same time his grace delivered a message from
the king, desiring the house would enable him to fulfil this engagement;
and also to raise what money and troops the exigency of affairs, during
the approaching recess, might require. Another vehement dispute arose
from this proposal. With respect to the treaty, lord Carteret observed,
that no use could be made of the Danish troops in any expedition
undertaken against Spain, because it was stipulated in the treaty that
they should not be used either in Italy, or on board of the fleet, or
be transported in whole or in part beyond sea, after they should have
marched out of the territories of Denmark, except for the defence of the
kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland; nay, should France join against
the English, the Danes could not act against that power or Spain, except
as part of an army formed in Germany or Flanders. This body of Danes
may be said, therefore, to have been retained for the defence and
protection of Hanover; or, if the interest of Britain was at all
consulted in the treaty, it must have been in preventing the Danes from
joining their fleets to those of France or Spain. Then he argued against
the second part of the message with great vivacity. He said nothing
could be more dangerous to the constitution than a general and unlimited
vote of credit. Such a demand our ancestors would have heard with
amazement, and rejected with scorn. He affirmed that the practice was
of modern date in England; that it was never heard of before the
revolution; and never became frequent until the nation was blessed with
the present wise administration. He said, if ever a general vote of
credit and confidence should become a customary compliment from the
parliament to the crown at the end of every session, or as often as the
minister might think fit to desire it, parliaments would grow despicable
in the eyes of the people; then a proclamation might be easily
substituted in its stead, and happy would it be for the nation if that
should be sufficient; for when a parliament ceases to bo a check upon
ministers, it becomes a useless and unnecessary burden on the people.
The representatives must always be paid some way or other; if their
wages are not paid openly and surely by their respective constituents,
as they were formerly, a majority of them may in future times be always
ready to accept of wages from the administration, and these must come
out of the pockets of the people. The duke of