Such, my lord, was one of your immediate ancestors, whose name, to this day, every honest Briton repeats with veneration.  I will turn to another person, still more nearly related to you, and who will make an equal figure in the history of the age in which he lived, Mr. George Grenville.  His character has been represented to us by a writer of no mean discernment, as that of “shrewd and inflexible.”  He was a man of indefatigable industry and application.  He possessed a sound understanding, and he trusted it.  This is a respectable description.  Integrity and independency, however mistaken, are entitled to praise.  What was it, my lord, that he considered as the ruin of his reputation?  What was it, that defeated all the views of an honest ambition, and deprived his country of the services, which his abilities, under proper direction, were qualified to render it?  My lord, it was secret influence.  It was in vain for ministers to be able to construct their plans with the highest wisdom, and the most unwearied diligence; it was in vain that they came forward like men, and risqued their places, their characters, their all, upon measures, however arduous, that they thought necessary for the salvation of their country.  They were defeated, by what, my lord?  By abilities greater than their own?  By a penetration that discovered blots in their wisest measures?  By an opposition bold and adventurous as themselves?  No:  but, by the lords of the bedchamber; by a “band of Janissaries who surrounded the person of the prince, and were ready to strangle the minister upon the nod of a moment.”

With these illustrious examples ever rushing upon your memory, no man can doubt that your lordship has inherited that detestation of influence by which your ancestors were so honourably distinguished.  My lord, having considered the high expectations, which the virtues of your immediate progenitors had taught us to form upon the heir of them both, we will recollect for a moment the promises that your first outset in life had made to your country.

One of your lordship’s first actions upon record, consists in the high professions you made at the county meeting of Buckingham, in that ever-venerable aera of oeconomy and reform, the spring of 1780.  My lord, there are certain offices of sinecure, not dependent upon the caprice of a minister, which this country has reserved to reward those illustrious statesmen, who have spent their lives, and worn out their constitutions in her service.  No man will wonder, when he recollects from whom your lordship has the honour to be descended, that one of these offices is in your possession.  This, my lord, was the subject of your generous and disinterested professions.  You told your countrymen, that with this office you were ready to part.  If a reformation so extensive were thought necessary, you were determined, not merely to be no obstacle to the design, but to be a volunteer in the service.  You came forward in the eye of the world, with your patent in your hand.  You were ready to sacrifice that parchment, the precious instrument of personal wealth and private benevolence, at the shrine of patriotism.