My
lord, having considered the high expectations, which the virtues of your
immediate progenitors had taught us to form upon the heir of them both,
we will recollect for a moment the promises that your first outset in
life had made to your country.
One of your lordship's first actions upon record, consists in the high
professions you made at the county meeting of Buckingham, in that
ever-venerable aera of oeconomy and reform, the spring of 1780. My lord,
there are certain offices of sinecure, not dependent upon the caprice of
a minister, which this country has reserved to reward those illustrious
statesmen, who have spent their lives, and worn out their constitutions
in her service. No man will wonder, when he recollects from whom your
lordship has the honour to be descended, that one of these offices is in
your possession. This, my lord, was the subject of your generous and
disinterested professions. You told your countrymen, that with this
office you were ready to part. If a reformation so extensive were
thought necessary, you were determined, not merely to be no obstacle to
the design, but to be a volunteer in the service. You came forward in
the eye of the world, with your patent in your hand. You were ready to
sacrifice that parchment, the precious instrument of personal wealth and
private benevolence, at the shrine of patriotism.
Pages:
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60