gars must not be choosers," he
had compelled them to content themselves with a retrospective statute.
Since his time, and especially in the reigns of Charles II. and William
III., the crown had been more lavish and unscrupulous than at any former
period in granting away its lands and estates to favorites. And no one
had been so largely enriched by its prodigality as the most grasping of
William's Dutch followers, Bentinck, the founder of the English house of
Portland. Among the estates which he had obtained from his royal
master's favor was one which went by the name of the Honor of Penrith.
Subsequent administrations had augmented the dignities and importance of
his family. Their Earldom had been exchanged for a Dukedom; but the
existing Duke was an opponent of the present ministry, who, to punish
him, suggested to Sir James Lowther, a baronet of ancient family, and of
large property in the North of England, the idea of applying to the
crown for a grant of the forest of Inglewood, and of the manor of
Carlisle, which hitherto had been held by Portland as belonging to the
Honor of Penrith, but which, not having been expressly mentioned in the
original grant by William III., it was now said had been regarded as
included in the honor only by mistake. It was not denied that Portland
had enjoyed the ownership of these lands for upward of seventy years
without dispute; and, had the statute of James been one of continual
operation, it would have been impossible to deprive him of them. But, as
matters stood, the Lords of the Treasury willingly listened to the
application of Sir James Lowther; they even refused permission to the
Duke to examine the original deed and the other documents in the office
of the surveyor, on which he professed to rely for the establishment of
his right; and they granted to Sir James the lands he prayed for at a
rent which could only be regarded as nominal. The injustice of the
proceeding was so flagrant, that in the beginning of 1768 Sir George
Savile brought in a bill to prevent any repetition of such an act by
making the statute of James I. perpetual, so that for the future a
possession for sixty years should confer an indisputable and
indefeasible title. The ministers opposed it with great vehemence, even
taking some credit to themselves for their moderation in not requiring
from the Duke a repayment of the proceeds of the lands in question for
the seventy years during which he had held them. But the