i, i es 
— So 
ne 
CHARACTERS. 
In the summer of 1785, Mr. Fox 
paid a visit to lord Derby, at his 
seat near Prescot in Lancashire. 
The shop-tax, among other obnoxi- 
ous measures of Mr Pitt, had been 
powerfully opposed by his, lordship 
and Mr. Fox, and they were, in 
consequence, received with the 
greatest popularity. Lord Derby 
had presented a petition from Man- 
chester against it, signed by 12,000 
persons. Receiving an invitation 
to Manchester, they visited that 
place with their friends, in a state 
of civic triumph, being met on 
the road by the different trades 
in procession, with bands of music, 
and vast numbers of the inhabitants 
on horseback. The horses’ were 
taken from the carriage, and they 
were drawn amidst the acclamations 
of the people to the town-hall, 
where an elegant entertainment was 
provided: at Liverpool also they 
were invited to a public dinner, and 
experienced all the marks of popu- 
lar favour. 
From these less important cir- 
cumstances, however, Mr. Fox 
was now called to duties of impor- 
tance. 
During the discussion of the In- 
dia, bill, considerable blame had 
been attached to the governor-gene- 
ral of India, Mr. Hastings, and 
Burke had pledged himself that 
whenever that gentleman should ars 
rive in England, he would. bring 
forward several charges against 
him. On the 17th of February 
he brought forward the subject, 
on which Mr. Fox took an active 
part with him. Mr. Burke had post- 
poned the consideration of the 
charges, which referred to Mr. 
Hastings, till that gentleman should 
be in London to prepare a refutati- 
899 
on of them, if it were possible. 
An impeachment was voted by the 
commons, and Messrs. Fox, Burke, | 
and Sheridan, were appointed the 
principal managers. 
In the summer of 1786, Mr. Fox 
retired to his seat at St. Ann’s Hill, 
nor, except the impeachment of 
Mr. Hastings, on which he was by 
no meaus particularly active, was 
there any thing to call for the inter~ 
ruption of his tranquillity, in this 
or the next year. 
The repeal of the test act, moved 
by Mr. Beaufoy in the ensuing ses- 
sion (17 87), "as opposed by Mr. Pitt 
and lord North, but ably supported 
by Mr. Fox, who said, in allusion 
to the late political part taken by 
the dissenters, that though they lost 
sight of the principles of the cons 
stitution, he should not, upon any 
occasion, lose sight of his principles 
of toleration. Karly in 1788, he 
was elected recorder of Bridgwater, 
in the room of earl Poulet. 
In summer, 1788, a vacancy for 
Westminster occurred, by lord Hood 
being made a lord of the admiralty, 
on which occasion lord John Towne 
send came forward as a* candidate 
for the representation of that city, 
upon the whig interest, and after a 
long and expensive contest, finally 
prevailed. From the bustle of this 
election Mr. Fox departed for 
Switzerland, and proceeding along 
the delightful lake of Geneva, af= 
ter visiting its simple, and, then, 
happy vales, visited the historian of 
‘* The decline and fall of the Ro- 
man empire,”’ at Lausanne. 
‘¢ The man of the people,” says 
Gibbon, ‘* escaped from the tumult 
—the bloody tumult of the West- 
minster election, to the lakes and 
mountains of Switzerland, and I 
3M2 was 
