The political merit of the first pensioner of his Grace's house was that
of being concerned as a counsellor of state in advising, and in his
person executing, the conditions of a dishonorable peace with
France,--the surrendering the fortress of Boulogne, then our outguard on
the Continent. By that surrender, Calais, the key of France, and the
bridle in the mouth of that power, was not many years afterwards finally
lost. My merit has been in resisting the power and pride of France,
under any form of its rule; but in opposing it with the greatest zeal
and earnestness, when that rule appeared in the worst form it could
assume,--the worst, indeed, which the prime cause and principle of all
evil could possibly give it. It was my endeavor by every means to excite
a spirit in the House, where I had the honor of a seat, for carrying on
with early vigor and decision the most clearly just and necessary war
that this or any nation ever carried on, in order to save my country
from the iron yoke of its power, and from the more dreadful contagion of
its principles,--to preserve, while they can be preserved, pure and
untainted, the ancient, inbred integrity, piety, good-nature, and
good-humor of the people of England, from the dreadful pestilence which,
beginning in France, threatens to lay waste the whole moral and in a
great degree the whole physical world, having done both in the focus of
its most intense malignity.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215