I will take care that you shall be sustained." So saying, he and his
company retired, before the sergeant could recollect himself from the
surprise occasioned by this unexpected address. In all probability he
was sensible of his mistake; for the incident was that very day publicly
mentioned in the French army. The prince of Tingray, an officer in the
Austrian service, having been taken prisoner in the battle that ensued,
dined with mares-chal count Saxe, who dismissed him on his parole, and
desired he would charge himself with a facetious compliment to his old
friend, the earl of Crawford. He wished his lordship joy of being a
French general, and said he could not help being displeased with the
sergeant, as he had not procured him the honour of his lordship's
company at dinner.]

[Footnote 310: Note 2 P, p. 310. Such an expensive war could not be
maintained without a very extraordinary exertion of a commercial spirit:
accordingly we find that Great Britain, since the death of king William,
has risen under our pressures with increased vigour and perseverance.
Whether it be owing to the natural progression of trade extending
itself from its origin to its _acme_, or _ne plus ultra_, or to
the encouragement given by the administration to monied men of all
denominations; or to necessity, impelling those who can no longer live
on small incomes to risk their capitals in traffic, that they may have a
chance for bettering their fortunes; or lastly, to a concurrence of all
these causes; certain it is, the national exports and imports have been
sensibly increasing for these forty years: the yearly medium of woollen
exports, from the year 1738 to 1743 inclusive, amounted to about three
millions and a half, which was a yearly increase, on the medium, of five
hundred thousand pounds above the medium from 1718 to 1724. From this
article, the reader will conceive the prodigious extent, and importance
of the British commerce.]

[Footnote 321: Note 2 Q, p. 321. The resolutions of the commons on this
head were printed by authority in the London Gazette, signifying, that
those who were, or should be, proprietors of any part of the public
debt, redeemable by law, incurred before Michaelmas, in the year one
thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, carrying an interest of four
per centum per annum, who should, on or before the twenty-eighth day of
February in that year, subscribe their names, signifying their consent
to accept of an intere