ould be no concealment. His friends stood manfully by him,
and his enemies struck at him with such blind fury that their blows
injured only themselves. Howe raved like a maniac. "What is to become of
the country, plundered by land, plundered by sea? Our rulers have laid
hold on our lands, our woods, our mines, our money. And all this is not
enough. We cannot send a cargo to the farthest ends of the earth, but
they must send a gang of thieves after it." Harley and Seymour tried
to carry a vote of censure without giving the House time to read the
papers. But the general feeling was strongly for a short delay. At
length, on the sixth of December, the subject was considered in a
committee of the whole House. Shower undertook to prove that the letters
patent to which Somers had put the Great Seal were illegal. Cowper
replied to him with immense applause, and seems to have completely
refuted him. Some of the Tory orators had employed what was then a
favourite claptrap. Very great men, no doubt, were concerned in this
business. But were the Commons of England to stand in awe of great men?
Would not they have the spirit to censure corruption and oppression
in the highest places? Cowper answered finely that assuredly the House
ought not to be deterred from the discharge of any duty by the fear of
great men, but that fear was not the only base and evil passion of which
great men were the objects, and that the flatterer who courted their
favour was not a worse citizen than the envious calumniator who took
pleasure in bringing whatever was eminent down to his own level. At
length, after a debate which lasted from midday till nine at night, and
in which all the leading members took part, the committee divided on
the question that the letters patent were dishonourable to the King,
inconsistent with the law of nations, contrary to the statutes of the
realm, and destructive of property and trade. The Chancellor's enemies
had felt confident of victory, and had made the resolution so strong in
order that it might be impossible for him to retain the Great Seal. They
soon found that it would have been wise to propose a gentler censure.
Great numbers of their adherents, convinced by Cowper's arguments,
or unwilling to put a cruel stigma on a man of whose genius and
accomplishments the nation was proud, stole away before the door was
closed. To the general astonishment there were only one hundred and
thirty-three Ayes to one hundred and eighty