324 
true ; that with other nations the Romans 
fought for dominion, with theGauls for pre- 
fervation of their own fafety. 
‘¢ Therefore, they attempted not the con- 
queft of Gaule, until they were lords of 
all other countries, to them known. We, 
on the other fide, held only the one half 
of cur own ifland; the dther half being 
inhabited by a nation, unlels, perhaps, in 
wealth and numbers of men fomewhat in- 
ferior, every way equal to ourlelves ; a 
nation antiently and ftrongly allied to our 
€nemies, the French, and in that regard an 
€nemy tous. Sothatour danger lay both 
befcre and behind us; and the greater 
danger at our backs ; where commonly 
we felt, always we feared, a ftronger in- 
vafion by land, than we could make upon 
France, tran{porting our forces over fea. 
*< Tt is ufual with men, that have pleafed 
themfelves in admiring the matters which 
they find in antient hiftory, to hold it a 
great injury done to their judgement,if any 
take upon them, by way of comparifon, 
to-extol the things of later ages. - But I 
am well perfwaded, that, as the divided 
virtue of this our iflahd; hath given more 
noble proofe of irfelf, than under fo worthy 
a leader, that Roman army could do, which 
afterwards could win Rome, and ali her 
empire, making Cefar a monarch; fo, 
hereafter, by God’s biefiing, who hath 
converted our greateft hindrance into our 
greateft help, the enemy that fhall dare to 
try our forces will find caufe to wifh, he 
had rather encountered 4s great a puiflance 
as was that of the Roman empire.’’* 
The opinion of Sir Walter Raleigh 
coincides with that of the great Jokn 
Duke of Marlborough, declared on the 
occafion of a threatened invafien, in £719. 
In the privy council, one propofed this 
route for the trcops in or near London, 
and one another. Every eye was turned 
to the Duke of Marlborough ; for the 
Duke, though now wholly neglected, 
thought it decorous fometimes to attend 
at theCock- pit, as well as at his Majefty’s 
levies. Being called on by the prefident 
of the council to favour them with his opi- 
nion, ¢ the Duke,rifing up,faid, that * tho’ 
he did not intend to trouble the coun- 
cil with any ob{crvations of his, yet, fince 
‘his opinion was afked, he would give it. 
‘The preparations, he{faid,for an invafion of 
~# Raleigh's Hiftory of the World, Book. v, 
Ghapi ti feces ¥o' 48 : 
_ f It was only after being afked, that the 
Roman fenators delivered their opinions. *At 
C. J. Cxfar rogatus 4 Confule Sententiam,” 
Sariust.—No preffing on aftention, as in 
eur Heufe of Commonk 
Reply to Common Senfe on Invafion, 
(Nov. 1, 
fuch a country as England, were not the 
work of a day, nor a month, nor a few 
months. That it was fearcely credible 
that the news of a defcent fhould come 
firtt from Haverfordweft.* It was right, 
however, to be provided againft the worft. 
With regard to the different routes and 
pofts that had been propofed for the 
troops, it was his opinion, that what force 
we could command fhould not be divided, 
but collegted and concentrated. It was 
impoflible to know, for certain, at what 
place the enemy might intend to land, or 
whether, as was probable, he might not, 
for the fake of divifion and diftraétion, in- 
tend to land in feveral placés. But this 
was certain, that if the invafion had for its 
object any thing beyond a mere predatory 
incurfion, he muft direct his march to the 
capital, 
“« Let our main force then, *faid the Duke, 
“be drawn and kept together, at fome con. 
venient place between thé fouthern coaft 
and London. If the enemy fhould land 
in ohe bedy, the force we fhould oppofe to 
him would be undivided of courfe. But 
if he fhould Jand at different points, ftill 
our main force fhoold remain undivided. 
In either cafe it would be fufficient to 
avoid a general engagement, the iflue of 
which might be uncertain, and by means 
of detachments to harrals the enemy in 
his march, on his flanks, and in his rear, 
to cut off his ftragglers,foragers, and out. 
pofts, to intercept his convoys, to break 
up the roads, and drive the country. In 
avery few days be muft be reduced by 
the lofs of men and by famine to lay down 
his arms.” ; 
That this was the opinion of the great 
Duke of Marlborough, was declared by 
the Earl of Bath, who had been, in 1719, 
fecrctaty at war, in the Houle of Peers 
1757, when both Houlfes of Parliament, 
as well as the reft of the nation, were 
under: the deepeft alarm at a threatened 
invafion of this country, in flat-bottomed 
boats, a contrivance of the celebrated 
Count Lally’s. 2 
+ At a country-meeting, at Haverford- 
weft, in Pembrokefhire, a number of Welth 
gentlemen, in their hearts attached to the 
Stuarts, put white cockades in their hats, 
drank the Pretenders health, and huzzaed 
‘¢ The Duke of Berwick for ever!” This 
mad frolic, heightened by the ufual exaggera- 
tions of fome, was faid to be combined with a 
defcent by the French, effeéted, or on the 
very point of being fo. An exprefs with an 
account of all this was fent by the friends of 
government in Wales, to Lord Sunderland, 
then Secretary of State. 
What 
