A History of England, Period III. Constitutional MonarchyBright, J. Franck (James Franck)
History
A History of England, Period III. Constitutional Monarchy
Bright, J. Franck (James Franck)
Great Britain -- History
In spite of this victory the popular party in the City was losing
ground, and Wilkes was not the name of power it once had been; while
within the walls of Parliament the ministry was constantly acquiring
strength and the Opposition becoming more and more broken up. Grafton
had again consented to return to office; Lord Sandwich, a follower of
the Duke of Bedford, accepted the Admiralty. Lord Suffolk, the leader of
what was left of Grenville's party, became Secretary of State. The
Opposition was thus reduced to the party of Rockingham and such few
followers as consistently clung to Lord Chatham, but these two sections
could never work well together, and the three Whig propositions of the
year were all lost by want of union. The want of harmony between the
Parliament and the country, and the consequent need of some reform, had
been shown by the late quarrels in the City. Chatham brought in a Bill
with that object, embodying his old plan of increased county
representation. This, as it seemed the only manner of securing an
addition of independent members, and as there was not yet in existence
an important manufacturing and industrial element unrepresented, was
probably the best measure that could have been taken. But it did not
find favour with the Rockingham party, and was put aside. The same fate
attended an effort on the part of the Rockingham party to define the law
of libel, and to give the jury in such cases the right of settling not
only the fact of publication, but the character of the libel. Chatham
thought that measure should have been left for him, and a ridiculous
struggle between the two Whig sections in the House was the result. On
the third question, the dissolution of the present Parliament, which had
been the favourite object of all the City opposition and addresses,
Chatham found himself almost alone. While thus all effective opposition
disappeared, Lord North found his chief parliamentary support in his law
officers. Thurlow, his Attorney-General, and Wedderburn, his Solicitor,
afterwards Lord Loughborough, brought--the one the weight of great legal
knowledge, very strong sense, a wonderful power of invective, and a
determination of character almost brutal; the other a time-serving
readiness and facile elegant eloquence which was always at the service
of his chief.
[Sidenote: Royal Marriage Law. 1772.]
[Sidenote: Fate of the Queen of Denmark.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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