The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Volume 11

HOUSE OF LORDS, FEBRUARY 1, 1742-3

The order of the day for taking into consideration the several estimates of the charge of the forces in the pay of Great Britain was read, upon which lord STANHOPE rose up, and spoke in substance as follows:—

My lords, I have always understood, that the peculiar happiness of the British nation consists in this, that nothing of importance can be undertaken by the government, without the consent of the people as represented by the other house, and that of your lordships, whose large possessions, and the merits either of your ancestors or yourselves, have given you the privilege of voting in your own right in national consultations.

The advantages of this constitution, the security which it confers upon the nation, and the restraint which it lays upon corrupt ministers, or ambitious princes, are in themselves too obvious to admit of explanation, and too well known in this great assembly, by whose ancestors they were originally obtained, and preserved at the frequent hazard of life and fortune, for me to imagine, that I can make them either more esteemed or better understood.

My intention, my lords, is not to teach others the regard which the constitution of our government, or the happiness of the nation demands from them, but to show how much I regard them myself, by endeavouring to preserve and defend them at a time when I think them invaded and endangered.

Upon the examination of the estimates now before us, I cannot but think it necessary, my lords, that every man who values liberty, should exert that spirit by which it was first established; that every man should rouse from his security, and awaken all his vigilance and all his zeal, lest the bold attempt that has been now made should, if it be not vigorously repressed, be an encouragement to the more dangerous encroachments; and lest that fabrick of power should be destroyed, which has been erected at such expense and with such labour; at which one generation has toiled after another, and of which the wisdom of the most experienced and penetrating statesmen have been employed to perfect its symmetry, and the industry of the most virtuous patriots to repair its decays.

The first object which the estimates force upon our observation is a numerous body of foreign troops, for the levy and payment of which a very large sum is demanded; and demanded at a time when the nation is to the last degree embarrassed and oppressed, when it is engaged in a war with a powerful empire, and almost overwhelmed with the debts that were contracted in former confederacies; when it is engaged in a war, not for the recovery of forgotten claims, or for the gratification of restless ambition, not for the consumption of exuberant wealth, or for the discharge of superfluous inhabitants; but a war, in which the most important interests are set to hazard, and by which the freedom of navigation must be either established or lost; a war which must determine the sovereignty of the ocean, the rights of commerce, and the state of our colonies; a war, in which we may, indeed, be victorious without any increase of our reputation; but in which we cannot be defeated without losing all our influence upon foreign powers, and becoming subject to the insolence of petty princes.

When foreign troops are hired, at a time like this, it is natural to expect that they have been procured by contracts uncommonly frugal; because no nation can be supposed to be lavish in a time of distress. It is natural, my lords, to expect that they should be employed in expeditions of the utmost importance; because no trifling advantage ought to incite a people overburdened with taxes, to oppress themselves with any new expense; and it may be justly supposed, that these troops were hired by the advice of the senate; because no minister can be supposed so hardened in defiance of his country, in contempt of the laws, and in disregard of the publick happiness, as to dare to introduce foreigners into the publick service, in prosecution of his own private schemes, or to rob the nation which he professes to serve, that he may increase the wealth of another.

But upon consideration of this estimate, my lords, all these expectations, however reasonable in themselves, however consistent with the declarations of the wisest statesmen, and the practice of former times, will be disappointed; for it will be found that the troops, of which we are now to ratify the provisions for their payment, are raised at an expense never known on the like occasion before, when the nation was far more able to support it; that they have yet been employed in no expedition, that they have neither fought a battle, nor besieged a town, nor undertaken any design, nor hindered any that has been formed by those against whom they are pretended to have been raised; that they have not yet drawn a sword but at a review, nor heard the report of fire-arms but upon a festival; that they have not yet seen an enemy, and that they are posted where no enemy is likely to approach them.

But this, my lords, is not the circumstance which ought, in my opinion, most strongly to affect us; troops may be raised without being employed, and money expended without effect; but such measures, though they ought to be censured and rectified, may be borne without any extraordinary degree of indignation. While our constitution remains unviolated, temporary losses may be easily repaired, and accidental misconduct speedily retrieved; but when the publick rights are infringed, when the ministry assume the power of giving away the properties of the people, it is then necessary to exert an uncommon degree of vigour and resentment; it is as necessary to stop, the encroachments of lawless power, as to oppose the torrent of a deluge; which may be, perhaps, resisted at first, but from which, the country that is once overwhelmed by it, cannot be recovered.

To raise this ardour, my lords, to excite this laudable resentment, I believe it will be only necessary to observe, that those troops were raised without the advice or the consent of the senate; that this new burden has been laid upon the nation by the despotick will of the ministers, and that the demands made for their support may be said to be a tax laid upon the people, not by the senate, but by the court.

The motives upon which the ministry have acted on this occasion are, so far as they can be discovered, and, indeed, there appears very little care to conceal them, such as no subject of this crown ever dared to proceed upon before; they are such as the act of settlement, that act to which our sovereign owes his title to this throne, ought for ever to have excluded from British councils.

I should proceed, my lords, to explain this new method of impoverishing our country, and endeavour to show the principles from which it arises, and the end which it must promote. But some sudden indisposition obliges me to contract my plan, and conclude much sooner than I intended, with moving, "that an humble address be presented to his majesty, to beseech and advise his majesty, that considering the excessive and grievous expenses, incurred by the great number of foreign troops now in the pay of Great Britain, (expenses so increased by the extraordinary manner, as we apprehend, of making the estimates relating thereunto, and which do not appear to us conducive to the end proposed,) his majesty will be graciously pleased, in compassion to his people, loaded already with such numerous and heavy taxes, such large and growing debts, and greater annual expenses than this nation, at any time, ever before sustained, to exonerate his subjects of the charge and burden of those mercenaries who were taken into our service last year, without the advice or consent of parliament."

Lord SANDWICH spoke next in support of the motion to the following effect:—My lords, though I heard the noble lord with so much pleasure, that I could not but wish he had been able to deliver his sentiments more fully upon this important affair; yet I think the motion so reasonable and just, that though he might have set it yet more beyond the danger of opposition, though he might have produced many arguments in defence of it, which, perhaps, will not occur to any other lords; yet I shall be able to justify it in such a manner, as may secure the approbation of the unprejudiced and disinterested; and, therefore, I rise up to second it with that confidence, which always arises from a consciousness of honest intentions, and of an impartial inquiry after truth.

The measures, my lords, which have given occasion to this motion, have been for some time the subject of my reflections; I have endeavoured to examine them in their full extent, to recollect the previous occurrences by which the ministry might have been influenced to engage in them, and to discover the certain and the probable consequences which they may either immediately, or more remotely produce; I have laboured to collect from those who are supposed to be most acquainted with the state of Europe, and the scheme of British policy which is at present pursued, the arguments which can be offered in favour of these new engagements; and have compared them with the conduct of former ages upon the like occasions; but the result of all my searches into history, all my conversation with politicians of every party, and all my private meditations, has been only, that I am every hour confirmed, by some new evidence, in the opinion which I had first formed; and now imagined myself to know what I at first believed, that we are entangled in a labyrinth of which no end is to be seen, and in which no certain path has yet been discovered; that we are pursuing schemes which are in no degree necessary to the prosperity of our country, by means which are apparently contrary to law, to policy, and to justice; and that we are involved in a foreign quarrel only to waste that blood, and exhaust that treasure, which might be employed in recovering the rights of commerce, and regaining the dominion of the sea.

To prosecute the war against Spain with that vigour which interest and resentment might be expected to produce, to repress that insolence by which our navigation has been confined, and to punish that rapacity by which our merchants have been plundered, and that cruelty by which our fellow-subjects have been enslaved, tortured, and murdered, had been an attempt in which every honest man would readily have concurred, and to which all those who had sense to discern their own interest, or virtue to promote the publick happiness, would cheerfully have contributed, however loaded with taxes, oppressed with a standing army, and plundered by the vultures of a court: nor is the ancient spirit of the British nation so much depressed, but that when Spain had been subdued, when our rights had been publickly acknowledged, our losses repaired, and our colonies secured; when our ships had again sailed in security, and our flag awed the ocean of America, we might then have extended our views to foreign countries, might have assumed, once more, the guardianship of the liberties of Europe, have given law to the powers of the continent, and superintended the happiness of mankind. But in the present situation of our affairs, when we have made war for years without advantage, while our most important rights are yet subject to the chance of battle, why we should engage in the defence of other princes more than our stipulations require, I am not able to discover; nor can I conceive what motive can incite us, after having suffered so much from a weak enemy to irritate a stronger.

To the measures which are now pursued, were there no other arguments to be alleged against them, I should think it, my lords, a sufficient objection that they are unnecessary, and that this is not a time for political experiments, or for wanton expenses. I should think, that the present distresses of the publick ought to restrain your lordships from approving any steps by which our burdens may be made more heavy, burdens under which we are already sinking, and which a peace of more than twenty years has not contributed to lighten.

But that they are unnecessary, my lords, is the weakest allegation that can be offered; for they are such as tend not only to obstruct the advancement of more advantageous designs, but to bring upon us the heaviest calamities; they will not only hinder us from increasing our strength, but will sink us to the greatest degree of weakness; they will not only impoverish us for the present, which may be sometimes the effect of useful and beneficial designs, but may depress us below a possibility of recovery, and reduce us to receive laws from some foreign power.

This is, indeed, a dreadful prospect; but what other can arise to us from a war with France, with the most wealthy empire of the universe, of which we were sufficiently shown the strength in the late war, by the resistance which all the surrounding nations found it able to make against their united efforts, and which the debts that they then contracted, and the towns that were then destroyed, will not easily suffer them to forget. Of this empire, my lords, thus powerful, thus formidable, neither the dominions are contracted, nor the trade impaired, nor the inhabitants diminished. The French armies are no less numerous than under their late mighty monarch, their territories are increased by new acquisitions, their trade has long been promoted by the destruction of ours, and their wealth has been, by consequence, increased. They have not, my lords, like this unhappy nation, been exhausted by temporary expedients and useless armaments; they have not harassed their merchants to aggrandize the court, nor thrown away the opportunities which this interval of quiet has afforded them, in the struggles of faction; they have not been multiplying officers to betray the people, and taxing the people to support their oppressors; but have with equal policy, diligence, and success, recovered the losses which they then sustained, and enabled themselves to make another stand against a general confederacy.

Against this empire, my lords, are we now to be engaged in a war, without trade, and without money, loaded with debts, and harassed with exactions; for what consequences can be expected from sending our troops into the frontier towns, but that the French will charge us with beginning hostilities, and declare war against us, or attack us without a declaration; and that we shall be obliged to stand alone against the whole power of the house of Bourbon, while all our ancient allies stand at a distance spiritless and intimidated, or, perhaps, secretly incite our enemies against us, in hopes of sharing our plunder, or of rising on our ruin.

I know it has been alleged, and alleged with such a degree of confidence, as it is reasonable to hope nothing could produce but a consciousness of truth, that the Dutch have already consented to assist us; nor is it without regret, that I find myself obliged to declare, that this assertion is nothing more than one of those transient visions with which it has been for a long time the custom of British ministers to delude the people, to pacify their clamours, and lull them in security; one of those artifices from which nothing more is expected, than that it shall operate upon the nation, till the circumstances of our affairs furnish out another, which is likewise, in a short time, to be exploded only to make way for new falsehoods in a perpetual succession.

Such, my lords, is the art of government discovered by the wonderful sagacity of modern statesmen; who have found out, that it is easier to palliate than to cure; and that the people maybe quieted by political soporificks, while diseases are preying upon them, while their strength decays, and their vitals are consumed.

That these falsehoods prevail upon mankind, and that after the discovery of one cheat, another equally gross is patiently borne, cannot but raise the wonder of a man who views the world at a distance, and who has not opportunities of inquiring into the various motives of action or belief. Such an one would be inclined to think us a nation of fools, that must be stilled with rattles, or amused with baubles; and would readily conclude, that our ministers were obliged to practise such fallacies, because they could not prevail upon us by motives adapted to reasonable beings.

But if we reflect, my lords, upon the different principles upon which reports like these are propagated and opposed, it will easily be discovered that their success is not to be imputed either to superiour art on one side, or uncommon weakness on the other. It is well known that they are promoted by men hired for that purpose with large salaries, or beneficial employments, and that they can be opposed only from a desire of detecting falsehood, and advancing the publick happiness: it is apparent that those who invent, those who circulate, and, perhaps, part of those who counterfeit belief of them, are incited by the prospect of private advantage, and immediate profit; and that those who stop them in their career by contradiction and objections, can propose no other benefit to themselves, than that which they shall receive in common with every other member of the community; and, therefore, whoever has sufficiently observed mankind, to discover the reason for which self-interest has in almost all ages prevailed over publick spirit, will be able to see why reports like these are not always suppressed by seasonable detections.

A minister ought not to flatter himself that he has always deceived those who appear to credit his representations; their silence is not so often the effect of credulity, as of cowardice or indolence. Many are overborne by the pomp of great offices, and others who distinguish more clearly, and judge with greater freedom, are contented to enjoy their own reflections, without reproving those whom they despair to reform.

This report of the engagement of the Dutch in our measures, shall, however, furnish our ministers with no opportunity of boasting their address, nor shall it pass any longer without contradiction; for I shall, without any scruple, affirm in the presence of this august assembly, that the Dutch have hitherto appeared absolutely neutral; that they have not shown any approbation of our measures, nor any inclination to assist us in them. I know, my lords, how disagreeable this assertion may be to those, whose interest it is that mankind should believe them of no less importance in the eyes of foreign powers than in their own, and should imagine that the remotest nations of the world are influenced by their motions, and directed by their counsels; but however they may resent this declaration, I defy them to confute it, and now call upon them to show that the Dutch have engaged in any measure for the support of the queen of Hungary.

The late augmentation of twenty thousand men, which may possibly be mentioned as a proof of their intention, shows nothing but that they pursue their own interest with their usual prudence and attention, and with such as it is to be wished that our ministers would condescend to learn from them; and that they are too wise to suffer the towns from which the Austrians have, by our persuasions, withdrawn their troops to fall into the hands of the French. They have, therefore, substituted new garrisons, but seem to have no regard to the interest of the queen of Hungary, nor any other view than that of providing for their own security, waiting the event of the war, and laying hold of any advantage that may accidentally be offered them.

It may be urged farther by those who are desirous to deceive others, or willing to be deceived themselves, that the province of Holland has passed a vote for assisting the queen of Hungary with twenty thousand men; but if it be remembered, my lords, that this must be the general act of the United States, and that every province has its own particular views to gratify, and its own interest to reconcile with the general good, it may be very reasonably suspected, that this assistance is yet rather the object of hope than expectation; it may justly be feared, that before so many various dispositions will unite, and such different schemes will be made consistent, the house of Austria may be extinguished, that our forces may be destroyed, and Germany enslaved by the French. Then, my lords, what will remain, but that we shall curse that folly that involved us in distant quarrels, and that temerity which sent us out to oppose a power which we could not withstand; and which incited us to waste that treasure in foreign countries, which we may quickly want for the defence of our own?

It must be, indeed, confessed, that if an estimate is to be made of our condition, from the conduct of our ministers, the fear of exhausting our treasure must be merely panick, and the precepts of frugality which other states have grown great by observing, are to be absolutely unnecessary. It may reasonably be imagined that we have some secret mine, or hidden repository of gold, which no degree of extravagance can drain, and which may for ever supply the most lavish expenses without diminution.

For upon what other supposition, my lords, can any man attempt a defence of the contract, by which we have obtained for one campaign the service of the troops of Hanover? What but the confidence of funds that can never be deficient, could influence them to conclude a stipulation, by which levy-money is to be paid for troops of which not a single regiment was raised for our service, or on the present occasion; which were established for the security of the electorate of Hanover, and would have been maintained, though we had not engaged in the affairs of the continent.

What were the reasons which induced our ministry to employ the forces of Hanover, it is, perhaps, not necessary to inquire. The only motive that ought to have influenced them, was the prospect of obtaining them upon cheap terms; for, my lords, if the troops of Hanover cannot be obtained, but at the same expense with those of Britain, I am not able to discover why they should be preferred. I have never heard, my lords, any uncommon instances of Hanoverian courage, that should incline us to trust the cause of Europe rather to that nation than to our own; and am inclined to believe, that Britain is able to produce men equal in all military virtues to any native of that happy country; a country which, though it was thought worthy to be secured by a neutrality, when all the neighbouring provinces were exposed to the ravages of war, I have never heard celebrated for any peculiar excellencies; and of which I cannot but observe, that it was indebted for its security rather to the precaution of its prince, than the bravery of its inhabitants.

This demand of levy-money shocks every Briton yet more strongly, on considering by whom it is required; required by that family whom we have raised from a petty dominion, for which homage was paid to a superiour power; and which was, perhaps, only suffered to retain the appearance of a separate sovereignty, because it was not worth the labour and expense of an invasion; because it would neither increase riches nor titles, nor gratify either avarice or ambition; by a family whom, from want and weakness, we have exalted to a throne, from whence, with virtue equal to their power, they may issue their mandates to the remotest parts of the earth, may prescribe the course of war in distant empires, and dictate terms of peace to half the monarchs of the globe.

I should imagine, my lords, that when a king of the house of Hanover surveys his navies, reviews his troops, or examines his revenue, beholds the splendour of his court, or contemplates the extent of his dominions, he cannot but sometimes, however unwillingly, compare his present state with that of his ancestors; and that when he gives audience to the ambassadours of princes, who, perhaps, never heard of Hanover, and directs the payment of sums, by the smallest of which all his ancient inheritance would be dearly purchased; and reflects, as surely he sometimes will, that all these honours and riches, this reverence from foreign powers, and his domestick splendour, are the gratuitous and voluntary gifts of the mighty people of Britain, he should find his heart overflowing with unlimited gratitude, and should be ready to sacrifice to the happiness of his benefactors, not only every petty interest, or accidental inclination, but even his repose, his safety, or his life; that he should be ready to ease them of every burden before they complained, and to aid them with all his power before they requested his assistance; that he should consider his little territories as only a contemptible province to his British empire, a kind of nursery for troops to be employed without harassing his more valuable subjects.