politics of Fox, and his direct recognition of the manly, rational, and English-minded system of the Minister. With no personal habits of prostration to urge him into a degrading alliance with power; stimulated by neither the passion for title, which turns so many proud men into slaves, nor the craving for wealth, which presents the covetous man a willing tool for any public baseness; Burke, reposing on the strength of a reputation, of which he must have been conscious, and contented with the rank, nobler than all adventitious title, which he had secured in the mind of his country, calmly waited his time.

We have hitherto followed his course through the obstacles of an obscure birth and a narrow fortune, to a high influence in the councils of the nation; his weapons and his ambition equally legitimate; no man less sacrificing the sense of right to the sense of expediency. He had seen the heights of popularity reached hourly at a spring, while he was climbing his way, sometimes dubiously, always slowly. Wilkes was chicaning his ascent to the summit, and Fox was storming it, while Burke was legitimately advancing by the broad road of great abilities exercised on great subjects, sustained by unexampled industry, and directed by native honour. But his political life had commenced under circumstances which still threw their shadow over his career; his early connexion with the Marquis of Rockingham had bound him to the whole heavy system of that most formal of Ministers. It had even done worse. Party is not buried in the grave

of a minister. It bound him to the fortunes of his successors; for, under ordinary circumstances, no man can abjure his party, untouched by the imputation of having broken his faith. Burke thus found himself suddenly transferred from the cold and decorous policy of his noble patron, to the passionate and hazardous system of Fox. It was matter of common knowledge, that the extravagances of that celebrated leader were altogether alien to the clear and temperate views of Burke; as it is now matter of history, that this incompatibility at length took the shape of open variance. When the question was no longer one of abstractions, but of the actual existence of England, Burke unhesitatingly cast off the bond, thenceforth devoting himself to a cause always congenial to his feelings, and alone worthy of his genius. Finally, leaving his assail ants to the forlorn task of struggling against truth, under the pretext of principle; and fighting against the security of England, under the mask of patriotism—he retrieved his fame, established himself in the highest place of national gratitude, and made his country the Kight and leader of Europe.

CHAPTER VIII.

Nabob of Arcot-Burke's Speech on India Affairs-Hyder AliHastings-Dupleix.

THE transaction which we have now reached in his career was among the penalties of the bond. The memorable India Bill had overthrown the Administration. In all cases of party failure, the first effort of the friends of the criminal is to transfer the blame; and while Fox, with the openness which belonged to his nature, acknowledged the project as his own, his adherents laboured to throw its whole weight on the head of Burke. The bill was undone; the party who were to have been borne on it into power, into more than power, into a complete and irreversible tyranny over the empire, had gone down with the wreck. But it was still to produce public and striking consequences. Burke, as a leader in all the councils of Opposition, had been largely consulted in the Indian details; and this knowledge, which had a peculiar charm for his vivid fancy, naturally led him into enquiries relative to the conduct of the chief public servants in Hindostan. Among those, the highest was hastily deemed the most guilty; and the result was the memorable impeachment of Warren Hastings.

A preliminary was the scarcely less memorable enquiry into the Nabob of Arcot's debts,—a topic which long engaged the attention of English statesmen, giving rise to a board of commissioners, whose duties occupied nearly half a century, and involving immense sums of money, and the characters of a large number of important individuals.

The Nabob of Arcot was placed on his throne, against the claims of an elder brother and other competitors, by the arms of the East India Company, about the year 1765. It was charged on him, that he subsequently attempted some seizures of neighbouring territory, and some interior arrangements of his own, incompatible with right, and his compact with the Company; that to accomplish those objects, he had intrigued with the chief servants of the Company, and that in the course of the traffic he had disbursed vast sums among the delinquent officials. It was considered as an evidence of some extraordinary proceedings, that this prince seemed to relinquish all personal interest in his dominions. He withdrew from his palaces and provinces, and settled in a comparatively obscure abode in the suburbs of Madras. There he remained for a succession of years, carrying on various complicated negotiations with the Company, thwarting the Government by means of its own officers, and purchasing immunities and territories in defiance of the principles alike of British faith and Indian tranquillity. It was alleged, that not merely secret moneys were distributed among the principal indivi

duals of the Government, but that the debts which the Nabob stated to be due to a whole host of creditors, were, in fact, bribes, amounting to some millions, and Parliament was called on to make enquiry into the right of the claimants, as British subjects, to require payment from a territory which was under British protection. Fox, in 1785, brought the topic before the House, on a motion" for copies and extracts of all letters and orders of the Court of Directors” on the subject. It was further alleged, that the Nabob of Arcot had sent troops into the dominions of the Rajah of Tanjore, pillaged the country, and imprisoned the prince, for the seizure of money sufficient to pay those demands. An outcry now arose through all circles connected with Indian affairs against the injustice of this course, and the Directors commenced an enquiry. The enquiry was again negatived by the Minister, who had formed other views of Indian government. But the debts were acknowledged, and a fund for their discharge was assigned from the revenues of the Carnatic. This detail is necessary for understanding Burke's speech. It was the last in the debate, and was worthy of concluding a competition between the great masters of parliamentary eloquence.

After some general remarks on the deficiency of enlarged views in the Ministry, and on the ability still residing in the House of Commons-" stripped as it then was of its brightest ornaments, and of its most important privileges," (so old is the language of political complaint), Burke proceeded to contrast the narrowQ

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