74 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1505. 



aa attempt might be made to coun- 

 teract what the house had done. It 

 •would be a lamentable instance of the 

 mutability of opinion, if that house 

 should forfeit, by indilferencc, or 

 languor, the high honours which 

 their conduct, on the preceding 

 evening, had obtained them from all 

 sorts of people, honours 



" Whicli should be worn now in their 

 newest gloss." 



If the house then valued its own 

 consistency and honour, it was 

 bound to pass this motion, as a 

 corrollary from the resolutions of 

 Monday last. The noble lord, it 

 ■was true, might still be cants amices, 

 but he was no longer idoncus 

 palricE : it was fit that it should be 

 declared so. 



The Cliancellor of the Exchequer 

 said, that as some gentlemen seemed 

 to require a spccitic declaration 

 respecting the restoration of lord 

 Melville, he had no hcsilation at ail 

 in saying, that all idea of the noble 

 lord's return to power was coii's- 

 plctely annihiiaicil, and that no dan- 

 ger whatever need be apprehended 

 on that head. In making this frank 

 declaration, he wifjhed itto be under- 

 stood, that it was not to continue in 

 force, in case the resolutions of 

 Monday should, on future enquiry, 

 be found to Iiavc been premature, 

 and consequently be erased from 

 the journals of the house : in any 

 other ca!;e, he should think it ab- 

 solutely impossible, (hat any minis- 

 ter could ever think of recommend- 

 ing the noble lord to a share in his 

 tnajesty's councils. After (his ex- 

 planation, he thought it but an act 

 of common liberality to the noble 

 lord, not to persist in the present 

 motion. 



Mr. Fox, after descanting on the 



impropriety of retaining Mr. Trot- 

 ter in the important office of pay- 

 master of the nary, so many months 

 after the report of (lie commissioners, 

 and his sudden dismissal now, when 

 nothing more appeared against him 

 than was known before, proceeded 

 to observe, what little ground ther« 

 was for bestowing such extravagant 

 panegyrics. He asked, was itto be 

 found in the eagerness he had ever 

 shewn to heap up emoluments, and 

 systematise corruption, of which he 

 reported all the instances that oc- 

 curred to him ? Was it in his freedom 

 from party spirit, in refusing to re- 

 ceive the voluntary services of a 

 body of loyal men at Tavistock, 

 because they were to have been 

 commanded by the late duke of 

 Bedford ? or in his having used the 

 whole weight of government to de- 

 prit* the honourable Henry Erskine 

 of the office of dean of the faculty 

 at Edinburgh ? After adverting to 

 a variety of topics, he said, that not 

 wishing the house of commons to 

 monopolize the whole gratitude of 

 the nation, on this proceeding, but 

 desiring that his majesty, and the 

 house of lords might have their share 

 of thecredit, so universally attached 

 to it, he should have no objection 

 to the motion being withdrawn. 



Mr. Wilberforce felt himself 

 undecided in what manner he should 

 feel inclined to vote, and strongly 

 recommended to the gentleman to 

 withdra^v his motion. 



Mr. David Scott thought this a 

 measure of great severity, after forty 

 years of meritorious services, to a 

 man who never valued money, and 

 who, though hemight havemade mil- 

 lions, if he had availed himself of the 

 advantages he possessed, yet always 

 thought himself yery happy, if, at 

 3 the 



