"
An independent Whig, and an advocate for peace with France, Whitbread
supported Fox against Pitt throughout the Napoleonic War, strongly
opposed its renewal after the return of the emperor from Elba, and
interested himself in such measures as moderate Parliamentary reform,
the amendment of the poor law, national education, and retrenchment of
public expenditure. On April 8, 1805, he moved the resolutions which
ended in the impeachment of Lord Melville, and took the lead in the
inquiries, which were made, March, 1809, into the conduct of the Duke of
York. He was a plain, business-like speaker, and a man of such
unimpeachable integrity that Mr., afterwards Lord, Plunket, in a speech
on the Roman Catholic claims, February 28, 1821, called him "the
incorruptible sentinel of the constitution."
When he moved the articles of impeachment against Lord Melville, Canning
scribbled the following impromptu parody of his speech ('Anecdotal
History of the British Parliament', p. 222):
"I'm like Archimedes for science and skill;
I'm like a young prince going straight up a hill;
I'm like--(with respect to the fair be it said)--
I'm like a young lady just bringing to bed.
If you ask why the 11th of June I remember
Much better than April, or May, or November,
On that day, my lords, with truth I assure ye,
My sainted progenitor set up his brewery;
On that day, in the morn, he began brewing beer;
On that day, too, commenced his connubial career;]
On that day he received and he issued his bills;
On that day he cleared out all the cash from his tills;
On that day he died, having finished his summing,
And the angels all cried, 'Here's old Whitbread a-coming!'
So that day still I hail with a smile and a sigh,
For his beer with an E, and his bier with an I;
And still on that day, in the hottest of weather,
The whole Whitbread family dine all together.
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