lordship his own disapprobation of this India Bill, and authorised him to declare the same to such persons as he might think fit. It was stated also that a written note was put into his hands, in which His Majesty declared, " that he should deem those who should vote for it not his friends; and that if he (Lord Temple) could put this in stronger words, he had full authority to do so;" and it was finally added, that in consequence of this authority, communications had been made to several peers, especially to those whose offices and duties obliged them to attend the King's person.

At the time, this was actually brought forward as a grievous charge against the influence and interference of the crown; but it was most certainly the only mode left to the King of getting rid of the bill, short of the refusal of the royal assent, a measure which would have appeared most ungracious, and therefore to be avoided.

When the miscarriage of Mr. Fox's India Bill, in the House of Lords, and the consequent change of ministry about to take place thereupon, alarmed the Commons, lest a dissolution should prevent the supporters of the measure from counteracting the proceedings of its opposers, Mr. Erskine, on the twenty-second of December, backed by a decided majority, moved and carried the famous address to the King, praying him, for divers reasons, there recorded, to permit the house to proceed on the busi

ness of the session, the furtherance of which was so essential to the public service, &c. &c.

This was certainly a delicate case for His Majesty, for he may be said to have been then without ministers; but he showed himself a king-" aye, every inch a king:"-and his answer here deserves a faithful record.

"Gentlemen,

"It has been my constant object to employ the authority entrusted to me by the constitution to its true and only end-the good of my people; and I am always happy in concurring with the wishes and opinions of my faithful Commons.

"I agree with you in thinking that the support of the public credit and revenue must demand your most earnest and vigilant care. The state of the East Indies is also an object of as much delicacy and importance as can exercise the wisdom and justice of parliament. I trust you will proceed in these considerations with all convenient speed, after such an adjournment as the present circumstances may seem to require: and I assure you I shall not interrupt your meeting by any exercise of my prerogative, either of prorogation or dissolution."

This message being delivered, the house, after some debate, on the twenty-fifth of December, adjourned to the twelfth of January, 1784.

The length of time during which Mr. Fox con

tinued out of office, after this, has been, by his friends, considered as exclusive, which it certainly was during the early and middle parts of the French revolution; and it is impossible not to regret that any cause should have existed to keep such a man from power and place. One of his warm admirers says, that if energy of mind, enlargement of views, firmness of character, amenity of manners, acquaintance with foreign courts and languages, facility in conducting business, and prodigious intellectual powers, combining eloquence, application, and discernment-if these endowments can be considered as forming an incontestable claim to public employment, "unsustained by moral qualities, or by property," then the sentence of exclusion against him must be condemned; though it would require no justification in the eyes of those who consider all talent, however eminent, as radically defective, "unless sustained by decorum, and a regard for opinion;" as well as of all "who prefer sobriety of conduct, regularity of deportment, and the virtues of private life, above any ability which nature can bestow on man ;" lastly, "of all who regard judgment, under the control of strict principle, as the most indispensable requisite of a minister, to whom the public honour and felicity are in some measure necessarily entrusted." Of the propriety of these remarks our readers will judge:-in biography we must have no party feeling, if possible; but it is

pleasing to reflect, (and here we may slightly anticipate events) that Mr. Fox, as he advanced in life, was rapidly curing himself of his faults and foibles as a man ; and that, although when in power a peace with France must have been with him a point of the highest interest, both as a party man and a minister; and although there may have been just cause to censure, and even to smile at the mode and manner in which negotiations were first brought on, yet throughout the whole of that important period, even whilst displaying the sincerest desire for pacification, did he manifest a sturdy, honest sense of national dignity, uniting diplomatic conciliation with the plain, unsophisticated firmness of an Englishman anxious for the honour and welfare of his country. If we differed from him in political opinion, it is doubly gratifying to snatch this oppor tunity of anticipating that just praise which he will be seen to merit in the following sheets.

A curious anecdote has been related of the King, with respect to the events of this period, when Pitt thus kept his place as premier, notwithstanding all the efforts of opposition, though their numbers had increased to such a degree, that they had a majority of one hundred votes against him, whilst he retained his power for six weeks in spite of them, in hopes that a sense of true patriotism would finally triumph over the factious spirit of party. At length, the majority against him still continuing to increase,

he said to His Majesty, "Sire, I am mortified to see that my perseverance has been of no avail, and that I must resign at last." "If so," replied the King, "I must resign too!"*

It was then that Lord Thurlow advised His Majesty to dissolve the parliament, and thus take the sense of the nation against the legislative oligarchy.

Of other events during the past year, we may

His Majesty had nearly lost this faithful servant in the course of the summer, Mr. Pitt having narrowly escaped being shot by a gardener near Wandsworth. The circumstance was shortly as follows: Mr. Pitt dined that day with Mr. Jenkinson, and returned to town in a post carriage; but the boy blundering out of the main road, and not being able to find his way back, Mr. Pitt was induced to go to the next farm-house, to be rightly informed; the dogs, however, making an alarm, the man of the house came out with a loaded gun, and insisted on Mr. Pitt's standing still, on pain of being fired at. Mr. Pitt pleaded and expostulated in vain, till at length the farmer actually fired at him; and the bullet went through the loose part of his coat, but happily without doing any injury. The post-boy hearing the explosion, ran to the spot; and his appearance, together with Mr. Pitt's arguments, at length so far prevailed on the farmer, that the chancellor was permitted to withdraw; and his antagonist gave him every necessary instruction to find out the main road to town. The well-known song, written and sung on this occasion, by the facetious Captain Morris, though considered only as a humorous composition, certainly did contain one sentiment too much in unison with that violence of party spirit which we have since often deplored.

"He fired at poor Billy, and went through his laced coat:

Oh! what a pity 'twas it did not hit his waistcoat!".