Such have hitherto been the sentiments of the most zealous advocates
for the rights of the people; nor did I expect from any man who
desired to appear under that character, that he would censure the
ministry for having thrown themselves upon the judgment of the senate,
and neglected to secure themselves by any previous applications, for
having trusted in their own integrity, and exposed their conduct to an
open examination without subterfuges and without precautions. I did
not imagine, my lords, that a senate, upon whose decision all the
measures which have been taken, so apparently depend, would have been
styled a senate convened only to register the determinations of the
ministry; or that any of your lordships would think his privileges
diminished, because money was not demanded before the use of it was
fully known. If we lay aside, my lords, all inquiries into precedents,
and, without regard to any political considerations, examine this
affair only by the light of reason, it will surely appear that the
ministry could not, by any other method of proceeding, have shown
equal regard to the senate, or equal confidence in their justice and
their wisdom.
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