nded till it can be
proved that it was ill furnished by the fault of the ministry.

Nothing is more common, my lords, in all naval wars, than sudden changes
of fortune; for on many occasions an accidental gust of wind, or
unexpected darkness of the weather, may destroy or preserve a fleet from
destruction, or may make the most formidable armaments absolutely
useless; and in the present disposition of some people towards the
ministry, I should not wonder to hear an alteration of wind charged upon
them.

For what objections may they not expect, my lords, when all the
disadvantages which the nation suffers from the enemies of his majesty,
are imputed to them; when daily endeavours are used to make them
suspected of favouring arbitrary power, for maintaining an army which
nothing has made necessary but the struggles of those men whose
principles have no other tendency than to enslave their country. Let not
our domestick animosities be kept alive and fomented by a constant
opposition to every design of the administration, nor our foreign
enemies incited by the observation of our divisions, to treat us with
insolence, interrupt our trade, prescribe bounds to our dominions, and
threaten us with invasions--and the army may safely be disbanded.

For the ministry, my lords, are not conscious of having consulted any
thing but the happiness of the nation, and have, therefore, no
apprehensions of publick resentment, nor want the protection of an armed
force. They desire only the support of the laws, and to them they
willingly appeal from common fame and unequitable charges.

I mention the ministry, my lords, because I am unacquainted with any man
who either claims or possesses the power or title of sole minister. I
own, in my province, no superiour but his majesty, and am willing and
ready to answer any charge which relates to that part of the publick
business which I have had the honour to transact or direct.

A great part of what I have now offered was, therefore, no otherwise
necessary on the present occasion, than because silence might have
appeared like a consciousness of misconduct, and have afforded a new
subject of airy triumph to the enemies of the administration; for very
few of the transactions which have been so severely censured, fell under
the particular inspection of the right honourable gentleman against whom
the motion is levelled; he was not otherwise concerned in counselling or
in ratifying, than as one of hi