The real crime of the miniſtry is, that they have found the means of avoiding their own ruin; but the charge againſt them is multifarious and confuſed, as will happen, when malice and diſcontent are aſhamed of their complaint. The paſt and the future are complicated in the cenſure. We have heard a tumultuous clamour about honour and rights, injuries and inſults, the Britiſh flag, and the Favourite’s rudder, Buccarelli’s conduct, and Grimaldi’s declarations, the Manilla ranſom, delays and reparation.
Through the whole argument of the faction runs the general errour, that our ſettlement on Falkland’s Iſland was not only lawful but unqueſtionable; that our right was not only certain but acknowledged; and that the equity of our conduct was ſuch, that the Spaniards could not blame or obſtruct it without combating their own conviction, and oppoſing the general opinion of mankind.
