Nor is their navy so contemptible as some have, either by conjecture or misinformation, represented it.  The fleet which they have despatched to America, consists not of fewer than twenty ships, of which the least carry sixty guns, and they are fitting out now an equal number in their own ports; besides, their East India company is obliged to furnish ten ships of the line, at the demand of the government.

Thus it appears that we have neighbours sufficiently powerful to alarm us with the sense of immediate danger; danger which is made more imminent by the expeditious methods by which the French man their fleets, and which we must imitate if we hope to oppose them with success.

I need not say how little we can depend upon any professions of neutrality, which will be best observed when they cannot be securely violated; or upon the pacifick inclination of their minister, which interest, persuasion, or caprice, may alter, and to which it is not very honourable to trust for safety.  How can that nation sink lower, which is only free because it is not invaded by its neighbours; and retains its possessions, only because no other has leisure or inclination to take them away?

If it be asked, what can provoke the French to interrupt us in the prosecution of our designs, and in the punishment of those who have plundered and insulted us, it is not only easy to urge the strict alliance between the two crowns, the ties of blood, the conformity of interests, and their equal hatred of the Britons, but another more immediate reason may be added.  It is suspected, that under pretence of vindicating our own rights, we are endeavouring to gain the possession of the Spanish dominions, and engross the wealth of the new world; and that, therefore, it is the interest of every power, whose subjects traffick to those countries, to oppose us.

Thus, whether we succeed or fail in our attempts upon America, we have the French power to apprehend.  If we make conquests, they may, probably, think it necessary to obviate the torrent of our victories, and to hinder the increase of our dominions, that they may secure their own trade, and maintain their own influence.

If we should be defeated, of which no man, sir, can deny the possibility, the inclination of all to insult the depressed, and to push down the falling, is well known; nor can it be expected that our hereditary enemies would neglect so fair an opportunity of attacking us.

How they might ravage our coasts, and obstruct our trade; how they might triumph in the Channel, and block us up in our own ports, bombard our towns, and threaten us with invasions, I hope I need but barely mention, to incite this assembly to such despatch in manning our fleets, as may secure us at once from insults and from terrour.

It is, undoubtedly, sir, in our power to raise a naval force sufficient to awe the ocean, and restrain the most daring of our enemies from any attempts against us; but this cannot be effected by harangues, objections, and disputations.