nent, was to find the ramparts of
public principle and legislative wisdom repaired and strengthened in
England, and those ramparts manned with defenders who had learned the
use of their weapons in the mock conflicts of peace, and, when the day
of danger came, showed themselves invincible.

The India bill broke down the Coalition ministry; it was the most
insolent experiment ever made on the constitution--a compound of
republican daring and despotic power. It would have made the king a
cipher, and parliament a slave. The exclusive patronage of India would
have enabled the minister to corrupt the legislature. The corruption of
the legislature would have made the minister irresponsible: the
constitution would thus have been inevitably suspended, and the national
liberties incapable of being restored except by a national convulsion.
But those evils were happily avoided by the manliness of the king and
the loyalty of the lords. The India bill was thrown out in the House of
Lords on the 17th of December. The king lost no time in giving effect to
this discomfiture. At the extraordinary hour of twelve o'clock on the
following night, an order was sent to the two secretaries of state,
North and Fox, that they should deliver up the seals by his majesty's
command; adding the contemptuous injunction, that they should send them
by the under-secretaries, the king not suffering a personal interview.

Pitt was placed at the head of the new administration as first lord of
the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. Thurlow was again made
lord chancellor, and Kenyon and Arden attorney and solicitor-generals.
In the debates on the India bill, one of Sheridan's pleasantries is
recorded. As Fox's majorities declined, it was hinted by his party that
John Robinson, the secretary of the treasury, was purchasing the votes.
On Sheridan's making the charge without naming the supposed culprit, a
great outcry arose in the House of "Name him, name him!" "Sir," said
Sheridan, addressing the Speaker, "I shall not name the person; it is an
invidious and unpleasant thing to do; but don't suppose that I could
find any difficulty in naming him: I could do it as soon as you could
say _Jack Robinson_."

Pitt having waited with consummate judgment, though against the advice
of all his supporters, until Fox had worn down his majorities in the
House, and totally disgusted the nation, dissolved the parliament. The
measure was triumphant; an unequaled Tory ma