He had undertaken that this inquisitorial measure, as it was deemed by those who paid it, should be repealed as soon as the war ended. But the Government, faced with the charge, first of the American War and then of Napoleon's escape from Elba, and anxious to contribute some force to preserve international peace, struggled for more than a year before abandoning it. The Opposition was furious; so were the Government's supporters. The young Whig, Lord John Russell, declared that the tax's continuance would erase the last vestiges of British freedom. Why, it was asked, should the country's military establishment be six times greater than in 1792, especially as France was disarmed and Britain now allied to all Europe. Brougham accused Ministers of plotting to alter the character of the Constitution and make it a military state. The Foreign Secretary, who was regarded as the villain of the piece, was charged with having imbibed so many Continental customs as to have forgotten England was an island.
