Note 10 — Chapter XVII · “THE OUTCRY AGAINST ME IS LOUDER THAN EVER.”

Mr. Madocks had brought forward distinct charges of corruption against these two ministers, but the House negatived his motion for inquiry. This case of “stifling” was one of the most bare-faced of even that dark age, the debate going off on the dangers of Parliamentary reform, and the “blessings we derive from the present order of things.” One thing is certain, that not a soul in that House doubted Madocks’s case. The “factious” minority numbered eighty-five, of whom Sir Samuel Romilly was one. He thought it impolitic of the ministry, on their own account, to try and screen themselves, and justly concluded that the debate and decision would powerfully act upon the cause of Reform. (Vide his “Life,” ii. 116.)