LETTER VIII.
TO THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.
MY LORD,
BEFORE you were placed at the head of affairs, it had been a maxim of the English government, not unwillingly admitted by the people, that every un-gracious or severe exertion of the prerogative should be placed to the account of the minister; but that, whenever an act of grace or benevolence was to be performed, the whole merit of it should be attributed to the sovereign himself[1]. It was a wise doctrine, my lord, and equally advantageous to the King and his subjects; for while it preserved that suspicious attention, with which the people ought always to examine the conduct of ministers, it tended at the same time rather to increase than diminish their attachment to the person of their Sovereign. If there be not a fatality attending every measure you are concerned in, by what treachery,
- ↑ Les rois ne fe font reservé que les graces. Ils Renvoient les condamnations vers leurs officiers. Montelsquieu.
