460 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



nected with us by every tie dear to 

 a nation, will scarcely be doubted 

 at the present day. To those who 

 decide by events alone, it still re- 

 mains to be proved whether the 

 contest with France has been ad- 

 vantageous or injurious, and con- 

 sequently, whether his opposition 

 to it was politic or imprudent ; but, 

 as to his innocence, in regard to 

 the charge of treason, this will not 

 admit of any doubt, as it has been 

 confirmed, not only by the verdict 

 of a jury, but by the concurring 

 assent of the whole nation. 



That he who quarrelled with Mr. 

 Wilkes for his bad faith ; who at- 

 tacked lord Mansfield for his ille- 

 gal decisions ; who opposed Mr. 

 Fox on account of his coalition ; 

 and boldly, but fruitlessly, urged 

 the charge of apostacy against Mr. 

 Pitt, should have created a multi- 

 tude of enemies, cannot excite 

 much surprise. This, perhaps, 

 will assist in solving the paradox, 

 by enabling us to discover why he, 

 who was uniform in his politics, 

 should be detested for double deal- 

 ing ; why one, constantly actuated 

 by principle, should be termed a 

 hypocrite ; and why a man attach- 

 ed to the constitution in all its 

 foi'ms, should be branded with the 

 name of a republican. 



In point of disinterestedness, no 

 man of his age can be put in com- 

 petition with him ; all that he ob- 

 tained in the cause of the public, 

 consisted of fines, imprisonment, 

 and persecution. For opposing the 

 fatal contest with America, he ex- 

 perienced a long confinement, and 

 was obliged to redeem himself from 

 protracted captivitj', by a consider- 

 able mulct. For objecting to the 

 subsequent war with France, he 



was detained in different gaols dur-J 

 ing the term of many months, ar- 

 raigned for treason, and finally 

 tried for his life. 



From the exercise of his profes- 

 sion, he was precluded by chicanery 

 and oppression, originating in the 

 petty jealousy of a great judge, and 

 the servile compliance of the 

 benchers of the Inner Temple ; 

 while, from a seat in parliament, 

 he was actually cut off, by an act 

 of political proscription, wholly 

 unexampled in the annals of Bri- 

 tish legislation. 



It could be no common man, 

 against whom such extraordinary 

 measures were recurred to ! It could 

 be no common man, to whom his 

 greatest enemies, as well as his 

 best friends, seemed anxious before 

 their death, to unite in paying a 

 public and a private tribute to his 

 worth; as was the case with 

 WJlkes, who was eager to acknow- 

 ledge his virtues in the face of the 

 people; and Thurlow, who, after 

 he had run the race of ambition, 

 courted his acquaintance in the 

 peaceful shades of retirement. 



That he was somewhat intract- 

 able and unaccommodating as a 

 politician cannot fairly be denied ; 

 and in this, perhaps, he but too 

 much resembled Fletcher of Sal- 

 toun, the celebrated Scottish pa- 

 triot. In a free country, the soli- 

 tary efforts of a single individual 

 can effect but little ; it is by a 

 combination of means, and of 

 eflbrts, alone, that any thing ad- 

 vantageous can be achieved for the 

 commonwealth. Caius and Tibe- 

 rius Gracchus had the laws and 

 the constitution of Rome on their 

 side ; and yet, by neglecting this 

 obviousniaxim,they were sacrificed, 



