ran by's
places of the ordnance and commander-in-chief were left vacant for
the present, and the great seal was left in commission, with the
commissioners already named.

DEBATES ON THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION, ETC.

Lord North, with whose administration commences a momentous era in the
annals of Great Britain, was eldest son to the Earl of Guildford. In
private life he was one of the most amiable and worthy of men, and he
was a man of elegant acquirements. In public life, also, he was scarcely
less honoured. Brought up amidst official duties, and aiming constantly
at legislatorial distinction, he had acquired eminent skill in managing
a debate, while his good humour and equanimity of temper secured to him
a greater share of esteem and affection than was perhaps ever possessed
by any other minister. Yet his estimable qualities and his political
skill had not sufficient potency to disarm opposition. In the very
outset of his administration, indeed, the opposition made him feel
that he had not taken possession of a bed of roses; or, at least, roses
without thorns. The principal object of the late debates in the house
of lords was to procure a vote in favour of the Middlesex electors: with
the same end in view, Mr. Dowdeswell now moved another resolution in the
commons; namely, "That by the law of the land, and the law and usage of
parliament, no person eligible of common right can be incapacitated by a
resolution of the house, but by an express act of parliament only." This
undeniable proposition placed ministers in a dilemma, for it was only
a prelude to others, and if they agreed to it and rejected those that
followed, they would seem to resist conclusions from premises they had
themselves conceded; while if they rejected it, it would appear as if
the house of commons was a capricious court; a court neither bound by
law nor by the usages of parliament. The debate on the question was one
of great violence; and in the course of it, Colonel Barre compared
the state to a vessel in a storm which had parted with her mainmast
(Grafton,) and was trying to sail under a jury-mast (North). The new
premier acknowledged that the storm was great, but asserted that the
ship was not compelled to hang out lights for pilots, as her own crew
were capable of conducting her safely into port. And so it proved. North
avoided the snare laid for him by moving as an amendment, "That the
judgment of the house on the Middlesex election is confor