1806.] Memoirs of tJie late Right Hon.'Charles James Fox. 265 



with thofe of his father, and he was 

 often afterwards reminded by his adver- 

 faries that the doctrines advanced by him 

 in the cafe of the printers who liad been 

 imprifoncd, were rather unfavourable to 

 the principles of liberty, while his affer- 

 tiuii, " that the voice of the people was 

 only to be heard in the Houfe of Com- 

 mons,'' was controverted by the whole 

 tenor of the latter part of his hfe. 



On the death of Lord Holland, in 

 1774, a new and memorable epoch oc- 

 curred in the life of his ion. At the age 

 of twenty-hx, he now felt himlelf com- 

 pletely fieed from all reftraint, in the 

 poflclfion of an ample patrimony*, to 

 ^vhich was added the reverfiou of a pro- 

 htable placef. 



'I'he reign of the paffions now com- 

 menced, and fwept away his fortune in 

 the torrent; he was alio doomed, nearly 

 at the fame time, to be deprived of his 

 employment ; for having given otlence to 

 Lord North, u ho was then Firll Lord of 

 the Treafury and Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer, that nobleman formed a new 

 Board, and having mentioned this cir- 

 cumltance in a laconic note, added, fome- 

 what ironically, " that he did not fee Mr. 

 Fox's name in the lill of members." 



Anterior to this period, the extraordi- 

 nary talents of Mr. Fox had only been 

 known to his particular friends, but a 

 field was, from this moment, opened for 

 their difplay, which finally led to the 

 moft aftoniiliing refults. Happily, he had 

 not pledged himfelf on the gi'and colo- 

 nial queliion refpcfting taxation inde- 

 pendent of reprefentation, fo that he 

 role in the Houfe of Commons to debate 

 on the fubject of the American war free 

 and unincumbered. He had hitherto but 

 little ftudied the nature and end of a free 

 government, in a pohtical point of view ; 

 and on this occafion the author of the 

 " Sublime and Beautiful," then in the 

 zenith of his talents, was his monitor. 



xVever, either befoic or fince, has fuch 

 a conftellation of talents appeared on 

 the oppofition benches of the Houfe of 

 Commons. Barre, bred from his youth 

 to arms, exhibited all the hardihood of 

 a foldier. In perfon and addrefs like 

 Ulyfles, like him alio, he gained on his 



• The chief part ot it, fituated at Kingf- 

 gate. Dandelion, and Quellts, in the ifle of 

 Thanet, was fold to Mr. Powell, who had 

 held a place under his ftther. 



•f The clerklhip of the Pells in Ireland: 

 this finecure was pufchitfcd by the piefent 

 Earl of Liverpool. 



hearers as he proceeded, and at length 

 extorted-ti'om a defpotic minifter, and a 

 corrupt majority, a bill for appointing 

 commillionersteMietett errors which were 

 never rettified, and inftitute reforuis 

 which were never carried into efie6t. 



Dunning, the moll celebrated advocate 

 at the Englifh bar, was alio the only 

 lawyer of that day who could argue like 

 a llatefman in the Houfe of Commons. 

 To the furprife of all, and perhajjs of 

 none more than himfelf, he proved vic- 

 torious in one memorable inftance, for 

 he brought a compliant parliament to 

 vote a libel on itfelf, in confequence of 

 the declaration, " that the influence of 

 the crown had increafed, was increaling, 

 and ought to be diminilhed." 



Saville, by the excellence of his cha- 

 racter, no lefs than the extent of his pro- 

 perty, contributed not a little to the 

 common caufe. He would have been re- 

 fpefted as a good orator, had he not pol- 

 feffed the more tranfcendant praife of be- 

 ing a good man. 



Burke, one of the moft accompliflied 

 fpeakers of his age, without poffelling 

 the advantages of either birth or fortune, 

 defervedly attained a high degree of ce- 

 lebrity, by his learning and his talents. 

 The Treafury Bench appeared to tremble 

 under the thunder of his eloquence, while 

 royalty itfelf was fliorn of half its fplen- 

 dor, in confequence of his economical 

 reforms. He argued againll the Ameri- 

 can war, chiefly on the ground of its im- 

 policy : but Fox, young, bold, and im- 

 petuous, attacked it on account of its io- 

 juftice. Liberated, at length, from the fe- 

 dudtions of wine and of play, he rofe with 

 a giant's might, and being armed with 

 the better caufe, liis adverfaries, al- 

 though arrayed in all the power and in- 

 fluence of the ftate, appeared but as pig- 

 mies before him. The friend and alToci- 

 ate of Camden, of Chatham, of Shel- 

 burne, and of Portland, who fupported 

 the lame caufe in the Houfe of Peers, he 

 was already confidered as the fecond man 

 of the Whig party, and in reahty was the 

 firft; for he, who excelled others, was 

 alone entitled to diredl them. 



At length all the predictions of Mr. 

 Fox and his aifociates were fully and fa- 

 tally verified ; for Burgoyne was captured, 

 Cornwallis was obliged to capitulate, and 

 France and Holland having become par- 

 ties in the ftruggle, the conteft itfelf be- 

 came unpopular in the extreme. Lord 

 North, confounded, overwhelmed, and 

 almoft driven to defpair, was now obliged 

 to refign; but he did not, like former 

 minifteis 



