The duke of ARGYLE spoke to the following purpose:—­My lords, it is with great reason that the present time has been represented to us from the throne as a time of uncommon danger and disturbance, a time in which the barriers of kingdoms are broken down, in contempt of every law of heaven and of earth, and in which ambition, rapine, and oppression, seem to be let loose upon mankind; a time in which some nations send out armies and invade the territories of their neighbours, in opposition to the most solemn treaties, of which others, with equal perfidy, silently suffer, or secretly favour the violation.

At a time like this, when treaties are considered only as momentary expedients, and alliances confer no security, it is evident that the preservation of our rights, our interest, and our commerce, must depend only on our natural strength; and that instead of cultivating the friendship of foreign powers, which we must purchase upon disadvantageous conditions, and which will be withdrawn from us whenever we shall need it; we ought, therefore, to collect our own force, and show the world how little we stand in need of assistance, and how little we have to fear from the most powerful of our enemies.

Our country, my lords, seems designed by nature to subsist without any dependence on other nations, and by a steady and resolute improvement of these advantages with which providence has blessed it, may bid defiance to mankind; it might become, by the extension of our commerce, the general centre at which the wealth of the whole earth might be collected together, and from whence it might be issued upon proper occasions, for the diffusion of liberty, the repression of insolence, and the preservation of peace.

But this glory, and this influence, my lords, must arise from domestick felicity; and domestick felicity can only be produced by a mutual confidence between the government and the people.  Where the governours distrust the affections of their subjects, they will not be very solicitous to advance their happiness; for who will endeavour to increase that wealth which will, as he believes, be employed against him?  Nor will the subjects cheerfully concur even with the necessary measures of their governours, whose general designs they conceive to be contrary to the publick interest; because any temporary success or accidental reputation, will only dazzle the eyes of the multitude, while their liberties are stolen away.

This confidence, my lords, must be promoted where it exists, and regained where it is lost, by the open administration of justice, by impartial inquiries into publick transactions, by the exaltation of those whose wisdom and bravery has advanced the publick reputation, or increased the happiness of the nation, and the censure of those, however elate with dignities, or surrounded with dependants, who by their unskilfulness or dishonesty, have either embarrassed their country or betrayed it.