These men, my lords, who have so long practised the motions of battle,
and who have given in the park so many proofs of their dexterity and
activity, who have at least learned to distinguish the different sounds
of the drum, and know the faces and voices of the subaltern officers, at
least, might have been imagined better qualified for an attempt upon a
foreign kingdom, than those who were necessarily strangers to every part
of the military operations, and might have been sent upon our first
declaration of war, while the new-raised forces acquired at home the
same arts under the same inspection.

But, my lords, whether it was imagined that new forces would be long
before they learned the implicit obedience necessary to a soldier;
whether it was imagined that it would not be easy on a sudden to collect
troops of men so tall and well proportioned, or so well skilled in the
martial arts of curling and powdering their hair; or whether it would
have been dangerous to have deprived the other house of the counsels and
votes of many worthy members, who had at the same time a seat in the
senate, and a commission in the army, it was thought necessary to send
out raw forces to attack our enemies, and to keep our disciplined troops
at home to awe the nation.

Nor did the minister, my lords, think it sufficient to obstruct the
expedition to America by employing new-raised troops, unless they were
likewise placed under the command of a man, who, though of undoubted
courage, was, with respect to the conduct of an army, as ignorant as
themselves. It was therefore determined, my lords, that all those
officers who had gained experience in former wars, and purchased
military knowledge by personal danger, should be disappointed and
rejected for the sake of advancing a man, who, as he had less skill, was
less likely to be successful, and was, therefore, more proper to direct
an expedition proposed only to intimidate the British nation.

That the event was such as might be expected from the means, your
lordships need not to be informed, nor can it be questioned with what
intentions these means were contrived.

I am very far, my lords, from charging our ministers with ignorance, or
upbraiding them with mistakes on this occasion, for their whole conduct
has been uniform, and all their schemes consistent with each other: nor
do I doubt their knowledge of the consequence of their measures, so far
as it was to be foreseen by human prudence