ent, that either he has
concurred in measures which his servile agent, the mercenary tool of
wickedness, is afraid to confess, or that he has stood by, negligent of
his trust, and suffered the treasure of the nation to be squandered by
the meanest wretches without account.

That the latter part of the accusation is undoubtedly just, the report
of the commons cannot but convince us. It appears that for near eight
years, Paxton was so high in confidence, that no account was demanded
from him; he bestowed pensions at pleasure; he was surrounded, like his
master, by his idolaters; and after the fatigue of cringing in one
place, had an opportunity of purchasing the taxes of the nation, the
gratification of tyranny in another.

I presume, my lords, that no man dares assert such a flagrant neglect of
so important an office, to be not criminal in a very high degree; to
steal in private houses that which is received in trust, is felony by
the statutes of our country; and surely the wealth of the publick ought
not to be less secured than that of individuals, nor ought he that
connives at robbery to be treated with more lenity than the robber.

Therefore, my lords, as I cannot but approve of the bill, I move that it
may be read a second time; and I hope the reasons which I have offered,
when joined with others, which I expect to hear from lords of a greater
experience, knowledge, and capacity, will induce your lordships to be of
the same opinion.

Lord HERVEY spoke next, to this effect:--My lords, as the bill now
before us is of a new kind, upon an occasion no less new, I have
endeavoured to bestow upon it a proportionate degree of attention, and
have considered it in all the lights in which I could place it; I have,
in my imagination, connected with it all the circumstances with which it
is accompanied, and all the consequences that it may produce either to
the present age, or to futurity; but the longer I reflect upon it, the
more firmly am I determined to oppose it; nor has deliberation any other
effect, than to crowd my thoughts with new arguments against it, and to
heighten dislike to detestation.

It must, my lords, immediately occur to every man, at the first mention
of the method of proceeding now proposed, that it is such as nothing but
extreme necessity can vindicate; that the noble person against whom it
is contrived, must be a monster burdensome to the world; that his crimes
must be at once publick and enormous, a