his command, or more capriciously dispose of posts and preferments;
never did any tyrant appear to set censure more openly at defiance,
treat murmurs and remonstrances with greater contempt, or with more
confidence and security distribute posts among his slaves, without any
other reason of preference than his own uncontroulable pleasure.

And surely no man, my lords, could have made choice of such wretches for
military commands, but to show that nothing but his own private
inclinations should influence his conduct, and that he considered
himself as supreme and unaccountable: for we have seen, my lords, the
same animals to-day cringing behind a counter, and to-morrow swelling in
a military dress; we have seen boys sent from school in despair of
improvement, and intrusted with military command; fools that cannot
learn their duty, and children that cannot perform it, have been
indiscriminately promoted; the dross of the nation has been swept
together to compose our new forces, and every man who was too stupid or
infamous to learn or carry on a trade, has been placed, by this great
disposer of honours, above the necessity of application, or the reach of
censure.

Did not sometimes indignation, and sometimes pity, check the sallies of
mirth, it would not be a disagreeable entertainment, my lords, to
observe, in the park, the various appearances of these raw commanders,
when they are exposing their new scarlet to view, and strutting with the
first raptures of sudden elevation; to see the mechanick new-modelling
his mien, and the stripling tottering beneath the weight of his cockade;
or to hear the conversation of these new adventurers, and the
instructive dialogues of schoolboys and shopkeepers.

I take this opportunity, my lords, of clearing myself from any suspicion
of having contributed, by my advice, to this stupendous collection. I
only once interposed with the recommendation of a young gentleman, who
had learned his profession in two campaigns among the Muscovians, and
whom yet neither his own desert, nor my patronage could advance to a
commission. And, I believe, my lords, all the other general officers
were equally unconsulted, and would, if their advice had been asked,
equally have disapproved the measures that have been pursued.

But thus, my lords, were our new regiments completed, in which, of two
hundred and fifty officers who have subsisted upon half-pay, only
thirty-six have been promoted, though surely th