To the Right Honourable Lord BLAKENEY.
My
Lord,
I Have the Honour of addressing this Performance
to your Lordship, as presiding over the Laudable Order
of Antigallicans; perhaps, the most laudable so
of any at this Time existing; an Order of the best Institution;
calculated for Ends of the highest Importance: I
need not expatiate; its Title implies it, its Motto evinces
it, its Laws enforce it; to oppose the Interest and Designs
of France, and to discountenance her Manufactures, being
the Basis of its Institution—an Institution, at this Crisis of
Time particularly, the most eminent.
To be an Antigallican, my Lord, implies every
Thing great; a Lover of our Country—an Enemy to
France, as her inveterate Foe: We have for a long Series
of Years been blessed with the Enjoyment of Peace and
Property; how long this happy Scene may exist, or how
soon we may be involved in those Calamities, which the
Regions around us feel, and which we are so happy only
to hear off, is yet reserved in the Book of Fate; which
Calamities, I flatter myself, by Divine Assistance, are greatly
in our Power, as Antigallicans, to avert; were we
hearty, zealous, and indefatigable in our Country's Cause;
like the fam'd Spartans of old at the Straits of Thermpylæ,
we might make a noble Stand, and save her in the most
perilous Time: This, my Lord, may be looked on as an
Hyperbole; but as our Plan might be greatly improved, I
conceive it is not impracticable: A red Coat, my Lord, does
not make a Man brave; in order to it, may Courage,
Virtue, and Publick Spirit, be the distinguishing Characteristics
of every Antigallican; may our Songs be
martial; may our Admission of Members be seriously attended
to, and their Initiation strongly enforced; and that
the Order of Antigallicans, may long flourish under
the Auspices of Lord Blakeney, is the ardent Desire
of a Brother, and, my Lord,
Your Lordship's
Most obedient humble Servant,
Cornelius Arnold.
