named to that office.

The way in which Gibbon acted and afterwards spoke in reference to the
celebrated Coalition gives perhaps the best measure of his political
calibre. He voted among the rank and file of Lord North's followers
for the Coalition with meek subserviency. He speaks of a "principle of
gratitude" which actuated him on this occasion. Lord North had given
him his seat, and if a man's conscience allows him to think rather of
his patron than of his country, there is nothing to be said, except
that his code of political ethics is low. We may admit that his vote
was pledged; but there is also no doubt that any gratitude that there
was in the matter was stimulated by a lively sense of favours to come.
The Portland ministry had not been long in office when he wrote in the
following terms to his friend Deyverdun: "You have not forgotten that
I went into Parliament without patriotism and without ambition, and
that all my views tended to the convenient and respectable place of a
lord of trade. This situation I at length obtained. I possessed it for
three years, from 1779 to 1782, and the net produce, which amounted to
750_l._ sterling, augmented my income to my wants and desires. But in
the spring of last year the storm burst over our heads. Lord North was
overthrown, your humble servant turned out, and even the Board of
Trade, of which I was a member, abolished and broken up for ever by
Mr. Burke's reform. To complete my misfortunes, I still remain a
member of the Lower House. At the end of the last Parliament, Mr.
Eliot withdrew his nomination. But the favour of Lord North
facilitated my re-election, and gratitude imposed on me the duty of
making available for his service the rights which I held in part from
him. That winter we fought under the allied standards of Lord North
and Mr. Fox: we triumphed over Lord Shelburne and the peace, and my
friend (_i.e._ Lord North) remounted his steed in the quality of a
secretary of state. Now he can easily say to me, 'It was a great deal
for me, it was nothing for you;' and in spite of the strongest
assurances, I have too much reason to allow me to have much faith.
With great genius and very respectable talents, he has now neither the
title nor the credit of prime minister; more active colleagues carry
off the most savoury morsels which their voracious creatures
immediately devour; our misfortunes and reforms have diminished the
number of favours; either through pride or th