2 political progre/s of Britain. Fune-20. 
“¢ had the national revenue been applied with econo- 
** my to national purposes ; had it been employed in 
** liquidating, gradually, the public incumbrances, in 
‘* augmenting the navy, improving manufactures, 
** encouraging and securing the colonies, and extend- 
“* ing trade and navigation, corruption would have 
** become altogether unnecefsary, and disaffection 
** would have vanifhed ; the people would have been 
‘* eased of their burdens, and ceased to complain: 
** Commerce would ‘have flourifhed, and produced 
** such affluence as must have raised Great Britain 
*¢ to the highest pinnacle of maritime power, above 
«¢ all rivalfhip and competition.” Instead of such 
measures, let us observe the picture exhibited by the 
same author. ‘¢ Without conduct, confidence, or 
«¢ concert, Britain engages in blundering negocia- 
“ tions ; fhe involves herself rafhly in foreign quar- 
*¢ rels, and lavifhes her substance with the most 
‘“« dangerous precipitation: She is even deserted by 
«< her .wonted vigour, steadinefs, and intrepidity : 
‘¢-She grows vain, fantastical, and pusillanimous; 
*¢ her arms are despised by her enemies, and her 
* councils ridiculed through all Christendom *.” 
Had the House of Commons pofsefsed judgement 
to. comprehend, or honesty to pursue, the interest of 
their constituents, they would have fhunned, as an 
abyfs of destruction, the war of 1739. I have com- 
puted that every able bodied man is worth, in fee 
simple, to the public, about three hundred pounds 
sterling. We have seen, that for the service of the 
* Smollet, vol. xi. p. 263, 
