Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/50

36 nation. In the mean time, our Westminster committee had shared the common anxiety and activity. On the 4th of March, Earl Fitzwilliam being in the chair, it was resolved to thank the members who voted for General Conway's successful resolution. On the 26th of March, Churchill chairman, there was a promise to support those approved friends of the people who, "in this awful and discouraging crisis," will endeavour to rescue the country from "a general confusion which has been heaped together by the combined negligence, folly, and wickedness of the worst and most incapable ministers." Two days after this the announcement was made in Parliament of the arrangement for the new Ministry, in which the Marquis of Rockingham was Premier, Shelburne and Fox Secretaries of State, and Burke Paymaster. On the same day the committee resolved—"That the Right Hon. C. J. Fox, by his able, spirited, and finally successful opposition to an administration profligate beyond the example of former times, hath accomplished an essential part of the wishes of his constituents, and shewn himself worthy of their warmest approbation and support."

Although the defeat of North and the formation of the new Ministry had been hailed with satisfaction by all sections of the Liberals, it was soon seen—and this was the first experience of a system which in later times became only too common—that whilst the victory had been largely due to the enthusiasm of the reformers or Radicals, the policy of the administration, although Liberal, was to follow strict Whig lines. The conditions under which the Ministry was formed were announced as—(1) peace with America; (2) financial reform on Burke's plan; (3) the diminution of the influence of the Crown. Under the last article the bills for excluding contractors from seats in Parliament and disqualifying revenue officers from voting were included. There was nothing about constitutional reform, nor any proposal whereby Parliament should be made more directly representative of the people. The committee was not slow in recognizing and protesting against this omission, although its chairman (Fox) was one of the