er these gentlemen may disapprove my arguments, and however
they may misrepresent them, I shall be satisfied, that they will have,
with the disinterested and impartial, their just weight, and that this
affair will not be hastily determined upon an imperfect examination.

Sir Robert WALPOLE replied to this effect:--Whether the merchants are
satisfied with the present methods of insuring, or what is the opinion
of any separate body of men, I think it absolutely unnecessary to
inquire. We are constituted for the publick advantage, and are engaged
by our senatorial character to consider, not the private interest of
particular men, but the general advantage of our country.

In our pursuit, sir, of national interest, we shall be obliged
frequently to oppose the schemes which private men or separate
fraternities, have formed for their own advantage, and which they may be
expected to defend with all their art; both because every man is
unwilling to imagine that the publick interest and his own are opposite,
and because it is to be feared, that many may consider the publick only
in subordination to themselves, and be very little solicitous about the
general prosperity of their country, provided none of the calamities
which afflict it extend their influence to themselves.

We are in the discussion of this question, sir, to consider that we are
engaged in a war against a nation from which insults, depredations,
oppressions, and cruelties, have been long complained of, and against
which we are, therefore, to act with a resolution proportioned to the
injuries which we have suffered, and to our desire of vengeance. We are
to practice every method of distressing them, and to promote the success
of our arms even at the expense of present gain, and the interest of
private men.

It is well known, sir, to all who have either heard or read of the
Spaniards, that they live in carelessness and indolence, neglect all the
natural advantages of their own country, despise the gain of foreign
commerce, and depend wholly on their American settlements, for all the
conveniences, and, perhaps, for most of the necessaries of life.

This is the particular circumstance that makes a war with Britain so
much to be dreaded by them. A nation superiour to them by sea holds them
besieged, like a garrison surrounded by an army, precludes them from
supplies, intercepts their succours, and if it cannot force their walls
by attack, can, at least, by a blockad