第70章 LETTER 8(12)

When your lordship peruses the anecdotes of the times here spoken of,and considers the course and event of the great war which broke out on the death of the king of Spain,Charles the Second,and was ended by the treaties of Utrecht and Radstat;you will find,that in order to form a true judgment on the whole,you must consider very attentively the great change made by the new plan that I have mentioned;and compare it with the plan of the grand alliance,relatively to the general interest of Europe,and the particular interest of your own country.It will not,because it cannot,be denied,that all the ends of the grand alliance might have been obtained by a peace in one thousand seven hundred and six.I need not recall the events of that,and the precedent years of the war.Not only the arms of France had been defeated on every side,but the inward state of that kingdom was already more exhausted than it had ever been.She went on indeed,but she staggered and reeled under the burden of the war.Our condition,I speak of Great Britain,was not quite so bad:but the char ge of the war increased annually upon us.It was evident that this charge must continue to increase,and it was no less evident that our nation was unable to bear it without falling soon into such distress,and contracting such debts,as we have seen and felt,and still feel.The Dutch neither restrained their trade,nor overloaded it with taxes.They soon altered the proportion of their quotas,and were deficient even after this alteration in them.But,however,it must be allowed,that they exerted their whole strength;and they and we paid the whole charge of the war.Since therefore by such efforts as could not be continued any longer,without oppressing and impoverishing these nations to a degree that no interest except that of their very being,nor any engagement of assisting an alliance totis viribus can require,France was reduced,and all the ends of the war were become attainable;it will be worth your lordship's while to consider,why the true use was not made of the success of the confederates against France and Spain,and why a peace was not concluded in the fifth year of the war.When your lordship considers this,you will compare in your thoughts what the state of Europe would have been,and that of your own country might have been,if the plan of the grand alliance had been pursued;with the possible as well as certain,the contingent as well as necessary,consequences of changing this plan in the manner it was changed.You will be of opinion,I think,and it seems to me,after more than twenty years of recollection,re-examination,and reflection,that impartial posterity must be of the same opinion;you will be of opinion,I think,that the war was wise and just before the change,because necessary to maintain that equality among the powers of Europe on which the public peace and common prosperity depends:and that it was unwise and unjust after this change,because unnecessary to this end,and directed to other and to contrary ends.You will be guided by undeniable facts to discover,through all the false colors which have been laid,and which deceived many at the time,that the war,after this change,became a war of passion,of ambition,of avarice,and of private interest;the private interest of particular persons and particular states;to which the general interest of Europe was sacrificed so entirely,that if the terms insisted on by the confederates has been granted,nay if even those which France was reduced to grant,in one thousand seven hundred and ten,had been accepted,such a new system of power would have been created as might have exposed the balance of this power to deviations,and the peace of Europe to troubles,not inferior to those that the war was designed;when it began,to prevent.Whilst you observe this in general,you will find particular occasion to lament the fate of Great Britain,in the midst of triumphs that have been sounded so high.She had triumphed indeed to the year one thousand seven hundred and six inclusively:but what were her triumphs afterwards?

What was her success after she proceeded on the new plan?I shall say something on that head immediately.Here let me only say,that the glory of taking towns,and winning battles,is to be measured by the utility that results from those victories.Victories,that bring honor to the arms,may bring shame to the councils,of a nation.To win a battle,to take a town,is the glory of a general,and of an army.Of this glory we had a very lar ge share in the course of the war.But the glory of a nation is to proportion the end she proposes,to her interest and her strength;the means she employs,to the ends she proposes,and the vigor she exerts,to both.Of this glory,I apprehend,we have had very little to boast at any time,and particularly in the great conjuncture of which I am speaking.The reasons of ambition,avarice,and private interest,which engaged the princes and states of the confederacy to depart from the principles of the grand alliance,were no reasons for Great Britain.She neither expected nor desired any thing more than what she might have obtained by adhering to those principles.What hurried our nation,then,with so much spirit and ardor,into those of the new plan?