n which a tender and affectionate sovereign could procure for a
dutiful and loyal people; and to obtain satisfaction for all her allies.
She observed, that the most effectual way to procure an advantageous
peace, would be to make preparations for carrying on war with
vigour. She recommended unanimity, and prayed God would direct their
consultations. In the house of lords, the earl of Nottingham, who
had now associated himself with the whigs, inveighed against the
preliminaries as captious and insufficient, and offered a clause to be
inserted in the address of thanks, representing to her majesty that, in
the opinion of the house, no peace could be safe or honourable to Great
Britain or Europe, if Spain and the West Indies should be allotted to
any branch of the house of Bourbon. A violent debate ensued, in the
course of which the earl of Anglesea represented the necessity of easing
the nation of the burdens incurred by an expensive war. He affirmed that
a good peace might have been procured immediately after the battle of
Ramillies, if it had not been prevented by some persons who prolonged
the war for their own private interest. This insinuation was levelled at
the duke of Marlborough, who made a long speech in his own vindication.
He bowed to the place where the queen sat incognito; and appealed to
her, whether, while he had the honour to serve her majesty as a general
and plenipotentiary, he had not constantly informed her and her council
of all the proposals of peace which had been made; and had not desired
instructions for his conduct on that subject. He declared, upon his
conscience, and in presence of the Supreme Being, before whom
he expected soon to appear, that he was ever desirous of a safe,
honourable, and lasting peace; and that he was always very far from
entertaining any design of prolonging the war for his own private
advantage, as his enemies had most falsely insinuated. At last the
question being put, whether the earl of Nottingham's advice should
be part of the address; it was carried in the affirmative by a small
majority. The address was accordingly presented, and the queen, in her
answer, said she should be very sorry any one could think she would not
do her utmost to recover Spain and the West Indies from the house of
Bourbon. Against this advice, however, several peers protested, because
there was no precedent for inserting a clause of advice in an address
of thanks; and because they looked upon it