ed some reasons which had not been
suggested before. The adherents of the minister fairly owned, that
if the army should be disbanded, or even considerably reduced, they
believed the tory interest would prevail; that the present number of
forces was absolutely necessary to maintain the peace of the kingdom,
which was filled with clamour and discontent, as well as to support the
whig interest; and that they would vote for keeping up four times the
number, should it be found expedient for that purpose. The members in
the opposition replied, that this declaration was a severe satire on the
ministry, whose conduct had given birth to such a spirit of discontent.
They said it was in effect a tacit acknowledgment, that what they called
the whig interest was no more than an inconsiderable party, which had
engrossed the administration by indirect methods; which acted contrary
to the sense of the nation; and depended for support upon a military
power, by which the people in general were overawed, and consequently
enslaved. They affirmed, that the discontent of which the ministry
complained, was in a great measure owing to that very standing army,
which perpetuated their taxes, and hung over their heads as the
instruments of arbitrary power and oppression. Lord Polworth explained
the nature of whig principles, and demonstrated that the party which
distinguished itself by this appellation, no longer retained the maxims
by which the whigs were originally characterised. Sir John Hinde
Cotton, who spoke with the courage and freedom of an old English baron,
declared, he never knew a member of that house who acted on true whig
principles, vote for a standing army in time of peace. "I have heard
of whigs," said he, "who opposed all unlimited votes of credit; I have
heard of whigs who looked upon corruption as the greatest curse that
could befall any nation; I have heard of whigs who esteemed the liberty
of the press to be the most valuable privilege of a free people, and
triennial parliaments as the greatest bulwark of their liberties; and I
have heard of a whig administration which has resented injuries done
to the trade of the nation, and revenged insults offered to the British
flag." The ministry triumphed as usual, and the same number of forces
was continued.

SPANISH DEPREDATIONS.

Ever since the treaty of Seville, the Spaniards in America had almost
incessantly insulted and distressed the commerce of Great Britain.
They dis