the vultures of a court: nor is the ancient
spirit of the British nation so much depressed, but that when Spain
had been subdued, when our rights had been publickly acknowledged, our
losses repaired, and our colonies secured; when our ships had again
sailed in security, and our flag awed the ocean of America, we might
then have extended our views to foreign countries, might have assumed,
once more, the guardianship of the liberties of Europe, have given law
to the powers of the continent, and superintended the happiness of
mankind. But in the present situation of our affairs, when we have
made war for years without advantage, while our most important rights
are yet subject to the chance of battle, why we should engage in the
defence of other princes more than our stipulations require, I am not
able to discover; nor can I conceive what motive can incite us, after
having suffered so much from a weak enemy to irritate a stronger.

To the measures which are now pursued, were there no other arguments
to be alleged against them, I should think it, my lords, a sufficient
objection that they are unnecessary, and that this is not a time for
political experiments, or for wanton expenses. I should think, that
the present distresses of the publick ought to restrain your lordships
from approving any steps by which our burdens may be made more heavy,
burdens under which we are already sinking, and which a peace of more
than twenty years has not contributed to lighten.

But that they are unnecessary, my lords, is the weakest allegation
that can be offered; for they are such as tend not only to obstruct
the advancement of more advantageous designs, but to bring upon us the
heaviest calamities; they will not only hinder us from increasing our
strength, but will sink us to the greatest degree of weakness; they