could not have received this honourable message through a more acceptable channel. "I am with great truth,

My dear Sir,

Your most obliged humble servant, "C. J. Fox."

"Mr. Serj. Adair.”

The committee assuring the meeting that the zeal and spirit with which their plan had been adopted in the capital, gave them the greatest reason to hope that they should not only be able to secure a permanent income to Mr. Fox, but shortly to present him an honourable testimony of the public esteem. Nor were their hopes disappointed; by means of a general subscription, they raised a sum sufficient to purchase for him an annuity for life, of not less than three thousand pounds; and this annuity was settled in such a manner as to render it impossible for him to squander it in those amusements to which he was known to be strongly addicted.

War with France was at length resolved upon by a great majority of the British parliament. Fox, still true to his former principles, proposed that instead of declaring war, an ambassador should be sent to treat with the French. It was argued that if Fox could propose a negociation with men polluted by every crime that can disgrace human nature, he must likewise be willing to share their guilt. A general outcry was excited against him by the enemies of revK

olution, and he himself began to fear that he might have lost the favor of the people, which he had preferred to every other possession. To repel the accusation with which he was assailed, he thought it necessary to exhibit himself in the character of an author. In a letter addressed in 1793, to the Electors of Westminister, he endeavored to vindicate the wisdom, the integrity and the constitutional propriety of those proposals for negociation on account of which he was most abusively calumniated.

This composition is not more remarkable for being the only production of Mr. Fox's pen that he gave to the world, than for the penetration into the future which it bespeaks. In one place he says: "Let us not attempt to deceive ourselves: whatever possibility, or even probability, there may be of a counter-revolution from internal agitation and discord, the means of producing such an event by external force can be no other than the conquest of France. The conquest of France!!!-O calumniated crusaders, how eational and moderate were your objects-O much injured Louis XIV. upon what slight grounds have you been accused of restless and immoderate ambition !- tame and feeble Cervantes, with what a timid pencil and faint colours have you painted the portrait of a disordered imagination!"

With the same prophetic spirit he, early in 1794, deprecated the idea, that while the Jacobin system existed, no peace could take place with France. He asked, "whether it was not

more advisable provided honorable terms could be obtained with the present government of France, to trust to our caution and vigilance for the preservation of the country, than to continue hostilities, attended with an enormous waste of blood and treasure, but no more productive of security than a pacification? Allowing the danger to be equal in either case, that which freed us from an immense charge, was unquestionably preferable to the other. It was vain to calculate the resources of the French at the late of a commercial proportion. They had no commerce-they derived no expectations from any other funds than the productions of their soil-The depreciation of their paper-money had not depressed their affairs; and wherever men were willing and resolved to bear hardships, historical experience had proved that their resources were inexhaustible. In war it sometimes happens that rage and courage supply the want of ordinary arms. Xenophon, in his Cyropædia, has observed that iron commands gold. "The French," continued Mr. Fox, "when their assignats fail, as it is predicted they will do, may plunder their neighbors. It must be allowed, indeed, that plunder is but a fleeting resource; yet, when a nation has abandoned habits of peace and industry, and acquired the views and manners of predatory warriors, it is a resource that enables it to spread desolution far and near."

It has been lamented by many sincere friends to the country, that Mr. Fox did not enter into

administration with Earl Fitzwilliam and the Duke of Portland, towards the close of 1794, The error of ministers was, not that they entered into the war, but that they knew not the most favorable moments for concluding an advantageous peace. Had Fox been placed in a suitable situation, it is not improbable that he would have procured peace on various occasions which were unfortunately lost. In that case, France might not perhaps have attained the gigantic power she now possesses, and much bloodshed and misery might have been spared to all Europe.

Mr. Fox was one of three gentlemen, who, on the 10th of May, 1797, presented to his Majesty a petition from Bristol for the dismission of ministers, signed by between three and four thousand persons. A similar petition was a few days afterwards presented by him from Antrim; and as a privy counsellor of the king, he desired an audience in the closet, in which he represented to his Majesty the alarming situa tion of the two kingdoms.-The king was, however, too well convinced of the ability and integrity of those to whom he had committed the management of affairs, to suffer the insinuations of the opposite party to make any impression on his mind.

On the 23d of May, 1797, Mr. Fox moyed for the repeal of the Treason and Sedition Bills, but on a division, found himself in a minority of 52 against 260. A few days afterwards, on the 26th, his friend, Mr. Grey, submitted to the

house a motion for a reform, in the representation of the people in parliament, in which he was seconded by Mr. Erskine. On this occasion Mr. Fox expatiated at great length on the urgent necessity of a reform, and concluded one of the most brilliant and argumentative speeches ever delivered in parliament, in the following words:

"I now return my most hearty thanks to those who brought forward this motion, in the hope that it will save the country. We are now at our last stake, and if public affars are continued to be managed by the present men; the nation must go to ruin. If it be thought that I have any personal wish to be one of their successors, it is a mistaken idea; it is true, that I should be glad to see other men fill their situations, but I solemnly declare that I have no wish to be one of them. I heard it said: "You do nothing but mischief when you are here, and yet we should be sorry to see you away." I do not know how we shall be able to satisfy the gentlemen who feel towards us in this way; if we can neither do our duty without mischief, nor please them by doing nothing, I know but one way by which we can give them content, and that is by putting an end to our existence. With respect to myself, and I believe I can also speak for others, I do not feel it to be consistent with my duty totally to secede from this house, I have no such intention; but I have no hesitation in saying that after seeing the conduct of