like a maniac. "What is to become of the country, plundered by
land, plundered by sea? Our rulers have laid hold on our lands,
our woods, our mines, our money. And all this is not enough. We
cannot send a cargo to the farthest ends of the earth, but they
must send a gang of thieves after it." Harley and Seymour tried
to carry a vote of censure without giving the House time to read
the papers. But the general feeling was strongly for a short
delay. At length, on the sixth of December, the subject was
considered in a committee of the whole House. Shower undertook to
prove that the letters patent to which Somers had put the Great
Seal were illegal. Cowper replied to him with immense applause,
and seems to have completely refuted him. Some of the Tory
orators had employed what was then a favourite claptrap. Very
great men, no doubt, were concerned in this business. But were
the Commons of England to stand in awe of great men? Would not
they have the spirit to censure corruption and oppression in the
highest places? Cowper answered finely that assuredly the House
ought not to be deterred from the discharge of any duty by the
fear of great men, but that fear was not the only base and evil
passion of which great men were the objects, and that the
flatterer who courted their favour was not a worse citizen than
the envious calumniator who took pleasure in bringing whatever
was eminent down to his own level. At length, after a debate
which lasted from midday till nine at night, and in which all the
leading members took part, the committee divided on the question
that the letters patent were dishonourable to the King,
inconsistent with the law of nations, contrary to the statutes of
the realm, and destructive of property and trade. The
Chancellor's enemies had felt confident of victory, and had made
the resolution so strong in order that it might be impossible for