1805. ] 
ment, and furely in a conflitutional point 
_ of view, his dodirine was correét. 
Lady Loughborough having died Fe- 
bruary 15, 1781, his Lordfhip, at the end 
of about nineteen months (September 12, 
1782), married the Honourable Charlotte 
Courtney, daughter to the\late Vilcount. 
In the courfe of the fame year, the feals 
being i obeyance, he was placed at the 
head of the commiffioners appcinted to 
tranfa& the bufinels of Chancellor. 
No fooner had the celebrated coalition 
taken place, than Lord Loughborough 
once more fided with his old friend, Lord 
North, fupported -him during his fhort- 
lived adminiftration, in conjun@tion wiih 
Mr. Fox, and ranged himlelt again on the 
fide of oppofition, when he retired from 
power, 
In the courfe of the.regency bufine’s, 
Ke wass alfo frequently confulted, but this 
law on this occafion was deemed unfound, 
and even unconftitutional by fome. 
In 1791, we find his Lordfhip fttrongly 
objecting to the Ruffian armainent. He 
reprobated the idea of hoftilities, in the 
moft forcible terms, and ** defired the mi. 
nifiry to lay their hands to their hearts, 
and fay whether this was a war of the 
public? Did they defire it? On the con- 
trary, were they not already fo heavily op- 
preficd with the number and the weight of 
taxes, as to be unable to contri>ute any 
further to the exigencies of the govern- 
ments ? Look around (aided he) for the 
refources! See what petty methods had 
been adopted to {well the revenue! View 
the facred depofits in the Bank, which, for 
the firft time in fourfcore years, bad be- 
come the object of finance; behold every 
avenue to induflry choaked with the encr- 
mity of the taxes, which will fpeedily be 
ampofible to be borne! 
“¢ It was a matter of moi feriovs con- 
fideration to every noble Lord, by what 
fatality it was, that, year after year, we 
were to be involved in difpures with every 
power, m every guarter of the world. 
Wrere they to travel on in this courle of 
blind and irrational confidence ; yielding 
an implicit obedience to every {cheme of 
minifters, what muft te the refult to the 
kingdom ? He did not hefitate to fay, that 
this ‘meafure, unexplained as it». was, 
ameunted direftly to an agereffion againtt 
Ruffia; for his majefly, it feems, had fent 
a mandate to the Court of St. Pererf- 
burg, to which the Empre{s had not 
thought propér to yield. . He was now to 
enfoice thit mandate by arms, Tf the 
Memoirs of the Earl of Rofily. 47 
perfifted in refufing his mediation, the 
“kingdom was either to retreat, or to fol- 
low up the imperious menace by a war. 
But it was fortunate for us that we were 
yet upon the brink cf the precipice, and 
before we plunged into the abyfs, we 
ought to paufe and Icok around us. What: 
were the commercial and political pur- 
poles we had in view, to jullify a breach 
with the Eiprefs; a breach which he 
was afratd had been widened, from the 
intolerable arrogance of the language held 
to her, aed which that high fpirited prin- 
cefs could never brook? Was it intended 
that, while the Britih fleet entered the 
Baltic, a Pruffian army was to march 
through Livonia to the gates of St. Pe- 
terfburgh? But if even St Peterfburgh 
were taken, would it end the war? Wouid 
they purfue thelr victory te Mofcow ? 
In fhort, it was impoifible to fee the end 
of the calamities to which this unfortu- 
nate difpute might jead.”” 
Yowards the conclufion, his Lordthip 
obferved ‘* That he did uot with to enter 
into any detail or eulogium on the mea- 
fures of the National Affembly of 
France; but furely their magnanimous 
and truly political deciaration, that they 
would for ever avoid wars on fpeculative 
and thecretical points, ought to have fug- 
gefted to us a wifcr and more elevated 
fyftem than that we had lately purfued. 
The revolution in France pretfented to us 
the means of reducing our eitablifhments, 
of eafing the people, and of fecuring te 
them for a feries cf years the blefngs of 
peace.” 
In the courfe of the fame year, Lord 
Loughborough, in a Jong and able {pecthy 
condemned the condu& of minifters rela- 
tive to the war with, Tippoo, ** who had 
been flated a tyrant, and’a barbarian, but 
whole conduct to the troops taken at Da- 
ramporam, furoafled even the general no- 
tioas of European pelitenefs.”” 
On the renewal of the queftion relative 
to the trial of Mr. Haftings, he beldly 
and mercifully contended, “ that im- 
peaciments did not abate on a diffolu- 
tion,” and obferved, * that this;was the 
epinicn in thcfé times when the conititu- 
tion was deft underfood, and law pre= 
vailed. The criginal jurifdidtion of their 
‘Lordfhips was fuperior to the technical 
forms of the Courts beiow ; thefe abate- 
meosts and difcontinuances, -which had 
their origin chiefly in the- fifcal neceffity - 
of former times, and relulted only from 
the pr¢fits of the crown, by finding “thie 
parties 
