texts now used to preclude him from practising as a barrister at Westminster, were employed, more than twenty years after, to prevent hint from continuing to sit as a senator in St.Stephen's chapel. The refusal to admit him to his gown, was a cruel and severe blow. Indeed it was struck at a vital part; and, I am persuaded, contributed not a little to sour and embitter the remaining portion of his life. While treating, at a latter period, of the article and interjection," he elucidates his remarks on Mr. Harris's mistake, by alluding to the conduct of the benchers of the Inner Temple: "who, having first enticed me to quit one profession," says he, "after many years of expectation, have very handsomely supplied its place to me by the negation of the other." But although Mr. Horne was thus lost to the bar, he was not lost to his country. The American war still raged with unabated violence, and the colonies had not only shaken off the yoke, and declared their independence, but invoked the assistance of the house of Bourbon. The court of Versailles, humbled by the peace of 1763, and wounded still more deeply by the effects of the antecedent war, seized this opportunity to avenge the national disgrace, and, in a short time after, was joined by both Spain and Holland. By rendering that contest unpopular, which he already deemed unjust, the subject of this memoir thought he would be able to shorten its duration, and avert its calamities. Accordingly, in 1780, in conjunction with the celebrated Dr. Price, he published a pamphlet, entitled, "Facts," addressed to the landholders, stockholders, merchants, &c. of Great Britain and Ireland *. It contains a keen and elaborate review of the principal acts of lord North's administration; and I am enabled to state, from a manuscript note, penned soon after an interview with the editor, that the whole of the second and eighth chapters, which relate chiefly to finance, with the exception of the note to page 111, were written by Dr. Richard Price. The following introduction, to the nation at large, will readily point ont its author:- "Fellow countrymen! "It was only by the death of one king, and the expulsion of another, by a long train of cruel civil wars, and a deluge of the best blood * It was printed for J. Johnson and J. Almon. The motto is, “Ubi dolor ibi digitus;" and the eighth edition of. this scarce tract is now before me, in consequence of the kindness of T. Holt White, esq. of Chase Lodge, near Enfield, Middlesex. in the country, that our ancestors could, at length, obtain from prerogative, that the judges (who only declare the law) should no longer bo under the corrupt influence and power of the crown. And, though costly, they thought the purchase wisely made. "What is now our struggle? "That those who make the laws shall no longer be prostituted to infamous and sordid gains; that the legislature itself may be rescued from temptations which flesh and blood cannot withstand. "The violence of prerogative diverted the streams of justice, and diverted the course of them from their natural and ordinary channels; yet, when the hand of violence was taken off, when the dam of prerogative was removed, the streams ran clear, and purer than before. But the corruption of parliament is not merely a turning of the course, it is a poisoning of the water at the fountain-head. "The integrity of parliament, it has been observed, is the key-stone that keeps the whole together. If this be shaken, our constitution totters if it be quite removed, our constitution falls into ruin. "Is it, then, only shaken ? "Is it not quite removed? "Have not three or four hundred mercenaries, in the two houses, already effected, against the property and liberties of this country, what ten times as many thousands, out of them, would have attempted in vain ? "Our ancestors have shut up, with all the bars and bolts of law, the principal entries through which prerogative could burst in upon us. It is ours to close the avenue of corruption, through which the influence of the crown now threatens our final ruin. "To direct your attention to the true source of all our evils, and to the only means of our salvation, it is thought proper to lay before you the three following motions*, accompanied with some notorious and incontestable FACTS, which admit neither of denial nor of palliation; and which, whilst they evidence the justice of our complaints, and the intolerable enormity of our grievances, do, at the same time, point out both the necessity and means of a thorough reformation." This work was originally written at the desire, 1. The motion of the duke of Richmond, in the house of lords, Dec. 7, 1779, for the reduction of the civil list. 2. The motion of the earl of Shelburne, Dec. 15, 1779, against extraordinaries; And, 3. of the earl of Shelburne, Feb. 8, 1780, for an exą, mination into the public expenditure. or, at least, with the privity and concurrence of the first marquis of Lansdowne, then carl of Shelburne, who had taken a decided part against the ministry, during this contest with that nobleman, Mr. Horne had lately renewed his intercourse, visiting frequently, and conversing with him. unreservedly, relative to all the occurrences of the times. But when the volume in question was finished and prepared for the press, his lordship suddenly altered his mind, and requested it might not be printed. The author, however, refused to comply; and these "Facts" soon attracted so much attention as to ensure a very rapid and extensive circulation. By exposing the errors, pointing out the impolicy, and anticipating the evils of the system then pursued, the writer contributed not a little to produce the desired effect, and, consequently, to hasten the fall of the premier of that day. But the spoils of the vanquished were reserved for others; and although the subject of this memoir had suffered in the common cause, yet he reaped none of the advantages resulting from the victory. No sooner did the American war draw towards a conclusion, than Mr. Horne determined to leave his rural residence, in the vicinity of Brenftord, in search of new scenes and em |