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Ask men's opinions-Scoto now shall tell How trade increases, and the world goes well. Strike off this pension, by the sitting sun, And Britain, if not Europe, is undone.

From the year 1774 to 1781, the question of compliance with the demands of the colonists, or taxation and rigorous coercion; the utility or prejudicial influence of each particular measure adopted by administration; the prudence or folly of raising all Europe in arms against Britain, at the moment when she was at war with her own subjects, gave rise to a long series of the most eloquent debates that ever took place within the walls of an English House of Commons.

Fox, Burke, Barre, Dunning, were the most eloquent speakers on the side of opposition. Thurlow, Wedderburn, Lord North, spoke on the other side with different, though scarcely inferior talents. Fox, trained by Burke to the industry of a leader, and instructed by him in the details of business, became continually more emi. nent as an orator and a statesman in the house. The effects of opposition weakened the hands of the ministers; rendered them timid, uncertain, more anxious to avoid censure, than by exertion to command success. They contributed signally to produce the misconduct they arraled, and the misfortunes which they affected to deplore. American freedom was not more strongly vindicated, by the arms of Washington," than by the eloquence of the opposition.

It was chiefly during this period, that the permanent principles, political and moral, of Charles Fox, must have been formed. By his father he had been taught to think, that every thing was pardonable to active and splendid political talents; that by political exertions and intrigue he ought to make his fortune; that fashionable excesses, if they couid be reconciled with political industry were only commendable proofs of spirit and genius. From the Rockingham party, he learned to believe that the great whig families whose ancestors were the authors of the revolution, and of the settlement in favour of the house of Hanover, ought still to hold the crown, as it were in tutelage, and to leave to the sovereign little more than the empty honours, and the mere nominal power of government. From Junius, from Franklin, from Dunning, from the remonstrances of the city of London and of the Americans, from Hume, Smith, Voltaire, and Price, he imbibed a taste for that philosophy which prefers an ideal semblance of right to tried order and expediency. Burke taught him to throw the veil of fanciful ornament and of sophistical refinement, over that practical good sense, which, in politics, it was almost natural for him, even unconsciously, to exercise. His practice at the gaming-table, in the house of commons, in the meeting party. cabal, had given new confidence in his own powers, new controul over his own passions, a deeper insight into the complexities of human character, and the frailness of human na

fure by no means a nicer sense of honour, or á more sacred observance of moral principle,but certainly more of that lofty magnanimity which the ingenuous mind delights to cherish, when it feels itself capable of surmounting every difficulty of fortune, and of triumphing over the most skilful artifices of its opponents.

The measures which led to the American war had now come to a crisis, and were loudly execrated by a formidable party in the mother country. To this party Fox united himself, and from his conspicuous talents, soon acquired the authority of a leader. In 1773 he opposed the introduction of the Boston Port Bill, and apologized for the conduct of the colonies. In his speech, on this occasion, he arraigned the measures of the minister in bold and energic language, and explained the principles of the constitution with masculine eloquence. The treasury-bench now began, for the first time, to calculate the loss it had sustained, the opposition to estimate the strength it had acquired. The session of 1775 opened with a speech, declaring the necessity of coercion. On this occasion, Fox poured forth a torrent of his powerful eloquence.

In that plain forcible language, which forms one of the many excellencies of his speech, he shew, ed what ought to have been done, what ministers had promised to do, and what had been done. He affirmed that, Lord Catham, the King of Prussia, nay, even Alexander the Great, never gained more in one campaign than Lord

North had lost."He has lost," said he, “a whole continent." His sagacious mind, at the commencement of the war, foresaw the event. Fox, perceived, and predicted, that men fighting.for liberty would ultimately prove successful. He endeavoured to dissuade his country from war foreboding that discomfiture must be the event of such a contest. Unfortunately, administration disregarded his admonitions, and the consequent calamity far exceeded the anticipation even of Mr. Fox's foresight.

Nevertheless, persons were not wanting, who ascribed Fox's opposition less to patriotic mo tives than to the effects of private pique against Lord North. That minister particularly inter ested himself in procuring the refund of the money due to the public by Lord Holland; whose executors actually paid into the treasury two hundred thousand pounds, part of a much larger sum, which came into his hands while paymaster-general, and never passed the audi tor's office. This was surmised to be, in part, the reason of the virulence which Mr. Fox displayed against him on every occason.

In 1776 Mr. Fox paid another visit to France, and his sudden return, at the commencement of the following year, not a little embarrassed the minister, who was in hopes that he would have amused himself on the continent during the remainder of the session. While his political antagonists thought him engaged in the diversions of the Plaine de Sablons, he was gleaning the best intelligence relative to the affairs of Europe, which his knowledge of the lan

guage, his intimacy with the French noblesse, and, above all, his superior address, gave him every opportunity of doing.

It was this that enabled him with such confidence to contradict, in December 1777, the statements of the minister, who declared that France did not threaten to molest Great Britain, nor did he believe that either France or Spain entertained any such intention. Mr. Fox, on the contrary, insisted, that the whole house of Bourbon was hostile, and only waited for a favourable opportunity, which would present itself the very instant the first bad news should arrive from America. How exactly the event justified his predictions, is too well known to be here repeated.

About this time Mr. Fox obtained admission to a seat at the meetings of the literary club, founded by the celebrated Johnson, which likewise numbered Gibbon, Burke, and Sheridan, among its members. His attendance was eagerly encouraged; but it was remarked, that when Johnson was present, the statesman rarely en gaged in the conversation. This taciturnity, which could not possibly proceed from fear, probably arose from a desire of information and instruction, which a young man, not inferior in abilities, might reap from the knowledge and experience of the sage.

In the autumn of 1777 Mr. Fox visited Ireland. This gave rise to a silly report, that he was gone to solicit of the viceroy a seat in the Irish parliament, in order to support administration;

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