XIV.

BOOK statute of queen Anne, which enacts, that upon every grant, lease, or assurance, from the crown, 1768. the reserved rent be not less than one-third of the clear yearly value of such lands, manors, or messuages, as shall be contained in such lease or grant; and to the infinite satisfaction of every impartial person, sir James Lowther was finally nonsuited, after having thrown the whole county of Cumberland into the utmost confusion, above four hundred ejectments being, as it is affirmed, served by the agents of sir James Lowther upon the sub-tenants and actual occupants of those extensive demesnes in one day.

Irish Octennial bill passed.

At this period a bill of singular importance passed the parliament of Ireland, limiting the duration of parliaments in that kingdom to eight years; to which the sanction of the crown was, after a long delay, reluctantly given; and a new and striking proof was exhibited of that independent spirit, by the uncontrolable operation of which, Ireland was visibly hastening to its final emancipation from the English yoke.

Dissolution The British parliament having now nearly completed the full legal term of its existence, was dissolved, with many expressions of acknowledgment from the king for its faithful attention to the public service, and its earnest zeal for the preservation of the constitution. Such had been the varying complexion of this assembly, under

XIV.

a rapid and unexampled succession of administra- BOOK
tions, that it is difficult to determine whether,
on a review of their conduct, it is most deserving 1768.
the public censure or applause. Perhaps it might
more properly become the subject of our inquiry,
whether the perpetual vicissitude and fluctuation
of counsels by which it was characterized, just
as the INDEX of the TREASURY pointed, be not
itself a proof of political obsequiousness, wholly
incompatible with that dignity of independence
by which British parliaments were once distin-
guished.

"After the expulsion of the Stuarts," says a
learned and ingenious foreigner, l'abbé Millot,
"the royal prerogative was contracted; but the
sovereign was scarcely less powerful. Having
places and honors at his disposal, he could bias
that multitude of ambitious or venal souls who
worship fortune. A CONTAGIOUS CORRUPTION,
produced by wealth and intrigue, infected that
haughty people, so jealous of their liberty:
the COURT filled the lower house of parlia-
ment with its partisans, for the purpose of
influencing their debates, and of drawing from
thence enormous subsidies. There have been
always in England vigilant, jealous, incorrup-
tible men, who have their country incessantly
before their eyes, who struggle against the tor-
rent of FOREIGN INTERESTS, and who speak

BOOK like citizens, in the midst of the most corrupt XIV. assembly. A government where such men may 1768. freely speak their thoughts, where they speak

General election

them without fear and without evasion, has in itself a grand principle of life and vigor. But since the crown has had a standing army, since it has had interests which do not concern the nation, since it can depend on the votes of a long parliament; the balance of those powers which form the constitution is become more difficult to support. CORRUPTION, by DESTROYING PRINCIPLES, may one day occasion more mischief than the VIOLENCE of DESPOTISM."

The ensuing general election was signalized productive above all others by the immense sums expended disorder. in electioneering contests. The current price of

of excessive

boroughs for such is the corrupt state of the national representation in England, that this language is authorized by common use-was enormously raised by the rival plunderers of the East and of the West, who, by a new species of alchymy, had transmuted into English gold, the BLOOD of AFRICA, and the TEARS of HINDOSTAN. Many private fortunes were ruined, or materially impaired, by contests carried on with the utmost shamelessness of political depravity *.

* On a view of this debasing and degrading scene, we might, on whatever portion of the land we cast our eyes,

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The circumstances attending the election for BOOK Middlesex alone, however, demand, from their superior importance, and connexion with general 1768. politics, the specific notice of history.

truly and feelingly exclaim in the language of patriotism and poetry :

Corruption ranges with gigantic stride,

And scarce vouchsafes his shameless front to hide :

The spreading leprosy taints every part,

Infects each limb, and sickens at the heart.
Simplicity, most dear of rural maids,
Weeping, resigns her violated shades;
Stern Independence from his glebe retires,
And anxious Freedom eyes her drooping fires!
By foreign wealth are British morals chang`d,
And Afric's sons and India's smile aveng'd.

EPIST. TO MR. WILBERFORCE.