My lord, I think, considering our present circumstances at this time, the Almighty God has reserved this great work for us.  We may bruise this Hydra of division, and crush this Cockatrice’s egg.  Our neighbors in England are not yet fitted for any such thing; they are not under the afflicting hand of Providence, as we are; their circumstances are great and glorious; their treaties are prudently managed, both at home and abroad; their generals brave and valorous; their armies successful and victorious; their trophies and laurels memorable and surprising; their enemies subdued and routed; their strongholds besieged and taken, sieges relieved, marshals killed and taken prisoners; provinces and kingdoms are the results of their victories; their royal navy is the terror of Europe; their trade and commerce extended through the universe, encircling the whole habitable world and rendering their own capital city the emporium for the whole inhabitants of the earth.  And, which is yet more than all these things, the subjects freely bestow their treasure upon their sovereign!  And, above all, these vast riches, the sinews of war, and without which all the glorious success had proved abortive —­these treasures are managed with such faithfulness and nicety, that they answer seasonably all their demands, though at never so great a distance.  Upon these considerations, my lord, how hard and difficult a thing will it prove to persuade our neighbors to a self-denying bill.

’Tis quite otherwise with us, my lord; we are an obscure poor people, though formerly of better account, removed to a remote corner of the world, without name, and without alliances, our posts mean and precarious, so that I profess I don’t think any one post of the kingdom worth the briguing after, save that of being commissioner to a long session of a factious Scotch Parliament, with an antedated commission, and that yet renders the rest of the ministers more miserable.  What hinders us then, my lord, to lay aside our divisions, to unite cordially and heartily together in our present circumstances, when our all is at stake?  Hannibal, my lord, is at our gates; Hannibal is come within our gates Hannibal is come the length of this table; he is at the foot of this throne; he will demolish this throne; if we take not notice, he’ll seize upon these regalia, he’ll take them as our spolia opima, and whip us out of this house, never to return again.

For the love of God then, my lord, for the safety and welfare of our ancient kingdom, whose sad circumstances, I hope, we shall yet convert into prosperity and happiness, we want no means, if we unite.  God blessed the peacemakers; we want neither men, nor sufficiency of all manner of things necessary, to make a nation happy; all depends upon management, Concordia res parvae crescunt.  I fear not these articles, though they were ten times worse than they are, if we once cordially forgive one