At the close of the same month Lord Beauchamp obtained leave to bring in a bill to remedy certain inconveniences arising from the act to prevent clandestine marriages. It appeared, that by some recent decisions in Westminster Hall, marriages celebrated in consequence of the publication of banns in chapels which were not in being at the time when the marriage act was passed, were declared to be invalid. This doctrine of the Court of King's Bench had the alarming effect of bastardizing thousands, and of bringing ruin upon numerous families of the greatest respectability. The necessity, therefore, of applying a remedy immediately was obvious, and generally admitted, so that his lordship met with no difficulty in passing his bill for legalizing all marriages that had been celebrated in the manner already mentioned. This question naturally brought the whole marriage act under review; and as the sense of the house appeared to be decidedly in favour of a still further purgation of it, Mr. Fox lost no time in bringing forward a bill for that purpose. On its second reading, he painted the act in the most odious colours; as a direct violation of the laws of God and nature; as an act of despotism, to which the powers of parliament could not constitutionally extend; as a source of depopulation and immorality; inefficacious as to the selfish, contracted benefit meant to be derived from it, but ruinous to the happiness of those who were the strength of every country, and whom every legislature should protect---the lower orders of the community. The act was founded, he said, on the most sordid and narrow principles of a few noble families, who, to gratify their avarice, pride, or ambition, formed restrictions oppressive to the people. But, after all, they had been disappointed; for whoever -could pay the expense of a post-chaise to Scotland, laughed at the provisions of the marriage act; while the poor, unable to avail themselves of that evasion, were either rendered miserable by the restraint put upon their inclinations, or plunged into the abyss of

vice by the illegal gratification of them. Mr. Fox reprobated the idea of establishing an unnatural authority in the parent, merely because his reason and experience rendered him superior to those under his government; for this was the universal plea of despotism, public as well as private: thus every system of tyranny was defended, by urging, that it was better for the ignorant to be governed by the wise, than to be allowed the privilege of governing themselves.

In the course of his speech, Mr. Fox quoted a passage from the maxims of Swift, which turned upon this principle-that there are two passions in the human heart, designed by nature to be stronger than reason :---" the love of life, and the mutual desire subsisting between the sexes." That these should not be circumscribed by prudence, he contended, was absolutely necessary for the preservation of the species; and consequently, that to restrain them by human laws was counteracting and virtually repealing to the law of Heaven. Population, he observed, never proceeded from reason, but from passion; for, was a computation to be always made by prudence of the profit and loss resulting from marriage, as the rule of our choice, few matches would ever be made; but it was the triumph of passion to subdue every prudential feeling; and in consequence the wisest men are often found, in matrimonial affairs, to set reason out of the question. Mr. Fox then divided his objections against the act into two parts; one relative to the age limited therein as years of discretion, which he thought far too late in life; and the other respecting the penalty annexed to informal marriages, that of declaring them null; a principle against which he chiefly protested, as being one of the most inhuman that ever could have entered into the ima gination of any man.

It must be admitted that there was much force in the objections urged against the marriage act ont his occasion; but, on the other

hand, it is equally certain that the passions of the eloquent mover of the bill carried him too far into the wilds of theory and parodox. He produced some strong facts to shew the oppressive nature of the act; and with these he should have been contented; but when he launched out into a declamation against all legislative restraints in matrimonial engagements, and left nothing to protect parental rights, he gave an encouragement to licentiousness, and opened facilities to greater abuses than those which he wished to correct. It reflects honour upon Mr. Sheridan, that, having discerned the fallacy of what had fallen from his friend in the course of his declamation, he endeavoured to bring him back into a train of serious consideration, by reasoning gravely upon the subject. In his reply, he said, that Mr. Fox appeared not to be aware that if he carried the clause enabling girls to marry at the age of sixteen, he would do an injury to that liberty of which he had always shewn himself the zealous friend; and would, in effect, promote that domestic tyranny which he justly reprobated as little less intolerable than public despotism. If girls were allowed to marry at sixteen, they would, he contended, be abridged of that happy freedom of intercourse which modern custom had introduced between the youth of both sexes, and which was, in his opinion, the best nursery of happy marriages. Guardians would, in that case, look on their wards with a suspicious, eye, from a fear that footmen, and those about their persons, might take an advantage of their tender years and immature judgment, to persuade them into a marriage as soon as they should attain the age of sixteen. In like manner, observed Mr. Sheridan, young men, when mere boys, in a moment of passion or intoxication, might be prevailed upon to form the most imprudent connexions, by marrying even common prostitutes. He, at the same time, was very ready to admit that the marriage act contained some absurd clauses, which

required expurgation; but he could not agree that the whole of the act itself was so impolitic and productive of mischief as to stand in need of a total repeal.

This manly opposition to a favourite measure evidently took Mr. Fox by surprise, and considerably hurt his feelings at the moment; for, in his reply, he let fall some expressions which manifested resentment; but though he affected to treat the observations that had been made by Sheridan with contempt, it was clear enough that they had involved him in some perplexity. He reprobated the style of reasoning upon which the argument of his honourable friend was built, and said, that he should not have thought it worth his while to say a word in refutation of it, had the objection come from a less respectable quarter. Mr. Fox then attempted to shew that what Mr. Sheridan had advanced was equally favourable to public tyranny and private despotism; insinuating, at the same time, some doubts of his sincerity, by paying this compliment to his ingenuity, that he could contrive to give an argument what

turn he pleased."

It is remarkable that when Mr. Fox moved his clause, that girls should be marriageable without the consent of parents or guardians at the age of sixteen, he expressed it as his opinion that: the period should be still lower, though for the safety of his bill he had adopted the one which he now proposed. The resistance of Mr. Sheridan to this preposterous and dangerous clause did equal honour to his penetration and independency; and it must be admitted, by every dispassionate reasoner, that his objection was grounded upon the solid basis of political wisdom and experience. But though Fox was obviously piqued at the unexpected opposition which he met with, he entertained no resentment; and his friendship for Sheridan continued unshaken, notwithstanding the little bickering that passed between them on this occasion.

CHAPTER VII.

Decline of Lord North.-Activity of Mr. Sheridan and his Friends in harassing the falling Minister.—Change in Administration.—Mr. Sheridan Under Secretary of State.-His Opposition to a Motion respecting Ireland.-Another Change of Ministers.—Mr. Sheridan accused of a Breach of Confidence.— Commencement of Hostilities against Mr. Pitt.—Diamond cut Diamond.

AT the beginning of 1782 the aspect of public affairs gave general discontent, and as it seemed impossible to continue the war much longer, many of those who had supported government with great zeal and firmness began to find excuses for a change of conduct. Thus the ranks of opposition increased daily, and the number of neutrals plainly indicated that the fall of the minister could not be much longer prevented. On the twenty-second of February, General Conway moved an address to His Majesty for a discontinuance of hostilities with America; which motion, after a warm debate, was lost by a single vote. This, however, was justly, considered as an effectual triumph; and on the twenty-seventh of the same month, the general renewed his motion, under the form of a resolution, that the further continuance of an offensive war in America, for the purpose of subduing by force the revolted colonies, is totally impracticable."

This motion was contested with great spirit, but much to the disadvantage of administration; and Sir William Dolbin, member for the University of Oxford, who had voted with General Conway on the former occasion, having now declared his intention to vote against him, raised a prodigious clamour, no less than four orators