more accurate judg ment than I can pre-. 
tend'to do. But of his motive to thefe 
exertions [ am competent to judge, and 
can afhrm, without a doubt, that it was 
the fame which actuated him throughout— 
an ardent delire to employ his faculties in 
the way, whatever it might be, in which 
he could moft contribute to the good of 
his country, and the general interefts of 
mankind. 
With regard to his politics, I feel a 
great unwillingnefs to be wholly filent on 
the fubje&t ; and at the fame time much, 
difficulty in treating it with propriety, 
when I confider to whom I am addreffing 
myfelf. I am fenfible that thofe principles 
upon which in any other place I fhould 
not hefitate to pronounce an unqualified 
eulogium, may be thought by fome, per- 
haps by the majority of this Houte, ra- 
ther to ftand in need of apology and ex- 
eulpation, than to form a proper fubject 
for panegyric. —But even in this view I 
may be. allowed to offer a few words. 
in favour of my departed Friend. I be- 
lieve few, if any, of us are fo infatuated 
with the extreme notions of philofophy as 
not to feel a partial veneration for: the 
principles, fome-leaning even to the pr re- 
judices of the anceftors, elpecially if they 
were of any note, from whom we are re- 
Spectively defcended, Such biaffes are 
always, as I fufpeét, favourable to the 
caule of patriotifm and public virtue; I 
am fure, at leaft, that in Athens and 
Rome they were fo confidered. 
had ever lefs of family pride, in the bad 
fenfe, than the Duke of Bedford; but he’ 
had a great and juft refpeét for as ancef- 
tors. Now if upon the principle to which 
I have alluded, it was in Rome thought 
excufable in one of the Claudii to have, 
in conformity with the general manners of 
their race, fome thing too much of. an 
ariftocratical pride and haughtinefs, fure- 
ly in this country it is not “unpardonable 
in 2 Raflell to be zealoufly attached to the 
rights of the fubjeét, and peculiar ly tena- 
cious of the popular parts of our conftitu-. 
tion. It is excufable at led{t, in one 
who numbers among his anceftors the 
great Earl of Bedford, the patron of Pym, 
and the friend of Hampden, to be an 
enthufiaftic lover of liberty; noris it to be 
swondered at if a deicendant of Lord 
Roffell fhould feel more than common 
horror for arbitrary power, and a quick, 
perhaps even a jealous difcernment of any 
approach or tendency in the fyftem of 
Government to that dreaded evils. ut 
whatever may be our differences in re- 
gaid to principles, 1 truit there is no 
- . abs . 
No man: 
Eulogy on the late Duke, of Bedford, by Mr. Fox. {April 4, 
Member of this Houfe who is not liberal 
enough to do juftice to upright conduct 
even ina political adverfary. .Whatever 
therefore may be thought of thofe princi- . 
ples.to which I have alluded, the political 
conduét of my much. lawgonted Friend mult 
be allowed by all to have been manly, 
confiffent, and fincere. 
It now remains for me to touch upon 
the lat melancholy fcene in which this 
excellent man was to be exhibited, and to. 
all thofe who admire his character, let it 
be fome confolation that his exit was in. 
every refpect conformable to his paft life. 
T have already noticed that  profperity. 
could not corrupt bim. He had now to 
undergo a trial of an oppofite nature, 
But in every inftance he was. alike true to — 
his character, and in moments of extreme 
bodily pain and approaching diffolution, 
when it might be expected that a man’s 
every feeling would be concentrated in his 
perfonal fufferings—his every thought oc- 
cupied by the awful event impending — 
even, in thefe moments, be put by all 
felfifh confiderations; kindnefs to his. 
friends was the fentiment. till uppermoft 
in bis mind, and he employed him- 
felf, to the laft hour of his life, in mak- 
ing the moft confiderate arrangements 
for the happinels and comfort of thofe who. 
were to furvive him. While in the en- 
joyment of profperity, he had learned and. 
practifed all thofe milder virtues which | 
adverfity alone is fuppofed capable of. 
teaching ; and in the hour of pain and ap- 
proaching death, he had that calmnefs and 
ferenity which are thought to belong ex- 
clufively to health of body, and a mindat 
eafe. 
If I have taken an unufual, and pofibly 
an irregular, courfe upon this extraordi- 
nary daca I am confident the Houfe 
will pardon me. ‘They will forgive fome- — 
thing, no doubt, to the warmth of private. 
friendfhip—to fentiments of gratitude,. 
which I mutt feelj and, whenever I have 
an opportunity, muft exprels to the lateft 
hour of my life. But the confideration of 
public utility, to which I have fo much 
adverted as the ruling principle in the mind. 
of my Friend, will weigh far more with _ 
them. They: will in their wifdom ac- 
knowledge, that to celebrate and perpetuate 
the memory of great and meritorious indi- 
viduals, is in effet an effential fervice to 
the community. It was not therefore for 
the purpole of performing the pious office 
of friendthip, by fondly frewing flowers » 
upon his tomb, that I have dreawane your at- 
tention tothe chara€er of the Duke of Bed- 
ford ; ; the motive that acinates me, is one 
: more . 
} 
