It is first to be inquired, my lords, whether the reports of fame are necessarily or even probably true? A question very intricate and diffusive, entangled with a thousand, and involving a thousand, distinctions; a question of which it may be said, that a man may very plausibly maintain either side, and of which, perhaps, after months or years wasted in disputation, no other decision can be obtained than what is obvious at the first view, that they are often true, and often false, and, therefore, can only be grounds of inquiry, not reasons of determination.
But if it appear, my lords, that this oracle cannot be deceived, we are then to inquire after another difficulty, we are to inquire, What is fame?
Is fame, my lords, that fame which cannot err? a report that flies, on a sudden, through a nation, of which no man can discover the original; a sudden blast of rumour, that inflames or intimidates a people, and obtains, without authority, a general credit? No man versed in history can inquire whether such reports may not deceive. Is fame rather a settled opinion, prevailing by degrees, and for some time established? How long, then, my lords, and in what degree must it have been established, to obtain undoubted credit, and when does it commence infallible? If the people are divided in their opinions, as in all publick questions it has hitherto happened, fame is, I suppose, the voice of the majority; for, if the two parties are equal in their numbers, fame will be equal; then how great must be the majority before it can lay claim to this powerful auxiliary? and how shall that majority be numbered?
These questions, my lords, may be thought, perhaps with justice, too ludicrous in this place, but, in my opinion, they contribute to show the precarious and uncertain nature of the evidence so much confided in.
Common fame, my lords, is to every man only what he himself commonly hears; and it is in the power of any man's acquaintance to vitiate the evidence which they report, and to stun him with clamours, and terrify him with apprehensions of miseries never felt, and dangers invisible. But, without such a combination, we are to remember, that most men associate with those of their own opinions, and that the rank of those that compose this assembly naturally disposes such as are admitted to their company, to relate, or to invent, such reports as may be favourably received, so that what appears to one lord the general voice of common fame, may, by another, be thought only the murmur of a petty faction, despicable, with regard to their numbers, and detestable, if we consider their principles.
So difficult is it, my lords, to form any solid judgment concerning the extent and prevalence of any particular report, and the degree of credit to be given to it. The industry of a party may supply the defect of numbers, and some concurrent circumstances may contribute to give credit to a false report.
But, my lords, we are ourselves appealed to as witnesses of the truth of facts, which prove him to be sole minister, of the number of his dependents, the advancement of his friends, the disappointments of his opponents, and the declarations made by his followers of adherence and fidelity.
If it should be granted, my lords, that there is nothing in these representations exaggerated beyond the truth, and that nothing is represented in an improper light, what consequence can we draw, but that the followers of this gentleman, make use of those arts which have always been practised by the candidates of preferment, that they endeavour to gain their patron's smile by flattery and panegyrick, and to keep it by assiduity and an appearance of gratitude. And if such applications exalted any man to the authority and title of first minister, the nation has never, in my memory, been without some man in that station, for there is always some one to whom ambition and avarice have paid their court, and whose regards have been purchased at the expense of truth.
Nor is it to be wondered at, my lords, that posts of honour and profit have been bestowed upon the friends of the administration; for who enriches or exalts his enemies? who will increase the influence that is to be exerted against him, or add strength to the blow that is levelled at himself?
That the right honourable gentleman is the only disposer of honours, has never yet appeared; it is not pretended, my lords, that he distributes them without the consent of his majesty, nor even that his recommendation is absolutely necessary to the success of any man's applications. If he has gained more of his majesty's confidence and esteem than any other of his servants, he has done only what every man endeavours, and what, therefore, is not to be imputed to him as a crime.