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 for corruption, and, above all, the tories represented that it gave the whig majority in the commons the virtual sovereignty of India. Fox was said to be attempting to make himself ‘king of Bengal,’ and Sayer's fine caricature, ‘Carlo Khan's Triumphal Entry into Leadenhall Street,’ gave, so he declared, the severest blow to his bill in the public estimation. The king was easily induced to believe that his prerogative was attacked. As the right of nomination only belonged to the parliament for four years, and the nominees were liable to be removed by the king on address by either house of parliament, the declaration that the bill was an attempt to deprive the sovereign of his rights was certainly exaggerated and was due to party considerations. The king used his personal influence through Lord Temple to secure the rejection of the bill and the defeat of his ministers in the House of Lords on 17 Dec., and the next day Fox and his colleagues were dismissed.

Fox's large majority in the commons made it probable that the king would dissolve the house in order to gain a majority in favour of the new ministry which was formed by Pitt. Fox determined to prevent a dissolution and an appeal to the nation, and was confident that he should be able to force the king to recall the late ministry. The king could not dissolve until the Land Tax Bill had been passed, and the house deferred the third reading and presented an address against dissolution. On 12 Jan. 1784 Fox moved for a committee on the state of the nation, endeavouring to make a dissolution impossible, and declaring that ‘it would render gentlemen in some degree accomplices in the guilt of a dissolution without cause, if they suffered the land bill to go out of their hands without taking measures to guard against the evils which might be expected from a dissolution’ (Speeches, ii. 305). The motion was carried by a majority of thirty-nine. On the 23rd he spoke against, and procured the rejection of, Pitt's East India Bill. He endeavoured to force Pitt to resign by a series of votes of censure and addresses to the crown, and took his stand on the principle that a minister who persisted in retaining office against the wishes of a majority in the commons was guilty of contempt of the opinion of the house. In this long attack on the ministry he committed some grave mistakes; he attempted to restrain the crown from exercising its undoubted right, and he showed that he was unwilling to submit his cause to the judgment of the country. As a matter of tactics he foolishly gave Pitt time to gain a hold upon the constituencies, and he showed a want of political knowledge in staking his success on the stability of his majority in the house. On the 20th the section styled the ‘country gentlemen’ called for a coalition, and the attempt was renewed on 2 Feb. Fox, while professing that he was not averse to the idea, declared that a junction was impossible, as it could not be founded on principle (ib. p. 353). The king and Pitt remained firm, but Fox's majority gradually dwindled. On 20 Feb. an address to the crown was carried by twenty-one; on 1 March Fox moved another address and had a majority of twelve, this sank to nine on a motion to delay the Mutiny Bill on the 5th, and on the 8th a representation on public affairs was only carried by 191 to 190. On the 10th the Mutiny Bill was passed without a division, and on the 25th parliament was dissolved. Thus ended the struggle in which Dr. Johnson said ‘Fox divided the kingdom with Cæsar; so that it was a doubt whether the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of George III or the tongue of Fox’ (, Life of Johnson, iv. 315). Fox's defeat was caricatured by Sayer in the ‘Fall of Phaeton’.

His popularity had been ruined by the coalition, the India bill, and his attempt to prevent an appeal to the country, and in the general election upwards of 160 members lost their seats, almost all of whom were ‘friends of the late administration’ (Annual Register, 1784–5, xxv. 147). Fox was opposed at Westminster by Sir Cecil Wray. The poll was opened on 1 April and closed on 17 May, when the numbers were—Lord Hood, 6,694; Fox, 6,234; Wray, 5,998. During the whole period the city was a scene of riot. By far the most efficient canvasser for Fox was Georgina, duchess of Devonshire, who was aided by other whig ladies, and was shamefully libelled in the ‘Morning Post’ and ‘Advertiser.’ He also received much help from the songs of Captain Morris. No other occasion probably has called forth such a profusion of lampoons and caricatures (, Caricature History, p. 387; for squibs and history of the election see under authorities. The most noteworthy caricatures are on Fox's side those attributed to Rowlandson to be found in the ‘History of the Election’ and elsewhere, the ‘Champion of the People,’ the ‘State Auction,’ and the ‘Hanoverian Horse and the British Lion,’ and against him Gillray's ‘Returning from Brooks's’). At the close of the poll the high bailiff granted Wray a scrutiny, and on the meeting of parliament the next day simply reported the numbers, making no return to the writ on pretence of not having finished the scrutiny (Annual Re-