On the other hand, Gibbon's own letter to Edward Elliot, accepting the
place, betrays a somewhat uneasy conscience. He owns that he was far
from approving all the past measures of the administration, even some
of those in which he himself had silently concurred; that he saw many
capital defects in the characters of some of the present ministers,
and was sorry that in so alarming a situation of public affairs the
country had not the assistance of several able and honest men who were
now in opposition. Still, for various reasons, he did not consider
himself in any way implicated, and rather suspiciously concludes with
an allusion to his pecuniary difficulties and a flourish. "The
addition of the salary which is now offered will make my situation
perfectly easy, but I hope that you will do me the justice to believe
that my mind could not be so unless I were conscious of the rectitude
of my conduct."
The strongest charge against Gibbon in reference to this matter is
asserted to come from his friend Fox, in this odd form. "In June 1781,
Mr. Fox's library came to be sold. Amongst his other books the first
volume of Mr.
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