OHAEAO'J'HIS OF PEHSOEAOES IN PillllAlllONT ^.U%Lj tg;i4F^ ^ *1 ^ CHARACTERS. Price 2s. 6d,’ CHARACTERS. CONTAINING An impartial REVIEW OF THE Public Cpndu<9: and Abilities OF THE MOST EMINENT P E R S ON AGES IN THE PARLIAMENT O F GREATrBRITAIN; CONSIDERED AS Statesmen, Senators^ and Public Speakers. Reviser and Corrected by the A UTHOR, SINCE The Original Publication in the GAZETTEER. L Q N p O N: Printed for J. Bew, in Pater - Nofter - Rov) ; And fold by W. Davis, in PiccaMy^ Durham, near Charing- Crofs\ and Richardson and UaciyHART, at the Exchange, M.DCC.DJfXVH. » 5: <*^*> <*)j(*> )eC <)!(*)^> ^ <*)!(*> ^ Sflr^Sft^^ ^ T» HIS GRACE CHARLES, DUKE OF RICHMOND and LENOX, @’f. My Lord Duke, K*^*^^HERE are many peculiarities In my difpofition which diftinguifli % me from the whole race of Ipecu- lative politicians, from Plato to that profound, learned, and elaborate political CololTus, Mr. Samuel Johnfon, fome time iince advanced to the worlhipful dignity of Dodlor of Laws-; — it may be prefumed, not the laws or conftitutions of England, as they lie fcattered in the feveral codes promulgated by pur Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman ances- tors, but rather thofe invaluable treafures f plleded from the fy^den or bloody ediSls of ^ Imperial Ti dedication. Imperial Rome.— But to return ; as I haw addrclTcd you in the ftilc of a client, that your Grace Ihould be acquainted with thofe leading peculiarities which mark my charadlcr. Being moft earneftly anxious to remain in fi e ’noft impervious obfeurity, the great dition of any future connexion •rv een your Grace and me muft be a total Ignorance of niy name, perfon, 6cc. till the tvent of tlie prefent American war fhall be uUjinately known. — I am of «(3 party, and am lifted in no fadion. Even when all per- fonal circumftances relative to myfclf fhall come to be revealed, I never mean to folicit the patronage or protedion of any Man, cither in or out of office? nor flatter him in print, in order the more efficacioufly to make my court to him in private. Froni thefe rules of condud on my part, your Grace will perceive that you ftand in as pecu- liar a fituation to your dedicator, as he ftands to your Grace and the public. Your Grace need not dread to be teazed with panegyrics on hh own merits, or on the manifold tran- feendent virtues ufiially beftowed on patrons? with applications for pecuniary favours ? with impertinent intrusions at your Grace’s table, or into your dofneftiiPrel^emcnts ? but above ail. DEDICATION. vu all, your Grace, on the firft week of your entrance into office, if that fliould ever hap- pen, will not be ftunned with folicitations for a fat Jinecure office, or a round penlion on the Iriffi eftablifhment.— Having faid fo much of myfelf, and fo little of my patron, another circumftance rather unufuaL; I beg leave to point out the grand motive which in- duced me to recommend the following ffieets to your Grace’s protection ; I might refer your Grace and the public to the Preface, and to your character in the body of the work ; but as there is a fpecies of readers who feldom look farther than the title-page and the dedication, I (hall inform them in the words of a celebrated political writer, of the true grounds of the prefent Dedicati<», which are, in hopes “ that fome great, brave, difinterefted man may arife, and (to predict that) he will be received, followed, and al- mofl: adored, as the guardian genius of thefe kingdoms. Without a foundation of foUd virtue and public fpiritj the nobkji accom- pliffiments lofe their importance; with it, common fenfe grows venerable^ and the dove triumphs over the ferpent, ** If there is one man among us, who upon a thorough felf-examination feels himfelf to be within this defeription, let him Jland forth, and zr TOi DEDICATION. and by a ibietnn, open, and explicit renutJ^ aadon of all power, places, penfions, and every other Ipccies of Court merchandize, lay the ground-work for obtaining the conf- dmceoi the people i and, as far as honour and infamy can bindy give fecurity for a religious obfervance of his engagement. “ But if modefty Ihould hinder, what public neceffity makes a duty, let this one man en- deavour to infpire a few more with the fame generous fentiments, and let them divide both the fcrvice and the glory — Glory, which, however decried and dif- countenanced of late^ is the only thing worth the ambition of the Great, and what the people only can bellow.” I have the honour to fubferibe myfelf. My Lord, Your Grace’s Moll obedieat, And faithful Humble fervanf. t ondetty The author. PREFACE. H E Author of the following Cha- RACTERS had only one point princi- pally in view, on the publication of the firft or and that was merely to eftablifli fome criterion of public judge- ment, that might enable the people to afcertain the political value and perfonal integrity of the feveral leaders and fubordinate aftors in both Houfes of Parliament. While he fought fuch a criterion, in the true fpirit of political enquiry, the event of the prefent unhappy war, waging in America, prefented him with the means. — He clearly perceived, li that country fliould be lojl^ or ■•recovered ; if this fhould be exhaujied and proftrated at the feet of a foreign enemy ; fhould our fleets, armies, and commiflioners, return in tri- umph, after having, by found policy, the dependency of our Colonics j or that conquefi fhould enable us to lead our rebellious fub-r jcdls captive; in any of thefe events the preten- on either hand to high integrity, at leaft to great talents^ could no longer remain a matter of doubt, controverfy, or problematical regfoning. b Thefe X u P R E F A C E. Thefe Sketches, if faithfully and impartially delineated, would, he forefaw, enable the public to decide with precillon, and pronounce witli au- thority. — Nothing more would be requifue, than to examine the index-, a careful perufal of that would lead the reader to this great Statefman, or that great Orator's fentiments upon the rights of both countries, and the policy or impolicy of the meafures adopted or recommended in the courfe of the prefent difpute with our Colonies, Should the events, which the prefent civil war may be produdtive of, caufe an additional debt of forty millions, a French and Spanifh •near, public bankruptcy, national defpair, and civil commotions at home—va. the following fheets may be dilco- vered the authors of our ruin, and of the meafures which led to it, as well as thofe who had the fagacity to forefee, and the honefty to prediSi it, If, on the other hand, it fhould appear that America aimed at independence from the very beginning; if it flaould be proved that the leaders and fomenters of the prelent troubles have eftablifhed a thoufand times a more infup- portable tyranny than what they pretended they took up arms to refift ; if nothing will bring the people of that country hack to a proper fei^e of their duty, but the hand of po-jcer excrcifed in a fivere, bpt neceffery chaaifement ; if they have neither the loyalty or gratitude to be good fubjeds, nor the fpirit to be formidable foes : if the nation Ihould necefTarily incur an enor- ipops eJt^^nce in afferting her rights, and are- yenue PREFACE. id venue commenfurate to that expence (hould be obtained ; if the combined force of France and Spain (hould not be able to keep pace with their unfriendly and hoftile intentions 5 in fine, if filch lliould be the confequences of the prefent meafures, the Author ventures to affirm, that a perufal of the following Sketches will enable the impartial reader, with a mixture of gratitude and admiration^ to hail by name the Jaxiours and deliverers of their country ! It was to eftablifb this grand critericUf that the Author firft fat down to write. As he pro- ceeded in the execution of his plan, he per- ceived there would be fomething ftilj wanting to give it perfpicuity •, that it would be neceflary to feek the caufes, as well as to point out the eftefts. Taking the queftion as ftated in the creeds of the Court fadlion^ that the authority of Britain muft be facrificed to the ambition of our Colonies, fhould they carry their point, he wiffied to difeover what were the true caufes why Britain came to be reduced to fo lamentable a fituation ; how it came to pafs, that the fate of this great and powerful empire was in fome meal'ure rendered dependent on the ijfue of meafures originating in Cabinet^ or elfewherc, and blindly and implicitly adopted and fupported in Parliament. After fome lights had been let in on his mind, which led him within view of the objeds of his ♦iiquiry ; after his own experience confirmed b a him xn zr PREFACE. him in every material circumftaiKe he had heard ; and that the umform condua of parties and perfons had ilrengthened and tranfmutcd conjedlure and lurmileintodenionftration, almoft into proof pofitive, hedifcovered the whole to have Qriginated in a fitugg be twee n two faaicns, H e fa vv that both parties fought for power and dominion under falfe colours i he beheld, with grief and indignation, the fucceflive defedlions, a6ts of apoftacy, and repeated abufe of public confidence, by that defcription of men who fhould ever ftand, in this country, between the Crown and People^ as the faithful and powerful guardians of their rights, with which their own are fo infeparably connected : he lamented a want of union or common counfel among the leaders of Op- pofition ; a certain ferocious, haughty fpirit,. impatient of controul or inveftigation ; ill- founded pretenlions, jealoufies, diftrufts, with all the concomitants of a ftate of things, in which almoft every individual member feemed more folicitous to promote his own intereft, raife his confequence, or gratify his ambition on the firft opportunity, than to ftrengthen his party; much lefs to advance the interefts of his coun- try.— On the other hand, he imagined, he had Hill greater reafon to lament that unbounded influ- ence which the Crown pofteftes, and exercifes by the means of its confldential inftruments^ in etieding a fyftcm of Government, by which Parliament are rendered independent of the People, and dependent on the Minifters; the MiniiUrs are rendered cyphers, being direded by P R E F ACE. xiit by thofe aftive inftruments; and the conftituent, legiQative, and executive powers of the ftate, arc virtually made to concenter in one hand. It is true, it might furnifh a fubjeft of curious in- veftigation to determine which end of the' poli- tical chain receives the impulfe; whether the People operate on Parliament^ Parliament upon MiniJlerSy Minijiers upon the King*s Friends^ and the King’s Friends on the King Himfelfi or whe- ther the Patrony {landing at the other end of the wire, by contaft, conveys the ele<5lric flroke to his Injlriments, they again to the Phantoms in Office, who pafs the luminous and fubtile matter through more than ten thoufand channels to the Parliament and People. Befidcs barely afcertaining the value of public men by the events of the prelent American war, the Author wiffies to draw the attention of his readers, from the perfonal qualities of the fevcral eminent perfons whofe charadlers he has attempted to delineate, to the caufes which have rendered them what they are ; and to the great caufe of all, the increafed influence of the Crown, operating froth a preconcerted, confirmed Court fyftem, in a plan of favouritifm •, in which, tlio* the forms of the conftitution be preferved, the Firft Magiftrate is, in faSl, rendered as inde- pendent of every fpecies of conftitutional con- troul, as the moll defpotic Monarch in Europe: ^The nation would therefore have juft caufe lof alarm, had not they the fureft pledge of their poUtical falvation, in the innumerable and exalted J %lv PREFACE. exalted virtues and talents with which his hll* jelly is known to abound. The Author now returns to the pofition be firfl: fet out with ; and which, he trufts, will throw light on the fubjed ; which is, that the following Sketches will enable the Public to form a true judgement of the political value of the parties and individuals of the leading Members in both Houfes of Parliament. — His fecond pofition is, that fadion in the State has produced a dangerous fadlion in the Court, countenanced, aided, proteded, fomented, and nourilhed by fome^ whofe duty, intereft, and magiftratical obliga- tion fliould have united to difcourage fadion any where^ or upon any pretence. I'he Ame- rican war has fo intimate a connexion with the views of the fadion defcribed in the fecond pofition, that the eventual fuccefs or mifcarriage of it will determine the wifdom^ and, it is to be hoped, the exiftence of a Court fyftem, fo incon- gruous in its feveral parts, and fo diredly re- pugnant to the fpirit of a mixed government, in which the conftitution has marked out the boundaries, and apportioned, with fo much accuracy and prccifion, the feveral powers it meant to lodge in different hands. Thefe were the principal motives that prompted the Author to this undertaking in the beginning, and induced him to profecute it upon a larger and more comprehenfive plan as he proceeded j which, PREFACE. XV V'hich, joined with its firft favourable reception, has encouraged him to fubmit the following Charaders in their prefent colkaied ftate. — He means, in future, to purfue the fame plan, as foon as a number fufficient to form another publication fhall have made their appearance. On the whole, the Author lays no claim to any merit, but that of drawing his materials from iburces of genuine information, in the true fpirit, he hopes, of inUntional impartiality ; of forbearing to difguife or palliate the condudl of even thofe, whofe political fentiments moft inti- mately correfpond with his evan ; and, above all, of difdaining to level his drafts at a few un- popular individuals*; becaufe, befides the in- jiiftice and want of candour in making public charges without a fuitable weight of proof to fubllantiate them, he faw it early, and now fincerely laments, that the public attention was injudicioufly called to improper objefts ; while patronage.^ fatUon,, and a lull of dominion, were permitted to unite in eftabiilhing a fyftem of adminiftration, which nothing but the perfonal and political virtues of the Sovereign can prevent from being totally fevered, and rendered, a~t length, independent of even the forms of the (onjiitution. * Lords Bute and Mansfield. CONTENTS. ei^ioJxiSsc^itKS^ocSr^^ CONTENTS. I^ORD Mansfield — < •— Lord Camden Attorney-General (Mr. Thurloe) Mr. Edmund Burke — Lord Lyttelton Lord Chatham Lord George Germain Colonel Bane Lord Hillfborough r Duke of Grafton Solicitor-General (Mr. Wedderburne) Mr. Charles Fox — Lord Suffolk Lord Shelburne Mr. Wellbore Ellis Mr. Dunning Lord Sandwich Duke of Richmond Lord North — — i6 22 28 37 42 48 55 67 76 84 90 97 ^3C^ocJl^cJoc5oc$5c$3c4cw^c$r)c5oc$^ ^ jHfjsClBL ^ 2 it(* 3 (C & k*Jrf TSitOr k*ji i5KJir 2*3 ^ CHARACTERS. ^c^c$3c$5c$5ei^c^x^c$3ejcx^^ Lord MANSFIELD. P$?^Pj^CCORDlNG to the profefled plan I obJiged to ?S ^ “P Nobleman’s political % « and parliamentary characber in the k^#e§S;^jrf year 1766. We find him, in the fpring of that year, for the firft time fince his taking his feat in the Houfe of Lords, feparated from Adminiftration ; and oppofing the mea- fures which were fuppofed to be conduced by the Marquis of Rockingham, then at the head of the Treafury. The queftion on which his Lord- Ihip and feveral others, not fuppofed to be inimical to the general msafures of Government, differed ^ from 2 CHARACTERS. from the King’s fervants, was, on the propriety of the repeal of the Stamp Aft. We do not re- colledl whether he openly or violently oppofed the repeal j but he certainly voted againft it. The celebrated Proteft, which followed the re- peal, was faid to have been drawn up under his Lordlhip’s immediate infpeftion, and was looked upon at the time as one of the moft able per- formances, in that way, ever entered in the re- cords of Parliament. His uniform and Ready condudl ever fince, in the fame line, leaves no doubt but he entirely approved of all the mea- fures which foon after followed a change of Mi- niftry. In 1 767 we find him fupporting the Port duties, propofed in the other Houfe by the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer. In 1 770 we again find him fupporting the partial repeal of thofe duties, and continuing the duty on tea, the immediate caufe of all our prefent difputes. It is on this great ground of the meafures relative to America, that we are enabled to decide on his Lordlhip’s political character. His Lordfhip difapproved of the repeal of the Stamp Aft, becaufe he looked upon it to be a tacit relinquilhing of the fupreme authority of this country over America. When, therefore. Lord Rockingham and his friends went out, and left the declaratory law as a faliio for the honour and, as be imagined, deferred power of Great-Brjtain, he united with Adminiftration, in thinking that the aft for laying on the Port duties would be the means of breathing a foul into the declaratory aft, which, without it or fome other fpecies of acquiefcence and aflive acknowledgment on Q CHARACTERS. 3 xpnthe part of America, muft remain lifelefs, nuga- tory, and ineffedtive ; and when the dutieson paper, painters colours, and glafs, as being commodities of native manufafture, were found to be repug- nant to the interefts of commerce, he approved of the repeal of thofe particular duties. The other parts of his political condudf, fo far as the fame related to meafures carried on in Parliament, feem to have rather proceeded from an uniform fupport of Government, than any particular fentiments of his own, unlefs connedted with the fyftempur- fuing or meant to be purfued towards America. Among the latter were all the bills of coercion againft America, in which the Quebec Adf may be well included. Thofe feveral meafures he de- fended, as they prefented themfelves, fo ably and particularly, nay, iri forne inftances, fo very minutely, as to enter into the defence of the grammatical conftrudtion of feveral of the claufes i that his opponents in argument frequently charg- ed him with being the original framer and father of them ; but this we cannot by any means fup- pofe, his LordHiip having repeatedly difdaimed in debate the lead previous knowledge of their contents, or of having attended the bufinefs of the Cabinet for a confiderable tirpe before the period here adverted to. We fhall conclude the political charadter of this confummate Statefman, by obferving, that he has never yet deferted his principles-, and that he has built all his arguments and reafonings, and drawn all his conclufions on this fingle fuppofition, that America has, from |he beginning, aimed at independency-, and that B 2 the X 4 CHARACTERS, the fartheft the people of that country will ever be prevailed upon to confent to but by force and compulfion, will be an acknowledgment of the perfonal fupremacy of the King of Great Britain, detached in that inftance from, and unconnected with, his Parliament. His Lordfiiip’s abilities as a Parliamentary Speaker, require the hand of a mailer to do them juftice. The writer, confcious of his own inability, therefore attempts only an hafty and incorrect flcetch. His Lordlhip is certainly one of the greatell orators this country ever beheld. His powers of difcrimination are equalled by none of his cotemporaries. His memory is fo tenacious and correSi^ that he fcarcely or ever takes notes ; and when he does, he feldom has recourfe to them. His references to expreffions which have fallen in the courfe of the debate, or his quotations from books, are fo faithful, that they may be faid to be repeated verbatim. The purpofcs to which he employs thefe amazing ta- lents are {till more extraordinary : if it be the weak part of his opponent’s argument he refers to, he- is fure to e.\pofe its fallacy, weaknefs, or abfurdity, in the moft poignant fatire, or hold it up in the moft ridiculous point of view. If, on the contrary, it be a point on which his adver- faries lay their chief ftrefs, he Hates the words correCtly, colleCts their obvious meaning, con- lidcrs the force of the levcral arguments that have or may be raifedupon them, with a precifion that would induce an auditor to almoft fuppofe he had _G CHARACTERS. 5 |iad previoufly confidered the whole, and thrown his thoughts upon paper on the iubjeft; and that his fpeech was the refult of this previous conlx- deration. His judgement is no lefs found upon many occafions, than his genius is extenfive and penetrating ; for as he pours forth at pleafurc ftrains of the moft bewitching and perfuafive oratory ; fo his dexterity in bringing every thing offered on the other fide within a narrow com- pafs, and either entirely defeating its intended effeft, or breaking its force, is hardly credible, but by fuch as have heard him. On the other hand, his Lordfhip is often rather fuperficial, fubtil, and perfuafive, than folid, logical, and convincing. He is fond of founds and appear- ances, and avails himfelf of his great oratoric powers, by courting the paflions. No man knows better to diredl his attack towards the preconceived prejudices of the majority of his auditors. He feems much more Iblicitous to per- fuade them that they are not afling wrong, than to convince them that they are acting right. His Lordfhip’s genius feems to direft him this way ; in fhorr, the quicknefs and fenfibility of his eye, the animation of his countenance, the fweetnefs and diverfity of his voice, the graces, ftrength, and harmony of his elocution, all unite to render him the firft orator in either Houfe ; hwt—fic tranfit gloria mmdi — his voice, enuncia- tion, and fpirits, to fay no more, feem to be very fenfibly on the decline ; the evening of his abilities, as well as of his life, begin to make their appearance at a diftance, and his Lordlhip’s moft 6 ’ CHARACTERS. mod folid enjoyments will Ihortly be the con~ fcioufnefs of a life devoted to the interejis of hi^ (ountryy and the bafpinefs of human kind. Lord CAMDEN. T his Nobleman was, on the change of Minjftry which was formed by Lord Chatham in July 1776, and thought for fome pionths to be under his controul and diredion, appointed Lord High Chancellor pf Great Bri- tain. His Lordfliip, previous to hjs appoint- ment, flood high hi the opinion of the public, as well on account of his flrong intelledual powers and profellional knowledge, as his laudable and hitherto unfhaken policical integrity. Brought in under the aufpices of his fteady friend, it may be prefumed their yiews and fentiments were the farrie ; happy for one of them, we believe^ that they had Separately thought for themfelves. An opportunity foon prefented itfelf, which operated like the touch of Ithuriel’s fpear. Out new Chancellor was to be tried in the doubL capacity of Lawyer and Statefman. The Lord-Mayor of London, who happened to be a cornfador alarmed the Miniflry with an account of a Hiort crop of corn at home, a failure of the harvefi: all over Europe, and a rapid exportation under the CHARACTERS. 7 the corn laws. The queftion came to be eonfi-i dered in Cabinet •, a Royal Proclamation was iflbed, forbidding any further exportation •, and the laws, at leaft in this inftance, were made to give way to the arbitrary mandates of the Council- table. The Tories inftantly turned Whigs and Patriots., and arraigned the meafure as both an open attack on the conftitution, and a direct in- vafion of the laws j they emphatically called it the forty days tyranny, and contended it was much more dangerous than the cafe of Ship Money, in the reign of Charles the Firft, or the difpenfiug power alTumed by James the Second. The open- ing was given, the blot was hitj the meafure might be foftened or palliated, but could not be defended ; yet, what was the noble Lord’s con- duct i Did he confefs or acknowledge, that his feelings for the fufferings of his fellow-fubjedts mifled his underftanding; or that this love of juftice, founded in governmental protedlon and political prefervation, diredted or influenced his condudl ? No, his Ldrdfhip flood on the beaten ground of ftate necejjity ; and not only fixed the exercife of the royal prerogative in the firft ma- giftrate, where to be fure it fhould always refide, but endeavoured to inveft him with the cptim when, and on what occafion, with the advice of his Privy Council, that inherent prero- gative is to be exercifed, in dired contradiftion to the known and ftatute law of the land, and the acknowledged principles of the conftitution. Such was part of the firft three months Chancellor- flrip of the once celebrated Chief Juftice of the Court 8 CHARACTERS. Court of Common Pleas. His Patron’s infir- mity of body daily encreafing ; his weight in the clofet daily and proportionably deCreafing ; the the noble Duke * at the head of the Treafury foon attaching himfelf to another party, his Lordfliip at once found himfelf ftripped of his popularity, and rendered a cypher in the Cabinet j and thus for three tedious years remained a filent fpeffator in Parliament, while the Port American duty bill j the explanation by addrefs of the ftatute of Henry the Eighth, for the trial of offenders for crimes committed beyond fea ; and the affair of the Middlefex elecflion, fevcrally received the approbation of a majority, both in Cabinet and in Parliament. His Patron f having for fome time before refigned, and recovered his ftrength and fpirits, his Lordlhip caught the holy flame, and once more commenced Patriot. At the opening of the feffion in 1 770, he feparated from his colleagues in office, and condemned, in the moft unqualified terms, the conduft of Adminif- tration in the affair of Mr. Wilkes and the Middlefex cledion. In 1774, the affairs of America having become a continual fubjedf of parliamentary difcuflion, his Lordffiip refumed his old line of politics, and has ever fmce uni- formly continued one of the ftrongeft advocates for the natural, chartered, and conftitutional rights of America, in contradidion to the minif- terial and parliamentary claims of this country. He is, indeed, more able himfelf than a hojt of ordinary adverfaries. » Duke of Grafton. 4 Lord Chatham. _Ci His CHARACTERS. 9 His Lordfliip’s parliamentary abilities are un- queftionable. In point of contrajl to the laft noble Lord *, he is by no means fo great an orator, in the ftrid fenfe of the word ; but he is infi- nitely his fuperior in depth of reafoning, in logical definition, in the philofophical arrange- ment and feparation of his ideas, and in his knowledge of the fundamental laws of this conftitution. He never leaves thofe openings to his antagonifts, which eternally recur in the harangues of his learned and noble brother. He feldom addrefles himfelf merely to the paffions ; and if he does, he always almoft addrefles them through the medium of true argument and found Iqgic. In faft, if he was to fpeak in an audience, compofed of men of talents and experience only, there is no man in either Houfe would ftand the leaft chance to contend with him for victory ; but in merely driving or leading a herd. Lord Mans- field, Lord Chatham, and even Lord Lyttelton, are confclTedly his fuperiors. In refpeft of deli- neation, Lord Camden is cool, deliberative, argu- mentative, and perfuafive. He is fond of firft principles; he argues clofely, and never lets them out of his view; his volubility, choice of language, flowings of ideas and words to exprefs them, are inexhauftible. The natural rights of the Colonifts, the privileges arfd immunities granted by charter, and their reprefentative rights as native lubjecfts of the Britifh empire, are the Juhjlrata on which he erefts all his arguments, and from whence he draws all his conclufions. ^ Lord Mansfield. c His ZJ JO CHARACTERS. Elis judgment is, if poffible, ftill greater in de- bate, than his mere powers of oratory as a public fpeaker. He either takes a part early in it, de- cides the queftion, or embarrafles his adverfaries } or he waits till they have Ipent all their force, and refts his attack on fome latent or negleded point, o^^erlooked, or little attended to in the courfe of the debate. In fine, as Lord Mansfield is the greateft orator, fo we do not hefitate to pronounce Camden by much the .moft able reafoner in cither Houfe of Parliament. On the other hand, his Lordfiiip deals too much in firft principles, de- nied or controverted by his adverfaries; and feems more eager to convince the people of Jme- rica, though at three thpufand qiiles diftanpe, that they are right, than to perfuade his noble auditory, that they are wrong. Many of his fpceches bear an inflammatory appearance. His JiUnce or acquiefcence in the meafures he nots; fo loudly condemns, takes off much of that weight his arguments muff be otherwife intitled to. His diicourfcs are fometimes too fine fpun and intri- cate, and fometimes partake of the bar fubtilty, and refinement of Weftminfier-Hall. On the whole, he feems difpofcd to embarrafs and em- broil, even where he does not expeft to fucceed. 1. his. we take to be a wanton abufe of his great talents; and what, in our opinion, he ought above all things to totally avoid, ot fiudtoufly le.arn to correct. ATTORNEY- * Cl ii CHARACTERS. s. V/ W Vvf Va/ W Vv^ W V/ Vfcf V>/ Va/ \ a/ V v' V/ \fl4T ATTORKEY-GENERAL. M r. Thurloe’s political chara(!!ler is little known-, tho’ his political conduftahd pri- vate and profelTional charafler is pretty notdrious. On the refignatiori of Mr. Dunning in 1770, he fucceeded that gentlerhari, under the patronage of the Houfe of Bedford, as Solicitor-General j and early in the enfuing year, within the period of ten months, he fucceeded Sir William De Grey, appointed Chief Juftice of the Common- Pleas, in the office of Attorney- General. Two cirCumftances attended the fudden elevation of Mr. Thurloe, very uncommon, and we believe unprecedented 5 which were, that he vTas ap- pointed Solicitor-General from a ftate o'f fome degree of profeffional obfcurity, and before he was fo much as known, or .matriculated within tha hallowed walls of St. Stephen; and that of courfe he arrived to the high poll he now occupies, before he had any ftrikrng opportunity of difplaying his talents, in the lucrative trade of parlia- mentary warfare. Mr. Attorney’s operative or active principles are, we prefume, well known ; lb well, that we take the liberty to think* that there is not a man in England of any party, fize of underftanding, or political complexion, whofe C 2 bufinefs. Zf 12 CHARACTERS, bufineft, views, or amuietnents, have led him to fpeculations of this kind, that is not firmly perfuaded, and fatisfadorily informed, of the Jteadinefs^ uniformity^ and inflexibility of the over- ruling principle which governs and direds this great officer’s condud : though earth, hell, and heaven were to club their influences, and unite in threatening him with worldly difgrace, future punifhment, and eternal reprobation, they mult carry their threats into adual execution, before they could intimidate him from purfuing the great principle of his nature. There is, however, fomething boldi explicit^ deci/ive, and open in his public condud, which many of his partifans, who make high pretenfions to public virtue and po- litical perfedion, are total Arrangers to. Whe- ther it were the Ihutting up the port of Boflron, or blowing it up, and razing it to its loweft foundations, by a globe of comprejjion* •, whether it were to eflrablifli the Turkilh, the Gentoo, or the Romilh religion in the province of Canada; whether it were to bring criminals home to England to be tried for oflfences committed in America, or hang them by the more expeditious method of martial law, accompanied, for the fake of variety, by the knout or bow-ftring\ whether it were to prevent the defeendants of George the Second from marrying before their cogitative and generative faculties were arrived at their full growth, or to pafs an edid for their caftration\ whether it were to new model the • See Romanzow’s account of the ftorm of Bender by the KiilnaTis* ' charters CHARACTERS. charters of the Eart- India Company^ or annihilate them by proclamation ; or whether to pafs a law to extirpate rebellion in America, or for ex- tirpating the inhabitants^ we prefume, would make very little difference with this great lawyer and ftatefman, provided he were fully perfuaded that fuch meafures would redound to the honour of his Royal Mafter, the profperlty of his Country, the fecurity of the Conftitution, and the prefer- vation of the State. After this open^ candid, and Thurloean manner of delineating this gentleman’s chara *it'd becaufe, unlefs in the fingle inftartce of America and a double Cabinet, the creed of the modern T ories and modern Whigs. feem only to differ in name : nor can we dif- cover a tittle in Mr. Burke’s political opinions, his perfonal attachment to Lord Rockingham only excepted, which would prefent a fingle obftacic to his accepting the Chancellorfliip of the Exchequer under any Minifter, who would confent to transfer the power of the Junto to the refponfible Cabinet, This Iketch we prefent to our readers, as a very imperfedt attempt to delineate the un- common parliamentary abilities of this great political genius. — We cannot, however, dif- mifs this fide of the pidlure, without obferv- ing, that his abilities are accompanied with a very extraordinary inftance of an union of talents, fcarcely compatible ; for it is difficult to decide whether he fpeaks or writes better, or whether he deliberates with greater judgment, or plans or direfts with greater aptitude, fagacity, and forefight. On the other hand, Mr. Burke is excurfivp, injudicious, and pedantic. His wit fometimes degenerates into buffoonery and ill- nature, and his oratory into bombaft and mere fullian. His voice is not, at the bed, one of the moft harmonious ; he frequently negledts to manage CHARACTERS. 21 it, and in the warmth of debate often becomes fo hoarfe as to render his accents diflbnant, and nearly unintelligible : he has neither a very ex- prefllve or animated countenance, nor does he feem, any more than Phil. Stanhope, to have courted the Graces with any degree of fuccefs, in point of attitude, or the ufe he makes of his hands, head, feet, and arms. On the whole, in fpite of his flights through the regions of imagery, his frequent deviations from the queftion in debate, his dwelling upon trifles, when matters of importance abound, with feveral other defeas, which are manifeftly thick-fown through his harangues, he is indubi- tably by much the molt powerful and bell in- formed fpeaker, on either fide, in the Houfe of Commons. Lord JJ CHARACTERS. Lord LYTTELTON. T his young Nobleman at a very early period of life felt the elFeas of party-rage. He was returned for the borough of Bewdly, at the general eledion in 1768-, but the late Noble Lord, his great and amiable father, being then in oppofition, and many of his difcourfcs proving rather unpalatable to thofe who led the majority, Volpone*, the old Minifterial Ma- nager of the Houfe, though then removed to aribther manfion under the fame roof, inter- fered by the means of his agents fo effecftually, as to filence the young orator, by giving his feat to his opponent, after he had poffelTed it for the greater part of the firft feffion. From thence we hear nothing of him, till his fucceeding to his feat in the Houfe of Peers, on the death of his father. We feel ourfelves embarrafled in this pare of our talk; for how is it polTible to deli- neate the political charadler of a man, who, fince his appearance on the public ftage, has betrayed fuch a verfatility of conduct ? Groping our way without any light to guide us, we cannot better exprefs our own judgment, than by having re- • Lord Holland. courfe CHARACTERS. 23 courfe to a line of the well-known Richard Sa- vage, of illegitimate and poetical memory, in a poem celebrating the advantages arifing from being born without a father : •— “ He Ihines eccentric^ like a comet’s blaze.” If this conveys too vague and indefinite an idea of his political principles, we prefume it may be furtlver illuftrated by the following ftiort detail of his condud in Parliament. He has voted with the Court, and againft it, in the fame feffion, and that on the great American queftion. He defended the Quebec bill very warmly, againft the attack made on it by Lord Chatham. He fupported the fame Nobleman in his motion for withdrawing the troops in January 1775 from Bofton. He continued wavering the remainder of the feffion, till towards the conclufion, when he once more defended the Quebec bill. At the opening of the laft feffion he fpoke and voted againft the Addrefs, in anfwer to the King’s fpeech, and maintained this oppofition on the next great queftion, relative to the illegality of introducing foreign troops into the garrifons of Gibraltar and Nlinorca, without the previous, confent of Par- liament. Since that time, nay immediately, he fupported the meafure chalked out in the fpeech, without the public communications defired •, and has acquiefeed in the meafure relative to the Hanoverians, t4 CHARACTERS. Hanowerians, though no redrefs, for what bis Lordfhip thought fit to call igrofsmd open vio- lation of the Conjiitutioni has been hitherto given. His Lordfliip holds the abilities and politics of Adminiftration in a very cheap light j he has told them fo. He is a Whig in principle, he has declared it •, yet he has adopted, fupported, and bepraifed the meafures of thofe very Minifters, and deferred thofe very principles it was his greateft pride publicly to avow. He votes with Tories, in fupport of Tory dodtrinesj he co- operates with men he knows to be ading under the dominion of Tory influence. We do not by thefe faffs, thus ftated, pretend to decide whether the principles he has taken up, or thofe he has deferred, are better fuited to the genius and the true conftitution of our govern- ment; but we would earneftly recommend to the Noble Lord to adopt fome certain fpecific prin- ciples, to adhere to fome fyftcm, or to abftain from giving decided opinions, till, in the lan- guage of his noble friend*, he lhall have learned to make up his mind. A glare of talents, an im- patience to render hirtifelf confpicuous, has led this young Nobleman into many political abfur- dities. He fhould of all things have mod care- • fulV avoided giving the /aw in Parliament ; he fliould have ftaid back, and received it from his feniors, men more able, and perhaps better in- formed. There were many reafons, which do not come within our plan to enumerate, nor would • Lord Nortlv at CHARACTERS. 25 • at all be material to our purpofe, that fhould have whifpered to him the impropriety of diftin- guilhing himfelf as a parliamentary leader. Too eager for power, let him take care, be the event of the prelent party ftruggles what they may, that fome unknown unexpefted current will not let in fo as to carry him far wide of his intended port. His Lordlhip feems to be fond of traverfe failing. Let him beware, however, with all his Jkill, that he has not lojt more way than he made, fince his laft departure. His Lordlhip’s talents as a public fpeaker are acknowledged on all hands. His oratory, it is true, is of the declamatory kind ; but is, at the fame time, fo enriched with general and par- ticular knowledge, by an acquaintance with the greateft orators of Greece and Rome, ilrengthened by found obfervation, quickncfs of parts, and a fubtle penetrating genius, as to re- move it far above thofe lifelefs or paflionate turbulent harangues, which generally pafs under that defcription. The tenor of feveral of his early Ipeeches, , with the energy and animation which accom- panied them, were better calculated than any we have heard, to call forth the fpirit and rouze the indignation and refentment of the Englilh nation, in defence of what his Lordlhip looks upon to be the conftitutional rights of this country. His language is flowing, well chofen, E and 26 CHARACTERS, and correft; his obrervations pointed, and dh reded with judgment ; his delivery fometimes graceful and animated ; never cold, flat, or un- couth. He can reafon well, and in detail •, but it does not feem to be his for(. Nature, habit, and inclination invite him to affail his auditors through the medium of their palTions; confe- quently he deals more in the bold, the inflam- matory, and pathetic, than in laboured argu- ment, definition, or logical dedu6lion. He is remarkably judicious in debate, feldom de- viating, and never lofing fight of the queftion under difcuffion ; and if he does, he always re- turns in time to the main road, and pulhes forward with redoubled force and augmented vigour ; in fliort, there is in fome of his fpeeches a warmth of expreflion, a ftrength of colouring, a grace, and a palTionate delicacy, that are not to be found in thofe of any othcvy in either Houfe of Parliament. On the other hand, his Lordfliip is too eager for renown, and catches too greedily at perfec- tion. He has over-ftudied the graces of atti- tude and of elocution, which fometimes make him neglea matter, for mere found and outfide; and what is rather unfortunate, his labours ope- rate in an inverfe diredion ; for he frequently manages his voice fo dextroujly that you cannot hear a fyllable he utters, and he then appears in the dirca aa of a poftore-mafer, or a modem harlequin. He is all aaion, in aria conformity CHARACTERS. 27 to that fage advice of the great mafter of his pro- fefljon. If he had lefs of Garrick and Qijintilian in his voice and manner, and more of Lord Camden and Lord George Germain, he would certainly cut a much more refpedtable figure than he doe& His voice is but middling at the beft ; and it is certain he has fpoiled it by a pedantic and theatric affeflation of introducing into it a variety , of which it will never admit. Like all mere orators, he never wants fafts to fupport argu- ments, nor arguments of courfe from which he may draw dedudions favourable to his caule. This is nothing peculiar to him ; for it is com- mon to the whole race of orators, from Ifocrates to Charles Townfhend. On the whole, however. Lord Lyttelton is at prefent the moft able fpeaker on the part of Adminiftration, after Lord Mans- field ; and the moft able in the Houle, allowing for all his defeefts, which are indeed much more numerous than here rehearfed, after the laft- mentioned noble Lord, and the Lords Camden and Chatham. e^cj^c$3c^c^;c$=cio:»foc$oc^5oc5o:$:o3j9c4^ The Earl of CHATHAM. A s the political conduft of the feveral cha- rafters we have already drawn, or mean hereafter to delineate, conftitutes part of our plan, we find ourfelves much embarrafied to at- tempt, within the fcanty limits fet to publications of this kind, even a fketch of the eminent Statef- man and Orator, who is to be the Ribjeft of this day: one of the mod celebrated,' we will venture to affirm, that has appeared on -the public ftage in this country, or perhaps in Europe, fince the commencement of the prefent century whether view'ed in the light of an illuftrious Citizen, fwaying, leading, controlling, or direding his fellow -fubjecls in their feveral combinations, i,n their conftituent and Icgillative capacities, up to the great efficient governmental powers of the date i or as operating with no Ids facility, fuc- cefs, and irrefidible dominion, over the whole and almod every individual member of the grand European republic. In this point of view the taflc would indeed be great ; luckily, however, it does not properly fall within our province : this great man docs not come under our obferva- tion, for the fird time, till the year 1 766 ; that remarkable period, when he exhibited in one day CHARACTERS. 29 to three aftonijhed kingdoms, in his own perfon, the Statefman outwitted, the Vitxiot difgraced, and the ftaunch Whig become a 'Tory, as well in prin- ciple as conduft. We leave to the able Hiftorian, and the well-informed Memoir-writer, his Lord- fiiip’s detailed charader as Prime Minifter, or rather civil didator over the Britifh empire, and the great arbiter of the interefts of Europe ; a work, we dare venture to foretell, which will out- live the language in which it will be firft written, and the liberties of that country over which he prefided for nearly five years with fo abfqlute a fway. It is with infinite reludance we draw our ma- terials from any thing which may bear the moll diftant appearance of private unauthenticated anecdote, or party mifreprcfentation : but as the changes which preceded his Lordlhip’s elevation to the Peerage, become neceffary to place that flrange revolution in modern politics in a proper point of view ; and as the fads here dated were of public notoriety, and remain uncontroverted to this day, or came to the writer’s knowledge through a channel by which he could not be de- ceived, he flatters himfelf, fuch being the fources he draws from, that he will iland fully excufed to the public for this feeming deviation from his original plan, Lord Bute had fcarcely retired from the helm, when he repented of the fuccelTor* he had himfelf * Mr. George Grenville. recommended. 30 CHARACTERS, recommended. A negotiation was therefore opened in the autumn 1763 with Mr. Pitt, and fome of his friends. He had two or three con- ferences on the fubje( 5 t with a Great Perfonage j but the affair came to nothing. The eni'uing fummer again a larger communication was opened. Lord (now Duke of) Northumberland was talked of for Firft Lord of the Treafury. Lords Temple and Lyttelton were invited, and feveral confultations were held at Sion-houfe. This attempt terminated like the laft, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer kept his ground another felTion. Thofe brigues and cabals, it may be well fuppofed, greatly difgufted him. Several dired difagreements arofe between him and fome of his patron’s nearefl: friends. He imagined he began to take root. Lord Bute’s brother was difmifled, in confequence of that imagination; but he foon found to his coft, that he had at leaft done a very imprudent aft, for fuddenly another negotiation was fee on foot. Mr. Pitt had been tried diredly, and Lord Temple obliquely : now Lord Temple was tried diredly in bis own perfon. I'he late Duke of Cumberland was a/failed, and even fubmitted to be the bearer of the preliminaries on which the part.es were to treat. Lord Lyttelton was pro- pofed by his noble relation toprefide at the Trea- fory or Council - table ; and feveral other ar- rangements were partly fixed. This met with the fate of the two former negotiations. Lord lempk refuled ,o „ke par. any Adminiftra- K'* i the latter did not CHARACTER S. 31 not approve of Lord Bute’s interference ; and whatever efteem and veneration they might en- tertain for his Royal Highnefs as a foldier, they freely declared their unwillingnefs to enter into any Adminiftration in which he might be fup- pofed to have any particular weight and in- fluence among the majority of the Cabinet, as they were very doubtful of his political talents. In this confuled ftate of things, the party called the Old Whigs accepted of the offer. Mr. Gren- ville and the Bedford party were difmiffed. I.ord Rockingham was called to the Treafury. This Adminiftration had many powerful impediments to ftruggle with, and was fcarcely formed, when it received a mortal blow by the death of the Duke of Cumberland. It lived its year out, however; and now the laft fatal attack was to be made on the once great Commoner and able Statefman. In the fummer 1 766, this attempt fucceeded. Mr. Pitt applied now to Lord Temple, as the former did to him the preceding year. Lord Temple propofcd Lord Lyttelton tor two or three Cabinet appointments. The Prefidency of the Council was fpoken of. No, replied the great Commoner, that is engaged to Lord Northington, then Secretary of State. No, Conway flays in, and Lord Shelburne is to be the other. One or two crther places were mentioned : No, fays the great Commoner, the noble Lord lhail have a ‘penjion. The propofition was treated with difdain. The interview ended abruptly on that, as well as Ibme other accounts, entirely unneceffary here to repeat. His Honour was 3^ CHARACTERS. was created Earl of Chatham, and appointed Privy Seal. Several of his Lordlhip s moftfteady friends were turned out, and feveral of his moft declared enemies either plac^ or penfioned by himfelf’, among whom were many of the in- timate, and feme of the confidential friends of the Earl of Bute— Perhaps as worthy men as himfelt. His Lordlhip’s firft aft of power, relative to ifluing the Proclamation prohibiting the expor- tation of corn, in direft contradiftion to an ex- prefs aft of parliament, with the juftification of that meafure in Parliament, has been lb often canvalled, that nothing remains to be faid on the matter now, which would ferve to excufe or con- demn him : the fubjeft has been exhaufted, and the merits have been long fince reduced to a finole alternative •, whether his Lordfhip meant it as an aft of the moft exalted benevolence, in the execution of which, as one of the writers of the day faid, he hazarded his precious neck, or whether he did it by way of mere experiment, to knov/ what analogy there was between the power of the modern Council - table, and the Star- Chamber and High Commifiion Courts, as ex- ifting in the reigns of the Tudors and the firft Stuarts,, when exercifed by a great and patriotic Minifter, for x.\\t good oi bis country; nay for its falvation, or, as more technically exprefled by iiis friend the Chancellor, * falus populi ejl fuprema lex. Thofc are all matters of doubt and uncer- • Lord Camden. tainty ; CHARACTERS. 33 tainty ; but we cannot pretend to guefs from mo- tives of falfe politenefs^ where we have the moft: undoubted documents to direft us. His Lord- Ihip voted the preceding feffion for the repeal of the Stamp Aft. He chofe a Chancellor of the Exchequer,* who thought proper to contradift every fyllable he uttered, and every doftrine he laid down. The American Port duties were the firft fruits of his adminiftration. If, according to his cwn logic upon a former occafion, he wilhed not to be made refponfible for meafures he was not permitted to guide, why did not he refign as foon as the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved in the Committee of Supply for laying duties on paper, painters colours, tea, and glafs, imported into America ? Or, at lead, why did not he difmifs a man who he might eafily have perceived only wanted to difgrace him, and who he always knew envied, feared, and de- fefted him ? His Lordfhip’s apologifts fay, that it was a fevere illnefs which prevented his pre- fence in town, and his attendance in Parliament and the Cabinet. He himfclf has faid, that the R 1 promife of fupport, countenance, and confidence, was broken, and that his Trea- fureri* betrayed him. All this may be ftriftiy true ; but our faith does not go, nay cannot be Jtrained to the flighteft leaning of credibility to fo improbable a ftory : promifes might have been broken, friends might have been treacherous j but neither falfe friends nor R 1 L rs * Charles Townfliend, f Duke of Grafton. F could J 34 CHARACTERS. could hinder him from maintaining his principles^ and vindicating his injured honour. But enougH of the Lord Privy Seal; he went out like a candle’s end, and we heard no more of him till the year 1770, when he once more commenced a flaming patriot, and, as far as his health would permit; he has continued jo ever fince. If we found ourfelves embarraflTed in fketching out a few of the leading features of this political phenomenon, in the charader of a Statefman, we find ourfelves no lefs puzzled to fpeak of hini as ah Orator. Contrary to the general opinion of the majority of all parties, his Lordfhip is made to give way to Lords Mansfield and Camden ; but we repeat once more, that we are guided by nothing but our own judgment, which, howevet flender, we chufe to follow, becaufe we would rather be taxed with ignorance, than be con- feious of courting popular approbation at the ex- pence of truth, at leaft of impartiality. Lord Chatham’s oratory differs from any thing we ever heard uttered, or any rule or example ex- tant in writing. It has conftquently one merit, it is all his own ; was fabricated by him, and will certainly die with him. The marvellous, the bold, the extravagant, the improbable, are' feve- faliy his fort. His oratory in Parliament refembles the ro- mances of the laft century, or rather the fiaions, abfurdities. CHARACTERS. 35 abfurdities, and mondrous tales, which were the offspring of the ignorance, falfe gallantry, and wild enterprizing fpirit of the middle ages. His talents were brought forth to public view at a moft favourable time, when an univerfal fpirit of diffatisfadion ran through almoft every degree of people againft Walpole. He opened a thou- fand various batteries of abufe againft his ad- miniftration. He faid every thing that came uppermoft. He caught the affeftion and con- fidence of the people. He fpread a degree of enthufiafm out of doors, which had been fcarcely ever known before ; and, at length, felt the flame in his own bread : and thus, from a variety of circumftances, eftablifhed a domi- nion over his auditors, that Charles Townfhend, Pratt, or Murray, who were infinitely his fupe- riors, either as regular orators or found fpeakcrs, were never able to obtain. His Lordftiip s talents for public fpeaking are fo univerfally known, and hav’e been fo often ably commented on, that little remains to be faid ; but juft to give one inftance of his manner and matter, which will explain how far his mere povsrers of debate excel his powers of true oratory or found realoning.— On his motion for withdrawing the troops from Bofton, the beginning of laft fef- fion but one, a thrill of aftonifliment, accom- panied by the ftilleft filence, pervaded every part of the Houfe, on his faying, “ Three millions of Whigs with arms in their hands, nearly allied to the Whigs of England and Ireland, will never p 2 fubmit. 36 CHARACTERS, fubmit, &c.” — This was the fpecies of oratory by which he was wont to ftrike his adverfaries dumb, make Minifters tremble, and Englilhmen enthufiafts. There was, however, one thing which his harangues produced : he perfuaded this nation that they were irrefifiible and invincible •, he lived to prove the truth of what he foretold % and he is one of the few orators who from defign, or a mere enthufiaftic fpirit, ever dealt in pro- phecy, and at the fame time juftified his pre- dictions. — But for mere uniformity, his Lord- Ihip’s parliamentary portrait might here be very properly clofed. His language is neither flow- ing nor elegant •, he frequently repeats the lafl: words of the preceding fentence in order to alTift his memory *, he fcarcely ever attempts to prove any thing; confequently his faCls are moftly fabricated by himfelf, and his conclufions lb many diCtums raifed on premifes, borrowed, in- vented, or alTumed. Lord CHARACTERS. Lord GEORGE GERMAIN. T his noHe Lord’s political chara(51:er lies within a narrow compafs ; having heard very little of him in this line (to borrow a fa- vourite expreflion of his friend Howe) but that he enjoyed a j^ace of no refponfibility under the fucceffive adminiftrationsof the Marquisof Rock- ingham, Lord Chatham, and the Duke of Graf- ton. About three years fince, though uncon- neded with any particular fet of men, and feemingly in oppofition to the Court, he fuddenly emerged out of his political obfcurity, and took a very warm, confpicuous, and decided part in Parliament, relative to the inquiry into the ftate and condition of the affairs of the Eaft-India Company. He was a buttrefs to the Minifter on that trying occafion, and helped him to fur- mount the difficulties thrown in his way with a plaufibility and addrefs well fuited to his fituation, and perfeftly correfpondent, as the events which have fince happened have fully proved, to his future views of ambition and aftive life. It was a very favourable, nay lucky circumftance for the noble Lord * who took the lead in that bufinefs, end who, in the progrefs of it, found himfelf ♦ Lord Nortlu powerfully 58 C H A R A C t £ R powerfully oppofed in the Cabinet, that he was fupported in Parliament by three perfons fup- pofed to be warm in oppofition, namely, t^c Lble Lord who is the fubjea of the prefent oo- fervations. Sir William Meredith, and Mr. Corn- wall. It gave a complexion to the meafure, which nothing but time and £( change of fituation could develope or make intelligible. The sera foon approached, which was to lay the immediate foundation for bringing his Lord- fhip in a much more elevated and confequential point of view than he had hitherto appeared. Towards the clofe of the feffion now adverted to, the Minifter, as a counterbalance to the ravages he had committed on the Eaft-India Company, oave them leave, by a bill expredy paffed for that purpofe, to export their te'asto North Arne- rica This confequently drew the old difpute, fubfifting fince 1768, relative to the duty laid on that commodity, into queftion. What happened on that occafion, is too recent in every perfon’s memory to require a recapitulation. The tea, in whatever port it arrived, was either fent back unopened, or was deftroyed. The people of Bofton led the way j and, as the moft violent and outrageous, incurred the refentments of the Court and Adminiftration. Unwilling, however, to puds matters to extremity, or fearful, more pro- bably, to raile a ftorm in which they might be ftiip-wrecked *, the feffion of 1774 commenced, and was held for fome weeks without any parti^ cular notice being taken of the date of affairs in America. r i CHARACTERS. 3^ America. A fpiritof temporizing and procrafti- nation, fuch as had for the four preceding years prevailed, feemed (till to pervade the King’s fer- vants. A gentleman*, however, ftrong in op- pofition, broke this minifterial repofe. He roufcd the Minifters from thofe deceitful, unwholefome flumbcrs in which they had fo long remained fo much to their own difgrace, and the diflionour of the nation. He gave notice, that on a particular day he would move for a Committee of the whole Houfe, to enquire into the American af- fairs. On that day the MiniHer’s mouth was opened : he found himfelf preffed j and made an aft of duty, what merely proceeded from necejjity. It was not till the 9 th of March i774,thatLord North moved for a Committee j nor was it till that day, riiat, for the firft time. Lord George Germain openly declared his fentiments up?n the fupremacy of the Bricilh Legiflature, as a mea- fure of Government, over all and every of the dominions and dependencies of the Britifh Crown. The firft fruit of the refolutions come to in the Committee, and which were expreHy declarative of that right in the moft unlimited ’and uncondi- tional terms, was the Bofton Port Bill. His Lord'lhipfupporcedand defended this bill through- out ; but as he only looked upon it to be a m*ere law of punifljment, no further efFedbual, than as it might be fuppofed to operate on the inhabi- tants, he fuggefted a bill of protedfion to thofe wiio were to be employed in carrying the provi- fions of the adl into execution. This was thq • Colonel Jennings, rife J 40 CHARACTERS, life of the bill for the trial of perfons charged with offences in North America, in any other province, or for bringing them over to England. The law had a double view. It was defigned to proted the military, when called out to the aid ©£ the civil power, from the prejudiced verdift pf a Provincial Jury, as well as to bringoffenders in that country to juftice, either in fome other colony or in Great Britain. The out line of this bill was recommended by his Lordfhip. It was adopted with gratitude, and purfued with fteadtnefs by the Minifter, till it received the royal aflent. This, and the other which followed it, that for altering the charter of Malfachufett’s Bay, were both of his Lordfhip*s hand, at leaft the former; and it is now only in the womb of time to decide, whether they were the wifejl, os moft pernicious f that ever received the fandion of a Britifh Parliament. This Nobleman^s political charader prefents little more worthy of public notice, till his en- trance into office laft winter, but his voting with the Minifter upon a declared principle that the Britifh Parliament have a clear, decifive, con- ftitutional right to bind the American Colonies in all cafes whatfoever ; and in purfuance of that right, to accept of no conceffional compromife ; to accede to no conciliatory propofition, fhort of unconditional fubmiffion. As his Lordfhip has aded openly, fo he has adhered to his declara- tions with all poffible fteadincfs. fie has given a tone of vigour in deifoeration, and alacrity in execution. CHARACTERS. 41 execution, unknown in the Cabinet or in office before his appointment ; and be the event of the prefcnt momentous JiTuggle what it may, truth au- thorizes us to acknowledge, chat as far as people at a diflance may with confidence pronounce, he is one of the few who can be feleded from any party, that has made his official conduct exaftly correfpond with his parliamentary declarations, hitherto at lealf, without any mixture of tergiver- fation or alloy. His Eordfliip’s abilities as a Ipeaker are uni- vcrfally confefled. If he be not fo diffufive or well informed as Mr. Burke, nor fo fubtle, per- fuafive, or confident as Mr. Thurloe, he has very Angular advantages over either of them. He always confines himfelf to the fubjed of de- bate. He never fails to keep fome point, ort which the weight of it turns, fteadily in view. He approaches with a moderate but fteady ftep; and is generally fure to carry home conviftion to the underftandings, as well as to the hearts of his hearers. His manner is peculiar ; his ftile is nervous and manly ; his language elegance itfcifi and his obfervations pointed, fenten- tious, and convincing. He never affefts to fay Ihining or witty things, nor lays the leaft foun- dation for regret in his auditors, but w'hen he fits down. On the other hand, there is a certain failure in his voice, and labour in his delivery, that is not very pleafing j his cadences are uniform, G and J 4? CHARACTERS, and far from being harmonious. His Lord- Ihip does not much abound in that kind of matter which may be fuppofed even to lie directly in his way j he deals moftly in pro- pofitions controverted by his antagonifts, and argues from them as principles already proved or alTented to. His Ipeeches are rather confir- luative than perfuafive ; better calculated to keep his friends with him, than to bring profe- lytes over to his opinions. In Ihort, hij Lordlhip is deficient in illumination, variety a,nd detail j or, if within his reach, negledls to iile them ; by which means the judicious and corred arrangement of his matter is hardly fuffi- pent to compenfate for. his feeming obfcurity ^nd fterility of invention. CoLONEj. BARRE. T he rank here afligned to this gentleman, as a Parliamentary Speaker, lecend on the pppofition lift in the Houfe of Commons, may probably be controverted by the majority of our readers ; but we repeat this apology, that we wilh to be impartial ; that unconneded with fadion or even party, whether in or out of admmiftration, we feel no prediledion for any man or knot of nien whatfoever, but what theit T CHARACTERS. 43 tlieir public virtue or abilities entitle them to ; and farther, that we find very powerful objec- tions to the pretenfions of the only two competi- tors (Mr. Dunning and Mr. Fox) who could have poffibly flood in the way of the precedence here given. Colonel Barre’s firft appearance within that circle, which is the prefent obje6t of delineation, was under the aufpices of Lord Chatham in 1 766, when, as the noble Earl expreffed himfelf on a fubfequent occafion; “ he found himfelf over- ruled by a fecret influence, fuggeftedi nourifhed, and fupported by fecret treachery, of- ficial power^ and public councils, by which he learned, when it was too late^ that there was fame- thing within the Court greater than the King hitn- felf.^' He continued, under this adminiftration, one of the Vice-Treafurers of Ireland, till the difmiffion of his noble friend. Lord Shelburne, from office, whofe political fortunes he had lhared fince his firft appearance as a public man ; and till that period fo juftly defcribed by the noble Earl firft mentioned, when “ there were not /too planks of the ftate veflel left together, which had been originally launched.*’ He has, with hardly an exception, continued uniformly in oppofition ever fince ; but as we fet out with de- clarations of impartiality and unconneitibn, it is become a part of our duty to mark the leaft de- viation in the Colonel from this ftated line of conduft. G 2 The / 44 CHARACTERS. The refolutions in the Committee of the whole Houfe, in the beginning of the fpring fdlion, 1 774, having, we fear, fatally fpawned that celebrated law called the Bofton Port Bill, as the firft-born of thofe meafures which have produced the prefen t civil war in America, it met with the Colonel’s fupport, contrary to every an- terior and fubfeqiient opinion of his in parlia- ment. This was matter of furprife at the time, and there were fame who did not hefitate to im- pute fo fudden and unexpedted an alteration of lentiment to motives which have fince governed feveral others, who tlien flood high in the efti- mation of the public, but who have fince flatly belied all their former profeflions, or at leaft have learned to be perfuaded that they were millaken or mifled. The obfervation here made, was nor barely confined to the fufpicions or murmurs of people v/ithout doors ; it has frequently been qbjedled to him by feveral of the Members of Adminiftration in debate, when he has arraigned, in the molt unqualified terms, the meafures of Government, and charged their authors with ig- norance, temerity, and injuftice. We have heard them more than once retaliate on him, in nearly the following words : “ The Boflon Port Bill, no matter whether a wife, an expedient, or an equitable meafure, drew the nation into this war. Why did you fupport it fo warmly, with all thofe powers of oratory and ratiocination, which you fo eminently polTefs ? Every thincr which has fince followed grew out of that me^- fure. If It was a wife meafure, why not continue CHARACTERS. 4 ^ to fupport it ? If a bad one, why for a minute lend it your countenance ?” The Colonel’s an- fwer can only be properly decided upon by the monitor refiding within his own breaft. He has repeatedly faid on thofeoccafions, “ that the Minifter gave him and his friends, both in and out of Parliament, the moft full and fpecific aflur- ances, that, if the bill were permitted to pafs both Houfes, with an appearance offirmnefs and una- nimity, the Eaft-lndia Company would receive reparation for the tea which had been deftroyed the preceding autumn ; that this would produce meafures of lenity and conciliation at this fide of the water j that Government meant to relax on certain material points ; and that every difpute fubfifting between Great Britain and her Colonies would terminate in the moft amicable manner, equally for the advantage and honour of both countries. But when this point was gained. Ad- miniftration feeling themfelves Jlronger than they expedled, they proceeded to hoftilities on the con- fHtutional rights of the Colonies, by following the Bofton Port Bill ^ith the Maflachufett’s Bay Charter Bill, and that for the removal of of- fenders in America for trial to another colony, or home to Great Britain.” We have ftated the charge and the defence, and very chearfully commit the whole to the judgment of our intelli- gent readers, to decide upon what from us can deferve no public opinion. From the months of April and May, 1774, the hiftory of this gentleman’s political charaflcr may J 46 CHARACTERS. may be contained in a nut-fhell. He has, front that period to the prefent, held up the higheji tone of oppofition ; and has frequently made the Minifter uneafy on his feat ; filling at the fame time the whole Treafury Bench with terror and difmay. Colonel Barre’s oratory is rhanly, nervous, and convincingj and fuch as may be fuppofed to have aftuated the breaft, and have fallen from the mouth of a Grecian or Roman General, when the LegiQator, Archon, or Conful, were able to •carry into execution thofc plans and operations of war, which they propofed or fupported in the fenate or their popular affembliesi He is generally well informed, particularly in the way of his profeffion, and never fails to deliver his fenti-. ments in open, bold terms^ feemingly without any predileftion for his friends or his opponents, from the former of whom he frequently differs. His matter is not various, but generally leledted and well chofen. He never fpeaks on any fub- jectof which he is not well informed, and ufually deals in truths too clear to be controverted, and too feverc to be palliated or defended. The Mi- nifter of War*, as well as the Minifter of the finances frequently feels the weight of thofe truths, and the energy of expreffion with, which they are accompanied and enforced \ and that in a manner too pungent and mortifying to be ever forgotten, or perhaps forgi’Ven. He is well acquainted with the whole detail of the * Lord Barrington. f Lord North. military __G CHARACTERS. 47 military eftablifhment, with the arrangements dependent on it, and with the proper ordering of the troops, whether diredied to operations of war, or in times of domeftic tranquillity. In Ihort, as he is one of the moft pointed forcible Ipeakers in the Houfc, though perhaps far from being the greateft orator, if we were to hazard a conjedure on mere appearance, we are inclined to think that Adminiftration would efteem him the moil valuable acquifition they could at prcfent obtain; and that he is the individual in the Houfe of Commons, on the fide of oppofition (Meflrs. Burke, Dunning, or Fojc, not excepted) in the prefent Hate of things, whofe defedion would deferve moll to be regretted. On the other hand. Colonel Barre, though a man of letters, does not pollcfs the extenfive funds of knowledge for which fome of his parti- zans are fo eminently diftinguilhed. The early part of his days was palled in camps, and learn- ing the rudiments of his profeffion, mt in Courts or Senates. His oratory has few of thofe graces which recommend even trifles. He feldom di^ reds his elocution fo i^s to gain the avenues to the heart •, and when he makes the attempt, he always mifles his way; he never ftudied the graces; or if he did, he made as unfuccefsful a progrefs as Phil. Stanhope. He fpeaks like a foldier, thinks like a politician, and delivers his lentimcnts Uk6 a 'utnit. On the whole, he may and ought to profit from the fneers of his anta- gonifts. They pall him the Stozy -Teller, and with u CHARACTERS. with great juftice; for whether it be the falvation of a great empire, or a fltirmifh with a few wild Indians, the Colonel is never at a lofs for a ftory in point, in which he himfelf had the fortune to be one of the Dramatis Perfona, 'We will clofe this rude fketch, by affirming, that we have heard him interlard fome of his moft pointed fpeeches on the moft important occafions, with anecdotes that would difgrace a fchool-boy at the Chriftmas recefs ; or a. garrulous old wo- man, when fhe takes it into her head to be moft narrative, uninterefting> and loquacious. Lord HILLSBOROUGH, T the commencement of the period, to which we have limited the grounds of in- formation, which we propofe from time to time to lay before the public, namely, the change of Adminiftration in 1766, under the aufpices of the Earl of Chatham, we find the noble Lord, whofe charafter as a public man, and abilities as a public fpeaker, are to furnifh the fubjedt of this day, provided for as a court veteran of tried fer- vice, on half -pay, by being put into pofleffion of that lucrative appointment, Poft-Mafter-General ol the Sritiih empire, He was too great and Cl CHARACTERS. 49 ufeful a fervanp, and too able and confidential a fupport to thztfyfiemj introduced at the acceffion of his prefent Majefty, to be permitted to fufFer in the Itruggles of ‘party. As foon therefore as certain cJofet affurances had unhappily lulled Lord Chatham into a fatal fecurityi as foon as the intrigues of the Junto had fucceeded, fo as to detach the Firft Lord of the Treafury (Duke of Grafton) from his prin- cipal and finally, as foon as, through fimilar arts, and the unbounded ambition and unprece- dented verfatility and vanity of the man, the very Chancellor of the Exchequer (Charles Townfliend) whofe bufinefs it was to fupport the meafures of the Firft Commiflioner of the Trea- fury in the Houfe of Commons, at once be- trayed his engagements as a Man, and his office as as a Minifter, by driving the venal herd of St. Stephen’s into the meafures of American taxa- tion*, the moment arrived in which his old friends faw the neceffity of bringing Lord Hilllborough into a fituation, which would enable him to co- operate in their defigns. It was nof, however, till early in the year 1768, fome months after the death of that blazing meteor*, that com- pound of great talents and great folly, of fpecu- lative virtue and aftual meannefs and duplicity, that his Lordlhip was appointed Secretary of State for the American Colonies. Hitherto the office bore another name, that of Firft Lord or Commiffioner of Trade and Plantations i but * The late Charles Townlhend. H in J 50 CHARACTERS, in proportion to the magnitude of the objedts then in contemplation by the chofett few^ and the known deferts and fecret difpofition of the man, a greater eclat was given to this new ap- pointment than had been known fince the days of Edward the Sixth. A third Secretary of State was added, the whole power of the Board was invefted in him, and the arduous undertaking of alternately bullying and foothingthe Colonies, as circumftances ferved, was committed to the hero of thefe memoirs. The Port duties, laid on in 1767 by the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, as has been before ob- ferved, contrary to the fentiments of the often- fible Minifter,* and the young Whigf Firft Lord of the Trcafury, having occafioned the re- folution and united determination of the Colonies not to import any article of Britilh growth or Britifh commerce, the firft official adl of our new Secretary was the writing of that famous letter to the rcfpedlive Governors of the Colonies, defiring them to afllire the feveral Aflemblies, as a matter previoujly conftdered^ and finally deter- mined on in Cabinet, that no further taxes for the purpofe of raifing a revenue in America ihould be laid on, raifed, or levied by a Britilh Parliament; and that if they (the Governors) could prevail on the refpeflive Aflemblies for the prefent to acqniefice in the Port duties, they were iaftrufled like wife to proinife, for Admi- niitration, that a formal acquielcence was all • Lord Chatham, t Duke of Grafton. thgp Cl CHARACTERS. 51 that was defired; for it was the intention of Government, not only to relax., but to take the firft opportunity to procure a repeal of them, th« mere unexercifed right being all that was a<5Vually infilled on. We do not pretend to affirm^ that thefe were the literal contents of this very memorable cir- cular letter ; but we are confident, that taking its naked import, and coupling that with the foul and fpirit that was breathed into it on the other fide of the Atlantic, this engagement on the part of Adminiftration, fuppofcd likewile to contain the real fentimcnts and ultimate refolu- tions of a Britilh Parliament, was the conftruc- tion in which it was meant it Ihould be undcrltood by" the Aflemblies of every province, from Nova- Scotia to South-Carolina inclufive. The next matter of importance we find his Lordlhip concerned in, was his difputes with the new-eftablilhed Colony of Grenada. In this affair, after a very long and warm contcft, he was more fortunate > for he at length prevailed fo far as to introduce the Roman Catholics into the Council of that ifland, contrary to every principle of the Britilh conllitution as by law eftablilhed. — The Governor, for oppofing this unwarrantable ftretch of the prerogative, was called home ; and in the end difinifii;d or difgraced. H 2 In J CHARACTERS. In the year 1772, this faithful fervant, this high-prerogative Miniflrer, was to depart, like a full-fed gueft, with all his blulhing honours thick upon him. He was created an Englilh Earlj and though Lord Dartmouth was appointed to fucceed him, he was, and is dill, efteemed one of the moft firm, able, and faitliful fup- porters of what generally paffes under the de- nomination of the Court fyftem. His vacating his feat at the Cabinet table, and the refignation of Bernard, were found neceflary. A new attempt was to be madej America was to be led^ not drove; America was to be divided^ under the appearance of conciliation and conceflion.— This could not beeffedled under the dire< 5 t admi- niftration of a man, who was neither nor depended upon by a fingk individual from Hud- fon’s Bay to Penfacola. His Lord (hip never meant, however, to re- main an idle or inad:ive fpe< 5 fator. The new modelling of the charter of the province of Maf- fachufett’s Bay is faid to be the work of his hands* Be that as it may, he defended it in debate in the Houfe of Lords on the 14th of March 1776, with ail the affeftioh and partiality which parents are apt to betray for their own offspring; and attributed the whole Of the prefent civil war to its mt being adopted, and carried into execu- tion earlier. The Quebec bill, it is reported, owes fomc of its boldeff lineaments to the fame quarter ; wl^e CHARACTERS. gj while the feardfliips which the poor aJ^tiUei flavei on the American continent fuffer from thdr mercikfs Egyptian taflc-mafters, it is believed, have been often lamnted biuerly by hk Lord&ip in private. Thefc we look upon to be rather the effcAof faSrious rancour and popular furmifci for how is it poffible that thofe feveral meafures, particu^ larly the intention of emancipating the flaves, could have originated with his Lordfhip, whoa they have been feparately charged to the account of Lord Bute, and Lord Mansfield, we pre- fume, with equal juftice? unlefe at the imx time we fohe the difficulty, by fappofing that thofe refpeftable perfonages clubbed their wits in effeding the glorious and arduous undertaking; a fuppofition ftill, if poffible, more improbd?k, and bearing infinitely lels the appearance of truth. His Lordihip, though hardly entitled to a feat on the fecond form, as a public orator, is undoubtedly one of the moll ufeful and plaufible fpeakers on the part of Adminiftration. The ground he takes in relation to American affairs is cxadly the fame occupied by Lord George Germain, as to the fupreme right of the Britifh Legiflature, He fuppofes the right to tax to be included in the general fupremacy, and the altera- tion of charters, and the force neceffary to carry either or both into effedual execution, to flow con- fequcntly from the fupreme power of the ftate over J 54 CHARACTERS; over the feveral component parts of the Britannia empire. He is certainly a man of bufinefs ; andj from a long acquaintance with it in its feveral forms, both in Office, Council, and Parliament, is able, with moderate talents, to do more than any man with double his capacity on either fide of the queftion. His harangues are rather heavy, and want illumination ; neverthelefs he poflefles more judgment in debate, in proportion to his talents, than any man in either Houfe. If he is flow, he is tolerably fure. The arrangement of his matter is always judicious and correft ’, and whenever he fails, it is more from a fterility of genius, than from any want of found judgment. He is rather convincing than perfuafive ; has more of the courtier than the logician, and of the mere declainjer than the orator. In fine, he is the child of labour and indujlryy not of genius 5 and has verified, in fome roeafure, what the antient biographers report of Demofthenes, that perfeverance and induftry will furmount any thing ; for with a perfon, voice, mien, and elo- cution far below par, we venture to pronounce him the third beft fpeaker on the part of Admi- niftration in the Houfe of Peers. Cl DvK.£ Duke of GRAFTON. HE political charafler of this Nobleman, while it will exhibit as marvellous and aftonifhing a {uccellion of events as any which have happened, either in Court, Parliament, or Cabinet, the laft ninety years, will likewife include in it an account of every material mea- fure which originally promoted or led to the prefcnt unnatural civil war raging in America. Upon the arrangements propofed and carried into execution, under the patronage and inter- ference of the late Duke of Cumberland, in 1765, commonly called the Rockingham Ad- miniftration, his Grace was appointed one of the Secretaries of State, and continued in that fitua- tion till after the conclulion of the feflion, when he thought proper to relign about the month of June 1766. This relignation, or hidden defertion of his friends, is what has puzzled every man, who does not chufe to form his opinions on mere popular reports, or party mifreprcfentations, originating in vain furmifes, in exaggerated anecdotes. J 56 CHARACTERS, anecdotes, or in ipken, difappointment, and perfonal pique. In this ftate of indecifion we have nothing to do but report faas, and leave the public to form their conclufions. Some time in the coorfe of the fefilon, finding 3 moft formidable oppofitbn to the meafures of Adminiftratiofl, be lamented its weaknefs, and £ud, for his part, he could not think of much longer remaining a member of it ; becaufe, with die beft difpofitions to ferve their country, the prefent Minifters every day experienced a want of fupport both in Parliament and elfiwhere. He added, though he pofuively intended to refign, that he would, if called upon again, chearfully join in any future Adminiftration that fhould be formed upon a larger bafis, particularly if a cer- tain great man*, a leading member of the other Houfe, were to be at the Itead of it. On this open declaration in Parliament, two obfervations were made at the time, by a few. In two months after, they were repeated with more confidence, and became more generally believed. The firft political conjecture was, that his Grace had learned, that his party had loft their power, and that a change of Miniftiy was fbon to take place, in the arrangement of which Mr. Pitt was t-o take the lead : the other, which wa-s rather the effeft of what follov/ed. Q J CHARACTERS. 57 than of any thing which then appeared, that his Grace was employed to throw out this hint as a bait to the great man, the matter being pre- vioudy confidered and determined on, in order to Jirip him of his popularity. None of thefe fecret tranfaftions can in our opinion be decided, but by the parties themfelves. Every one, on fuch occafions, will or ought to think for him- felf ; under that privilege we can hardly be per- fuaded that his Grace defignedly (looped fo low as to be the pimp, fpy, or tool of any party, much lefs of the avowed authors of a Court fyftem, formed on the mod rigid doflrines of Filmer, I,e(lie, and Barclay. He was liable to error, but we can hardly bring ourfelves to be- lieve that he was afluated by treachery, or fwayed by deliberate malice. The time foon approached, when his Grace was to appear entirely in a new light. On the advancement of Mr. Pitt to the Peerage, in Au- guft 1 766, his Grace was appointed Firft Lord of the Treafury ; the new-created Earl of Chat- ham Lord Privy Seal, being fuppofed to be the oftenfible Minifter. His Lordhiip’s illnefs de- priving the young Firft CommilTioner of his af- (iftance, the nominal command, of courfe, de- volved on his Grace. A kind of political juggle took place. Charles Townfhend wavered, dag- gered, and fell. Lord Chatham threw himfelf on the illuftrious Houfe of Bedford. The new Financier grew giddy from pride or incapacity ; or rather, we fufpedl, through the arts of thofe I who J 58 CHARACTERS, who were fet about him to betray him. At this fatal tnftant, in the very whirlwi»d of folly, treachery, vanity, and treafon agaitiji the country, were the deareft interefts of the Britilh empire facrificed. The old Whigs, under Lord Rock- ingham, were either difgraced or feduced *, the new-created Earl was compelled, by the moft inequivocal proofs, to write a fatire on all future patriots, and precenfions to public fpirit j and the noble Duke who is the fubjeft of the prefent obfervations, after taking the moft vigorous and decided part in the repeal of the Scamp Aft, through die treachery of his Chancellor * of the Exciiequer, the influence of the Clofet, the fudden change of fentiments of that hallowed maniion, and the confequences arifing from, fuch a change of fentiments among the King’s Friends, at leaft acquiefeed in the American Port duties. From that fatal inftant, every thing dear, im- portant, and valuable to this country, was al- ternately facrificed to the dark dangerous de- figns of a fct of men, whom nobody knows, fomebody pays and employs to effeft: his defpotic purpofes V whom nobody can name, without hazarding an aft of the moft cruel injuftice; whofc cabals Britain hath feverely felt the effefts of, and her children, to the lateft pofterity, may probably have caufe to execrate in the bitternefs of their , hearts. * Charles Townlhend. It CHARACTERS. 59 It is no part of our plan to enter into any dif* cuffion on the right of the Commons of Great. Britain to tax unrcprefented America, though we do not retain a fingle doubt of the impolicy and inexpediency of endeavouring to effed it by force of arms. Be that as it may, it is our duty to relate the part the Duke of Grafton took in that bufmefs, as Firft Lord of the Treafury. This we find very fully ftated in his /peeches in Parliament, fince his refignation of the office of Privy Seal, at the opening of the lafl: feffion, and in part confirmed by his brother Minifters ; be- caufe, if the fads were at firft denied, when afterwards re-aflerted, and frequently repeated by his Grace, they effedually received the fullcft and faireft ftamp of authenticity ; the ot^edions or denials on the part of Adminiftration. con- taining little more than mere quibbles on words, and miftakes relative to trivial circumftances. Two ot thefe, out of many others, we fhall give as a fpecimen. The Duke of Grafton af- lerted, that he was cut - voted in Cabinet, l.ord Weymouth denied it, and infifted, the numbers were equal. This was on the 5th of March laft. On the 14th his Grace infilled he was right ; faid he had looked over his papers, and found a note from Lord Hilllborough, who informed him that the qucftion was carried a- gainft him by a majority of one. On this laft day. Lord Hillfborough denied the fending the Cabinet note ; but neither his Lordfhip nor Lord Weymouth prefumed to controvert the fad, of his Grace being out-voted. His defence I 2 on 6o CHARACTERS. on confenting to the Port duties laid on in 17^7* was fhortly this: That when the American military eftablifhment came before the Com- mittee of Supply^ the Ploufe of Commons rofe as one man, and infifted, that the Colonilts fhould be obliged to contribute towards the pub- lic burdens •, particularly, that they fhould make fome equivalent for the eftimates now voting. On applying to fuch.of the members of Admi- niftradon as were of the other Houfe, they affured him that all refiftance would be vain. This not fatisfying him, he was determined to oppofe the bill in the Houfe of Lords j but was prevailed on at length to defift, on the mere motive of impropriety ; as he was confidently alTured, that any oppofition to a money-bill, in in that Houfe, would be highly refented by the Commons 5 would create a breach between the two Houfes *, and might in the end be produc- tive of the very worft confequences, both to Go- vernment and to the public in general. It did not, however, prevent him from expreffing his difapprobation of the bill, and informing their Lordfhips, in one of its ftages, that the mealure was not his •, but that, fince the other Houfe feemed refclved to aflert the right, he did every thing in his power to render the law as palatable and innoxious as polTible, by coupling the duty on tea with an adfual faving of nine-pence pof pound, by granting a drawback of the whole duty of one (hilling per pound on exportation of that commodity to America, and laying on only three -pence on importation into that country in lieu CHARACTERS. 6t lieu thereof. This is his Grace’s ftate of the part he took in the Port duties. In 1 769, however, when he found that all his predictions relative to the folly and bad policy of taxing America had been fatally verified, he refolved to make another attempt to refcue this country from the ruin and mifery with which it is now threatened. With that view, he moved in the Cabinet in 1769, that the American Port duties fhould be totally re- pealed ; but he was at length out-voted by a majority of one, as has been before obferved. Here the intelligent reader will be apt to afk, why his Grace did -not refign, at leaft in the latter inftance, when he found himfelf thus thwarted, counteraded, or over-ruled. It is not our bufinefs, as merely relating faffs, to become an advocate for or againfi any man : but we prefume to fay, that there may be fituations, into which a Minifter may be led by the arts of Courr feduflion, or his own inexperience, cre- dulity, or folly, that it may not be lafe or expe- dient for him to tell the truih, or affcrt his own innocence ; and that there may be fituations and circumftances, likewife, when and where it may be as ha%ardous to feek or regain the confidence of his quondam friends and aflfociates, as to refufe to execute the dirtieft work of his mercilefs fe- ducers and tafk-mafters. Thefe, it is true, are no more than mere conjeflures ; but, we truft, the day of reckoning is not fdr off, when thofe, and feveral other tranfaflions of no lels importance to the well-being of this diftrafted empire. J 62 CHARACTERS, empire, ■will be laid open in all their naked de- formity. There is one meafure, that of the Middlefex cledtion, and the previous expulfion of Mr. Wilkes, which has been folely attributed to his Grace. Whether this meafure originated with him, or was didlated as an adt of duty, we hold him equally rejponfibk to the people. If he adted on pure principles of convidlion, we feel for him as an honeft, milled man ; if he carried it through both Houfes, contrary to his own opinion, and as a facrifice at the flirine of ma- gillratical opprelTion and revenge, we do not hefitate to affirm, that his neareft and warmcft friends and admirers have good rcafon to lament, that war entered the Royal clofet. His Grace refigned, in 1770, the poll of Firft Commiffioner of the Treafury, and ftill conti- tinued to fupport the meafures of the Court. His obedience to the wilhes of his Royal Matter, and his approbation of the meafures purfued by thofe from whom he had juft parted, were fo kindly received by the perfon who had it in his power to reward him, that he did not long con- tinue out of office. He was, in the fuccecding June twelvemonth, appointed Lord Privy Seal ; in which poft he remained , till his late re- lignation, wben he declared boldly and openly againft the mealures now purfumg againft A mtrica. The n f CHARACTERS. 63 The two firft feffions after the commencement of the prefent troubles in America, he fpoke and voted with Adminiftration. The realons aiiigned by his Grace for his alteration of conduft were.tlut he had not fufficient information to determine his judgment j that fuch as was imparted to him, was /a//£, or the fafts were taifreprefented ■, that he always difapproved of coercing America by force of arms, but hoped in the beginning that the people of that country would fubmit ; that being thus mifinformed, he fupported meafures he would otherwife never have confented to ; that although the right had been clear, the afferting of it in the prefent ftate of our finances, and of the ocher pov/ers of Europe, would be inexpedient j that the point of inexpediency became ftill more glaring and manifeft, when the real ftrength and ability of America came to be revealed, and the a< 5 lual difpofition ot its inhabitants ferioufly and attentively confidered ; and that the only two fpecific meafures relating to America, which he fupported fince the fpring leflion 1774, were the Bofton Port and Charter bills, which he had been folely induced to do upon falfe or ill-grounded information, being alTured by thole whofe bufinefs it was to be thoroughly acquainted and perfedtly fatisfied of the real difpofition of the inhabitants of Bofton, and the people of Maflachufett’s Bay, that it was in the former inftance the intention of the Boftonians to make reparation for the tea to the Eaft-India Company ; and in the latter, the earneft wifh of the principal land-owners, mer- chants, and tradefmen of that province, to have their J 64 CHARACTERS. their charter Jiltered ftnd modided. ThuSj he faid, he had been all along deceived direftly in matters of faft, milled m matters of opinion, and conftrained, either to give his fupport bindfolded, or withhold it on principle. — In fuch a mafs of faffs, and fuch a contradidion in condud, it is impoffible to argue even with plaufibility, much kfs decide with candour or precifion : but it Teems on a tranfient view, uninformed as we are of the true motives which aduated his Grace, rather a little unfortunate that his eyes were not opened earlier^ or that he trufted fo much and fo long to thofe of Others; for moll indubitably, in point of pure principle., unconneded with the events of war, there did not exift a fingle reafon for his fupporting the Duke of Richmond’s motion on the 5th of March, 1776, which did not hold equally ftrong, for his fupporting that made by Lord Chatham, almoft in the fame words, full thirteen months before. We have waded through this painful talk with no fmall degree of reludance, if not difguft, be- caufe we found ourfelves under the neceffity to perform it at this very important crifis, in order that the nation, if our fuuation Ihouid become more critical, may know and look up to thofe who are fuppofed only to have it in their power to relieve them ; namely, the powerful and dif- tinguifhed leaders in both Houfes : and yet we have been compelled to the mortifying neceflicy, fo far as we have hitherto proceeded, to imprefs fubllantially on the minds of our readers this eternal Cl C H A R A C T E,R S. 65 eternal truth, that every public man on either fide has given, in fome one part or other of his political condud, the moft irrefragable teftimo- nies of his want of talents, or want of prin- ciple •, or, which comes nearly to the fame point, a compound of both indolence, inattention, and indifference to the true interefts of his country. The Duke of Grafton is one of the moflper- fuafive, or rather pathetic fpeakers in the Houfe. His fpeeches are delivered in the ftile of a gentle- man and a fcholar. His language is chofen, chafte, and corrcft. His judgment in arranging his matter is not excelled, perhaps not equalled, by any on either fide of the Houfe. He may be fometimes flat and confufed, but he is never vulgar, flovenly, or ignorant. As he is a Arid obferver of the decorum of debate, and the dig- nity of the auguft aflembly in which he has the honour to fit, any deviation from it while he is up, fuch as talking, changing feats, &c. is very apt to difconcert him, and difarrange his ideas. From the fame mode of thinking, he is ready to catch fire when any coarfe or farcaftic expreflions fall from his antagonifts, or when any thing perfonal is direded to himfelf j but even then he generally reflrains his feelings, and retorts with the energy and dignity becoming his elevated rank and fenatorial fituation. Lord Mansfield has more than once felt the effe(fls of this irafcible difpofltion, and that even before his Grace came over to Oppofition ; fince when there feems a certain acrimony, v/henever an opportunity K happens. 66 CHARACTERS, happens, in all his fpeeches, hinting, if not di- redly pointed towards that noble and learned Lord. How far this can be reconciled to his former fituation, when in high office, and when the learned Lord was fuppofed to influence thofe counfels which his Grace, as Prime Minifter for nearly four years, was prefumed to dircdl, we do not pretend to determine. He is equally liberal of his hints of pernicious counfels having been given, and of the impreffions they may have made in a place, where in the world they ought to be fooneft refilled. He has even ventured fo far as to liken addrefles of a more modern date to thofe pre- fented to the infatuated James the Second ; and, . not flopping there, has fpoken of the poffibility, if not probability, of a fimilar cataftrophe. He has reprehended the King’s fervants in the ftrongeft terms for their defpotic dodtrines in Parliament, and their correfpondent meafures, and lamented, in the face of the whole nation, the dangerous effefts fuch dodlrines may be pro- duftive of, when it is known that they are pro- mulgated, and publicly alTerted and maintained by thofe who have equally the will and opportu- nity of endeavouring to inftil them into the Royal ear. On the whole, as he is one of the moft able, lb if he could once more regain the confidence of the party he at firft embarked with, and K-hc favour and good opinion of the public, he. would be, without queftion, by much the moft’ formidable opponent to the meafures of the Court in either Houfe of Parliament. Mr. n f CHARACTERS. 67 Mr. WEDDERBURNE, S O L I C I T o r-G e n e r a l. A S we have profeffed, at the outfet of this undertaking, that we meant to abftain from all perfonal anecdote, or even to pufli our political enquiries farther back than the memo- rable period of 1766, we find ourfelves under the necelTity of taking the firft notice of this geri- tleman in that year, in the political fuite of the late Mr. George Grenville, lharing his fortunes, and infpired by the fame adive zeal for the ho- nour and interefts of his country. Mr. Wedder- burne’s great talents had not as yet blazed forth in their meridian lujlre ; and we do not find that he drew the attention of the public to any extra- ordinary degree till about the year 176S, in the affair of the Middlefex Eledtion, when his patron very conjiftently took it into his head to oppofe, in the moft marked and forcible manner, the ex- pulfion of Mr. Willis, though under his own adminiftration, but juft four years before, the fame Mr. Wilkes was expelled, for the very fame crime, with the addition of abufing a Secretary of State in the news-papers. Mr. Wedderburne now exerted himfelf as much in the defence of Mr. K. 2 Wilkes, J characxers. Wilkes, as he ever did before in his condemna* tion ; and at length, to convince fuch as might not probably be perfuaded that he was in earnefi, he made a public tour throughout the feveral ridings, towns, and diftrifts in the extenfive county of York, to warn them of the dangers with which they and all the freeholders of Great Britain were threatened, on account of the late unconftitutional, corrupt decifion of the Houfe of Commons, in the affair of the Middlefex Eledion. So zealous was he in his endeavours to procure fatisfadion for the wound the conftitu- tion received by that decifion 5 and fo hoftile was he, even to his intimate friends, when they differed with him on this point; that having been returned for the borough of Richmond, in corni- tatu Ebor. through the intereft of his worthy friend Sir Laurence Dundas, he applied for the Chiltern Hundreds, fooner, it was fuppofed, than owe a feat in Parliament to a perfon whofe political ideas were fo fatally contaminaled by fen- timents and opinions, inculcated by the leaders of a Court fyjlem, which he did not hefitate to re- probate in ali its parts. It is enough to fay, that he purfued this line of condud uniformly till the death of his friend and patron Mr. Grenville, in the winter 1771, a few days before the meeting of Parliament ; and that he has ever fince been as fteady a friend to Adminillration, as he was, while Mr. Gren- ville lived, a warm and able adverfary. Among many other proofs of what is here loofely af- ferted. D CHARACTERS. 6^ ferted, his conduct during the feffion of 1770, generally called the Homed Cattle Seffion^ furnifhes two very ftriking ones. The firft of thefe was on Mr. Dowdefwell’s motion, “ That the Houle of Commons is bound, in all matters of election, by the law of the land, and the cuftom and ufage of Parliament, being part of the law thereof the other, as more particularly militating againft his prefent condud, may not be unworthy of public attention. It was on the 9th of May, 1770, on a motion of Mr. Burke’s for the produdion of American papers, and feveral refolutions moved in confe- quence thereof, that Mr. Wedderburne, in reply to Lord Clare (now Earl Nugent) if we recoiled right, delivered himfelf nearly to the following purport : He faid, he was really ajlonifaed to fee with what eafe and confidence Jome great Statef- men could reconcile the moft marked inconfiften- cies between conduct and ofinion ; that his Lord- fhip had, in his own perfon, not only given the fullefl; teftimony that luch things might happen, but that they were avowed without blulhing or apology j that if he had not been convinced by what he now heard, he imagined his Lordfliip would have been one of the laft men breathing to charge others with verfatility in politics, when he himfelf could take a poll at the head of the Ame- rican department, under a Miniftry that had re- pealed the Stamp Ad, upon the principle of being agdnft all American taxation, though the noble Lord but the very preceding feflion fup- ported CHARACTERS. ported the Stamp Aft with all his might. From the fliort time it took his Lordfliip, and fome other great Minifters *, to fettle thefe contra- rieties, it was evident that the concealed authors of the prefent fyftem of American meafures had the addrefs to unite perfons and parties of the moft eontradiftory opinions ; and fuch being the cafe, he trufted it would likewife unite their oppo- nents to purfue one fteady plan of aftion, that of preventing the impending ruin of this country, by the total lofs of its American dominions. — He fhewed (or he rather predifted) that by the meafures then purfuing (and fince unhappily adhered to) America, which in the reign of George the Second conftituted a part of the Britifh empire, would in the reign of George the Third be totally dijfevered from it j that the American colonies had ceafed to be Britifh dominions, and were no more fo now than Calais, which, as well as they, was once an Englifh province. — He then turned to the creating a new office, that of Secretary of State for the Colonies, which he in- filled could not be legally nor conftitutionally done; that the precedent quoted from the reign of Edward the Sixth was a miferable. pretext for evading a pofitive law, with the dark defign of placing a favourite and obfequious willing at the head of the American department. That obedience was the chief, nay the only merit, fought or expefted by thofe who had the difpofal and arrangement of all the great, efficient, and refponfible offices of the ftate. If that were not t * Scppofed to mean the Duke of Grafton. the f CHARACTERS. yt the true ftandard of merit, he was fatisfied that fome perfon, whofe knowledge of commerce, experience in the fyftem of our colonies and plantations, whom prudence, firmnefs, and a well-grounded condud marked more particu- larly, would have been fixed on to fill fo weighty and important a poft. He was forry, however, — yet he felt himfelf compelled to de- clare, in the moft exprefs terms, that the Mi- nifter * put at the head of that fcarcely legal de- partment, was nol fit for it; that his conduft was fuch as called for his removal ; and that he thought thefe refolutions, moved by his honour- able friend (Mr. Burke) led by the jufteft fteps to what muft produce that effed. This was Mr. Wedderburne’s celebrated C^ttch . ; and fuch were his fentiments and opinions, and, forry we are to add, ■predictions on the 9th of May, 1770. Pity it is, particularly fince he was called to affift the prefent Adminiftration, and was appointed private tutor to the great State Atlas "f, that he neither believed thofe predic- tions himfelf, or if he did, that he was never able to perfuade either his pupil, the Cabinet, the Junto, or his facetious antagonift, Ro- bert Earl Nugent of the kingdom of Ireland, to attend to them. The remainder of Mr. Solicitor’s political cha- rader would cut a better figure by way of diary than any other, could we pofllbly recoiled the • Lord HUllborough. f Lord North. dates. J 72 CHARACTERS, dates. Difpenfing, however, with an exa6l com- pliance with thofe minutiae, we lhall ftudy brevity and faithfulnefs in the following loofe Iketch as much as poflible. In November, 1770, Mr. Grenville died j the day after he was buried, Mr. Wedderburne began, for the firft time, to diftruft his own predidions. During the fpring feffion, i77*» having promifed to falfify every one of them on the fame day, viz. on the 23d day of January, he was appointed Solicitor- General and Coffisrer to her Majefty. In the courfe of the next feffion he fupported the Royal Marriage bill, with a credity logicy and counte- mnciy perfeaiy peculiar to himfelf.— In 1773, he ffiielded the/«»»e noble Lord, whofe charader and abilities he had treated with fo much con- tempt in his fpeech, as above faithfully recited, from the envenomed attacks of his adverfaries, on account of his condud refpeding the Carib lands in the idand of St. Vincent’s. He was looked upon, during the fame feffion, to be the great fupport of Lord North, in the carrying through the bill for new modelling the Eaft- India Company.— In fine, he fupported Adminif- tration through thick and thiny in every meafure, but on the motion for refcinding the refolution on the Middlefex eledionj on that occafion his firmnefs, modcfly, and independent fpirit, have been rendered moft fpecially confpicuous, inaf- much as that he has either abfented himfelf on that day, or has adually divided againfi the Minifter. This n CHARACTERS. 73 This part of our tafk draws nearly to an end ; and were it not to fliew the diffidence of the man, and the doubt, nay the aftual difbelief and non- reliance he had on his own predi^ions, welhould never have thought of mentioning the following curious fa< 5 f, or the conlequenccs of which it was produdlive. On the 9th of March, 1 774, T.,ord North hav- ing in a Committee of the whole Houle moved feveral refolutions, declarative of the fupremc right the Legiflature of Great Britain have to bind America in all cafes whatever, Mr. Solici- tor rofe, and, in a fpeecfi of upwards of an hour long, fpoke in defence of the refolutions at large; and, as the firft Hep, recommended fome law, which would effedlually punifli the aftors and authors of the late riot at Befton. Thofe refolu- tions, on the report, were feverally agreed to, and produced the Bofton Port, Adminillration of Juftice, Charter, Q(uebec, Prohibitory, Fiffi- cry, and Capture bills ; which feveral bills pro- duced the prefent civil war ; and which ovil war has certainly moft fully and literally fulfilled Mr. Wedderburne’s predidlion of the 9th of May, 1770, that “ the American Colonies would, in the reign of George the Thirds be dijfevered fron? the Britilh empire.” Mr. Solicitor-General, it muft be confefled, is a corredf, methodical, plaufible fpeaker. His rnatter is always judicioufiy felefied, and well arranged. It has the air of logical juftnefs and L argumentative 74 CHARACTERS, argumentative precifion. He never rambles from his fubjeft, from a want or redundancy of matter. His oratory is ufually chafte, his pronunciation diftindt, his emphafis well placed, and his voice well managed. He is fond of de- tail, and conveys it to his auditors in a clear, unembarrafled, comprehenfive manner. His language, though fometimes ^lifF, and approach- ing to chat of the law-pedant, is always nervous, technical, and pointed; and he has one advan- tage over almofl; every man in either Houfe, which is, though his fpeeches bear the appear- ance of uncommon induftry and great art, yet he fpeaks with fo much fluency, avoiding the ex- tremes of a rapid utterance, or of hefitation and abfence of mind^ that every thing he oflfers feems to flow from a knowledge of the fubjeft, well digefted, and leading dire£lly to the clearefl: principles of felf-conviftion and felf-approba- tion. With all this high cultivation, the joint effcft of a good deal of judgment and immenfe labour, the foil which he has thus fo ftudioufly fought to improve, is far from being naturally fertile. His talents are reftrained within narrow bounds, — wc mean, in point of native olratory. He never reaches the heart ; nor makes a Angle profelyte to his opinions through that channel, like feveral other of his cotemporaries we could mention. His logic is ftrongly tinftured with fophifm ; and his arguments, like feveral others, not occupying refponfible offices, thick-fown with confident alTcrtions, confident prediftions, and confident promifes, never meant to be ful- filled, G CHARACTERS. 75 filled, but merely to anfwer the temporary pur- pofes of debate. To thofe who kndw him, this (ketch of his parliamentary abilities will be perfedUy intelligi- ble j to fuch as do not, it would take up more of our time than we think the fubjedl deferving of. Let it at the fame time be perfedUy underftood, that there is no man in England, in ©t out of parliament, better formed by nature, education, inclination, and habit, to lead at his pleafurc men of a certain fize of underftanding ; men who reafon fuperficially, who have not talents to dif- tingui(h the fubftance from the Ihadow, who are caught by the trammels and outward garb of truth and reafon, but have not ftrength of in- tellddl to difcern effences : with fuch men, his fpeeches on the motion made againft Lord Clive; on the Quebec, Prohibitory, and Capture bills ; and on the propriety of fending his Majefty’s Eledloral troops to garrifon Minorca and Gibral- tar, without the confent of Parliament, or a ne- ceffity pretended or dared, will pafs as proofs of his powers as an orator, his depth and ftrength of reafoning as a logician, his abilities as an ad- vocate, and his very extenfive knowledge as an accomplifhed fenator. J ^6 C H A R A C T E R S. Mr. CHARLES FOX. \ H aving had the curlofity to infpedt this young gentleman’s parilh regifter, we find, that he was born in the month of March, 1749; and, confequently, that he united in his own perfon talents and circumftances unparalleled in the annals of Parliament, or the ftrange vicif- fitudes of ftate intrigue : for he was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty j refigned in difguft ; was a fecond time appointed, and was after- wards removed to the Treafury Board, whence he was difmified fome few weeks before he com- pleated the 25th year of his age, namely, on the jyth or 1 8th of February, 1774. Two other circumftances ftrongly mark his political career : before he was twenty-four years old, he was by much the moft able fupport the Minifter had in the courfe of a whole feflion, and within a year after, one of his moft powerful and dangerous antagonifts. The political hiftory of this extraordinary young orator furnifties very few things worthy of notice. His condudl, as long as he remained in office, was that of the moft: violent and unreferved courtier. He not only difcharged his duty as a mere Cl CHARACTERS. 77 mere placeman, called upon by his fituatlon to defend the meafures of Adminiftration, to cover their blunders, to urge their propriety, to predidt the falutary confequences that muft flow from them, and the whole fcience of augmenting and diminijhing at pleafure ; but he caught the dccifive tone of a violent partifan, in a kind of ftatc of war and open hoftility againft: every man who dared to differ from him, or queftion the minifterial infallibility of his leader* and financial creator. His parliamentary operations, in this line, were chiefly diredled againft Mr. Burke, and a few other leaders in oppofition. This part of his talk he performed with remarkable punftuality and alacrity, and with no fmall degree of fuc- cefs. — Some detached part of Mr. Burke’s fpeech, not perhaps at all effential to the main fubjedl of debate, was mifqiioted or mifreprefented i the fallacy or abfurdity of its pretended contents was pointed out and animadverted upon} and the whole thrown into a ridiculous light \ a laugh wa? created in every minifterial corner of the Houfe ; the Treafury Bench was fet in a roar, and Charles fmacked the clerk’s table with his hand, and moulded his feathered hat into ten thoufand different forms. Burke’s fine fpeeches were thus cut up; Charles was applauded ; and every tool of Adminiftration, from his Lordfhip down to • He was appointed a Commiflioner of the Treafuiy, through the intereft of Lord North, in the room of Charles Jenkinfon. Robinfon, JS CHARACTERS. Robinfon, Eden, and Brummel at the dooTy or in the gallery, loudly proclaimed vidlory. — This office is now occupied by his particular friend and wofthy aflbciate. * There were two other gentlemen on whom he bellowed a great deal of attention in the fame way. They at length perceived their folly, and the juftice of his ridicule fo much, that f one of them changed places with him, and the § other accepted of a white wand, as a public teftimony of his converfton. In the midll of vidlory, fiulhed with fuccefs, and running at the rate of fourteen knots an. hour, with every fail fet, and in the warmcft ex- peftation of at leaft procuring at a Ihort day the Chancellorlhip of the Exchequer, his friend and patron \\ having frequently ajfured him, in con- fidence, that he wilhed to divide the fame, profits, and labour of conducing public affairs with him \ our hero, like a certain well-known ambitious young man of Ovidian memory, was thrown from the box, as he fays, by the bafenefs and treachery of the firft coachman. To drop all allegory, terrene or marine, the following trifling matter was what produced the fad cataftrophe ! The Speaker, a few days be- fore, having put the queftion on a petition againft an inclofing bill, a letter, faid to have been ♦ Mr. Thurloe, Attorney-General, f Mr. Cornewall. ^ Sir William Meredith. |1 Lord North* written CHARACTERS. 79 • .» written by the celebrated Parfon Horne, appeared three or four days after in a morning paper. The letter was conceived in very coarfe terms, and betrayed an ignorance of both the ufages of the Houfe, of the truth of the tranfa£lion, and in- deed of every rule of decency. — A complaint was accordingly made by a Member of the unjuftifiable liberties that had been taken with Sir Fletcher Norton, of ’the injuftice of the charge, and the neceffity there was for bringing the author or authors to the moft exemplary puniftiment. The printer was ordered to attend : he complied with the order, and gave up his author, the Parfon. What happened on that oc- cafion is recent in every body’s memory ; it is now enough to obferve, that the charge not being brought home to Mr. Horne, the dilpleafure of the Houfe fell on the printer. Mr. Fox either mifunderftanding the previous inftrudlions given him that morning by the Minifter, or the Minifter forgetting them, or chufing to forget them j the former infilled, that the printer Ihould be committed to Newgate, while the latter moved, that he Ihould be com- mitted to the Gatehoufe. At length the quellion on Col. Herbert’s original motion being put, fon “ committing the printer, to the cuftody of the Serjeant at Arms;” it was carried by a great majority. This unexpeifled delertion of the Minifter and his faithful coadjutor bore, it is true, a very *J Mr. Herbert, Member for Wilton. aukward So CHARACTERS. aukward appearance. Charles and his patron recriminated on each other : Charles faid he would have carried his concerted motion, if the Minifter had not deferred and betrayed him ; the latter as ftrenuoudy infilled, that he mull have prevailed, if the other had not dillradled and divided the friends of Adminiftration. Be that as it may, it was necefifary that the blame fhould be laid fotnewhere, in order to mitigate the dif- pleafure of the Junto ; it was all therefore laid on our hero’s Ihoulders, in the following concife but comprehenfive manner : — The next day but one, Charles and his noble patron were fitting on theTreafury Bench : after chatting of indifferent matters, particularly of the bufinefs of the day coming on, and what paffed the preceding day at the Treafury Board, which intervened between the night the difference of opinion arofe and the tranfadlion here related, Pearfon *, or his fub- ftitute, threw a fign, which Charles under- ftanding, went to the door, where he received a billet, couched in the following laconic terms; — “ His Majefty has thought proper to order a new “ Commiflion of the Treafury to be made out, “ in which 1 do not perceive your name. North.’’ From that very hour to theprefent he has been as violent in oppofition, as he was before for the Court. Luckily however for him, in point of confiftency, during the bufy feene he adled jn, and the very confpicuous part he took, the • The Do(ir-keeoer of the Houfe of Commons. affairs CHARACTERS. 8i affairs of America never came under formal or folemn difcuflion. In about a fortnight or three weeks after he commenced patriot, Colonel Jen- nings, as has been before obferved, as it were compelled the Minifter to take the ftate of that country into confideration ; the firft decided part Charles took therefore in that bufinefs, was againft Adminiftration. The ground he has taken is pretty nearly the fame as Lord Camden’s in the other Houfe j with this additional circum- ftanccj that befides arraigning the injuftice, cruelty* impolicy, and impraflicability of fuc- ceeding in an attempt to fubdue America, or compel its inhabitants to confent to the terms of unconditional fubmiffion, he has from time to time alternately foretold and demonftrated the inefficacy* folly, and madnefs of the feveral meafures, as they were propofed in Parliament, and the ignorance* temerity* and dangerous de- figns of their authors, fupporters* and defenders. Befides this general difapprobation of the con- duct of thofe to whom the direftion of public affairs has been entrufted, he has very frequently exercifed his wit and his fpleen on the Minifter ; fometimes charging him with indolence and in- ability •, at others with incapacity* duplicity, and the moft ill-founded affectation of candour and independency : again with being the real authot of the prefent civil war in America, by refufing to repeal the whole of the Port duties * or laftly fuppofing (which was what he faid his Lord- fliip fometimes affeCts to infinuate* and wifhes his friends to infinuate for him) that he dif- approves 82 CHARACTERS. approves of the meafures he fupports himfdf in Parliament, his condudf is flill the more rcpre- henfible, bccaufe in one event he can be fuppofed to aft wrong through prejudice or incapacity only, whereas in the other be muft be guilty from a pre- meditated perverfion of his underftanding. Mr. Fox is certainly one of the firft native orators in the Houfe, but he is extremely neg- ligent. His difcourfes are frequently finifhed pieces of argumentation, abounding in the beft pointed obfcrvations, and the jufteftconclufions ; and fupported by a weight of reafoning, a manly boldnefs and energy of exprdlion, almoft un- equalled i and never, within the courfe of our knowledge or experience, furpalTed. His ex- temporary fpeeches on fafts, arguments, and details, not immediately arifing nor connefted with the proper fubjcft of debate, at lead not forefeen, are truly admirable. They bear every appearance of the mod dudied and laboured harangues, in every thing but the delivery, which, however rapid, is not able to keep pace with thecrouded conceptions of the fpeaker. His ideas are ine.xhaudible, and are ever ready at his command ; but even if this were all, we could account for it eafily ; but we mud liden in filent adonifhmcnt, when we obferve him rife upon I’ome fudden unexpefted incident, and difeufs perhaps a deep intricate fubjeftfor an hour, with an ability, perfpicuity, and precifion, that would induce fuch as are unacquainted with his habits, or are ignorant of his talents, to be perfuaded that CHARACTER S. 83 that he came to the Houfe previoudy prepared and informed, in order to deliver his opinion. With thefe almoft unrivalled gifts which Nature has bellowed, Mr. Fox is far from being a pleading or perfuafive orator. His utterance is rapid, difagreeable, and lometimes fcarcely in- telligible. He fpeaks always as if he was in a paflion, and the arguments of palTionate people do not come well recommended. He fometimes defcends to perfonal attacks, to anecdotes and puerilities, much beneath the dignity of a Britifli Senator, particularly a man of his confummate talents. Another circumftance, which takes away from the weight and confequence of what he urges in debate, is, that his patriotifm is fre~ fumed'to have originated in pique, and to have taken a taint of perfonal rancour and perfonal perfecution towards the noble Lord at the head of the Treafury, on account of what he deemed a mixture of treachery and mean revenge, in pro- curing his difmiffion from the Treafury Board.— On the whole, with all Mr. Fox’s fuperior ad- vantages, we do not efteem him as rendering his party any very eflential fervice, though we muft allow he would be a valuable acquifition to his old friends, who would probably receive him like the prodigal fon, were it not for the powerful obllacle which Hands in the way, the irreconcile- able difference which fubfifts between him and the Minifter. M 2 Loro CHARACTERS. Lord SUFFOLK. H IS Lordfhip was little known in the poli- tical world till he went into oppofition, under the guidance and patronage of the late Mr. George Grenville. In the year 1770, in particular, he was one of the moft violent parti- lans againfl: the meafure of expulfion and in- capacitation of Mr. Wilkes, in relation to the affair of the Middlefex eledtion. Spme of the feverefl; fpeeches made againfl the Court fyjlem^ then carrying, or fuppofcd to have been carry-- ing on, were made by his Lordfhip on the fol- lowing feveral motions j For the account of the expenditure of the Civil Lift — That the Houfe of Commons is bound in matters of eledlion by the law of the land'* — On Atnerican affairs — Lord Chatham’s bill for reverfing the adjudication againfl John Wilkes, Efq; on the Middlefex eledlion — On Lord Chatham’s mo- tion, relative to his Majefty’s anfwer to the City Remoriftrance-i-and, finally, the fame noble Lord’s motion for an Addrefs to his Majefty, praying that be would be gracioufly pleafed to dipke the Parliament. On C H A R A C T E R S. 85 On fome of thole quellion his Lordfliip renV dered himfelf remarkably confpicuous j and was one of the fprry-one protefting Lords, who pledged theiiifelves to each other, and to the pub- lic at large, on the motion of the 2d of Fe- bruary, in the following words: “ We do here- by folemnly declare and pledge ourfelves to the public, that we vi\\\ perfevere in availing ourfelves, as far as in us lies, of every right and every power, with which the conftitution has armed us, for the good of the whole, in order to ob- tain full relief for the injured eledors of Great- Bricain, and full fecurity for the future agaiaft this moft dangerous ufurpation upon the rights of the people, which, hy fapping the fundamental principles of this Government, threatens its total diflblution.” In the following November Mr. Grenville died; and on the 22d of' the fucceeding January, about two months after the deceafe of his poli- tical Chiron, (though, it is faid, the bargain was ftruck up before he w'as cold) his Lordfliip was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal, in the room of the Earl of Hallifax, appointed one of the Secretaries of State. The June following- the Earl of Hallifax dying, he fucceeded him in the office of Secretary of State for the Northern de- partment; which high poll he ftill occupies, much to his own credit, honour, and emolu- ment ; and to the full fatisfadion of an indul- gent Prince and an. admiring public ! There 26 CHARACTERS. There are fome charafters that infpire the biographer with horror, others with veneration and refpefl ; others again with aftonilhment ; and not a few with a certain gaiety of heart, pleafantry, and good humour, eafier to be imagined than defcribed. We would not give his Lordfhip the option, becaufe we are com- pelled to be merry, gay, and fprightly, when- ever we recolleSi that he occupies a refponfibk cabinet appointment, in which the moll exten/ive talents., and the beft-informed underftanding, are required. As his Lordfliip, while he remained in oppo- fition, declared the utmoft contempt and abhor- rence for the laft Parliament, and fupportcd, with all his abilities, a motion for its dijj'olution ; an opportunity at length arrived, which fur- nilhed the means of gratifying himfelf more eflfedlually than fliewing his refentmcnt againft it in mere words. He avowed openly in Parlia- ment, on Lord Chatham’s motion in January 1775, for withdrawing the troops from Bofton, that he was the principal advifer of the Parlia- ment’s immature diflblution. It is true, his mo- dejly was fo great, that he did not claim the merit of this act of political juftice, as urged to it on principle but barely informed the Houfe, that he advifed the meafure folely to prevent the bad cffefts which a popular eledion might produce, on the natural demife of the former Parliament, were it permitted to live fix months longer. His CHARACTERS. 87 His Lordfhip’s official career is not marked with many (hining proofs of the able ftatefman : the only treaties of his making, which have yet reached the light, are thofe entered into with his Majefty, as Eleftor of Hanover, and with the Landgrave of Heffe, Duke of Brunfwick, and the Princes of Hanau and Waldeck, for bodies of troops to be employed in America againft the Provincials there in arms. We do not wiffi to fay a fyllable concerning the juftice or expediency of the American war ; nor much as to the mere minifterial manufacture of the treaties. The double fubfidy might have originated in a fpirit of true national ceconomy. Each company being double officered might have arifen from motives of military foreftghty on account of the great difficulty of recruiting commijfioned officers. A double ftaff, including an executioner., might like- wife have been a prudent precaution. Paying for foldiers killed, paying afterwards for recruit- ing them, and letting the dead men’s pay aug- ment the military cheft, might be a very proper proof to exhibit to every carcafe-butcher in Ger- many, of the profound wifdom and extenjive ge- nerofity of an Engliffi Adminiftration, and an Engliffi Parliament. We do not pretend to de- cide one way or the other on any of thefe knotty points, thefe ftate arcana •, and though we ffiould, we dare not condemn the conduCl of the noble Lord, becatife he might exculpate himfelf by this compendious anfwer : “ That he was com- manded i and that all his merit or demerit in the courfc of the whole negotiation, till its final completion. 88 C n A il A C 1' E ti s. completion, confifled entirely in a pundual* paflive obedience to the orders he received.”— We fhould be gladly contented with this apo- logy, lb far as the views of his Lordlhip’s Royal Mafter and his employers were concerned, or where the approbation and emolument of the mercenaries were to be courted. But when none of thofe objedls were likely to be attained, but both parties to be difpleafed and difgufted^ we confefs we cannot entirely approve of his Lordlhip’s negleA and want of forefight in one particular, namely, in not giving General Howe his rank earlier^ which would have prevented us from being driven to the difagreeable alternative of either permitting a foreigner to command our troops in America, or fuperfedlng the rank of the HeflTian Lieutenant-General, by putting a young Major-General over his head. — Thefe are the general leading features of his Lordlhip > and we freely confefs, that we never ’ivaded with more -pain through any dull^ uninterefting de^ tail in our life i nor could any other confidera- tion, but a faithful difeharge of our engage- ments with the public, have compelled us to lb naufeous and difgufting a talk. His Lordfnip’s talents as a parliamentary fpeaker are confdTedon all hands to intitle him to the place we have here affigned him. He fpeaks with great facility. His language is pointed and well chofen j and he gives his harangues a ftrength of colouring, and infufes into them a warmth and energy of expreffion, fcarcely ex- celled CHARACTERS. 8^ celled by any one Lord in the Houfe. He affefts a bold explicit manner of declaring his fentimentsj and never fails to accompany it with an earneftnefs and perfonal refponfibility, bearing the ftrongeft appearance of felf-con- viftion. His voice and manner are rather pleafingi and by blending a certain fpecies of candour and boldnefs in every thing he fays, and in general difclaiming all perfonal allufion, he is heard with pleafure, and is fure to meet with the approbation of, at leaft, thofe who vote with him. r— His Lordfl?ip’s fpeeches, on the other hand, feldom contain any folid matter. If he be well informed in his office, or in the great line of politics in which he is engaged, he is certainly one of the beft fecret-keepers v/e know- in Parliament. The ftrength and power of his oratory confifts chiefly in round aflertions, or flat contradidtions to thofe of his antagonifts, and in exterior and inferior advantages, that are derived from nature, habit, and education, but which are totally independent and unconnedted with that fpecies of argument and fair deduftion that leads to rational conviftion. N Lojta Lord SHELBURNE. HIS Nobleman’s charadler, if drawn at full length, would abound with incidents as curious and extraordinary as any in the tedious mufter-roll, which contains the names of the prefent pofleflbrs and competitors for power •, but as our profefled plan prevents us from pufliing our enquiries farther back than the difgraceful treaty entered into by that once truly great man, the prefent little Earl of Chatham, in which he furrendered the Majejly of the people of England, in return for a peerage and an irrefponfible of- fice, an office however peculiarly well fuited to a Nojlruvt-monger * * * § , we find ourfelvcs of courfe obliged to refer our readers to fome of the Ata- lantis’s of the day, for the hackney tales told of the Thane t, Tycho t, Volpone (|, and Mala- grida§. To thofe precious repofitories, we chearfully dire<5t the inquifitive, unfledged poli- tician, and proceed to the execution of our talk. * Lord Privy Seal— Patents for vending poiibnous me- dicines and noftrums fold at this IJiop. f Lord Bute. J Lord Chatham. |] The late Lord Holland. § Lord Shelburne. We CHARACTERS. We find Lord Shelburne in the Cabinet, as one of Lord Chatham’s Secretaries of State, in the fpring 1767, when the American Port duties were devifed elfewhere., but publicly fupported by a faithlefs Chancellor of the Exchequer*, contrary to the fentiments of his colleagues in office. This is the prevailing opinion: he is not forthcoming to anfwer for himfelf ; but as no man who knew him, entertains a fingle doubt of his unbounded ambition, his verfatility and want of fyftem, charity obliges, and common fenfe urges us to fuppofe, that the Duke of Grafton, and the Lords Chatham, Shelburne, and Cam- den, be their faults what they may in other re- fpefts, would hardly have confented to a meafure which would at once have emptied them of every pretenfion to public virtue or political value, if they had not been compelled by a power greater or as great as the King himfelf. Lord Shelburne, therefore, we may prefume, puffied on by this fovereign irrefiftible momentum, gave way, the confequence of which was, that we were prefented with that famous law for laying duties on tea, paper, painters colours, and glafs. The Adminiftration we have juft been fpeak- ing of, the blacked and the mod deftru