Lord Barrington then opened the state of the Army, which, including 18,000 Militia, would amount to above 175,000 men in British pay. Sir John Philipps again glanced at new regiments and extraordinary commissions. Mr. Pitt avowed the measure for his own, and owned he would have carried it further, if he had been permitted: related how he had been pleased with the behaviour of Colonel Hale, who had brought the news of the conquest of Quebec; and who finding an invasion threatened, and himself at a distance from his regiment, had offered to form a corps of the footmen and chairmen of London, and lead them against the best household troops of France. For the economic part, to push expense was the best economy--for blood, we had lost none; never had been so bloodless a war; not fifteen hundred men had fallen in America. That the city of London had raised more men than Ireland in a twelvemonth. He hoped it would be related to the Irish Parliament that they had been censured in the English. He did justice to the merit of General Amherst, whose campaign, if in Vegetius, all the world would admire: it was in America, and nobody regarded it. He dwelt on Amherst’s letters to the provinces, exhorting, encouraging, and commanding their efforts for the common cause. He painted France in a state of bankruptcy and despondence; and their attempts as rather those of a dying than living monarchy. On this topic he made a fine conclusion--and the battle of Minden was not forgotten. So much given to glory, something was to be done that might look like moderation. Europe began to take umbrage at our success: but, sailing with prosperity, Mr. Pitt did not trouble himself whether Europe’s voice went along with his achievements. It was the nation that he had made so great, that must be allured to approve his further enterprises. General Yorke, at the Hague, had received some anonymous proposals of peace, and had transmitted them to his father, who communicated them to the Duke of Newcastle. The latter mentioned them to Knyphausen, the Prussian Minister, who, though enjoined to secrecy, revealed them to Lord Holderness. The latter, who had quitted Newcastle for Pitt, instantly carried the intelligence to his new patron. Pitt, enraged to find a kind of negotiation carrying on without the participation of either Secretary, reproached Newcastle in warm terms. The latter threw the blame on General Yorke. Pitt, however, thought it prudent (whether to have the honour of the treaty, or an opportunity of breaking it off) to direct General Yorke, in the name of his own King and of the King of Prussia, to acquaint Prince Lewis of Brunswick, who commanded the forces of Holland, and through him Monsieur D’Affry, the French Minister at the Hague, and the Ministers of Spain and Russia, that, notwithstanding our victories, we were willing to listen to terms of peace, if France would specify her proposals--an overture that ended in air. Nor did any subsequent step of Mr.