aristocratic prejudice of Lincoln, or the vehement imbecility of
Lesborough, the execution of the very same measures which might safely be
committed to the plain sense of Dawton, and, above all, to the great and
various talents of his coadjutors. But what made the vital difference
between the two parties was less in the leaders than the body. In the
Dawton faction, the best, the purest, the wisest of the day were
enrolled; they took upon themselves the origin of all the active
measures, and Lord Dawton was the mere channel through which those
measures flowed; the plain, the unpretending, and somewhat feeble
character of Lord Dawton's mind, readily conceded to the abler components
of his party, the authority it was so desirable that they should exert.
In Vincent's party, with the exception of himself, there was scarcely an
individual with the honesty requisite for loving the projects they
affected to propose, or the talents that were necessary for carrying them
into effect, even were their wishes sincere; nor were either the haughty
Lincoln, or his noisy and overbearing companion, Lesborough, at all of a
temper to suffer that quiet, yet powerful interference of others, to
which Dawton unhesitatingly submitted.

I was the more resolved to do all possible justice to Dawton's party,
from the inclination I naturally had to lean towards the other; and in
all matters, where private pique or self-interest can possibly penetrate,
it has ever been the object of my maturer consideration to direct my
particular attention to that side of the question which such undue
partizans are the least likely to espouse. While I was gradually, but
clearly, feeling my way to a decision, I received the following note from
Guloseton:--

"I said nothing to you last night of what is now to be the subject of my
letter, lest you should suppose it arose rather from the heat of an