are some of the princes here named ranked in the catalogue of excellent sovereigns? Are they venerated as the parents or despised as the betrayers of their people, and is there no instance upon record which suits the present occasion but instances from the reign of the Stuarts? My lords, since examples from history are to be quoted let me tell you of one that does honour to the English name, and reflects new lustre upon the hero of the Revolution. Let me tell you of the Kentish Petition, in compliance with which William III. dissolved the Parliament, to let the nation see he had no double game to play, and to shew that as he had no interest separate from the interest of his subjects, all parliaments were alike acceptable to him that were agreeable to the wishes of the Kingdom.[1] Here is a precedent for royalty, if precedents must be talked of in opposition to common sense; and happy would it be for this country, if it was carefully attended to by our silent Ministers! When I first came into administration, a new tax happened to be agitated, and I was called upon to defend it. My silence was considered as incapacity, and some at this moment wilfully dumb, triumphed not a little because I made no reply. In my turn, therefore, I call upon them to say something in their own favour, something that may savour of modesty, though it does not relish of wisdom; that the world may at least suppose they think themselves in the right, however much their conduct may prove them indefensible. What! still silent? Let them still continue so—I see upon what they depend—but let them take care. National resentment, though slow, is dreadful; and the public is a wolf, which if it does not even bite, will certainly worry a profligate ministry into justice. A noble lord, who spoke just now, harped upon an expression dropt by a noble Earl, relative to secret influence, and seemed to call for an explanation of that phrase. I will explain it to that noble lord.[2] That secret influence is exercised by the measures adopted by a set of men who,
