and of faction on the other.  In 1774 he was elected member for Bristol, and continued so until 1780, when differences with his constituency on the questions of Irish trade and Catholic emancipation led to his resignation, after which he sat for Malton until his final retirement from public life.  Under the administration of Lord North (1770-1782) the American war went on from bad to worse, and it was in part owing to the splendid oratorical efforts of B. that it was at last brought to an end.  To this period belong two of his most brilliant performances, his speech on Conciliation with America (1775), and his Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (1777).  The fall of North led to Rockingham being recalled to power, which, however, he held for a few months only, dying in the end of 1782, during which period B. held the office of Paymaster of the Forces, and was made a Privy Councillor.  Thereafter he committed the great error of his political life in supporting Fox in his coalition with North, one of the most flagitious, as it was to those concerned in it, one of the most fatal, political acts in our parliamentary history.  Under this unhappy combination he continued to hold during its brief existence the office of Paymaster, and distinguished himself in connection with Fox’s India Bill.  The coalition fell in 1783, and was succeeded by the long administration of Pitt, which lasted until 1801.  B. was accordingly for the remainder of his political life in opposition.  In 1785 he made his great speech on The Nabob of Arcot’s Debts, and in the next year (1786) he moved for papers in regard to the Indian government of Warren Hastings, the consequence of which was the impeachment of that statesman, which, beginning in 1787, lasted until 1794, and of which B. was the leading promoter.  Meanwhile, the events in France were in progress which led to the Revolution, and culminated in the death of the King and Queen.  By these B. was profoundly moved, and his Reflections on the French Revolution (1790) electrified England, and even Europe.  Its success was enormous.  The same events and the differences which arose regarding them in the Whig party led to its break up, to the rupture of B’s friendship with Fox, and to his Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs.  In 1794 a terrible blow fell upon him in the loss of his son Richard, to whom he was tenderly attached, and in whom he saw signs of promise, which were not patent to others, and which in fact appear to have been non-existent.  In the same year the Hastings trial came to an end.  B. felt that his work was done and indeed that he was worn out; and he took leave of Parliament.  The King, whose favour he had gained by his attitude on the French Revolution, wished to make him Lord Beaconsfield, but the death of his son had deprived such an honour of all its attractions, and the only reward he would accept was a pension of L2500.  Even this modest reward for services so transcendent was attacked by the Duke of Bedford, to whom B. made a crushing reply in the Letter to a Noble Lord (1796).  His last pub. was the Letter on a Regicide Peace (1796), called forth by negotiations for peace with France.  When it appeared the author was dead.