office in the State before he had reached his twenty-fourth birthday.

After Pitt's refusal there was nothing left for the King but to accept the advice of the Coalition. The Duke of Portland, appointed Prime Minister, was a mere tool in the hands of Lord North and Fox, the two Secretaries of State. The alliance, of which Pitt had forbidden the banns, was thus formed, and the history of English politics cannot show a more discreditable episode. Nor did the alliance turn out to the profit of the newly-cemented friendship. politics, as in other professions, dishonesty is generally fitted with the punishment it deserves, and the conduct of Fox and North was too flagrant for palliation. North made the best of a bad job, and confessed that while Fox had proved a formidable enemy he had an implicit trust in his loyalty.

In

In defence of Fox there is nothing to say. He had for years attacked his new colleague with all his brilliant talent for vituperation. He had prayed that the Ministers should hear of the calamities of the American War at the tribunal of justice and expiate them on the public scaffold. A brief year before he entered into an unholy alliance with North, he had declared that if he made terms with any of the Ministers he would rest satisfied to be called the most infamous of men. "He would not for an instant," said he with rotund voice and ample gesture, "think of a coalition with men who, in every public and private transaction as Ministers, had showed themselves void of any principle of honour and honesty. In the hands of such men he would not trust his honour for a minute."

A

year had passed, and he had played the confidence trick. He had trusted his honour to Lord North and taken Lord North's in exchange; and, as far as honour went, neither had gained or lost by the bargain. But the alliance was the political ruin of both. From this moment Fox's marvellous popularity began to decline. The people could not believe in the patriotism of one who turned an enemy into a friend, not for the salvation of the country, but for the mere sake of a capricious ambition. Henceforth it was idle for him to prate of liberty or to vaunt the economy which he did not practise. He had lost the confidence of the people, and he never regained it. Pitt summed up his offence in four lines. "Because," said he, "Mr Fox is prevented from prosecuting the noble lord in the blue ribbon to the satisfac

tion of public justice, he will heartily embrace him as his friend."

It pro

The Coalition, confident in its strength if not in its union, at once determined upon a bold measure. It risked its life upon the hazard of a bill, which was to settle once and for always the affairs of India. Drafted by Burke, introduced with masterly eloquence by Fox, it possessed all the qualities promised by its parentage. It was bold, it was original, it was far-reaching. posed, in defiance of all charters, to place the control of India in the hands of an irresponsible commission, which was to hold office for four years and was to be independent of changing Ministers or parliamentary dissolutions. At the first introduction of the bill the commissioners were not named, but from the outset there was no doubt that they would be one and

existing

all the sworn supporters of the Secre

tary of State.

bill was twofold.

The objection to the

In the first place,

it demolished the charters, which had been granted to the Company, without apology or compensation; for the whole House did not answer the AttorneyGeneral's famous question as he would have it answered. "What is a charter?" he asked, and replied himself, "Only a skin of parchment with a seal of wax dangling at one end of it." In the second place, it secured to Mr Fox and his friends an amount of patronage which was a serious danger to the State. No wonder Pitt, in writing to the Duke of Rutland, described it as the boldest and most unconstitutional measure ever attempted. No wonder Lord Thurlow declared that if the bill was passed it would no longer be worthy of a man of honour to wear the crown. "The