Let it be remembered then, in the first place, that there was no other connexion, sufficiently unquestionable in their sincerity, and of sufficient weight in the senate, with which to form a coalition.  The Bedford party, had they even been willing to have taken this step in conjunction with the friends of lord Rockingham, were already stripped of some of their principal and ablest members, by the arts of lord Shelburne.  Whether these ought to be considered in sound reason, as more or less obnoxious than lord North, I will not take upon me to determine.  Certain I am, that the Scottish connexion were, of all others, the most suspicious in themselves, and the most odious to the people.  The only choice then that remained, was that which was made.  The only subject for deliberation, was, whether this choice were more or less laudable than, on the other hand, the deserting entirely the interests of their country, and leaving the vessel of the state to the mercy of the winds.

Secondly, I would observe that the principal ground of dispute between lord North and his present colleagues in administration, was done away by the termination of the American war.  An impeachment of the noble lord for his past errors was perfectly out of the question.  No one was mad enough to expect it.  A vein of public spirit, diffusing itself among all ranks of society, is the indispensible concomitant of impeachments and attainder.  And such a temper, I apprehend, will not be suspected to be characteristic of the age in which we live.  But were it otherwise, the Rockingham connexion certainly never stood in the way of an impeachment, had it been meditated.  And, exclusive of this question, I know of no objection, that applies particular to the noble lord, in contradistinction to any of the other parties into which we are divided.

But, in the third place, the terms upon which the coalition was made, form a most important article of consideration in estimating its merits.  They are generally understood to have been these two; that the Rockingham connexion should at all times have a majority in the cabinet; and that lord North should be removed to that “hospital of incurables,” as lord Chesterfield has stiled it, the house of lords.  Surely these articles are the happiest that could have been conceived for preserving the power of administration, as much as may be, with the friends of the people.  Places, merely of emolument and magnificence, must be bestowed somewhere.  Where then can they be more properly lodged, than in the hands of those who are best able to support a liberal and virtuous administration?