1 SOG.] Memoirs of the late Right Hon. Charles James Fo.v. 2G5 



and he himfelfwas obliged to enter into 

 a long and expenllve conteft for Weli- 

 luiniter. He had originally been return- 

 ed tor that city by tlie voice of the inha- 

 bitants at large, and in direct oppolition 

 to the influence of the iSorthuniberland 

 and j\ewcaltle families, backed by that 

 of the crown. Supported now by the 

 Portland and Devonihire interests, he 

 maintained a iharp and dubious itruggle j 

 but after the lapfe of forty-feven days 

 poll, he appeared at the clofe to have a 

 majority of 235 votes in his favour. A 

 fcrutiny, however, was demanded and 

 obtained by his adverfaries, fo that he 

 would liave been entirely excluded, fur a 

 time, from the Houfe of Commons, had 

 he not been returned, through the friend- 

 fllip of Sir Thomas, now Lord Duiidas, 

 for A dilhict of Scotch boroughs : but at 

 length his triumph vvas complete, and a 

 profecution having been connnenced 

 againlt the High Euiliif, the latter was 

 ciift in daraay.es to the amount of two 

 thoufand pounds. 



The next public afiairin which we find 

 Lira engaged, vvas the profecution of Mr. 

 Htiftings ; and it mult: be allovv ed, while 

 the charges agaiuft the Governor General 

 of India, on one hand, required, nay de- 

 manded invcftigation, that, on the other, 

 the period of thne to which, the trial vvas 

 protx-aoted appears to ha\e been equally 

 impolitic and unjull. Alas ! who will 

 now think of impeaching fuccefsful de- 

 linquency, or dragging victorious oppref- 

 fion, by which the individual and the 

 nation have alike profited, before the tri- 

 bunal of the Houfe of Peers } 



On two great occafions the talents of 

 Mr. Fox proved cmineiuly ferviceable to 

 the nation : one, when Mr. Pitt, at the 

 inltigation of the Court of Berlin, wiflied 

 to wage an unprolitable war with Rulha 

 relative to the poflellion of Oczakow ; 

 the other, when, in the wantonnefs of 

 power, he urged a contelt with Spain. 

 Experience has fnice proved that thtle 

 objects were contemptible, and the finger 

 of pofterity will point with fcorn to that 

 jiage of our hiftory, when a minifter who 

 derived all his credit from his manage- 

 ment of the finances, laboured to impo- 

 verirti the nation by two ridiculous, but 

 bloody confljcts, one of which had for 

 its object the prefervation of the Turkilh 

 frontier, and the other a participation iu 

 the trade of cat-lkiiis and fca-otters ! 



In 1788, Mr. Fox, worn out, and per- 

 haps difgufted with public bufinefs, rc- 

 pau'ed to the continent, iu company 

 Monthly Mao., No. 143. 



with the lady* who has fince been ac- 

 knowledged as his wife, and after fpend- 

 ing a few days with Gibbonf, the hilto- 

 rian, at Laulanne, entered the claflic re- 

 gions of Italy. But he was fudrlenly re- 

 called, in confequence of the alarming 

 illnels of the King, and the bufinefs of 

 the Regency Bill was fo ably managed 

 by his rival, who now perceived it to be 

 for his iutereft to Itand on conftitutional 

 grounds, that the Oppofition rather loit 

 than gained popularity by this meafure. 



We now approach an awful and me- 

 morable cpocli, that which gave birth to 

 the French Revolution ! On this occa- 

 lion Mr. Fox declared himfelf llrongly, 

 uniformly, and decifively on the fide of 

 liberty. The two great rival chiefs, who 

 agreed in nothing elfe, at fird cordially 

 united in tiiis caufe, and while the one 

 prefaged a long peace, the extinction of. 



* We underftand that he was married t» 

 Mrs. ArmfteacI in 1780. 



t Cupy of a letter from Mr. Gibbon to 

 Lord S.hefHeld ; — 



" Laufanne, OSl. 4, 1788. 



" The Man of the People, efcaped frora 

 the tumult, the bloody tumult of the VVell- 

 minfter eleflion, to the lakes and mountains 

 of Switzerland, and I was informed that he 

 was arrived at the Lion d'Or. 1 fent a com- 

 pliment J he anfwered it in perfon, and let- 

 tied at my houfe for the remainder of the 

 day. I have eat and drank, and converfed and 

 fat up all night vrith Fox in England ; but ic 

 never iiappened, perhaps it never can happen 

 again, that I ihould enjoy him as I did that 

 day, alone, from ten in the morning till ten 

 at night. 



" Poor Deyverdun, before his accident, 

 wanted fpirits to appear, and lias regretted it 

 fince. Our converfation never flagged a mo- 

 ment ; and he Itemed thoroughly pleafed with 

 the pla-re and with liis company. We had 

 little politics ; though he gave me, in a few 

 words, fuch a charaifter of Pitt, as one great 

 man fliould give of another, his rival : many 

 o/ books, from my own, on which he flat- 

 tered me very plealantly, to Homer and the 

 Arabian Nights ; much about the country, 

 my garden (which he underHands far better 

 than I do), and, upon the whole, I think he 

 envies me, and would do fo were he miniftefc 

 The next morning I gave him a guide to walk 

 him about the town and country, and invited. 

 ii^mz company to meet him at dinner. The 

 following day he continued his journey to 

 Berne and Zurich, and I have Ueard of him 

 by various means. 



" The people gaze on him as a prodigy, 

 but he ihews little inclination to converfe 

 with them." 



4/«. Ed. Vol, Xr,f MMs.f. 192. 

 L i our 



