he wrote a remonstrance against it which was signed by 5,000 people and was presented to the House of Commons. His speech went down well and he was urged to stand for election. Windham stood unsuccessfully for Norwich in the election of September 1780. When in 1783 the Duke of Portland formed an administration, he appointed Lord Northington as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Northington offered Windham the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland, which he accepted. However, after only four months in the post, Windham resigned under mysterious circumstances. His contemporaneous diary did record his distrust in his own powers, and disappointment at his limited achievements; he was also probably unwell at the time. On 5 April 1784 Windham was elected to Parliament for Norwich, a seat he would hold until 1802. He took part in the Impeachment of Warren Hastings and his speeches against him on 1 June 1787 and 22 March 1787 were admired. Though Windham opposed all proposals for parliamentary reform, to which most of the Whigs were committed, he remained in alliance with that party until after the outbreak of the French Revolution. During the Regency Crisis of 1788–89 he spoke in favour of granting George, Prince of Wales full regal powers as Regent. He wrote on 26 November 1788: "If the King of a country is completely out of his mind, whatever sorrow may be felt for that event, the extent of the evil is, however, known: It is, for the time it lasts, just as if the King were dead. The same person must, upon all principles of reason, and all views of the Constitution, carry on the Government, as if the King were actually dead—should he again be restored completely to his senses, the case is then equally clear: he must be restored completely to his government". French Revolution: 1789–1794 From 12 August 1789 until 6 September, Windham toured France. Upon his return, Windham sent his friend and fellow Whig MP Edmund Burke some books (recommended by a Deputy of the National Assembly) on the general state of public opinion in France in the aftermath of the beginnings of the French Revolution. Windham wrote to Burke on 15 September, saying: "My notion has been from the beginning, and is not altered by what I have seen or heard, that the new Constitution will be settled without a struggle. Whether perfect quiet and satisfaction may