survive the contest. Since that period Mr. Pitt has enjoyed the
confidence of the crown, and of the Lords, and _of the House of
Commons_, through two successive Parliaments; and I suspect that he has
ever since, and that he does still, enjoy as large a portion, at least,
of the confidence of the people without doors as his great rival. Before
whom, then, is Mr. Pitt to be impeached, and by whom? The more I
consider the matter, the more firmly I am convinced that the idea of
proscribing Mr. Pitt _indirectly_, when you cannot _directly punish_
him, is as chimerical a project, and as unjustifiable, as it would be to
have proscribed Lord North. For supposing that by indirect ways of
opposition, by opposition upon measures which do not relate to the
business of 1784, but which on other grounds might prove unpopular, you
were to drive him from his seat, this would be no example whatever of
punishment for the matters we charge as offences in 1784. On a cool and
dispassionate view of the affairs of this time and country, it appears
obvious to me that one or the other of those two great men, that is, Mr.
Pitt or Mr. Fox, must be minister. They are, I am sorry for it,
irreconcilable. Mr. Fox's conduct _in this session_ has rendered the
idea of his power a matter of serious alarm to many people who were very
little pleased with the proceedings of Mr. Pitt in the beginning of his
administration. They like neither the conduct of Mr. Pitt in 1784, nor
that of Mr. Fox in 1793; but they estimate which of the evils is most
pressing at the time, and what is likely to be the consequence of a
change. If Mr. Fox be wedded, they must be sensible that his opinions
and principles on the now existing state of things at home and abroad
must be taken as his portion. In his train must also be taken the whole
body of gentlemen who are pledged to him and to each other, and to their
common politics and principles. I believe no king of Great Britain ever
will adopt, for his confidential servants, that body of gentlemen,
holding that body of principles. Even if the present king or his