"[Fox] exhibited two pictures of this country; the one representing her at the end of the last glorious war, the other at the present moment. At the end of the last war this country was raised to a most dazzling height of splendour and respect. The French marine was in a manner annihilated, the Spanish rendered contemptible; the French were driven from America; new sources of commerce were opened, the old enlarged; our influence extended to a predominance in Europe, our empire of the ocean established and acknowledged, and our trade filling the ports and harbours of the wondering and admiring world. Now mark the degradation and the change, We have lost thirteen provinces of America; we have lost several of our Islands, and the rest are in danger; we have lost the empire of the sea; we have lost our respect abroad and our unanimity at home; the nations have forsaken us, they see us distracted and obstinate, and they leave us to our fate. Country! ...This was your situation, when you were governed by Whig ministers and by Whig measures, when you were warmed and instigated by a just and a laudable cause, when you were united and impelled by the confidence which you had in your ministers, and when they were again strengthened and emboldened by your ardour and enthusiasm. This is your situation, when you are under the conduct of Tory ministers and a Tory system, when you are disunited, disheartened, and have neither confidence in your ministers nor union among yourselves; when your cause is unjust and your conductors are either impotent or treacherous."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
AbolitionistsMembers of the Parliament of Great BritainPeople from LondonWhig (British political party) politiciansSecretaries of State for Foreign Affairs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in the House of Commons (27 November 1781), quoted in The Speeches of the Right Honourable Charles James Fox, in the House of Commons. Vol. I (1815), p. 429
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_James_Fox
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Charles James Fox
1749 β 1806
englischer Staatsmann und Rhetoriker
99 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Charles James Fox β
Related Quotes
"What is that fat gentleman in such a passion about?"
"On speaking to Mr. Fox (who had just received the seals as Secretary of State) on the important event of the day, he β¦"
"[T]he question now was, whether the British constitution, "that beautiful fabric, raised by the steadiness of our ancβ¦"
"The war of the Americans is a war of passion; it is of such a nature as to be supported by the most powerful virtues,β¦"
"...against which we should direct all our force, the navy of France: in the destruction of her marine we might see soβ¦"
"There is no man who hates the power of the crown more, or who has a worse opinion of the Person to whom it belongs thβ¦"
"Kings, Sir, govern by means of popular assemblies, only because they cannot do without them; to suppose a king fond oβ¦"
"Gentlemen, the malicious and groundless Reports which have been spread, make it necessary for me to assure you, that β¦"
"It is intolerable that it should be in the power of one blockhead to do so much mischief."
"[H]e thought one of the most splendid triumphs of Christianity was, its having caused slavery to be so generally abolβ¦"