gone through his proposition, Mr. Fox remarked, that so necessary was aristocracy to all governments, that in his opinion the destruction of all that had been destroyed could be proved to have arisen from the neglect of the true aristocracy, upon which it depended whether a Constitution should be great, energetic, and powerful. He explained that he was so far a Republican, that he approved all governments where the res publica was the universal principle, and the people, as under our Constitution, had considerable weight in the Government. Mr. Fox concluded with declaring emphatically, that true aristocracy gave a country that sort of energy, that sort of spirit, and that sort of enterprise which made a country great and happy."*

Mr. Burke commenced by asking for the protection of the House in the situation in which he stood. He found that sentence of banishment from his party had been pronounced against him. The House he hoped would not consider him as a bad man, although he had been banished by one party, and was too old to seek another. Being thus, without any just cause, separated from his former friends, he confessed that he severely felt his loss, but that what he felt like a man he would bear like a man. He objected to the Council for Canada, which he thought belonged to a democratic constitution. He complained of being obliged to stand upon his defence by Mr. Fox, who when a young man, at the age of fourteen, had been brought to him, and evinced the most promising talents, which he had used his best endeavours to cultivate; and this man, who had arrived at the maturity of being the most brilliant and powerful debater that ever existed, had accused him of having deserted his principles !

"Fox's Speeches," vol. iv. pp. 228-232.

"In saying what he had upon the subject, he was conscious that he had done his duty, and hoped that he had in some measure arrested what might otherwise have effected the downfall of our justly boasted Constitution. Supported by such reflections, he was not deprived of consolation, although excluded from his party; a gloomy solitude might reign around him, but all was unclouded sunshine within."

There was something extremely melancholy in this speech of Mr. Burke. He seemed in some respects to have lost that irritation which had made him renounce with ostentatious publicity the friendship of Mr. Fox. That great man could not fail to be touched with the situation of his early instructor, with whom, for twenty-two years, he had been on terms of intimate friendship. But he also had a public principle to maintain. He had explained and almost retracted his sentence respecting France, by declaring it to apply not to the Constitution of 1791, but only to the popular basis which had been given to the French Government. He had been marked out as a republican for expressing a wish that France might prosper in her search for freedom. He, therefore, at the commencement of his speech, could not help adverting to the fact that Mr. Burke, “the right honourable gentleman," as he now styled him, had been unkind in imputing to him democratical or republican sentiments. He compared his own situation to that of Cordelia in "King Lear." Others, like Regan and Goneril, had indulged in fulsome praises of the Constitution; for his own part, he could only say he loved it as he ought. He defended himself against an insinuation of Mr. Pitt's that his sentiments were republican; he said his opinions only went so far that he wished to give the Crown less power,

and the people more. But such he contended had been the object and purport of various bills supported both by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Burke.

Mr. Burke shortly replied, accepting the position of a man publicly disgraced by his party, and declared that he did not solicit the right honourable gentleman's friendship, nor that of any man, either on one side of the House or the other.

It is worthy of remark that the Quebec Bill of Mr. Pitt led in the end to rebellion, and that Canada has at length been pacified and made prosperous by restoring the union Mr. Pitt destroyed, and adopting the principles Mr. Fox recommended.

On the 12th of May, the day following this debate, the following paragraph appeared in the Morning Chronicle: "The great and firm body of the Whigs of England, true to their principles, have decided on the dispute between Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke; and the former is declared to have maintained the pure doctrines by which they are bound together, and upon which they have invariably acted. The consequence is that Mr. Burke retires from Parliament."

The separation of Mr. Burke from his party was a natural consequence of the position he had assumed in his book. The breach of friendship with Mr. Fox was an effect of his own wilful intemperance. But it was no momentary passion which confirmed and widened the breach. Mr. Burke did not rest till he had estranged from Mr. Fox many of his best friends, and broken into fragments "the great and firm body" of the English Whigs.

In the course of his

ON the last day of January, 1792, the King opened the session of Parliament in person. speech he said: "The friendly assurances which I receive from foreign powers, and the general state of affairs in Europe, appear to promise to my subjects the continuance of their present tranquillity. Under these circumstances I am induced to think that some immediate reduction may safely be made in our naval and military establishments; and my regard for the interests of my subjects renders me at all times desirous of availing myself of any favourable opportunity of diminishing the public expenses."

In another part of the speech the reduction of taxes, and the lowering of the rate of interest of part of the public debt were recommended from the Throne. It is clear from this announcement that Mr. Pitt had not at this time any intention of taking part in the impending war. At a still later period, namely, on the 17th of February following, Mr. Pitt spoke with still more precision than in the King's speech. After stating that, in 1808, the Sinking Fund would amount to four millions, he proceeded to observe :"I am not, indeed, presumptuous enough to suppose,

when I name fifteen years, that I am not naming a period in which events may arise which human foresight cannot reach, and which may baffle all our conjectures. We must not count with certainty on a continuance of our present prosperity during such an interval; but unquestionably there never was a time in the history of this country when, from the situation of Europe, we might more reasonably expect fifteen years of peace, than we may at the present moment."*

Having quoted this passage, I cannot refrain from adding to it the peroration of this celebrated speech, both on account of the true, though brilliant picture which it gives of the state of the country before we entered upon the war of 1793, and, also, because it is perhaps the most perfect specimen that can be given of the stately and majestic flow of Mr. Pitt's eloquence.

After alluding to the principle of the accumulation of capital, he observed that it had never been fully developed but in the writings of Adam Smith, "whose extensive knowledge of detail, and depth of philosophical research will, I believe, furnish the best solution to every question connected with the history of commerce, or with the systems of political economy." He then proceeded: "The great mass of the property of the nation is thus constantly increasing at compound interest; the progress of which, in any considerable period, is what at first view would appear incredible. Great as have been the effects of this cause already, they must be greater in future; for its powers are augmented in proportion as they are exerted. It acts with a velocity continually accelerated, with a force continually increased :

:

* "Parliamentary History," vol. xxix. p. 826.