I may be allowed, in imitation of
these patrons of their country, to indulge my own imagination, and
presume to look forward to the future conduct of those who have exerted
such unwearied industry in their attempts upon the administration, and
so long pursued the right honourable gentleman with inquiries,
examinations, rhetorick, and ridicule, I cannot but find myself inclined
to question whether, after their motion shall have been received in this
house, and their petition granted by his majesty, they will very
solicitously inquire after evidence, or be equally diligent in the
discovery of truth, as in the persecution of the minister.

I am afraid, my lords, that they will be too deeply engaged in the care
of making a dividend of the plunder in just proportions, to find leisure
for pursuit of the enemy, and that the sight of vacant posts, large
salaries, and extensive power, will revive some passions, which the love
of their country has not yet wholly extinguished, and leave in their
attention no room for deep reflections, and intricate inquiries. There
have formerly, my lords, been patriots, who, upon a sudden advancement
to a place of profit, have been immediately lulled into tranquillity,
learned to repose an implicit confidence in the ministers, forgotten to
harangue, threaten, inquire, and protest, and spent the remaining part
of their lives in the harmless amusement of counting their salaries,
perquisites, and gratuities.

How great, my lords, would be the disappointment of the people, that
unhappy people which has been long neglected and oppressed, which so
justly detests the minister, and calls so loudly for vengeance, when
they shall see their defenders remit the vigour of the pursuit, when
once the minister flies before them, and instead of driving him into
exile, contend about his places!

Unhappy then surely, my lords, would the nation be: the administration,
we are told, is already universally abhorred, and its hope is only in
the opposition; but should the zeal of the patriots once grow cold,
should they discover to the publick, that they have been labouring not
for general liberty, but for private advantage; that they were enemies
to power only because it was not in their hands; and disapproved the
measures of the government only because they were not consulted; how
inevitably must the people then sink into despair; how certain must they
then imagine their destruction?

It seems, therefore, my lords,