<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0215" id="link2H_4_0215"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER CCXIII </h2>
<h3> BATH, November 20, 1757 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: I write to you now, because I love to write to you; and
hope that my letters are welcome to you; for otherwise I have very little
to inform you of. The King of Prussia's late victory you are better
informed, of than we are here. It has given infinite joy to the unthinking
public, who are not aware that it comes too late in the year and too late
in the war, to be attended with any very great consequences. There are six
or seven thousand of the human species less than there were a month ago,
and that seems to me to be all. However, I am glad of it, upon account of
the pleasure and the glory which it gives the King of Prussia, to whom I
wish well as a man, more than as a king. And surely he is so great a man,
that had he lived seventeen or eighteen hundred years ago, and his life
been transmitted to us in a language that we could not very well
understand—I mean either Greek or Latin—we should have talked
of him as we do now of your Alexanders, your Caesars, and others; with
whom, I believe, we have but a very slight acquaintance. 'Au reste', I do
not see that his affairs are much mended by this victory. The same
combination of the great Powers of Europe against him still subsists, and
must at last prevail. I believe the French army will melt away, as is
usual, in Germany; but this army is extremely diminished by battles,
fatigues, and desertion: and he will find great difficulties in recruiting
it from his own already exhausted dominions. He must therefore, and to be
sure will, negotiate privately with the French, and get better terms that
way than he could any other.</p>
<p>The report of the three general officers, the Duke of Marlborough, Lord
George Sackville, and General Waldegrave, was laid before the King last
Saturday, after their having sat four days upon M——t's affair:
nobody yet knows what it is; but it is generally believed that M——t
will be brought to a court-martial. That you may not mistake this matter,
as MOST people here do, I must explain to you, that this examination
before the three above-mentioned general officers, was by no means a
trial; but only a previous inquiry into his conduct, to see whether there
was, or was not, cause to bring him to a regular trial before a
court-martial. The case is exactly parallel to that of a grand jury; who,
upon a previous and general examination, find, or do not find, a bill to
bring the matter before the petty jury; where the fact is finally tried.
For my own part, my opinion is fixed upon that affair: I am convinced that
the expedition was to be defeated; and nothing that can appear before a
court-martial can make me alter that opinion. I have been too long
acquainted with human nature to have great regard for human testimony; and
a very great degree of probability, supported by various concurrent
circumstances, conspiring in one point, will have much greater weight with
me, than human testimony upon oath, or even upon honor; both which I have
frequently seen considerably warped by private views.</p>
<p>The parliament, which now stands prorogued to the first of next month, it
is thought will be put off for some time longer, till we know in what
light to lay before it the state of our alliance with Prussia, since the
conclusion of the Hanover neutrality; which, if it did not quite break it,
made at least a great flaw in it.</p>
<p>The birth-day was neither fine nor crowded; and no wonder, since the King
was that day seventy-five. The old Court and the young one are much better
together since the Duke's retirement; and the King has presented the
Prince of Wales with a service of plate.</p>
<p>I am still UNWELL, though I drink these waters very regularly. I will stay
here at least six weeks longer; where I am much quieter than I should be
allowed to be in town. When things are in such a miserable situation as
they are at present, I desire neither to be concerned nor consulted, still
less quoted. Adieu!</p>
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