2

BURKE said, "Yes, there was a loss of friends; he knew the price of his conduct; he had done his duty at the price of his friend; their friendship was at an end. He had been told, that it was much better to defend the English constitution by praising its own excellence, than by abusing other constitutions, and certainly the task of praising was much more pleasant than that of abusing; but he contended, that the only fair way of arguing the merits of any constitution, was by comparing it with others; and he could not speak with propriety of the excellence of the English constitution, without comparing it with the deformity and injustice of the French, which was the shade that brought] its colours forward in the brightest point of view; and omitting to do it would be like presenting a picture without a shade. He should warn the right honorable gentlemen who were the great rivals in that House, that whether they should in future move in the political hemisphere as two flaming meteors, or walk together as brethren, that they should preserve and cherish the British constitution; that they should guard against innovation, and save it from the danger of these new theories." In a rapturous apostrophe to the infinite and unspeakable power of the Deity, who, with his arm, hurled a comet like a projectile out of its coursewho enabled it to endure the sun's heat, and the pitchy darkness of the chilly night; he said, that to the Deity must be left the task of infinite perfection, while to us, poor, weak, incapable mortals, there was no rule of conduct so safe as experience. He concluded with moving an amendment, that all the words of the motion, after "Dissertations on the French conftitution," should be omitted, and the following be inserted in their room; "tending to shew that examples might be drawn therefrom; and to prove that they are insufficient for any good

purposes,

purposes, and that they lead to anarchy and confusion, and are consequently unfit to be introduced into schemes. of government, are improper to be referred to on a motion for reading the Quebec bill paragraph by paragraph."

In the course of the preceding speech, Mr. BURKE having said, that Mr. Fox had of late years forborne that friendly intercourse with him, by visits, &c. which he had formerly preserved, the latter, in reply, said, that the omission complained of was purely accidental; that men, at different periods, fell into different habits; and without any intentional neglect, it frequently happened that they did not see their friends so often as they might havedone in preceding years; but at the same time, that their friendship was as warm and as sincere as ever.

Mr. BURKE, likewise, while in one of the parts of it," where he was reasoning with great warmth, checked himself, and addressing himself to the chair, said, "I am not mad, most noble FESTUS, but speak the words of truth and soberness."

Mr. Fox rose to reply, but his mind was so much agitated, and his heart so much affected by what had fallen from Mr. BURKE, that it was some minutes before he could proceed. Tears trickled down his cheeks, and he strove in vain to give utterance to feelings that dignified and exalted his nature. In justice to the House, it must be said, that the sensibility of every one present seemed to be uncommonly excited upon the occasion. Being at length recovered from the depression under which he had risen, Mr. Fox proceeded to answer the assertions which had caused it. He said, " however events might have altered the mind of his right honorable friend, for so he must call him, notwithstanding what had passed, because grating as it was to any man to be unkindly

treated

treated by those who were under obligations to him, it was still more grating and painful to be unkindly treated by those to whom they felt the greatest obligations, and whom, notwithstanding their harshness and severity, they found they must still love and esteem. He could not forget, that when a boy almost, he had been in the habit of receiving favors from his right honorable friend; that their frindship had grown with their years, and that it had continued for upwards of twenty-five years, for the laft twenty of which they had acted together, and lived on terms of the most familiar intimacy. He hoped, therefore, notwithstanding what had happened on that day, the right honorable gentleman would think on past times, and however any imprudent words or intemperance of his might have offended him, it would shew that it had not been at least intentionally his fault. The right honorable gentleman had said, and said truly, that they had differed formerly on many subjects, and yet it did not interrupt their friendship. Let the right honorable gentle. man speak fairly and say, whether they could not differ, without an interruption of their friendship, on the subject of the French revolution, as well as on any of their former subjects of difference. He enumerated severally what those differences of opinion had been, and appealed to his right honorable friend, whether their friendship had been interrupted on any one of these occasions. In particular, he said, on the subject of the French revolution, the right honorable gentleman well knew, that his sentiments differed widely from his own; he knew also, that as soon as his book on the subject was published, he condemned that book both in public and private, and every one of the doctrines it contained. Mr. Fox again explained, that Mr. BURKE'S conduct again appeared, as if it sprung from an intention to injure him; at least it produced

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produced the same effect, because the right honorable gentleman opposite to him had chosen to talk of republican principles, as principles which he wished to be introduced into the new constitution of Canada, whereas his principles were very far from republican in any degree. If, therefore, his right honorable friend had thought it necessary to state to the House his sentiments on the French revolution, he might have done it on any other occasion, with less injury to him, than on the Quebec bill, because his doing it then confirmed and gave weight to the misrepresentation of the right honorable gentleman opposite to him, and not only that, but put it out of his power to answer him properly. Besides he had, as every other man must have, a natural antipathy and dislike to being catechised as to his political principles. It was, he said, the first time that ever he had heard a philosopher state, that the way to do justice to the excellence of the British constitution was never to mention it without at the same time abusing every other constitution in the world. For his part, he had ever thought that the British constitution in theory was imperfect and defective, but that in practice it was excellently adapted to this country. He had often publicly said this. But because he admired the British constitution, was it to be concluded that there was no part of the constitution of other countries worth praising, or that the British constitution was not still capable of improvement? He therefore could neither consent to abuse every other constitution, nor to extol our own so extravagantly, as the right honorable gentleman seemed to think it merited. As a proof that it had not been thought quite perfect, let the two only reforms of it be recollected that had been attempted of late years; the reform relative to the representation in parliament of the right honourable gen

tleman opposite to him, and the reform in the civil list by his right honorable friend. Was it expected that he should declare the constitution would have been more perfect or better without either of those two reforms? To both had he given his support, because he approved both; and yet they were both tests, one to retrench the influence of the Crown, the other to enlarge the representation in that House; and would the right honorable gentleman say he was a bad man for having voted for both? He was, Mr. Fox said, an enemy to all tests whatever, as he had hitherto thought the right honorable gentleman was, and therefore he objected to every man's being expected to have his political principles put to the test, by his being obliged to abjure every other constitution but our own. Such a mode of approving one's zeal for the latter, reminded him of the man who signed the thirty-nine articles, and said he wished there were an hundred and thirty-nine more, that he might have signed them too, to prove his orthodoxy. Nothing but the ignominious terms which his right honorable friend had that day heaped upon him-[Mr. BURKE said loud enough to be heard, that he did not recollect that he had used any]." My right honorable friend," said Mr. Fox "does not recollect the epithets; they are out of his mind; then they are completely and for ever out of mine. I cannot cherish a recollection so painful, and, from this moment, they are obliterated and forgotten." Mr. Fox then pursued his argument, "and expressed his surprize that his right honorable friend had talked of the friends who sat near him as a phalanx, and as disciplined troops; if by that he meant that any improper influence had been exercised, or attempted to be exercised, on their minds, he disclaimed the idea; and indeed his right honourable friend best knew, so long as he had acted with