such a promise ought to have been more than literally fulfilled.
If his Parliament, overwhelmed with business which could not be
postponed without danger to his throne and to his person, had
been forced to defer, year after year, the consideration of so
large and complex a question as that of the Irish forfeitures, it
ill became him to take advantage of such a laches with the
eagerness of a shrewd attorney. Many persons, therefore, who were
sincerely attached to his government, and who on principle
disapproved of resumptions, thought the case of these forfeitures
an exception to the general rule.

The Commons had at the close of the last session tacked to the
Land Tax Bill a clause impowering seven Commissioners, who were
designated by name, to take account of the Irish forfeitures; and
the Lords and the King, afraid of losing the Land Tax Bill, had
reluctantly consented to this clause. During the recess, the
commissioners had visited Ireland. They had since returned to
England. Their report was soon laid before both Houses. By the
Tories, and by their allies the republicans, it was eagerly
hailed. It had, indeed, been framed for the express purpose of
flattering and of inflaming them. Three of the commissioners had
strongly objected to some passages as indecorous, and even
calumnious; but the other four had overruled every objection. Of
the four the chief was Trenchard. He was by calling a
pamphleteer, and seems not to have been aware that the sharpness
of style and of temper which may be tolerated in a pamphlet is
inexcusable in a state paper. He was certain that he should be
protected and rewarded by the party to which he owed his
appointment, and was delighted to have it in his power to
publish, with perfect security and with a semblance of official