[6] Newspaper intelligence ought always to be received with some degree of caution.  I do not know that the following paragraph is founded on any authority; but it comes with an air of authority.  The paper is professedly in the interest of the modern Whigs, and under their direction.  The paragraph is not disclaimed on their part.  It professes to be the decision of those whom its author calls “the great and firm body of the Whigs of England.”  Who are the Whigs of a different composition, which the promulgator of the sentence considers as composed of fleeting and unsettled particles, I know not, nor whether there be any of that description.  The definitive sentence of “the great and firm body of the Whigs of England” (as this paper gives it out) is as follows:—­

“The great and firm body of the Whigs of England, true to their principles, have decided on the dispute between Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke; and the former is declared to have maintained the pure doctrines by which they are bound together, and upon which they have invariably acted.  The consequence is, that Mr. Burke retires from Parliament.”—­Morning Chronicle, May 12, 1791.

[7] Reflections, &c., 1st ed., London, J. Dodsley, 1790.—­Works, Vol.  III. p. 343, in the present edition.

[8] To explain this, it will be necessary to advert to a paragraph which appeared in a paper in the minority interest some time before this debate.  “A very dark intrigue has lately been discovered, the authors of which are well known to us; but until the glorious day shall come when it will not be a LIBEL to tell the TRUTH, we must not be so regardless of our own safety as to publish their names.  We will, however, state the fact, leaving it to the ingenuity of our readers to discover what we dare not publish.

“Since the business of the armament against Russia has been under discussion, a great personage has been heard to say, ’that he was not so wedded to Mr. PITT as not to be very willing to give his confidence to Mr. FOX, if the latter should be able, in a crisis like the present, to conduct the government of the country with greater advantage to the public.’

“This patriotic declaration immediately alarmed the swarm of courtly insects that live only in the sunshine of ministerial favor.  It was thought to be the forerunner of the dismission of Mr. Pitt, and every engine was set at work for the purpose of preventing such an event.  The principal engine employed on this occasion was CALUMNY.  It was whispered in the ear of a great personage, that Mr. Fox was the last man in England to be trusted by a KING, because he was by PRINCIPLE a REPUBLICAN, and consequently an enemy to MONARCHY.

“In the discussion of the Quebec Bill which stood for yesterday, it was the intention of some persons to connect with this subject the French Revolution, in hopes that Mr. Fox would be warmed by a collision with Mr. Burke, and induced to defend that Revolution, in which so much power was taken from, and so little left in the crown.