s French scheme, he thought proper to take a step beyond
every expectation, and which demonstrated his wonderful eagerness and
perseverance in his cause, as well as the nature and true character of
the cause itself. This step was taken by Mr. Fox immediately after his
giving his assent to the grant of supply voted to him by Mr. Serjeant
Adair and a committee of gentlemen who assumed to themselves to act in
the name of the public. In the instrument of his acceptance of this
grant, Mr. Fox took occasion to assure them that he would always
persevere _in the same conduct_ which had procured to him so honorable a
mark of the public approbation. He was as good as his word.

25. It was not long before an opportunity was found, or made, for
proving the sincerity of his professions, and demonstrating his
gratitude to those who had given public and unequivocal marks of their
approbation of his late conduct. One of the most virulent of the Jacobin
faction, Mr. Gurney, a banker at Norwich, had all along distinguished
himself by his French politics. By the means of this gentleman, and of
his associates of the same description, one of the most insidious and
dangerous handbills that ever was seen had been circulated at Norwich
against the war, drawn up in an hypocritical tone of compassion for the
poor. This address to the populace of Norwich was to play in concert
with an address to Mr. Fox; it was signed by Mr. Gurney and the higher
part of the French fraternity in that town. In this paper Mr. Fox is
applauded for his conduct throughout the session, and requested, before
the prorogation, to make a motion for an immediate peace with France.

26. Mr. Fox did not revoke to this suit: he readily and thankfully
undertook the task assigned to him. Not content, however, with merely
falling in with their wishes, he proposed a task on his part to the
gentlemen of Norwich, which was, _that they should move the people
without doors to petition against the war_. He said, that, without such
assistance, little good could be expected from anything he might attempt
within the walls of the House of Commons. In the mean time, to animate
his Norwich friends in their endeavors to besiege Parliament, he
snatched the first opportunity to give notice of a motion which he very
soon after made, namely, to address the crown to make peace with France.
The address was so worded as to cooeperate with the handbill in bringing
forward matter calculated to inflame