Dr. Hay then moved to discharge the complaint; but Pitt, roused by this swell of his party, and feeling the weight of so large a minority, poured forth one of his finest rhapsodies on liberty, though at that late hour, and after the fatigue of so long an attendance and attention: and he severely reprimanded Wood’s insolence, telling him that, if he would not accept excuse, he deserved censure. Grenville asked why these persons were blamed, and not all their predecessors?[433] Pitt, still rising in fire and importance, took the whole debate on himself, asking what he had done, but in a war which he was called upon to invigorate? He had never turned out officers; he had sought for merit in those who _now_ held precarious commissions, not by military service. They had not only saved their country, but him who had been undone if they had not saved their country. Grenville, not losing courage on this turn of fortune, replied ably and finely. He knew, he said, the nation was left on the brink of ruin.[434] The Ministers had had enough to do without hunting in alleys for libels. He then painted faction, first setting England against Scotland; then reviving party names, and drawing the line between the Parliament and people. Look! said he, look at Wilkes’s letters, where he talks of _rare combustibles_! _Colonel_[435] Barré, rising to speak, and being pointed to by the Speaker under that military appellation, thanked him, but said he had no right to that title; yet it gave him occasion to ask why he had been dismissed? what had his Majesty done on his accession? He looked out if any man had been whispered out of the service, and did him ample justice. (This alluded to Sir Henry Erskine, dismissed in the late reign, and restored to his rank by the present King; a speaking instance against the change of measures since adopted.) Himself, he said, was of no consequence, but let Ministers take care how they deprived the Crown of other faithful servants at the end of a glorious war. Non de vectigalibus agitur, sed de animâ nostra res agitur. Precedents did not justify: Charles the First had acted on precedents. Onslow congratulated Grenville ironically on having never given one vote for the last ruinous war, which he now so much condemned. And they, said he, who are for acquitting these gentlemen, ought to remember who insisted on having their two names inserted, when Sir George Saville and Sir W. Meredith would have omitted them. In fact, the Ministers had got the names inserted with the view of having them cleared by a vote of the House.