the assurances given him not to suffer his foreign dominions to be
insulted on account of the measures he was pursuing for the support of
the Pragmatick sanction, etc.

In consequence of this procedure, the house, pursuant to order, resolved
itself into a committee, to consider of the supplies granted to his
majesty.

Upon this occasion, a motion was made by sir Robert WALPOLE for a grant
of three hundred thousand pounds, for the support of the queen of
Hungary, on which arose the following debate:

Sir Robert WALPOLE supported his motion by a speech, in substance as
follows:--Sir, the necessity of this grant appears so plainly from the
bare mention of the purposes for which it is asked, that I can scarcely
conceive that its reasonableness will be disputed. I can discover no
principles upon which an objection to this motion can be founded, nor
the least arguments by which such objection can be supported.

The indispensable obligations of publick faith, the great ties by which
nations are united, and confederacies formed, I cannot suppose any man
inclined to invalidate. An exact performance of national promises, and
inviolable adherence to treaties, is enforced at once by policy and
justice, and all laws both of heaven and earth.

Publick perfidy, sir, like private dishonesty, whatever temporary
advantages it may promise or produce, is always, upon the whole, the
parent of misery. Every man, however prosperous, must sometimes wish for
a friend; and every nation, however potent, stand in need of an ally;
but all alliances subsist upon mutual confidence, and confidence can be
produced only by unlimited integrity, by known firmness, and approved
veracity.

The use of alliances, sir, has, in the last age, been too much
experienced to be contested; it is by leagues well concerted, and
strictly observed, that the weak are defended against the strong, that
bounds are set to the turbulence of ambition, that the torrent of power
is restrained, and empires preserved from those inundations of war,
that, in former times, laid the world in ruins. By alliances, sir, the
equipoise of power is maintained, and those alarms and apprehensions
avoided, which must arise from daily vicissitudes of empire, and the
fluctuations of perpetual contest.

That it is the interest of this nation to cultivate the friendship of
the house of Austria, to protect its rights, and secure its succession,
to inform it when mistaken, and to assist it wh