the "State of
the Nation," and the other writings of those who have continued, for now
nearly three years, in the undisturbed possession of the press. This
will, I hope, be some apology for my dwelling a little on this part of
the subject.

On the resignation of the Earl of Bute, in 1763, our affairs had been
delivered into the hands of three ministers of his recommendation: Mr.
Grenville, the Earl of Egremont, and the Earl of Halifax. This
arrangement, notwithstanding the retirement of Lord Bute, announced to
the public a continuance of the same measures; nor was there more reason
to expect a change from the death of the Earl of Egremont. The Earl of
Sandwich supplied his place. The Duke of Bedford, and the gentlemen who
act in that connection, and whose general character and politics were
sufficiently understood, added to the strength of the ministry, without
making any alteration in their plan of conduct. Such was the
constitution of the ministry which was changed in 1765.

As to their politics, the principles of the peace of Paris governed in
foreign affairs. In domestic, the same scheme prevailed, of
contradicting the opinions, and disgracing most of the persons, who had
been countenanced and employed in the late reign. The inclinations of
the people were little attended to; and a disposition to the use of
forcible methods ran through the whole tenor of administration. The
nation in general was uneasy and dissatisfied. Sober men saw causes for
it, in the constitution of the ministry and the conduct of the
ministers. The ministers, who have usually a short method on such
occasions, attributed their unpopularity wholly to the efforts of
faction. However this might be, the licentiousness and tumults of the
common people, and the contempt of government, of which our author so
often and so bitterly complains, as owing to the mismanagement of the
subsequent administrations, had at no time risen to a greater or more
dangerous height. The measures taken to suppress that spirit were as
violent and licentious as the spirit itself; injudicious, precipitate,
and some of them illegal. Instead of allaying, they tended infinitely to
inflame the distemper; and whoever will be at the least pains to
examine, will find those measures not only the causes of the tumults
which then prevailed, but the real sources of almost all the disorders
which have arisen since that time. More intent on making a victim to
party than an example of