protected me and my small army through the many dangers to which we were
at first exposed, and who has led me in the way to victory, and to the
capital of this ancient kingdom, amidst the acclamations of the King my
father's subjects. Why, then, is so much pains taken to spirit up the
minds of the people against this my undertaking?

"The reason is obvious; it is, lest the real sense of the nation's
present sufferings should blot out the remembrance of past misfortunes,
and of the outcries formerly raised against the royal family. Whatever
miscarriages might have given occasion to them, they have been more than
atoned for since; and the nation has now an opportunity of being secured
against the like in future.

"That our family has suffered exile during these fifty-seven years
everybody knows. Has the nation, during that period of time, been the
more happy and flourishing for it? Have you found reason to love and
cherish your governors as the fathers of the people of Great Britain and
Ireland? Has a family, upon whom a faction unlawfully bestowed the
diadem of a rightful prince, retained a due sense of so great a trust
and favour? Have you found more humanity and condescension in those who
were not born to a crown, than in my royal forefathers? Have their ears
been open to the cries of the people? Have they, or do they consider
only the interests of these nations? Have you reaped any other benefit
from them than an immense load of debt? If I am answered in the
affirmative, why has their government been so often railed at in all
your public assemblies? Why has the nation been so long crying out in
vain for redress against the abuse of Parliaments, upon account of their
long duration, the multitude of placemen, which occasions their
venality, the introduction of penal laws, and, in general, against the
miserable situation of the kingdom at home and abroad? All these, and