‘he 
ae os is 
38] 
those who thought and spoke as he 
had done, and who reprobated the 
measures, which, after he had so 
bitterly complained of them in that 
speech, he had now thought proper 
to adopt. 
A reply was made to Mr. Erskine 
by Mr. Anstruther and lord Mor- 
nington. The first repeated the 
various arguments adduced in favour 
of the bill, and the second produced 
a variety of passages out of several 
publications, in order to prove its 
propriety. The latter was violently 
arraigned on this account by Mr, 
Sheridan. 
The bill was defended by Mr. 
Dundas, who took occasion to ob- 
serve, that no member of that 
house had so frequently distinguished 
himself by appeals to the people as 
Mr. Fox, combating ministers in 
popular meetings one half of the 
day, and attacking them with equal 
fervour in parliament during the- 
remainder. He had acted the same 
part during the American war to 
as little purpose, however, as it 
would appear he had done at pre- 
sent. Mr. Dundas inveighed, with 
great asperity, against some particu. 
Jars in his political conduct and con- 
nections, which he exerted himself 
to describe in the most disadvantage- 
ous colours. 
These reproaches drew a severe 
answer from Mr. Fox, who pointed- 
ly reminded him of the maxim held 
forth by his coadjutor Mr. Pitt, that 
popular harangues were ‘ the best 
and most useful duty, which repre- 
sentatives in parliament could dis- 
charge to their constituents.” In 
appealing to the public he had 
done no more than his duty, which 
enjoined him, whenever the con- 
duct of ministers appeared in a 
questionable light to inform the 
people of bis sentiments relating to 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
their designs. The bill he expli- 
citly defined, a daring atiempt to 
overthrow the fundamental prin- 
ciple on which the constitution 
stood ; the universal freedom of dis- 
cussion. With regard to the inef- 
ficacy of bis remonstrances against 
the American war, he readily ad- 
mitted that he had uniformly, and 
on all occasions, condemned that 
war from first to last, and that all 
his remonstrances against it, as the 
honourable gentlemen had justly 
observed, had been to no purpose. 
But whether this ought to be made 
matter of shame or reproach to him- 
self, or of triumph to the honourable 
gentleman, he left the house, the 
world, and even the honourable gen- 
tleman, to judge.—A deep silence at 
these words took place for a few 
moments on both sides of the house, 
and every eye was turned on Mr. 
Dundas, who, contrarily to his usual 
manner, discovered, or at least was 
thought to discover, symptoms of 
discomposure. The debate closed 
with two hundred and thirteen votes 
for the second reading of the bill, 
and forty-three against it. 
The secend reading of the bill, for 
the better security of the king’s per- 
son, was moved in the house of com~ — 
mons on the nineteenth of Novem- 
ber; when the question being put, 
Mr. Fox opposed it on account of 
the absence of many members ; but 
the motion passed by sixty-four 
against twenty-two. 
In the mean time, the public was 
no less occupied than parliament 
itself, in the discussion of the two 
bills pending in both houses. The 
novelty of the measures proposed, 
their inimical tendency to the long 
established usages of the nation, 
their direct aim at its liberty, and 
the daringness of ministers in bring- 
ing forward so undeniable an in- 
fringement 
