to the grievous incumbrances under
which it groaned, in support of connexions and alliances that were
equally foreign to her consideration, and pernicious to her interest.
They would have investigated that cause which was so warmly recommended
for support, and pretended to discover that it was a cause in which
Great Britain ought to have had no concern, because it produced a
certainty of loss without the least prospect of advantage. They would
have varied essentially in their opinions of the necessary supplies,
from the sentiments of those who prepared the estimates, and even
declared some doubts about the economy to be used in managing the
national expense: finally, they would have represented the impossibility
of union between the two parties, one of which seemed bent upon reducing
the other to beggary and contempt. Such was the strain that used to
flow from an opposition, said to consist of disloyalty and disappointed
ambition. But that malignant spirit was now happily extinguished. The
voice of the sovereign was adored as the oracle of a divinity, and those
happy days were now approaching that saw the commons of England pour
their treasures, in support of a German prince, with such a generous
hand, that posterity will be amazed at their liberality.

{1758}

To the speech of his majesty the house of lords returned an address,
in such terms of complacency as had long distinguished that illustrious
assembly. The commons expressed their approbation and confidence with
equal ardour, and not one objection was made to the form or the nature
of the address, though one gentleman, equally independent in his mind
and fortune, took exceptions to some of the measures which had been
lately pursued. Their complaisance was more substantially specified in
the resolutions of the house, as soon as the two great committees of
supply were appointed They granted for the sea-service of the ensuing
year sixty thousand men, including fourteen thousand eight hundred and
forty-five marines; and the standing army, comprehending four
thousand invalids, was fixed at fifty-three thousand seven hundred and
seventy-seven effective men, commission and non-commission officers
included. For the maintenance of these forces, by sea and land, the
charge of guards and garrisons at home and abroad, the expense of the
ordnance, and in order to make good the sum which had been issued by his
majesty's orders, in pursuance of the address from the commons, the