al dignity be interested in any act of government, I
think it is not to be denied, that in receiving the addresses of the two
houses, he assumes a peculiar and distinct character, which cannot be
confounded with his council or ministry.

The duke of ARGYLE rose again, and spoke to this effect:--My lords, if
there was now any contest amongst us for superiority of regard to his
majesty, of zeal for his honour, or reverence of his person, I should
not doubt of proving that no lord in this house can boast of more
ardour, fidelity, or respect than myself; and if the chief question now
amongst us related to the terms in which he deserves to be addressed by
us, I should be unwilling that any man should propose language more
submissive and reverend, or more forcible and comprehensive than myself.

But addresses, however they may for present purposes be represented as
regarding the personal character of the king, are in reality nothing
more than replies to a speech composed by the minister, whose measures,
if we should appear to commend, our panegyrick may, in some future
proceeding, be cited against us. Every address, therefore, ought to be
considered as a publick record, and to be drawn up, to inform the
nation, not to mislead our sovereign.

The address now proposed, is, indeed, equally indefensible to whomsoever
it may be supposed to relate. If it respects the people, it can only
drive them to despair; if it be confined to the sovereign, our advice,
not our panegyrick, is now required, and Europe is to be preserved from
ruin, not by our eloquence, but our sincerity. Respect to his majesty,
my lords, will be best shown by preserving his influence in other
nations, and his authority in his own empire. This can only be done by
showing him how the one has been impaired, and how the other may be in
time endangered.

By addresses like this which is now proposed, my lords, has his majesty
been betrayed into an inadvertent appro bation of measures pernicious to
the nation, and dishonourable to himself, and will now be kept ignorant
of the despicable conduct of the war, the treacherous connivance at the
descent of the Spaniards upon the dominions of the queen of Hungary, and
the contempt with which every nation of the continent has heard of the
neutrality lately concluded. By addresses like this, my lords, have the
rights of the nation been silently given up, and the invaders of
liberty, and violators of our laws, preserved from p