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368 the crown of England the most important island of Minorca, with all the ports and fortresses of the same, as well as for re-establishing some solid system in Europe ; and inasmuch as it shall be found necessary for the attaining these great and essential ends, to treat with the crown of Spain, as an effectual condition thereunto, concerning an exchange of Gibraltar for the island of Minorca, with the ports and fortresses thereof, their lordships are most humbly of an unanimous opinion, that the court of Spain should without loss of time be sounded with respect to their dispositions thereupon ; and if the same shall be found favourable, that the said negociation should be carried forward and ripened for execution, with all possible dispatch and secrecy. Their lordships are farther of opinion, that satisfaction should be given to Spain on the complaints touching the establishment made by the subjects of England on the Mosquito shore, and in the bay of Honduras, since the treaty concluded at Aix la Chapelle, in October, 1748, in order that all establishments so made be evacuated."

. . . it is impossible for me to pass in silence that affecting and calamitous part of the subversions of Europe, namely, the French conquests and desolations in Lower Saxony, which afford the afflicting spectacle of his Majesty's ancient patrimonial dominions, transmitted down with glory in his most illustrious house through a long series of centuries, now lying a prey to France ; and still farther, the fatality of his Majesty's army of observation, now retiring under the orders of his Royal Highness to Stade, exposed to the most alarming uncertainties, whether even the royal magnanimity of his Majesty, seconded by the valour and ability of his Royal Highness, can find means to surmount the cruel necessity of receiving the law of the conqueror.

As it would be needless to lead your excellency farther on in this gloomy track of mortifying reflections, I will only observe, before I pass to the execution of the plan now opened, that the day is come when the very inadequate benefits of the treaty of Utrecht, the indelible reproach of the last generation, are become the necessary, but almost unattainable wish of the present, when the empire is no more, the ports of the Netherlands betrayed, the Dutch Barrier treaty an empty sound, Minorca, and with it, the Mediterranean lost, and America itself precarious.

From this state of things, calamitous as it is, your excellency has a fresh proof that nothing can ever shake his Majesty's firmness, or abate one moment his royal concern for the glory of his crown, and the rights of his kingdoms ; nor can any events withdraw the necessary attention