tes, that he wrought out for himself
an influence in the House, and obtained finally the office of joint
paymaster, one of the most lucrative under government, and a British
peerage. And all this toil was undertaken by a man who had no
children.

At his death, he was succeeded in his Irish title by his brother
Henry, who became first lord of the admiralty, and also obtained an
English peerage. The present Marquis of Normandy is his eldest son.

Parliamentary history sometimes gives valuable lessons, in exhibiting
the infinite folly of parliamentary prediction. It will scarcely be
believed in a day like ours, which has seen and survived the French
Revolution, that the chief theme of the period, and especial terror of
the opposition, was the conquest of Corsica by the French! Ministers
seem to have been deterred from a war with the French monarchy, solely
by the dislocated state of the cabinet; while the opposition declared,
that the possession of Corsica by the French, would be "the death-blow
to our influence in the Mediterranean." With Corsica in French hands,
it was boldly pronounced that "France would receive an accession of
power which nothing could shake; and they scarcely hesitated to say,
that upon the independence of Corsica rested not merely the supremacy
but the safety of England." Yet the French conquered Corsica (at a
waste of money ten times worth its value to their nation, and at a
criminal waste of life, both French and Corsican) without producing
the slightest addition to the power of the monarchy, and with no
slight disgrace to the honour of its arms. For, the Corsicans, the
most savage race of the Italian blood, and accustomed to the use of
weapons from their childhood, fought with the boldness of all men
fighting for their property, and routed the troops of France in many a
successive and desperate encounter. Still, the combat was too unequal;
the whole force of a great monarchy was obviously too strong for the
hope of successful resistance, and Corsica, after many a severe
struggle, became a French territory. But, beyond this barren honour
the war produced no fruit, except a deeper consciousness of the
unsparing ambition of the monarchy, and of the recklessness with which
it sacrificed all considerations of humanity and justice, to the
tinsel of a military name. One fatal gift, however, Corsica made, in
return to France. From it came, within a few years, the man who sealed
the banishment of the Bou