s another Mr. Burke, who was no
relation, but none the less was always about, and to whom it was not safe
to lend money. Burke's son, too, whose death he mourned so pathetically,
seems to have been a failure, and is described by a candid friend as a
nauseating person. To have a decent following is important in politics.

A third reason must be given: Burke's judgment of men and things was
often both wrong and violent. The story of Powell and Bembridge, two
knaves in Burke's own office, whose cause he espoused, and whom he
insisted on reinstating in the public service after they had been
dismissed, and maintaining them there, in spite of all protests, till the
one had the grace to cut his throat and the other was sentenced by the
Queen's Bench to a term of imprisonment and a heavy fine, is too long to
be told, though it makes interesting reading in the twenty-second volume
of Howell's _State Trials_, where at the end of the report is to be found
the following note:

'The proceedings against Messrs. Powell and Bembridge occasioned much
animated discussion in the House of Commons, in which Mr. Burke warmly
supported the accused. The compassion which on these and all other
occasions was manifested by Mr. Burke for the sufferings of those
public delinquents, the zeal with which he advocated their cause, and
the eagerness with which he endeavoured to extenuate their
criminality, have received severe reprehension, and in particular when
contrasted with his subsequent conduct in the prosecution of Mr.
Hastings.'

The real reason for Burke's belief in Bembridge is, I think, to be found
in the evidence Burke gave on his behalf at the trial before Lord
Mansfield. Bembridge had rendered Burke invaluable assistance in
carrying out his reforms at the Paymaster's Office, and Burke was
constitutionally unable to believe that a rogue could be on his side;
but, indeed, Burke was too apt to defend bad causes with a scream of
passion, and a politician who screams is never likely to occupy a
commanding place in the House of Commons. A last reason for Burke's
exclusion from high office is to be found in his aversion to any measure
of Parliamentary Reform. An ardent reformer like the Duke of
Richmond--the then Duke of Richmond--who was in favour of annual
parliaments, universal suffrage, and payment of members, was not likely
to wish to associate himself too closely with a politician who wept with
emotion