which I am anxious that the motion I am about to propose should be acceded to. Whatever may be the fate of the question, I am happy in having had this opportunity of bringing it under the consideration of the House."

Parliament, however, did not consider the measure "fit to be done," and the motion was rejected by a large majority. Ayes, 124; noes, 336.

of those who introduced them and the | active exertions of this country may be regood sense of Parliament. But I never quired; and this is one of the grounds on can believe that any branch of our constitution will forget its duty; and I am sorry that the report should be circulated of an opinion having been given on this subject by one who has a legislative voice, but who has no right to pronounce any opinion on matters pending in this House. His Majesty's lawful authority is one of the corner stones of the constitution; but while I shall always exert myself to support that lawful authority, I cannot be silent when I see interested persons endeavouring to extend that influence beyond its due bounds. It would be a great and incalculable evil were it to be established as a maxim in this House that no person must move any measure, however great its benefits might be, if it were once whispered about that it could not be successful, because another branch of the constitution was hostile to it. I could wish to see any sacrifice made for the gratification of the crown, except the sacrifice of the welfare and security of the country. The man who countenances such a sacrifice is not a loyal subject, is not one who loves his king, but one who flatters him in order to betray him.

I am sanguine in believing that these equal rights and laws will be granted to the Roman Catholics. I am even sanguine enough to believe that many bad consequences which might be expected to result from a refusal of them will not follow the rejection of this petition. I rely on the affection and loyalty of the Roman Catholics of Ireland; but I would not press them too far, I would not draw the cord too tight. It is surely too much to expect that they will always fight for a constitution in the benefits of which they are not permitted to participate. No permanent advantage can arise from any measure, except that which shall restore them to the full enjoyment of equal rights with their fellowcitizens. In the present situation of Europe, and when the designs of the enemy are considered, Ireland is a place where the

On the death of Pitt it was evident that no administration could be formed which did not include Fox. The king felt it was useless to oppose any longer the man he had so long and so thoroughly hated. A junction was formed between the Foxites, the followers of Lord Grenville, and the Tories who had espoused the cause of Addington, now Lord Sidmouth. In the new cabinet- "All the Talents," as it was called-Lord Grenville was prime minister, with Fox as secretary of state for the foreign department and leader of the House of Commons; while the much-despised Sidmouth, whom all laughed at, but with whom, it would appear, none could dispense, held the privy seal. The tenure of office by the new foreign secretary was, however, very brief. In all the measures introduced by his colleagues-a budget based upon economical principles, a bill for limiting the period of service in the army, a proposal for abolishing the African slave trade-Fox took a prominent part; but it was noticed that he became soon fatigued, and that his old fire and force had deserted him. It was wished to confer upon him the honours of a peerage, but such distinction he declined. Soon it became evident that he was unable to attend to the arduous duties of his office; he had to absent himself from the House, and to enter upon the seclusion and rest of the invalid. Then dropsy set in, and it was apparent that the end was at hand. "William Smith was with us after the House," writes Wilberforce in his diary,

haps, the finest foe that ever faced the Treasury bench. His eloquence-not to be judged by the meagre speeches that have been handed down to us-was so vivid, so spontaneous, so full of fancy and satire, and yet so close and logical in its reasoning, that only those who, as Pitt said, had been under the wand of the magician could understand or appreciate its enormous power. In debate he was seen at his best; he never, it was said, spoke so well as when he had been roused up to reply. His readiness in retort, the quickness with which he detected flaws in an argument, his critical powers, which were stronger than his creative, his knowledge of what moved and amused mankind, his sarcasm, repartee, and polished diction, all united to make him the orator who is instinctively the debater, and who is never so formidable as when on the aggressive.

"and talking of poor Fox constrainedly, | as a leader of the Opposition he was, perwhen at last, overcome by his feelings, he burst out with a real divulging of his danger-dropsy. Poor fellow, how melancholy his case! He has not one religious friend! How poor a master the world! No sooner grasps his long-sought object than it shows itself a bubble, and he is forced to give it up." The great debater died September 13, 1806, surviving his rival William Pitt but a few months. "Fox is no more," writes Francis Horner. "It has been a painful, anxious week, for after all had been given over there was a strange renovation that deluded us in spite of our despair. It is a cruel disappointment if one thinks of the hopes so recently indulged, and a cheerless prospect forward. The giant race is extinct; and we are left in the hands of little ones whom we know to be diminutive, having measured them against the others." Fox was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his remains rest in close proximity to the tomb of Pitt.

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A traveller and an excellent linguist, Fox had a practical knowledge of foreign affairs such as few men at that date had the means of acquiring, while his knowledge of books-he was the most omnivorous of readers and what was to be gained by books was enormous. In an age which boasted of a Pitt, a Burke, a Sheridan, a Windham, and a Canning, Fox was looked upon as the best read man in the House of Commons. His morals were loose, and during the earlier portion of his life the irregularity of his conduct had made his name as notorious in Paris as in London; yet such was the exquisite geniality of the man, such his unselfishness, generosity, and venomless disposition, that all who came in contact with him loved him, perhaps those who condemned his vices and mourned his lack of self-control loved him the most.

The mighty chiefs sleep side by side! Drop upon Fox's grave the tear, "Twill trickle to his rival's bier; O'er Pitt's the mournful requiem sound, And Fox's shall the notes rebound. The solemn echo seems to cry'Here let their discord with them die; Speak not for those a separate doom, Whom fate made brothers in the tomb; But search the land of living men, Where wilt thou find their like again ?'” Such was Charles James Fox. It has been given to few men who have distinguished themselves in parliamentary life to possess the combination of rare gifts which stimulated the heart and enriched the brain of the greatest debater the House of Commons has ever seen. Living throughout his long political career almost entirely in the atmosphere of the Opposition, save" He was the best and greatest man of our his India and Libel Bills, we know little of his powers as an active and creative administrator; in this capacity it is probable that his success as a minister would not have been commensurate with his genius, for his prescience was often at fault. But

time," writes Lord Holland; "he was beloved and almost adored by all who approached him.” "He was," says Burke, "a man of the most artless, candid, open, and benevolent disposition, disinterested in the extreme; of a temper mild and placable even

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to a fault, without one drop of gall in his restrictions which civilization imposed upon whole constitution."

A deep love of liberty and a keen hate of intolerance caused Fox to advocate measures for which the eighteenth century, from its want of culture and control, was not ripe, and which, had they then been carried, would have caused liberty to degenerate into license, and have put both church and state in jeopardy. The entire absence of bigotry in the nature of Fox caused him to become impatient of all tests which regulated religious opinion; while his natural kindly disposition made him averse to punishment and prosecution for views, however erroneous, provided they were sincere. He was a friend of the people, sympathizing with their sorrows and denouncing the

them; but like many friends of the people, he refused to see that an emancipation of the lower classes which caused universal suffrage to precede universal education was an inversion of the order of things, and calculated to swamp an enlightened minority by the political invasion of an ignorant and consequently corrupt majority. Parliamentary government is a machine of the most exquisite delicacy. A government such as ours, that yields and must yield to the wish of the House of Commons, is only possible so long as that House of Commons is the organ of an 'educated minority.' Such an instrument of government has never yet been worked by a legislature chosen by the mob.