rsation,
the sport of a lawless majority; and the basest member of the committee,
by a malicious word or, a silent vote, might indulge his general spleen
or personal animosity. Injury was aggravated by insult, and insult was
embittered by pleasantry. Allowances of twenty pounds, or one shilling,
were facetiously moved. A vague report that a Director had formerly been
concerned in another project, by which some unknown persons had lost
their money, was admitted as a proof of his actual guilt. One man was
ruined because he had dropped a foolish speech, that his horses should
feed upon gold; another because he was grown so proud, that, one day at
the Treasury, he had refused a civil answer to persons much above
him. All were condemned, absent and unheard, in arbitrary fines and
forfeitures, which swept away the greatest part of their substance.
Such bold oppression can scarcely be shielded by the omnipotence of
parliament; and yet it maybe seriously questioned, whether the judges of
the South Sea Directors were the true and legal representatives of their
country. The first parliament of George the First had been chosen (1715)
for three years: the term had elapsed, their trust was expired; and the
four additional years (1718-1722), during which they continued to sit,
were derived not from the people, but from themselves; from the strong
measure of the septennial bill, which can only be paralleled by il serar
di consiglio of the Venetian history. Yet candour will own that to the
same parliament every Englishman is deeply indebted: the septennial act,
so vicious in its origin, has been sanctioned by time, experience, and
the national consent. Its first operation secured the House of Hanover
on the throne, and its permanent influence maintains the peace and
stability of government. As often as a repeal has been moved in the
House of Commons, I have given in its defence a clear and conscientious
vote. My grandfather could not expect to be treated with more lenity
than his companions. His Tory principles and connections rendered him
obnoxious to the ruling powers: his name is reported in a suspicious
secret; and his well-known abilities could not plead the excuse of
ignorance or error. In the first proceedings against the South Sea
Directors, Mr. Gibbon is one of the few who were taken into custody;
and, in the final sentence, the measure of his fine proclaims him
eminently guilty. The total estimate which he delivered on oath to