e slaves of
us. I should dread to see the sovereigns of this country calling
themselves emperors in the Indies, and valuing that character above
that of kings of Great Britain. Believe me, young man, it is not easy
for a nation to play the despot abroad without losing its freedom at
home; as I have frequently observed that those who had returned to
this country after holding great places in the East, have shown
themselves indifferent to the rights of the subject here."

All this, and much more, did Mr. Pitt say to me, of which I have
preserved only these meagre recollections. But how feeble an image do
the written words preserve of the eloquence with which he spoke, the
enthusiasm which kindled in his eye when he touched upon our
liberties, and the warning emphasis he laid upon his expressions about
the power of the Crown! I felt almost as though I had been the bearer
of propositions for some unnatural treason, and I was not a little
relieved when Mr. Pitt finally concluded by bidding me thank Colonel
Clive very heartily for his civility in writing to him, and promised
to carefully consider of his suggestions.

To this he added some very high compliments to the Colonel's great
abilities and military glory, all of which I transmitted in a letter
to Mr. Clive shortly afterwards. And I have set down the above warning
of the great patriot minister in this place, for the instruction of
posterity, in case a time should ever arrive when the people of this
country, in their too eager grasping after foreign conquests contrary
to the nature of an island, which is to rest content within the
borders of its own seas, shall find they have bartered away the
priceless heritage of their own freedom, and sunk into a mere unheeded
fraction of a dominion which they no longer wield.

CHAPTER XXII

_AFTER MANY DAYS_

It was about the hour of five o'clock in the afternoon, and being
winter it was already dusk, when I came at last to my native place,
and rode up to the gate of my father's house.

I had journeyed down as far as Norwich in company with my cousin
Rupert, who was on his way to Lynn, and with my faithful friend, old
Muzzy, who had sworn never to leave me, and whom I was not less loth
to part with. And finding myself, as I came back into that country
where I was born, utterly overmastered by a strong passion of
home-sickness, I had no sooner procured comfortable lodgings for my
companions in the Maid's Head Inn, of N