irely at
heart.

When the motion was made for an address of thanks, couched in terms
that savoured of the most implicit complaisance, approbation, and
acquiescence in the measures which the crown had taken, the earl of
Egmont, and some other anti-courtiers, affirmed, that such an address
would be equally servile and absurd. They observed, that nothing could
be more preposterous than a blind approbation of measures which they
did not know; that nothing could be more ridiculous than their
congratulations on the present happy tranquillity, when almost every
day's newspapers informed them of some British ships being seized by the
Spaniards, or some new attack made by the French on our infant colony
of Nova Scotia. With respect to the continent of Europe, they affirmed,
that the tranquillity of Germany would have been upon a much more solid
foundation, had England never interposed in the affairs of the empire:
in that case the princes would of themselves have supported the
constitution of their own country; that the election of an infant for
the king of the Romans was much more likely to disturb than establish
the tranquillity of Europe; because it would help to overturn the
constitution of the empire, by rendering the imperial dignity hereditary
in one house, instead of being the result of a free election. They took
notice that the constitution had provided vicars to govern the empire
during the vacancy of the imperial throne; but had made no provision of
regents, protectors, or guardians, for a minor emperor, because it was
never supposed that a minor would be chosen. They inveighed against
the late treaty with Spain; in which, they said, the ministry, for the
paltry sum of one hundred thousand pounds, had given up the claims of
the South-Sea company, and other British merchants, who had suffered
from depredations to the amount of one million three hundred thousand
pounds; and bartered away the freedom of our trade and navigation, by
leaving untouched that prerogative which the Spaniards had assumed,
of searching the British ships in the open seas, and confiscating
them should they find on board the least particle of what they called
contraband merchandise. They produced an instance of an English ship,
lately driven by stress of weather into one of the ports of the Spanish
West Indies, where she was searched, seized and condemned, under this
pretence. They recapitulated the conduct of the French, who, in the
midst of thei