In the first
meeting of this club Mr. Erskine took the lead, and directly (without
any disavowal ever since on Mr. Fox's part) _made use of his name and
authority in favor of its formation and purposes_. In the same meeting
Mr. Erskine had thanks for his defence of Paine, which amounted to a
complete avowal of that Jacobin incendiary; else it is impossible to
know how Mr. Erskine should have deserved such marked applauses for
acting merely as a lawyer for his fee, in the ordinary course of his
profession.
15. Indeed, Mr. Fox appeared the general patron of all such persons and
proceedings. When Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and other persons, for
practices of the most dangerous kind, in Paris and in London, were
removed from the King's Guards, Mr. Fox took occasion in the House of
Commons heavily to censure that act, as unjust and oppressive, and
tending to make officers bad citizens. There were few, however, who did
not call for some such measures on the part of government, as of
absolute necessity for the king's personal safety, as well as that of
the public; and nothing but the mistaken lenity, with which such
practices were rather discountenanced than punished, could possibly
deserve reprehension in what was done with regard to those gentlemen.
16. Mr. Fox regularly and systematically, and with a diligence long
unusual to him, did everything he could to countenance the same
principle of fraternity and connection with the Jacobins abroad, and the
National Convention of France, for which these officers had been removed
from the Guards.
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