566 Memoir tf Enrl Stanhope, [Jan. !j* 



coadjutors were driven from the adinini- for a while suspended tTie eiwTci^e of hi* 

 stratiou, by repeated votes of the Com- intellectual powers ; and, altliough Loril 



nions, Lord Mahon scoriiing to plume him 

 self with the spoils of tliose whom he 

 deemed the enemies of his country, man- 

 fully declmed place, pension, and additi. 

 onal honors. 



Instead of these selfish objects, the 

 time and attention of this nobleman were 



Stanhope had long separated liimself from 

 his relative, Mr. Pitt, whose political 

 apostacy was by this time evident, yet, at 

 lias been already stated, he supported uii- 

 nistcrs with his accustomed ueal, ou the 

 broad basis of the " public weal." As this 

 was a very convenient principle for the 

 solely occupied in beneficial projects for jiremier, who always appealed to popular 

 the cood of his country. Knowing; that rights, or, indeed, to any rights that couUI 

 the national debt, by adding to the taxes, bereudered subservient to the purposes of 

 lessened the quantity of productive la- his own ambition, it of course proved 

 bour, produced indigence at home, and triumphant. 



began, even then, to pamper our manufac- In 1789 Earl Stanhope was chairman of 

 t'lres abroad, hi; projected a new scheme a public meeting, convoked for the pur- 

 for pay in? it oft. Perceiving that bribery pose of celebrating the epoch of the 

 and corruption sapped the foundations of French revolution. On this occasion, the 

 the common-wcaUh, and, while it mined overthrow of a tyrannical government, the 

 the morals of the people, at the same time destruction of the Bastille, the suppression 

 rendered every thing in the state venal, oi letlres ile cuchef, and the limitations im- 

 he was inressantin his attempts to remedy posed on the authority of Louis XVI.^ 

 this evil by means of tutelary Acts of Par- were all proper and rational subjects of 

 liament. exultation. There are many who now view- 



When Earl Stanhope became a Peer of this great event under a very different 

 Parliament, on the demise of his father, aspect ; who deprecate every attempt for 

 notwithstanding IMr. Pitt no longer en- the extension of freedom, either at home 

 joyed his confidence, he yet supportea or abroad ; and who rejoice at the pros- 

 liim and the administration of that day, on pect of beholding France once more re- 

 the 'grand question of the Regency. On lapsing into her former servitude. Such 

 this occasion, he boldly opposed the base and servile principles were ever the 

 claims made by Mr. Fox and others in detestation of the nobleman we nowr 

 one house and Lord Loughborough in the treat of. He was one of those abhorred 

 other as to the absolute risht of «Hcccssi«)i and dangerous characters termed, "a citi- 

 on th'epart of the Prince of Wales. On the zen of the world ;" and, if to wish for liberty 

 contrary, he strenuously maintained, " that to others, or to desire to maintain it in re- 

 all just and leyitiniate authority could be spcct to himself, be Jucobiiiism — then this 

 derived only from the people ;" an<l sue- carl, so illustrious in point of descent, so 

 cessfiUiy concluded, that, on the present splendid in respect to alliances, so rich in 

 emergency, recomse should be had to this, regard to lands, and tenements, and »ia- 

 ■wliieh was the first and ruling principle of nors, must be deemed a Jacobite of the 

 the Constitution ; and, without which, the blackest dye. 



House of Brunswick itself could have no In the course of the same year, dnriogs 

 uretetisions to the throne of these realms. debate on the Act of Unitbrmity, the siib- 

 The next great question auitated by jcci of this brief memoir pointed out all 

 him was a cuFiailmeiit and sim|ilification the statutes still existing against those who 

 of the Penal Statutes. Ou this, as on all dissent from the established religion. On 

 - similar occasions, he was oppp, ed by the this occasion he contrasted their cruelty 

 practical lawyers, in both houses of I'ar- and absurdity with the enlightened notions 

 Jianient. of the piesent day ; and could only apolo< 



In 1788, Earl Stanhope presided at tlie gize for their original introduction, on ac» 

 celebration of the centenary of the English count of the darkm-ss of the age in which, 

 Revolutinn. On that evening, he con- and the ignorance of the persons by whom, 

 ducted himself like a true patriot ; and, they were introduced. Some of these, he 

 ■while the happy event of the eleVation of undertook to prove, contained " rank blas- 

 the clecioral house of Hanover to the ret'al pliemy ;" and he quoted the concurrent 

 crown of England was traced up to this opinions of the Lords Chatham and Mans* 

 auspicious source, those principles which field, to prove the policy, as well as justice, 

 alone can secure and legalize their con- 

 tinuance on the throne, were clearly, 

 boldly, and definitively pointed out. It 

 was on this occasion that the late Dr. 

 Price, a man not to be seduced by pen- 

 sions, or by conn fav^)r, published his 

 celebrated " Revolution Sermon j" for 



of religious toleration ; but, beinu opposed 

 by the bench of bishops, his amendracBt 

 was lost. 



Soon after this, we find his lordship at*' 

 tempting a repeal of certain cruel and sad* 

 gninary laws, which still disgrace oiBP 

 statute hooks; such aS' — obliging perJ 



which he was so violently attacked by sons of a different religion to frequent 



jlr. Burke, then in search of both. church ; conjuring up spirits from the dead. 



In the year 1788 his Majesty was at- or feeding them, when so raised, either 



tetked hy a Uiost ala;;uing njaludy, wbipjr with animal or ve;;et4ble food. He seii«al 



. ... ^^ 



