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whose lives, the past, the distant, and the future, more predominate, or over whom the present has less influence.

CHAP. LXXIX.

PRINCIPAL PUBLIC MEN:-STATE OF THE PUBLIC MIND AT THE TIME OF THE APPLICATION OF THE CATHOLICS FOR THE BILL OF 1791:APPLICATIONS TO PARLIAMENT FOR A REPEAL OF THE LAWS REQUIRING THE SUBSCRIPTION OF THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.

BEFORE we proceed to relate the applications of the catholics to parliament for further relief, the subject seems to require, or at least to allow, that the writer should present his readers with a succinct view, I. Of the principal public men: II. And of the general state of the public mind, at this period, in respect to religious liberty, in consequence of the Bangorian controversy and the disputes on the confessional: III. And of the attempts which had been made by the protestant dissenters to obtain a repeal of the corporation and test acts.

LXXIX. 1.

Principal public Men at this period.

LORD NORTH was, at this time, the prime minister his eloquence was so far an æra in the British senate, that what, in respect to the orators

of Rome, is observed by Velleius Paterculus of Cicero, may be said of Lord North,-that no "English senator will be entitled to be ranked among orators, whom Lord North did not see, or "who did not see Lord North."

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Of those by whom he was preceded, none probably, except lord Chatham, will be remembered by posterity. It was frequently given to the writer of these pages to hear the speeches, both in the house of commons and the house of lords, of this extraordinary man. No person in his external appearance was ever more bountifully gifted by nature for an orator. In his look and his gesture, grace and dignity were combined, but dignity presided ; the "terrors of his beak, the lightning of his eye, were insufferable. His voice was both full and clear; his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, his middle tones were sweet, rich, and beautifully varied; when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch, the house was completely filled with the volume of the sound. The effect was awful, except when he wished to cheer or to animate; and then, he had spirit-stirring notes, which were perfectly irresistible: he frequently rose, on a sudden, from a very low to a very high key, but it seemed to be without effort. His diction was remarkably simple, but words were never chosen with greater care; he mentioned to a friend of the writer that he had read twice, from beginning to end, Bailey's Dictionary; and that he had perused some of Dr. Barrow's sermons so often as to know them by heart. His sentiments were apparently simple; but sentiments

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were never adopted or uttered with greater skill; he was often familiar and playful, but it was the familiarity and playfulness of condescension,-the lion dandling with the kid. The terrible, however, was his peculiar power. Then the whole house sunk before him.-Still, he was dignified; and wonderful as was his eloquence, it was attended with this most important effect, that it impressed every hearer with a conviction, that there was something in him finer even than his words; that the man was infinitely greater than the orator: no impression of this kind was made by the eloquence of his son, or his son's antagonist.

But, with this great man,-for great he certainly was, manner was every thing.-One of the fairest specimens, which we possess of his lordship's oratory, is his speech, in 1766, for the repeal of the stamp act*.

"Annuit, et nutu totum tremefecit Olympum."

VIRGIL.

Most perhaps, who read the report of this speech, in. Almon's Register, will wonder at the effect which it is known to have produced on the hearers; yet the report is exact. But they should have seen the look of ineffable contempt with which he surveyed the late Mr. Grenville, who sat within one of him, and should have heard him say, with that look,

as to the late ministry,-every capital measure they have taken, has been entirely wrong."-They should also have beheld him when, addressing him

* Almon's Debates, vol. vii.

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self to Mr. Grenville's successors, he said," as to "the present gentlemen, to those, at least, whom I ❝ have in my eye,-(looking on the bench on which "Mr. Conway sat), I have no objection: I have "never been made a sacrifice by any of them.— "Some of them have done me the honour to ask my "poor opinion, before they would engage to repeal "the act:--they will do me the justice to own, I "did advise them to engage to do it,—but notwithstanding,-(for I love to be explicit),-I cannot "give them my confidence.-Pardon me,gentlemen, -(bowing to them),-confidence is a plant of slow "growth." Those who remember the air of condescending protection, with which the bow was made, and the look given, when he spoke these words, will recollect how much they themselves at the moment were both delighted and awed, and what they themselves then conceived of the immeasurable superiority of the orator over every human being that surrounded him.-In the passages, which we have cited, there is nothing which an ordinary speaker might not have said; it was the manner, and the manner only, which produced the effect*.

The catholic question came into the house of lords in the time of lord Chatham, and he gave it

• The "Memoirsof Lord Waldegrave," with which the public have been lately favoured, contain two letters of Lord Holland, the contemporary and opponent of lord Chatham, which describes, in a manner equally lively and accurate, the nature and effect of his oratory, and seem to confirm the account given of it by the writer.

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his support. In the speech, which we have mentioned, he had said-" I have no local attachments: "it is indifferent to me, whether a man was rocked "in his cradle on this side or that side of the "Tweed." When the catholic bill of 1778 was in the house of lords, he might have been asked, "if it were not indifferent to his lordship or the "state, whether a man was rocked in a catholic or protestant cradle, provided he be a good sub'ject:" we may conjecture what would have been his lordship's reply*.

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*The whole speech, from which these citations are made, very fine: "I sought for merit," said lord Chatham, "wherever it was to be found. It is my boast, that I was the "first minister who looked for it; and I found it in the moun"tains of the north. I called it forth and drew it into your ser"vice, a hardy and intrepid race of men. Men, who, when "left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artifices of your "enemies, and had gone nigh to have overturned the state, in the war before the last. These men, in the last war, were brought to combat on your side; they served with fidelity, as they fought with valour, and conquered for you "in every part of the world. Detested be the national pre"judices against them! they are unjust, groundless, illiberal, "unmanly.—When I ceased to serve his majesty as minister, "it was not the country of the man by which I was moved :“but the man of that country wanted wisdom, and held princi"ples incompatible with freedom."

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His celebrated reply to Horace Walpole has been immortalized by the report given of it by Dr. Johnson.-On one occasion, Mr. Moreton, the chief justice of Chester, à gentleman of some eminence at the bar, happened to say, king, lords, and commons," or,-(directing his eye towards lord Chatham,)-as that right honourable member would call them, "commons, lords, and king."--The only

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