give neither cockades nor post-chaises, his former voters, who were not of a description to sacrifice much to disinterested affection, deserted his cause, and the two first candidates were returned by very large majorities. The mob also, who were so outrageous in their demonstrations of regard for Sir Francis at the two former elections, not being paid at this one for making a riot, were peaceably disposed; and it was no longer dangerous to appear at Brentford in any colors but purple.

The Norfolk election did not afford a very striking proof of the popularity of ministers. Windham was brought in solely by the great influence of Mr. Coke,* assisted by all the exertions of government. Windham had, indeed, rendered himself so generally odious in the country, by his ungrateful conduct toward Pitt, and the incessant abuse and ridicule which he had lavished upon the volunteers, that it was with the utmost difficulty that even Mr. Coke's friends could be induced to vote for him.

His triumph, however, will be but short, as both Coke and himself will be turned out upon the Treating Act. All the candidates had agreed not to take advantage of that Act, and accordingly opened houses for their electors. But two ladies, friends of Wodehouse (Coke's and Windham's opponent), having appeared every day in a barouche

*Afterward created Earl of Leicester.

It would be absurd in any one not a young politician enthusiastically attached to Fox's rival, to talk of such a man as Mr. Windham as ungrateful to Mr. Pitt; but this statesman, though so celebrated for his attainments as a scholar and his wit and delivery as a speaker (the grandfather of the present Lord Lansdowne told me he was the most agreeable speaker he ever listened to), was so uncertain as a politician that each party alternately abused him, and in his own county he was never spoken of by the farmers without the nickname of "weathercock" being applied to him. He died June 3, 1810, in his sixtieth year.

and four at the hustings with his colors, the friends of Windham determined to drive them away, and accordingly put two women of the town in another barouche, decorated with the same ribbons, and drew them alongside the carriage of the ladies.

This unmanly insult so incensed those who were the objects of it, that they determined to be revenged. They consequently prevailed upon some of the electors to petition against the sitting members; and, as the fact of their having treated is notorious, there is no doubt of their being turned out.

With regard to the county of Hants, the old members were Sir William Heathcote and Mr. Chute, both for many years attached to the politics of Pitt. Neither, however, had at any time taken a violent part in public affairs. Sir William Heathcote, a quiet country gentleman naturally of a retired disposition, and married to a very penurious wife, lived like a recluse at Hursley; and Chute, a hospitable squire, preferred entertaining his neighbors at "The Vine" to mixing with much zeal in parliamentary disputes. The latter, however, had in the course of the last session voted three times in opposition to ministers: on the American Intercourse Bill, on the repeal of the Defense Bill, and on Windham's plans. This was an offense not easily to be forgiven; and it was determined to turn him out. Accordingly, in the month of September Lord Temple rode to Hursley, and said to Sir William Heathcote, that Mr. Chute having gone into a systematic opposition to ministers, it could not be expected that they should give him their assistance, but that as Sir William had not attended last session, if he would now declare himself favorably disposed toward government they would vote for him; but that if he and his friends intended to make a common cause with Chute, government must set up two candidates instead of one.

This communication Lord Temple gave to understand came from Lord Grenville. Had Sir William acted with becoming spirit, he would immediately have taken down what Lord Temple had said, desired him to read it, and then ordered the servant to show him the door. However, he answered, that with regard to himself, he never would pledge himself to support any administration, not even that of Pitt, were he alive; and that as to his friends, he must consult them before he could give any answer with regard to them. He then, when Lord Temple was gone, wrote down the substance of what had passed, and laid it before the County Club. The indignation excited by this attempt to dictate to the county members was universal; and it was immediately determined to support the two sitting members, and in them the freedom and independence of the county. Two candidates, however, were now set up by ministers, Mr. Herbert and Thistlewaite; the former, a clever young man, but third son of Lord Carnarvon, and in no way connected with the county; the latter, a very stupid but respectable young man, possessing considerable property near Portsmouth. Hereupon Sir William Heathcote, alarmed at the trouble and expense of a contest, declined standing, upon pretense that his age and infirmities would not allow him to attend Parliament any longer; and though Sir H. St. John Mildmay, after hesitating ten days, was prevailed on to stand in conjunction with Chute, the delay, however, produced by these arrangements gave the ministerial candidates a fortnight's start in their canvass, and this, and the great mass of voters in Portsmouth at the command of government, decided the fate of the contest.*

*This story is curiously illustrative of the manners of the times.

Jan. 20.

The new Parliament met a little before Christmas, but no business of any importance was transacted till the 2d of January, when the papers relative to the late negotiation with France, which had been laid before Parliament, were discussed in the House of Lords. Lord Grenville opened the debate by an excellent speech, in which he detailed the progress of the negotiation and the causes which led to its rupture. The speech appeared, however, more intended for Europe than the audience to which it was addressed, as it consisted chiefly in a labored defense of the rupture of the negotiation and a proof of the insincerity of the French government,-two subjects upon which, probably, not one of his auditors was likely to disagree with him. Lords Sidmouth and Lauderdale spoke on the same side with Lord Grenville. Lords Hawkesbury* and Eldon concurred in the address moved by Lord Grenville, but contended that the assertion made in the first paragraph of the declaration, that France had proposed to treat on the basis of the "uti possidetis," was not proved by the papers before the House, inasmuch as Talleyrand not only never admitted that basis during the whole negotiation, but in the first communication from him that can be considered as an overture, he distinctly made an offer to treat upon the basis of the stipulations of the Treaty of Amiens, which certainly is not the "uti possidetis" of the present day. Lord Grenville, in reply, contended that ministers were not called upon to prove that assertion by the papers in question; that they had proved by Lord Yarmouth's declaration in the House of Commons that Talleyrand had admitted verbally the basis of the

* Succeeded as Earl of Liverpool Dec. 17, 1808. Prime Minister June, 1812.

"uti possidetis;" that after Lord Yarmouth's return he was particularly instructed to insist upon a written admission to the same effect, and ordered not to produce his full powers till that writing was obtained. That, however, Lord Yarmouth thought proper, contrary to his instructions, to produce his powers before he had obtained this document, and that this was the reason it did not appear among the papers on the table. This statement Lord Yarmouth afterward denied in the House of Commons; and it does not appear that he was ever ordered to keep back his full powers till a written admission of the “uti possidetis" was given him; but the condition on which that production was to depend was the abandonment of a demand of Sicily, set up by the French government subsequent to the commencement of the negotiations.

About the end of last December died the Duke of Richmond. His death put four good appointments into the disposal of ministers. The command of the Blues, which was given to the Duke of Northumberland; that of the Sussex militia, given to Lord Chichester; and a Blue Ribbon and the lord-lieutenancy of Sussex, which were given to the Duke of Norfolk. To the last appointment great objections were made, on the ground that the man who was struck out of the Privy Council for disloyalty to his sovereign should not be made lord-lieutenant of the county the most likely to be invaded. Nor did the

duke get the Blue Ribbon, it being necessary in point of form that he should ask it of the king, a degradation in his opinion to which he would not submit.

Feb. 5.

This day Lord Grenville moved the second reading of the Slave Trade Abolition Bill, which was carried after a long debate by a large majority. The numbers were 100 contents, 36 non-contents; majority 64. The time fixed for the importation to cease was the 1st of January, 1808.