~ repeated, 
6 
the one hand with Mr. Hume’s eu- 
thanasia to its constitution, and in 
danger, on the other, of being a 
prey to popular excesses, which 
might lead to the only state ‘of 
things, that could make any one 
doubt’ whether the despotism of 
monarchy was not the greatest of 
all evils, inclined him more favour. 
ably to parliamentary reform, than 
he had ever been, while the whig 
party was only beaten but not dis- 
persed. ‘he doctrine he had held 
after the death-blow received by 
the popular. branch of ‘the consti- 
tution in'1784, had formerly been, 
‘that the power of the house of com- 
mons ought to be first restored, 
and its constitution considered af- 
terwards. . Hé now thought it bet- 
ter to invert the order, and to say 
parliament sheuld first be reformed, 
and then restored toits just influ. 
ence. From that period to his 
death, Mr. Fox enjoyed the un- 
bounded confidenee of the more de- 
mocratic or popular whigs, who 
first under lord Chatham and after- 
wards under Jord’ Lansdowne, had 
formed a distinct party during the 
preceding part of the present reign. 
By what steps he succeeded in re- 
uniting them afterwards with the 
more aristocratic whigs, who had 
gone over to the court, during the 
alarm produced by the French re- 
volution, and from whom they had 
so long been separated, is too re- 
cent and too well known to be here 
It is to ‘be regretted, 
that the union of these parties, so 
necessary for the preservation of 
public freedom, and so essential-to 
the common object of both, was so 
long delayed, and that when made, 
it was not more firmly ‘consolidated 
befere the loss of ‘him, iby whose 
“ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
wine 
state of the country, threatened on . 
tried integrity and conciliatory cha. 
racter it had been chiefly, if not 
entirely, effected. ib ot 
At the period of Mr. Fox’s death, 
the strength and popularity of the 
administration were much inferior 
to what they had been at the;time 
of its accession to power. . The 
country had expected from the ta-- 
lents and reputation of its members, 
either the restoration of peace, or 
more successful prosecution of the 
war, 4nd in both expectations it 
had been disappointed. It. had 
lodked to important reformsin pub- 
lic expenditure, and to a rigid en- 
quiry into past malversations and 
abuses. It was not satisfied with 
the exertions of. ministers in regard 
to the first; and with respect to the 
second, its hopes had been grievously 
damped by the acquittal of lord 
Melville, which was very generally 
construed into a proof, either of 
weakness that was unable, or of 
connivance that was unwilling to 
punish him. The coldness with 
which the prosecution of lord Wel- 
lesley was viewed by one part of 
the government, and the indecent 
warmth, with which his defence was 
undertaken ‘by another part, had 
disgusted and offended a numerous 
and respectable part of the commu- 
nity, to whom that nobleman was 
particularly obnoxious. The ine 
crease of the income tax was uni- 
versally felt, and the suppressien of 
exemptions, however profitable to 
the exchequer, had added severely 
to its pressure on the poor and ine 
dustrious, ‘The additional allows 
ance to the princes of the blood 
had made a great impression on the 
public mind, not-on account of the 
magnitude of the sum, but'because 
the proposal originated with those, 
whose professions of economy were 
still 
