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legal or unjustifiable. He made no scruple Book however to declare, that the constitution of the country had been invaded by the house of com mons, and he now heard with astonishment that invasion defended upon principle. What," said hé, "my lords, is this mysterious power, undefined by law, unknown to the subject, which we must not approach without awe, not speak of without reverence, which no man may question, and to which all men must submit ? When our kings were obliged to confess that their title to the crown, and the rule of their government, had no other foundation than the known laws of the land, I never expected to hear a divine right or a divine infallibility attributed to any other branch of the legislature. Power without right is the most odious and detestable object that can be offered to the human imagination. The noble lord assures us that the house of commons, when they act as judges, have no law to direct them but their own wisdom; that their decision is law, and, if they determine wrong, the subject has no appeal but to heaven. What then, my lords, are all the generous efforts, the glorious contentions of our ancestors, reduced to this conclusion, that, instead of the arbitrary power of a king, we must submit to the arbitrary power of a house of commons? Tyranny, my lords, is in no shape so

BOOK formidable as where it is assumed and exercised

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by a number of tyrants. But, my lords, this is 1970. not the constitution; for we all know that the first principle of the constitution is, that the subject shall not be governed by the arbitrium of any one man, or body of men, but by certain laws to which he has virtually given his assent. That the decision of the house of commons violates the spirit of the constitution, is indisputable; but the noble lord affirms that this great grievance admits not of a remedy. My lords, I have better hopes of the constitution, and a firmer confidence in the wisdom and authority of this house. It is possible that the inquiry now recommended may lead us to advise his majesty to dissolve the present parliament; nor have I a doubt of our right to give that advice, if we should think it necessary; and his majesty will then determine whether he will yield to the united petitions of his people."

The amendment, after a vehement debate, was at length negatived; and it may be remarked upon the opposite reasonings employed by these justly celebrated noblemen, that the arguments of lord Mansfield are incontrovertible, on the supposition of the existence of a regular system of government; and that the reasonings of lord Chatham, however abstractedly noble and just, are applicable only to cases which im

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ply, if not an actual subversion of government, BOOK at least the expediency of incurring the eventual risque of such subversion. That the jurisdiction 1770.

of the house of commons extended to the case of the Middlesex election, as well as all other elections, and that the validity of their decision could not on any established judicial principles be disputed, is sufficiently apparent; and if it be admitted that this decision was in fact unwise, or even unjust, it cannot without the utmost extravagance, be deemed such an instance of oppression or misrule as to justify a public or national resistance, or the adoption of any measures which evidently bore that complexion or tendency.

Lord Camden, having in the course of the Dismission debate condemned in decisive terms the pro-Camden. ceedings of the house of commons, and actually dividing on this occasion with lord Chatham, was immediately compelled to relinquish the great seal; but such was the political consternation prevailing at this crisis, that no person competent to the office could be persuaded to accept it. Mr. Yorke, attorney-general, son of the late lord-chancellor Hardwicke, a man of the highest professional ability, had given, as was reported and believed, a positive assurance to the earl his brother, that he would not upon any terms listen to the offers of the court; but upon

BOOK being sent for by the king, and earnestly solicited, XV. he at length in a fatal moment consented, and 1770. a patent was immediately ordered to be prepared

court.

for his elevation to the peerage, by the title of lord Morden. On repairing to the residence of his brother, in order to explain to him the motives of his acceptance, he was refused admission; and in the agitation of his mind, unable to endure the torture of his own reflections, he in a few hours put a period to his existence. The great seal was after this catastrophe put into commission, and at length (January 1771) given to Mr. Justice Bathurst, only son of lord Bathurst, created baron Apsley, a nobleman by whose ta

lents the splendid reputation of lord Camden Changes at was in no danger of being eclipsed. The removal of that great magistrate, was followed by the resignation of the dukes of Beaufort and Manchester; the earls of Coventry and Huntingdon; and lord Granby, commander in chief of the forces of Great Britain. The earl of Bristol choosing the tranquil and irresponsible post of first lord of the bed-chamber, vacated by the earl of Huntingdon, the privy seal was delivered to the earl of Halifax.

On the 22d of January 1770, the marquis of Rockingham moved for fixing a day to take into consideration the state of the nation. His lordship insisted, "that the present unhappy con

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dition of affairs, and the universal discontents of BOOK the people, did not arise from any immediate temporary cause, but had grown upon the na- 1770. tion by degrees from the moment of his majesty's accession to the throne: that a total change had then taken place in the old system of English government, and a new maxim adopted, fatal to the liberties of this country, viz. that the royal prerogative alone was sufficient to support government, to whatever hands the administration should be committed. The operation of this principle, his lordship said, could be traced through every act of government during the present reign, in which his majesty's secret advisers could be supposed to have any influence. He recommended it therefore strongly to their lordships, to fix an early day for taking into consideration the state of this country in all its relations and dependencies, foreign, provincial, and domestic, for we had been injured in them all. That consideration would, he trusted, lead their lordships to advise the crown, not only how to correct past errors, but how to establish a system of government more wise, more permanent, better suited to the genius of the people, and consistent with the spirit of the constitution."..

The duke of Grafton himself rose to second the motion; and lord Chatham, declaring his