Colonel Barré said the Inquisition itself did not seize papers for evidence. Opposition keeps Ministers in order, though many oppose from faction. About twenty officers had opposed the Court last year on the question of General Warrants! It was now said, all but one had repented--if they had, were such officers fit to be employed? He commended Lord Nuneham[53] and Lord Charles Spencer, who had resisted the connections and importunities of their families: and then said ironically, “When the two present honest Secretaries of State[54] die, the Court may choose one of the most profligate abandoned dogs in the kingdom to replace him.”--This was levelled at Lord Sandwich, who was sitting under the gallery. Barré then advised the Ministers to adopt the question without amending it--why would they do things too well? Such a man as Sandwich would write a panegyric on Nero. If this question was suffered to pass, it would make the King beloved and the Ministers less hated. General Howard,[55] in answer to the attack above, said, he remained of the same opinion as last year, and had never paid court nor asked pardon. Lord North defended his uncle Halifax, on whom he thought Barré had bestowed the epithet of _little-minded_. Barré said he had applied it to the Administration in general. He was glad to see Mr. Grenville with all his friends about him. It had been said in a foregoing debate that he had carried the whole Administration home in his chariot. He liked Lord North’s panegyric on one of the Secretaries--if anybody had a mind to make a panegyric on the other, he was welcome. Conway again declared his surprise that they would load such a question with so many words. Why not pass it simply, or put a negative? Was there ever an instance of such a preface with new matter? On the Star Chamber and other grievances each resolution stood single. Lord Halifax might be in the right, but had caused delay. All that we have valuable stands on resolutions.