opinion of their country, and not by their obsequiousness to a
favourite. Such men will serve their Sovereign with affection and
fidelity; because his choice of them, upon such principles, is a
compliment to their virtue. They will be able to serve him
effectually; because they will add the weight of the country to the
force of the executory power. They will be able to serve their King
with dignity; because they will never abuse his name to the
gratification of their private spleen or avarice. This, with
allowances for human frailty, may probably be the general character
of a Ministry, which thinks itself accountable to the House of
Commons, when the House of Commons thinks itself accountable to its
constituents. If other ideas should prevail, things must remain in
their present confusion, until they are hurried into all the rage of
civil violence; or until they sink into the dead repose of
despotism.



SPEECH ON THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION
FEBRUARY, 1771



Mr. Speaker,--In every complicated Constitution (and every free
Constitution is complicated) cases will arise, when the several
orders of the State will clash with one another, and disputes will
arise about the limits of their several rights and privileges. It
may be almost impossible to reconcile them.

Carry the principle on by which you expelled Mr. Wilkes, there is