own, would
distinguish himself, even in this age of effrontery and corruption, by a
contempt of reputation, not yet known amongst mankind.

And indeed, my lords, it must be confessed that these discontents and
clamours are produced by such an appearance of folly, or of treachery,
as few ages or nations have ever known; by such an obstinate
perseverance in bad measures, as shame has hitherto prevented in those
upon whom nobler motives, fidelity to their trust, and love of their
country, had lost their influence.

Other ministers, when they have formed designs of sacrificing the
publick interest to their own, have been compelled to better measures by
timely discoveries, and just representations; they have been criminal
only because they hoped for secrecy, and have vindicated their conduct
no longer than while they had hopes that their apologies might deceive.

But our heroick ministers, my lords, have set themselves free from the
shackles of circumspection, they have disburdened themselves of the
embarrassments of caution, and claim an exemption from the necessity of
supporting their measures by laborious deductions and artful reasonings;
they defy the publick when they can no longer delude it, and prosecute,
in the face of the sun, those measures which they have not been able to
support, and of which the fatal consequences are foreseen by the whole
nation.

When they have been detected in one absurdity, they take shelter in
another; when experience has shown that one of their attempts was
designed only to injure their country, they propose a second of the same
kind with equal confidence, boast again of their integrity, and again
require the concurrence of the legislature, and the support of the
people.

When they had for a long time suffered our trading vessels to be seized
in sight of our own ports, when they had despatched fleets into the
Mediterranean, only to lie exposed to the injuries of the weather, and
to sail from one coast to another, only to show that they had no hostile
intentions, and that they were fitted out by the friends of the
Spaniards, only to amuse and exhaust the nation, they at length thought
it necessary to lull the impatience of the people, who began to discover
that they had hitherto been harassed with taxes and impresses to no
purpose, by the appearance of a new effort for the subjection of the
enemy, and to divert, by the expectations which an army and a fleet
naturally raise, any clamou