nce will be
very penuriously dealt out, and if we submit to their choice of the
writings which shall be laid before us, our inquiry will probably end
without any discoveries made either by our enemies or ourselves.

But I hope, sir, we shall not be so cheaply satisfied, nor exposed by
the fear of one enemy, to the insolence of another. I hope we shall
resolutely continue our demands of information, while a single line is
concealed, from which any light can be expected.

There may, indeed, be circumstances in which our demands, however loud,
will necessarily be vain. It is not impossible that we may suspect those
transactions of deep art, and secret contrivance, which have been the
consequences of mere indolence, and want of consideration. Our great
ministers have been, perhaps, only doing nothing, while we have imagined
that they were working out of sight.

Misled, sir, by this notion, we may call for the orders that have been
despatched in these two last years, when, perhaps, our secretaries of
state have been fattening on their salaries without employment, and have
slept without care, and without curiosity, while we have been
congratulating ourselves upon their vigilance for our preservation.

Or if orders have been given, it is to be considered, that the end of
inspecting orders is to compare them with the conduct of the admirals to
whom they were directed: from this comparison, I doubt not but many
gentlemen expect uncommon discoveries; but to check all unreasonable
hopes before they have taken possession of their hearts, for
unreasonable hopes are the parent of disappointment, I think it proper
to remind them, that to draw any conclusions from the orders, it is
necessary to understand them.

This consideration alone is sufficient to redress the ardour of inquiry,
for every man that has had opportunities of knowing the wonderful
accomplishments of our ministry, the depth of their designs, the
subtilty of their stratagems, and the closeness of their reasoning, will
easily conceive it probable that they might send such orders as none but
themselves could understand; and what then will be the consequence of
our idle curiosity, but that we be led into a labyrinth of endless
conjectures? For we have long ago found that no explanations are to be
expected, and that our ministry are too wise to discover their secrets
to their enemies.

Let us, therefore, examine the naked facts which have fallen within our
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