Whether we shall now engage in this design; whether we shall, for the defence of the Pragmatick sanction, begin another war on the continent, of which the duration cannot be determined, the expense estimated, or the event foreseen; whether we shall contend at once with all the princes of the house of Bourbon, and entangle ourselves in a labyrinth of different schemes; whether we shall provoke France to interrupt our commerce, and invade our colonies, and stand without the assistance of a single ally, against those powers that lately set almost all Europe at defiance, is now to be determined by your lordships. It can scarcely be expected, that the French will treat us only as auxiliaries, and satisfy themselves with attacking us only where they find themselves opposed by us: they will undoubtedly, my lords, consider us as principals, since they can suffer little more by declaring war against us. These, my lords, are the dangers to be feared from the measures which we are now persuaded to pursue; but persuaded by arguments which, in my opinion, ought to have very little influence upon us, and which have not yet been able, however artfully or zealously enforced, to prevail upon the Dutch to unite with us. It has, indeed, been asserted, that the Dutch appear inclined to assist us: but of that inclination stronger proofs ought surely to be produced, before we take auxiliaries into pay, and transport troops into another country, which has been so often represented to have been raised for the defence of their own, or collect money from the publick by the propagation of wickedness. Of this favourable inclination in the Dutch I am the more doubtful, because it is contrary to the expectations of all mankind, and to the maxims by which they have generally regulated their conduct. There have been many late instances of their patient submission to the invasion of privileges to which they have thought themselves entitled, and of their preference of peace, though sometimes purchased with the loss of honour; or, what may be supposed to touch a Dutchman much more nearly, of profit, to the devastation and expense and hazards of war; and it can hardly be supposed by any who know their character, that they will be more zealous for the rights of others than for their own; or that they will, for the support of the queen of Hungary, sacrifice that security and tranquillity which they have preferred at the expense of their commerce at one time, and by passive submission to insults at another.