V THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS ^^/2^*- MEMOIRS OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE III. FROM HIS ACCESSION, TO THE PEACE OF AMIENS. BY WILLIAM EELSHAM. IX EIGHT VOLUMES. VOL. IV. THE SIXTH EDITION. BBNEFICIO (JUAM METU OBL1GARE HOMINES MAI.IT; EXTERASgUE OENTES FIDE AC SOCIETATE JUNCTAS HABERE, gUAM TRISTI SUBJECTAS SERVITIO. LIV. Lib. XX rf. LONDON. PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, PATERNOSTER-ROW ; 87 James Gillet, Crown-court, Fleet-street. 1813. 1PA / 8/5. CONTENTS. BOOK XXII. Page State of Parties , 2 Proceedings relative to the Westminster Return 12 Motion of Mr. Sawbridge for an Enquiry into the State of the Representation 15 Mr. Pitt's second India Bill 16 Zeal of Mr. Burke for the Reform of Abuses in India. ... 20 Bill for the Prevention of Smuggling 26 Commutation Act 2? King's Debts a fourth Time discharged 30 Restoration of the forfeited Estates in Scotland 31 Short Interval of Happiness and Repose 33 State of Ireland 34 National Convention held at Dublin 37 Mr. Flood's Motion for a Reform of Parliament 38 Mr. Flood's second Motion of Reform 44< State of Irish Commerce 46 Second Irish National Convention 52 Commercial Propositions moved by Mr. Orde 53 Mr. Flood's third Motion of Reform 57 Session of Parliament, January 1785 58 Farther Proceedings on the Westminster Return ib. Mr. Pitt's ultimate Plan of Parliamentary Reform 61 Beneficial Regulations of Office , - 65 Shop-Tax imposed 66 Unjust Imposition on Hawkers and Pedlars ib. Irish Commercial Propositions introduced into the English House of Commons , . 68 VOL. viu. a CONTENTS. Page Irish Propositions altered and new-modelled 74 Their final Rejection by the Irish Parliament 88 Session of Parliament, January 1786 9O Fortification Project of the Duke of Richmond 91 Mr. Pitt's Plan for redeeming the National Debt 97 King's Debts a fifth Time discharged 101 Motion of Sir W. Lewes for a Repeal of the Shop-Tax. . 105 Humane Attempt for the Relief of Hawkers and Pedlars ib. Wine Excise Bill 106 East-India Regulations Lord Cornwallis nominated Governor-General of India 107 v ._ " . Mr. Hastings formally accused by Mr. Burke 109 Mr. Hastings's premature and arrogant Defence 112 Decision in Favor of Mr. Hastings respecting the Rohilla War 113 Decision against Mr. Hastings on the Benares Charge . 1 14 Frantic Attempt to assassinate the King ib. Treaty of Commerce with France 116 Convention with Spain relative to the Mosquito Settle- ments ...... ,. 117 Session of Parliament, 1787 Debates on the Commercial Treaty with France. 120 Consolidation of the Customs 123 Post-Horse Tax farmed. #. Mr. Fox's Motion for the Repeal of the Shop-Tax 124< Mr.Beaufoy's Motion for the Repeal of the Test-Laws 125 Application for Payment of the Prince of Wales's Debts 136 Charge against Mr. Hastmgs respecting the Begums of Code.- , v 146 Ferruckabad Charge * 149 Charge respecting Contracts. 151 Charge relative to Fyzoola Khan. 153 Charge respecting Presents th. Charge relating to the Revenues .* 154 Mr. Hastings impeached at the Bar of the House of Lords 156 CONTENTS BOOK XXIII. Page State of Europe 158 Derangement of the French Finances 160 Ambitious Projects of the Emperor *5. Political Commotions in Holland. . . . . 162 Prussian Army enters Holland 180 Assembly of Notables convened at Versailles 185 England arms in Support of Prussia , 1C? Unexpected Acouiescence of France 193 Session of Parliament, November 1787. 194 Alliance between England, Prussia, and Holland 196 Unpopular Naval Promotion Resignation of Lord Howe 197-8 Resignation of the Earl of Mansfield . . 198 India Declaratory Act 199 Honorable Testimony in Behalf of Mr. Francis 204 Proceedings against Sir Elijah Impey t . . 205 Commencement of the Trial of Mr. Hastings 208 Bill for regulating the African Slave-Trade 209 Alarming Illness of the King 212 Session of Parliament, November 1788 213 Proceedings relative to the Regency 214 Wise Conduct of the Irish Parliament respecting the Regency \ 220 Perfect Recovery of the King 231 Shop-Tax repealed, and Hawkers' and Pedlars' Act ex- plained and amended 234 Mr. Beaufoy's second Motion for the Repeal of the Test ib. Lord Stanhope's Motion for repealing various Penal Statutes 238 Mr. Wilberforce's Motion respecting the Abolition of the Slave-Trade 241 Trial of Mr. Hastings resumed Indiscretion of Mr. Burke 249 CONTENTS. Page Mr. Addington chosen Speaker 251 Tobacco Excise Bill 252 State of Europe 254 Character of the Emperor Joseph II. . ib. His tyrannical Innovations in Brabant 257 War between Russia and Turkey. 259 War between the Imperial and Ottoman Courts ib. Troubles in the North Rupture between Sweden and Russia 261 Death of the Grand Seignor Achmet IV. and Accession of the Sultan Selim III 264 Triumphs of the Russian and Austrian Arms Death of the Emperor Joseph II 267-9 Alarming Commotions in France 270 States-General convened at Versailles 283 Assume the Appellation of National Assembly 285 Publish a Declaration of the Rights of Man. 291 Congratulatory Address of the Revolution Society. . . 295 Session of Parliament, January 1790 297 French Revolution reprobated by Mr. Burke and the King's Friends ib. Vindicated by Mr. Fox and the Friends of the People. . . 302 Mr. Fox's Motion for a Repeal of the Test 305 Negatived with remarkable attendant Circumstances. ... 311 Mr. Flood's Motion for a Reform in the British Parliament 315 Trial of Mr. Hastings Its disgraceful Procrastination. . 317 Wise Administration of Lord Cornwallis in India 320 CONTENTS. BOOK XXIV. Page Dispute with Spain relative to the Settlement at Nootka Sound 324 Death of Charles III. King of Spain Accession of Charles IV 323 Reluctance of France to support the Claims of Spain. . . . 33* Convention between Great Britain and Spain signed at theEscurial 336 Anniversary of the French Revolution celebrated 33$ Mr. Burke publishes calumnious Reflections on theFrench Revolution v .340 Pernicious and fatal Consequences of the Reflections. . . . 347 Reflections answered by Thomas Paine 348 Wonderful Effects of Paine's Pamphlet S50 New Parliament assembled, November 1790 Attempt of the Minister to seize the unclaimed Dividends at the Bank 352-4- Debate on the Pendency of Mr. Hastings's Impeachment 356 Catholic Toleration Act passed 366 Mr. Fox's Motion for a Bill to ascertain the Rights of Juries 367 Mr. Wilberforce's Motion for the Abolition of the Slave- Trade 368 Bill for establishing a Constitution in Canada 370 Convention of Reichenbach Reduction of Belgium . . . 376 Peace signed between Sweden and Russia 377 Alarming Dispute with Russia i'3. Formidable Opposition in Parliament, and consequent Retractation of Mr. Pitt 378 State of Affairs in France Civic Oath imposed upon the Clergy 382-3 Leopold King of Hungary elected Emperor 384 Inimical Disposition of the Court of Vienna 385 Treachery of Louis XVI. His Flight from Paris. . . 386-91 CONTENTS. Page Dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly 395 Church and King Riots at Birmingham 396 Session of Parliament, January 1*792 Flourishing State of the Nation ." 400 Mr. Whitbread's Motion of Censure respecting Russia. . 4O5 Mr. Wilberforce's second Motion of Abolition 414 Insidious Conduct of the House of Lords 417 Mr. Fox's Motion for a Repeal of the Penal Laws 419 Mr. Pitt's total Dereliction of the Principles ofWhiggism 421 Mr. Whitbread's Motion of Enquiry into the Birmingham Riots ." '. H>. Mr. Fox's Bill for ascertaining the Rights of Juries re- vived and passed into a Law 425 Act for the Relief of the Scottish Episcopalians 427 Society of the Friends of the People instituted 428 Royal Proclamation for the Suppression of Sedition .... 429 Prosecutions for Sedition Trials of Holt and Winter- botham 431 State of Affairs in India War of Mysore 434-6 State of Europe 1 442 Second National Assembly of France convened lb. Jealousies of die King Convention of Pilnitz 444s5 Discontents increase Menaces of the Court of Vienna. . 449 Death of the- Emperor Leopold II 455 Accession of the Emperor Francis II. His arrogant De- mands. . 455-7 Overtures of France rejected by the English Court. . . . 457 War between Austria and France Military Operations in the Low Countries 457-60 Astonishing Infatuation of the French Monarch, and his consequent Deposition . . , "..... 462-8 Progress of the combined Armies Massacres of September 470 Triumphs of the French Arms 474 Revolution in Poland 477 Invasion of Poland by the Russians . * . CONTENTS. Page Second Partition Treaty : 482 King of Sweden assassinated 489 Wise Conduct of the Danish Government ib. English Ambassador recalled from France 490 Impolitic and passionate Conduct of the English Court . 491 Terrors of Innovation . . 492 Loyal Associations 493 A Plot in Disguise 501 Parliament convened ib* Defection of the Alarmists 505 Interesting Debate on Mr. Fo x's Motion for a Negotiation with France 509 Ineffectual Efforts of the Executive Council of France to avert the War 525 Indiscretion and Rashness of Lord Grenville 527 French Ambassador ordered to depart the Kingdom . . 530 Character of Louis XVI 533 War declared by France against England and Hollaad 536 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. GEORGE ffl. BOOK XXII. State of Parties. Proceedings relative to the Westminster Re- turn. Motion of Mr. Sawbridge for an Enquiry into the State of the Representation, Mr. Pitt's second India Bill. Zeal of Mr. Burke for the Reform of Abuses in India. Bill for the Prevention of Smuggling. Commutation Act. King's I)ebts a fourth Time discharged. Restoration of the forfeited Estates in Scotland, Short Interval of Happiness and Repose. State of Ireland. National Convention held at Dublin. Mr. Flood's Motion for a Reform of Parliament. Mr. Flood 1 s se- % cond Motion of Reform. Triumph of the Court. State of the frish Commerce. Second National Convention. Commercial Propositions moved by Mr. Orde. Mr. Flood's third Motion of Reform. Farther Proceedings on the Westminster Return. Mr. Pitt's ultimate Plan of Parliamentary Reform. Beneficial Regulations of Office . Shop Tax. Unjust Imposition on Hawkers and Pedlars, Irish Propositions introduced into thi VOL. VIII. B HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. English House of Commons. Irish Propositions altered and new modelled, Tbe'tr final Rejection by the Irish Parliament. Fortification Project of the Duke of Richmond. Mr. Pitt's Plan for redeeming the National Dt-tt. King's Debts a Jifth Time discharged. Motion by Sir Watl'm Lewes for a Repeal of the Shop Ta.r. Humane Attempt for the Relief of Hawker t and Ptdlars. Wine Excise Bill. East-India Regulations. Mr. Hastings formally accused by Mr. Burke. Mr. Has- tings's premature and arrogant Defence. Decision in Favour of Mr. Hastings respecting the Rohilla War. Decision against Mr. Hastings on the Benares Charge. Frantic Attempt to assassinate the King. Convention with Spain relative to the Mosquito Settlements. Session of Parliament Debates on the Commercial Treaty 'with France. Consolidation of the Customs. Post-Horses Tax farmed. Mr. Fox's Motion for the Repeal of the Shop Tax. Mr. Beaufoy's Motion for the Repeal of the Test. Application for Payment of the Prince of Wales's Debts. Charge against Mr. Hastings respecting the Begums of ' Oude. Ferruckabad Charge. Charge respecting Contracts. Charge relative io Ft/zoola Khan. Charge respecting Presents^ Charge relative to the Revenues. Mr. Hastings impeached at the Bar of the House of Lords. BOOK JL HE established appellations of WHIG and XXII. v^-v-O TORY, as descriptive of the two errand political 1784. . . . . , , . , state of P artie s which under these or equivalent terms Parties. o f distinction will doubtless subsist so long as the present constitution of government shall remain, though greatly changed from their original sig- nification, it would nevertheless be fastidious to reject. The gradations of sentiment and prin- ciple which mark their progress it is however of GEORGE III. < indispensable importance occasionally to specify. BOOK The principles of Whiggism may indeed in this ^v^ 1784* respect be said to have gained a complete triumph over those of the ancient Tories, inasmuch as the once favourite maxims of Toryism passive obe- dience, non-resistance, and the divine and inde- feasible right of monarchy have fallen into gene- ral contempt. Nor can any doctrines bearing the most distant analogy to these monstrous absurdi- ties be now maintained, without the use of such artificial and ambiguous phraseology as, however magnificent in sound and show, shall vanish from the touch of reason as mists and vapors from the noon-day sun. Agreeably then to the vicissitudes which have in a long series of eventful years taken place in the views and sentiments of the opposing parties of the state, a WHIG must now be understood to mean a man who, in addition to the speculative principles of liberty civil and religious which have descended to him from his ancestors, entertains a lively and well-founded jealousy lest the preroga- tive of the crown should, in consequence of the prodigious increase of its influence, ultimately absorb the whole power and authority of the other branches of the government, and with them the liberties of the nation at large, in its vast and tremendous vortex. A modern Whig acknow- ledges and deeply regrets the improvidence of hii b HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ancestors in contributing, by the facility of their v Y IT ^v^v-O compliances, to the accumulation of an immense * 4 ' public debt, and the establishment of a standing army, both of which are yet in a state alarmingly progressive. He can scarcely forgive those ex- travagant ebullitions of loyalty which could sa- crifice the most sacred principles of the constitu- tion to the interest or ambition of the reigning family, in prolonging, by a most unjustifiable stretch of power, the existence of parliaments to a term of dangerous duration, and in furnishing to a minister, little scrupulous of expedients, and regardless of consequences, the means of universal and unbounded corruption. Whatever palliations of the fatal system then adopted, the peculiarity of that minister's situation, and the situation of the country at large in a political view, might then afford, had, it was affirmed, been long since en- tirely at an end ; but the same system is never- theless resolutely and uninterruptedly pursued, ^recovering, Antaeus-like, from every apparent or accidental fall with renewed and redoubled vigor. On the other hand, the modern Tories, al- though the descendents of those who long enter- tained a most inveterate enmity against the fa- mily upon the throne, and who from motives not of the purest patriotism vehemently oppo- sed in the former reigns the unconstitutional measures of the Whigs, having at length entirely GEORGE III. I shaken off their old attachments, and being; taken BOOK XXII. into favour and invested with power under the ^v*^ 111 -i - r i 1784< marked and too partial protection or the court, suddenly became its open and zealous advocates combining, as far as the spirit of the times would admit, the speculative errors of one party with the practical errors of the other. The ne- cessity of strengthening the prerogative of the mo- narch, and of supporting the DIGNITY of the CROWN, was from this time the incessant theme of their argument and declamation. Concessions and indulgences were in their estimation things incompatible with the majesty of the regal cha- racter. The high, harsh, and peremptory tone of AUTHORITY, uniformly marked every act of go- vernment under the almost constant predomi- nance of this dangerous faction during the presents reign, from the commitment of a printer, or the prosecution of a libeller, to those measures of pro- vocation and oppression terminating in a war which rent in twain and had well nigh subverted the empire- This party, now grown strong and confident by an unexpected return of prosperity, assumed with ostentatious audacity the appellation of the KING'S FRIENDS, in which novel capacity they hesitated not to give their eager and ardent sup- port Jo those measures of court policy which had been ever reprobated by the Tories of lder HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK days as in the highest degree pernicious and ^->->J unconstitutional. The STANDING ARMY, so long the theme of their invective and reproach, was now affirmed to be necessary for the preservation of the national tranquillity ; the public debt was pronounced a public benefit ; the connection with Hanover was honourable and useful ; the influ- ence of the crown was the happy means of conso- lidating the harmony of the different branches of government ; a long parliament was said to be attended with no such inconvenient consequences as had been previously and erroneously appre- hended; and every attempt to restore that equality, in the representation, or rather to remove those glaring inequalities so inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution and the practice of former ages, was opposed and rejected by them in terms of unbounded obloquy and detestation, as leading to nothing less than the absolute subversion of government. They professed on all occasions their dread of innovation and novelty not ad- verting to the constant declaration of the ancient Tories, that the things to which they objected were themselves innovations wholly extraneous to the constitution and that they who merely wished to restore were most unjustly accused of a fondness for innovation, or a dangerous propen- sity to tamper with the constitution by trying new and hazardous experiments. GEORGE III. ; Although the high and preposterous notions BOOK i ,. ^.i r XXIL once prevalent, respecting the AUTHORITY or ^-Y-<^ the CHURCH, had, in common with the old opi- ' nions relative to civil government, gradually fallen into disrepute, the Tories of the present reign have been invariably characterised by the [strength of their attachment to the ecclesiastical establishment, which they are delighted to applaud and extol as a model of purity and perfection. Any suggestions of the expediency of a reform in the church, whether in relation to the irregulari- ties of its discipline, or the errors of its doctrine as exhibited in a set of obsolete and unintelligible articles of faith, are received by this class of men with a sort of horror, as leading to foul suspicions of sectarian heresy or atheistical profaneness ; while the dissenters of all denominations are on the contrary viewed by them with eyes of jealousy and hatred, and assiduously held up on all occasions as the inveterate enemies of at least one part of the constitution, and as the doubtful friends at best of the other ; and every idea of enlarging the limits of the toleration allowed them by law, and much more of extending to them the common privileges of citizens, they have uniformly ex- claimed against with affected terror and real ma- lignity*. * The principal religious sects now subsisting in England are the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and Quakers. 8 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK By these grand and leading features are the op- v^^v-O posite parties of the present reign clearly discri- minated j and whether these parties shall con- In the last century the Presbyterians, differing little or nothing from the National Church in articles of faith or points of doc- trine, and admitting almost universally episcopal government to be most agreeable to the primitive model, were yet highly offended at the retention of so great a part of the Romish ri- tual her feasts, her fasts, her vestments, and her ceremonies. A conformity with these they regarded as unlawfully symbo- lizing with Popery as an alarming and sinful advance to- wards antichristianism and idolatry. When it was deemed necessary or expedient, at least by the Long Parliament, in the course of the civil wars, to call in the assistance of the Scottish nation, the Engljph Presbyterians embraced the Scottish cove- nant as the indispensable condition of attaining it and epis- copacy being rejected in all its forms and modifications, the Scottish model or "platform" of government and discipline by classes and assemblies was adopted and established throughout the kingdom. The Independents in a short time totally sup- planting the Presbyterians, the new mode of worship fell into contempt this daring and military sect affirming each sepa- rate church or congregation to possess a power over its o\vn members, complete xnd independent of all other or superior juris- dictions ; thus, as the historian Neale observes, " striking at the main principles of the hierarchy. ' ' This opinion naturally led to the novel and noble principle first introduced by them of an universal and unlimited toleration. In a long series of years the points of resemblance and dissimilarity between these two sects are much changed. The dissenters of all denomi- nations are now agreed as to the non-existence of any higher ecclesiastical authority founded on Scripture or primitive an- V GEORGE III. 9 tinue to be known under the established denomi- BOOK XXII nations of Whig and Tory, whether by the appel- *^^J lations of Court and Country, King's Friends or tiquity than that of an individual church or congregation and the difference now consists entirely in opposing formulas of faith the Independent congregations adhering strictly to the Calvinistic or orthodox system, and the Presbyterians de- viating into a wide field of latitudinarianism and heresy, branching into all the theological distinctions of Arminianism, Arianism, Socinianism, &c. The dissenters of the latter de- nominations have indeed of late years chosen to decline alto- gether the appellation of Presbyterians, as conveying, since the days of Hudibras, ideas of cant, grimace, and enthusiasm, by no means characteristic of these sceptical, reasoning, and philosophical sects ; choosing rather the simple and dignified title of Christian Unitarians. The Baptists, or Anabaptists, as they are usually styled, differ no less widely among them- selves as to speculative points of doctrine, and have no com- mon centre of union as a sect but in their rejection of the rite of baptism as it has been customarily practised in the Chris- tian church in all ages confining it to adult Christians in the mode of immersion only. Amongst the Quakers, no less than other professors of Christianity, it is certain that a great diversity of sentiments subsists respecting the doctrines incul- cated by it. But this benevolent and pacific sect wisely laymuch more stress on the spirit and temper of the religion they pro- fess, than on any peculiar dogmas of faith. And since the frantic but transient fervors by which they were originally actuated subsided, they have distinguished themselves by an jenlightened and active zeal in the cause of universal charity, humanity, and freedom, both civil and religious. The Mo- ravians constitute a fifth sect, in a national and political view, almost too insignificant for mention. They had their origia 10 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Patriots, is of little importance, so that the terms XXII. ^v^j be distinctly defined and generally understood ; although in different individuals these different systems will of course be blended and diversified by all the possible tints and shades of moral and political variety. No sooner had the Whigs, after a long and laborious opposition, driven their antagonists the Tories from the helm, and found themselves in full possession of the powers of government and the confidence of the people, than, in consequence of the unfortunate misunderstanding and subse- quent conflict of their leaders, they were again broken and divided ; and.each division was under the necessity of strengthening itself by forming new and dangerous connections with their former opponents. On the secession of Mr. Fox, the earl of Shelburne called in the aid, though in a somewhat covert manner, of the Jenkinson party ; in Germany within the present century the famous count Zinzendorf being their head and first founder. Notwith- standing the spirit of fanaticism, and, if they are not heavily calumniated, of immorality, which marked their earlier stages of progression, they are now known only as an humble, quiet, and industrious people, little connected with the community 3t large, submissively obedient in religious matters to those whom they regard as their spiritual superiors, and in civil concerns to the government of the country under whose pro- tection they live, with little disposition or ability to enter 5m any speculative discussion of these topics. GEORGE III. 11 and when a fair prospect of supplanting that BOOK nobleman in a short time occurred, Mr. Fox v^v^ 1 *7S4 scrupled not, to the astonishment and indigna- tion of the kingdom, publicly to coalesce with lord North and his numerous partisans. The earl of Shelburne having been far more guarded in his previous declarations, as well as his subse- quent political associations, escaped the obloquy which attended the more flagrant inconsistency of his once popular rival ; who, by openly con- necting himself with that individual minister of the crown whom he had so long and so success- fully laboured to vilify and disgrace, had for ever forfeited his claim to the flattering appellation of " the Man of the People." On the dismission of the coalition administra- tion, Mr. Pitt, the head of the new ministry, was in a manner compelled, like his predecessor lord Shelburne, to admit no inconsiderable proportion of the Tories to share in the honors and emolu- ments of government ; and the nation, equally enraged at the Whigs and the Tories of the coa- lition, willingly excused the re-admission of those members of the old Tory administration who could plead the recent merit of inveighing against the coalition, and of opposing the India Bill of Mr. Fox. From this mixture of Toryism in the new ad- ministration, nevertheless, the most pernicious 12 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK and direful consequences have ultimately result- v^-v^O ed. The rei^n of the present monarch has in- O A deed been distinguished by a strange and dreadful fatality; and the deplorable infatuation almost invariably actuating the national councils, and which has been productive of such mighty mis- chiefs, may well appear to the contemplative and philosophic mind penetrating beyond the dark cloud which bounds the view of common observers the destined means of accomplishing the grand and beneficent purposes of that wisdom in comparison with which the highest human saga- city is as weakness and folly. But these are re- flections which more properly appertain to the province of the theologist than the historian. After the division which took place on the ad- tire to the dress, and which terminated in the complete . triumph of the new ministry, the business which chiefly for a time occupied the attention of the house and of the public was the complaint stated by Mr. Fox respecting the conduct of the higli- bailiff of Westminster, who had obstinately and daringly refused to make the return in his favor, although he had upon the face of the poll a ma- jority of 235 votes. Mr. Fox, however, was not deprived of his seat in parliament by this infa- mous procedure, being, through the interest of his friend sir Thomas Dundas, chosen member for the borough of Kirkwall, in the Orkneys ; on GEORGE III. 13 which occasion Mr. Pitt, in the height of his ex- BOOK XXIL ultation, gratified his feelings by a sarcastical deli- <*r-v^- r i *. u i? 8 '*- neation or his antagonist, as a man on whom a sort of sentence of banishment had passed who had been driven by the efforts of patriotic indig- nation as an exile from his native clime, and forced to seek for refuge on the stormy and de- solate shores of the " Ultima Thule." On the 24th of May a resolution was moved by Mr. Lee, late attorney-general, " that the high- bailiff of Westminster on the day upon which the writ of election expired ought to have re- turned two citizens to serve in parliament for that city." A violent debate ensued ; and the previous question having been moved by sir Lloyd Kenyon, it was ordered that the high-bailiff should attend the house on the day following. The sole pretext on which that officer rested his de- fence was, that, having ground to suspect the va- lidity of many votes taken in the course of a poll of six weeks duration, he had granted a scrutiny, till the termination of which he could not in con- science make the return. To this an obvious and decisive answer presented itself. The scrutiny is nothing more than a revision of the poll by the returning officer ; and if such revision is not, and cannot be, completed previous to the period at which the writ is returnable, the officer is bound, by the nature of his office, and the tenor of his J4 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK oath, to make the return agreeably to the poll as v VJT , ^^-y~L> it was actually taken. For if vague presump- 84 * tions of the nature now alleged were admitted as just causes of procrastination, elections would be thrown entirely into the hands of the returning officer, who, if gained over by the court, might for any indefinite term prevent those who were obnoxious to the administration for the time being from taking their seats in parliament ; and the representation of the kingdom would be thus rendered flagrantly corrupt, partial, and imper- fect. Had the high-bailiff really felt those scruples of conscience by which he pretended to be thus embarrassed, the law of parliament allowed him to include all the candidates in the same return, which would at once have transferred the task and burden of the decision from his own con- science to the conscience of the house. After long pleadings by counsel at the bar of the house on either part, the motion was renewed, " that the high*bailiff be directed forthwith to make the return." To the disgrace of the new administra- tion, this motion was vehemently opposed, and on a division finally negatived the ayes being 117, the noes 195. It was then moved and carried, " that the high-bailiff do proceed in the scrutiny with all practicable dispatch." Thus was this bu- siness laid at rest during the present session ; but the character of the new minister suffered, in GEORGE III. 15 consequence of the part which he took in the BOOK XXII conduct of it, an indelible stain. Though as yet ^-v^o of years immature and unhackneyed in the ways of 1784 ' men, he was indignantly perceived capable with alacrity and eagerness to justify injustice, and to become an active and voluntary instrument of mean and insidious revenge. On the 1 6th of June a motion was made by Motion of Mr. Alderman Sawbridge, and seconded by Mr. j^ge for Alderman Newnham, both of them representa- fnt tives of the city of London, that a committee appointed to enquire into the present state of the tlon * representation of the commons of Great Britain in parliament. The measure itself had the con- currence and support of Mr. Pitt, though the new minister professed in the usual language of ministers that the time was improper ; and indeed the motion appears to have been calculated and designed rather to embarrass the minister than to o promote the proposed object. Mr. Dundas, who had supported the former proposition of Mr. Pitt, luckily found a distinction which enabled him to oppose the present motion, without in the least diminishing his reputation for consistency. His objection was', that the committee now moved for was a select committee, whereas the com- mittee for which he had formerly voted was a committee of the whole house. On the division 16 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK upon the previous question, the numbers were XXII. v^-V^ 201 tO 127. The crand business of the present session, how- Mr. Pitt's second ever, was the arrangement of a plan for the future India bill. government of India. For this purpose Mr. Pitt, on the 6th of July brought in a bill, founded on the general principles of that rejected by the former parliament, and to which the Company had now given their slow and reluctant assent. By this bill a BOARD of CONTROL, composed of a certain number of commissioners of the rank of privy-counsellors, was established, the members of which were to be appointed by the king, and re- moveable at his pleasure, This Board was au- thorised to check, superintend, and control, the civil and military government and revenue of the Company. The dispatches transmitted by the court of directors to the different presidencies were to be previously subjected to the inspection of the superior board, and counter-signed by them; and the directors were enjoined to pay due obedience to the orders of the Board, touch- ing civil and military government and revenues ; and in case such orders do at any time in the opi- nion of the directors relate to points not connect- ed therewith, they are empowered to appeal to his majesty in council, whose decision is declared final. The bill moreover enacted, that the ap- GEORGE III. 17 pointment of the court of directors to the office of BOOK XXII governor-general, president, or counsellor in the ^>^L> different presidencies, shall be subject to the ap- probation and recall of his majesty. As to the zemindars, or great hereditary land-holders of In- dia, who had been violently dispossessed of their property, and who, agreeably to the generous and decisive tenor of Mr. Fox's bill, were to have been universally and peremptorily reinstated in their zemindaries, the present bill provided only that an enquiry should be instituted in order to restore such as should appear to have been ir- regularly and unjustly deprived.* Lastly, an high tribunal was created for the trial of Indian delinquents, consisting of three judges, one from each court, of four peers and six members of the house of commons, who were authorised to judge without appeal to award in case of conviction the punishments of fine and imprisonment and to declare the party convicted incapable of serv- ing the East-India Company. These were the grand and leading features of the bill ; and the most transient observation sufficed to shew that the objectionable parts of Mr. Fox's bill had been anxiously and completely avoided. The * It is remarkable, that not a single zemindar was in fact restored in consequence of this clause ; whence some have complaisantly inferred that not a single zemindar was unjustly dispossessed. VOL. VIII. C 1$ HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK management of their commercial concerns was left in the hands of the Company, who were di- vested only of that political power which they had so grossly abused, and of that civil authority to the due exercise of which they were so mani- festly incompetent. And this authority was not transferred to persons who, like the commission- ers of Mr. Fox, might attempt to establish an un- constitutional influence in parliament, not merely independent of, but in direct opposition to, the regular and constitutional authority of the crown; but in the effort to steer clear of the rock of Scylla, it was evident that Mr. Pitt had plunged into the gulph of Charybdis, and that by this bill a vast ac- cession of influence resulted to the crown, already possessing a dangerous, formidable, and increasing ascendency over the other branches of the legis- lature. Mr. Fox, with his usual powers of discrimina- tion, attacked the weak and exceptionable parts of this bill, although the utmost energy of his eloquence was found inadequate to excite the general attention of the public to the merits or demerits of the measure in question prepossessed as they now almost universally were in favour of the minister with whom it originated, and in whom they placed the most entire and unlimited confidence. Mr. Fox, urged with great force and animation, that this bill established a weak and GEORGE III. 1< inefficient government, by dividing its powers. BOOK To the one board belonged the privilege of or- v^-N^O dering and contriving measures ; to the other, that of carrying them into execution. It was a system of dark intrigue and delusive art. By the negative vested in the commissioners, the CHAR- TERED RIGHTS of the Company, on which such stress had been laid, were insidiously undermined and virtually annihilated. If it were right to vest such powers in a board of privy counsellors, let it be done explicitly and openly, and shew the Company and the world, that what they dared to do they dared to justify. Founded on principles so heterogeneous, how could such a government be other than the constant victim of internal distrac- tion ? The appeal allowed from the decisions of the board of control to the privy-council was af- firmed by Mr. Fox to be palpably nugatory and ridiculous. The bill he had introduced exhibited at the first glance the features of openness, fair- ness, and responsibility. The present plan was full of darkness and disguise. In a covert and concealed mode, an immense patronage was transferred to the crown, which, instead of cor- recting abuses, opened a door to every species of collusion and corruption. It was calculated to establish an Indian government of the island of Great Britain. Against the clauses of the bill respecting the zemindars, Mr. Fox entered his 20 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK strongest protest- The zemindars ought, in his XXIT ^x-v-O opinion, to be rated by a fixed rule of past pe- riods, and not of a vague and indefinite future enquiry. The new tribunal Mr. Fox stigmatized as a screen for delinquents ; as a palpable and un- constitutional violation of the sacred right of trial by jury. Since no man was to be tried but on the accusation of the Company or the attorney-general, he had only to conciliate go- vernment in order to his remaining in perfect se- curity. It was a part of the general system of deception and ddusion, and he would venture to pronounce it a " bed of justice," where justice would for ever sleep. On the motion of com- mitment, the numbers were 276 to 61 ; and it was carried in triumph to the house of peers, where, after an opposition vigorous in point of exertion, but feeble in regard of numbers, the bill passed August 9, 1784. It was accompanied by a protest, in which it was severely branded as a measure ineffectual in its provisions, unjust in its inquisitorial spirit, and unconstitutional in its partial abolition of the trial by jury. zeal of Mr. Amongst those who had chiefly distinguished themselves in the investigation of Indian affairs, and whose indignation had been most strongly awakened at the discovery of the enormous op- pression exercised in those distant regions, was Mr. Burke. Agreeably, indeed, to the general GEORGE III. 21 cast of his character and genius, Mr. Burke's acuteness of research, and that extensive know- ledge of the subject which he had acquired by long and indefatigable attention, was obscured and rendered in a great measure useless, and even pernicious, by the violence of his passions, and the obstinacy of his prejudices. Not satisfied with exhibiting facts sufficiently atrocious in their own nature in the language of plainness and sim- plicity, Mr. Burke was eager upon all occasions to impress the public mind and heighten the ge- neral effect, by all the arts of rhetorical amplifi- cation and embellishment. So little of philoso- phy, however, entered into the oratory of this famous speaker, that the effect produced upon the public mind was directly opposite to that which he himself expected and intended. Amidst the blaze of declamation, and the thunders of invective, the ingenuous enquirer after TRUTH found it insuperably difficult to ascertain with precision those points on which the charge of criminality rested. To the most careless observer, it was apparent that in numerous instances facts were .distorted and disguised ; that the most invi- dious construction was invariably annexed even to the most indifferent actions ; that every thing was seen through the medium of false and artifi- cial colourings ; that the dignified candour which gives weight to an accusation was wholly want- 22 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ing. His calmness was settled rancor; his ^vO warmth, the phrensy of rage and revenge. Mr. Burke had long singled out Mr. Hastings, late governor-general of India, as the object of his most furious attacks ; but from the circum- stances now enumerated, the feelings of the public were in a considerable degree excited in his favor. Added to this, the successes of the late war in India, contrasted with the defeats and disasters sustained by the nation in all other parts of the globe, cast a certain splendor around the character of Mr. Hastings, who had acquired the popular ap- pellation of the Saviour of India ; while to appre- ciate the real merits of his long and eventful ad- ministration required a sagacity and diligence of research for which the inclination and ability were, to speak in general terms, equally wanting. Mr. Burke had also entirely lost the degree of credit which he once possessed with the public, by standing forward as the avowed advocate and champion of the detested coalition, of which he was indeed more than suspected to have been the original projector, although the bitterness of his former invectives against the late minister, lord North could not be exceeded by his most viru- lent* effusions against the more recent object of his intemperate abuse, Mr. Hastings. In a word, Mr. Burke appeared in the view of the public at this period, as a man of talents indeed, but to- GEORGE III. 23 tally destitute of judgment, and even of princi- BOOK XXII pie ; who, actuated by pride, spleen, and ambi- ^y~+~> tion, affected to assume the elevated character of a CICERO dragging a delinquent of the first mag- nitudea VERRES-T-U) public justice : while Mr. Hastings, on the other hand, was regarded as a man deserving highly of his country, and who had from secret and sinister motives become the un- fortunate object of an unjust and iniquitous per- secution. Early in July, the minister, Mr. Pitt, acquainted the house with the arrival of sir Elijah Impey, chief-judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Bengal, who had been recalled by the king, in conformity to an address of that house. Mr. Burke upon this remarked, that the resolutions upon the subject were originally moved and se- conded by sir Adam Ferguson and general Smith, who were not members of the present parlia- ment. The charge against the delinquent in question having already received- the sanction of that house, it might be proper to proceed against him by impeachment. For his own part, how- eveiv he totally declined taking the lead in this business. What hope could he, a solitary and unassisted individual, entertain of success, when the nobleman now presiding in the house of peers had expressly declared, in relation to the Reports in which the proceedings originated, that he 24- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK regarded them no more than the romance of XXII v^v^ Robinson Crusoe ? He therefore earnestly recom- mended it to the chancellor of the exchequer, as the chief conductor and representative of the ex- ecutive government, to enforce the resolutions of that house relating to sir Elijah Impey. But Mr. Pitt totally, and in the most unequivocal terms, declined any concern in the affair. This was not the only indication of a fixed determina- tion in the present ministry to discountenance all judicial investigation of the antecedent transac- tions in India. On the a8th of July, Mr. Burke moved, That the house should resolve itself into*a committee, to enquire into the facts stated in the different Re- ports relative to India. He asserted, that his character was at stake. If, as had been suggested, the Reports were mere fables, they were indeed calumnies of the most bold and unprincipled nature, and he himself was an infamous calum- niator. The two sets of Reports originating from the different committees acknowledged as their parents Mr. Dundas and himself. The right honourable gentleman had indeed seen the drawn sycmitar lifted up to divide and destroy his off- spring without discovering any symptom of emo- tion. But the spectacle was too horid for his feelings. He wished to intercept the arm of the executioner, and to receive the bloody and fla- GEORGE III. 25 stroke in his own person : " Adsum qui BOOK. xxn feci" exclaimed the orator, " in me convertite fer- ^r~y^t rum /" In contempt of this flight of eloquence, Mr. Dundas coolly moved the order of the day. Disappointed in this attempt, Mr. Burke two days afterwards brought forward a series of reso- lutions, intended as a foundation for an enquiry into the conduct of Mr. Hastings. On this Mr. Pitt rose, and asked, " How that house, as a house of parliament, knew as a fact the transac- tions on which Mr. Burke grounded his motions ? If the motions passed, from what office were the papers expected to proceed? To relieve the house from these embarrassments, he said, he should move the order of the day." This second inter- ruption was more than the patience of Mr. Burke could endure. He affirmed the insensibility of government to the foul enormities lately perpe- trated, and still perpetrating, by our countrymen in the East, to be truly shocking. He deprecated the day that the knowledge of them had come to his mind. The miserable objects it exhibited, nations extirpated, provinces desolated, cities and countries overwhelmed in one mass of de- struction, constantly dwelt on his imagination. The cries of the native Indians were never out of his ears ; an impression of horror had seized on his mind, which deprived him of sleep, and night and day preyed upon his peace. The 26 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK reality of the facts stated in the Reports had been XXII v-^v-^ impeached. Why then would not the men who denied them stand forward and support their allegations ? Oh ! what, said this impassioned orator, would I not give to find the scenes of horror there described nothing more than a fic- tion ! To me it would be a discovery more pre- cious and grateful than the discovery of a new world. He declared, that he wished it for the honour of humanity, from sympathy to millions of suffering and helpless individuals, from an anxi- ous desire to retrieve the honour of the house, and of the country at large, from infamy and execra- tion. He conjured Mr. Pitt to reflect with seri- ousness on this business. The voice of India cried aloud for justice. He was at a loss, he said, how to account for the callous insensibility of the mU nister, at a time of life when all the generous feel- ings of our nature arc most lively and suscepti- ble : and proceeding in reflections very pointed and personal, he was loudly called to order ; and still persevering in his exclamations and re- proaches, was at length compelled to sit down, amidst the universal clamor and tumult of the house. KII for the On the dismission of this unwelcome business, KJu"- 011 the attention of the house was immediately trans- ,. ferred to a bill introduced by the minister for the more effectual prevention of the practice of smug- GEORGE III. 27 s-linsr, which had of late years arisen to a most BOOK XXII alarming height. This bill contained various <^v~*-> 1784 prudential, but somewhat severe, regulations. The distance from shore, at which seizures should in future be deemed lawful, was extended, and the constructing of vessels of a certain form and dimension peculiarly calculated for contraband purposes prohibited. But by far the most extra- ordinary part of the present plan was the reduc- tion of the duties paid by the East-India Com- pany on the importation of TEA, which was af- firmed to be the grand medium of the smuggling traffic ; and the consequent imposition of v a new duty on windows, already most grievously bur- dened, to the amount of the deficiency, estimated at no less than six hundred thousand pounds per annum. This was styled by the minister a Com- Commuta- r . -\ r i * mutation fax j and the equity or it was defended on the general and vague idea, that, teas being an article of universal consumption, the weight of the tax would be compensated by a proportional abate- ment in the purchase of the commodity. No- thing however could be more fallacious than this statement, nor perhaps any impost more oppressive in its practical operation. It is obvious, that in large towns and cities, ground for the purpose of building being very valuable, houses are erected on a comparatively confined scale, and the num- ber of windows is very moderate. But in small S HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.. BOO K towns and villages, where ground is cheap, houses xxii. f . , v-^v-^> are for the most part constructed on a more con- venient model, with ranges of offices, and win- dows commanding the court-yards, gardens, &c. contiguous to the dwelling. On these peaceful and rural retreats the tax fell heavily indeed ; and the miserable effects of it are fully apparent in the multitude of windows stopped up in farm-houses and other country residences, to the inexpressible injury of the ease, health, and comfort, of a very great proportion of the community. But in the metropolis and other opulent and populous towns the tax fell lightly ; and in consequence of the greater prevalence of luxury, the reduction of the duty on tea more than compensating in such situ- ations for the addition of the new tax, this mea- sure was applauded as a happy stroke of finance. A vigorous but unavailing opposition to the bill was nevertheless made by Mr. Fox, who asked, what connection there was between an impost upon tea and an impost upon windows, to entitle the latter to be denominated a commutation for the former ? He affirmed it to be the essence of financial injustice and oppression to take off a tax upon luxury, and to substitute in jits stead a tax upon that which was of indispensable necessity. Spirits were a leading article of smuggling, and a luxury in common use, as well as tea. But would the minister venture to pursue the commuting GEORGE III. 29 principle of this bill to its full extent, and, abolish- BOOK ,'j . . . ,. . xxii. ing the duties on spirituous liquors, to impose an- ^-Y-^ 1784 other tax upon windows, and assign as a reason, that all men may be presumed or expected to drink rum and brandy in their own houses ? The obligations of this kingdom to the East-India O O Company, and the vast revenue we derived from the commerce carried on by them, had been much insisted on ; but surely it was at all times easy, without having recourse to their instrumentality, to obtain the same revenue by the same means. Mr. Courtenay, a member of the house, di- stinguished no less by the readiness of his wit than the vigour of his understanding, remarked that the bill now before the house was the coun- terpart of the detestable Gabelle or Salt-tax in France. There an impost was laid upon that ar- ticle, and every man was obliged to take and pay for a certain quantity, whether he wanted it or not. As the present administration had in other respects degraded the commons of Great Britain to a level with the parliaments of France, it was indeed perfectly consistent in them to introduce a similar principle of taxation. The bill at length passed the house by a very great majority ; after no very long interval receiving the royal assent : and it must be confessed, that in a commercial and financial view it has beyond the most san- guine previous calculation answered its intended purpose. 30 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. The remaining great operation of finance dur- ing this extraordinary session was the providing for the arrears of the unfunded debt left at the conclusion of the war, amounting to more than twenty millions. This was disposed of partly in the four-per-cents, and partly in a newly created five-per-cent. stock, made irredeemable for thirty years, or until twenty-five millions of the existing funds should be extinguished. The taxes for the payment of the interest of this vast sum were, in the present exhausted state of the national finan- ces, upon the whole allowed to be happily and ju- diciously chosen. King's It must not be omitted, that the sum of sixty debts a '.'. r , fourth time thousand pounds was in the course or the session ' voted to his majesty, to enable him to discharge the debt contracted in the civil list. This was the fourth grant for the same purpose since the acces- sion of the present king. Much altercation arose on this occasion between the old and the new ministry, as to the precise period when this new debt was incurred. All however that the public at large could be fully certified of was, that with a civil list revenue of eight hundred thousand pounds, afterwards increased to nine hundred thousand pounds per annum, exclusive of the revenues arising from the crown lands, more than fourteen hundred thousand pounds had been voted . within the space of about fifteen years, for the GEORGE III. 31 i payment of the debts of the crown. And the BOOK xxii stern observation of the famous MILTON could ^-rO 1784. not but forcibly recur in such circumstances to the public recollection " That the very trappings of a monarchy were more than sufficient to defray the whole expence of a republic."* The last measure which came under parliamen-Restorarioa \ of the for- tary discussion during the present session was afeited estates in bill introduced by Mr. Dundas, and of a nature Scotland. perfectly congenial to the urbanity and good humour which, notwithstanding his political frail- ties, characterized that able and versatile minis- . ter, for the restoration of the estates forfeited in Scotland in consequence of the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Mr. Dundas declared the mea- sure to be, in his opinion, worthy of the justice and generosity of parliament. He said, there was not one of the families comprehended in the scope of it, in which some person had not atoned for the crimes and errors of his ancestors, by sacrifi- cing his blood in the cause of his country ; and that the sovereign had not, for a long series of * " I would rather," said Louis XII. of France, in answer to some satirical reflections on his too rigid attention to ceco- nomy, " that my courtiers should laugh at my parsimony than that my subjects should" weep at my prodigality." This was nobly spoken : But what would that monarch, so justly cele-' brated for his beneficence and patriotism, have said to a con- duct which united at once the extremes of parsimony and prodigality ? 32 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK years past, a more loyal set of subjects than the Highlanders of Scotland and their chieftains. Of this the late lord Chatham was deeply sensible, and that illustrious statesman had publicly recog- nized the rectitude of the measure now proposed. And he trusted, that the remains of a system, which, whether directed at first by narrow views or sound policy, ought certainly to be temporary, would be completely annihilated under the admi- nistration of his son. He did not however mean, that the estates should be freed from the claims ex- isting against them at the time of forfeiture. This might be regarded as a premium for rebellion. He therefore proposed the appropriation of such sums,amounting to about eighty thousand pounds, to public purposes ; fifty thousand of which he would recommend to be employed in the com- pletion of the grand canal reaching from the Frith of Forth to that of Clyde. This bill was received in a manner which did honour to the feelings of the house. Mr. Fox in particular, with his usual generosity, bestowed upon it the highest encomi- ums, and professed himself deterred only by the lateness of the session from endeavouring to en- large its operation to what he conceived to be its just and proper extent. Nevertheless, when the bill was sent to the lords, it met with a most de- termined and malignant resistance from the lord- chancellor, who expatiated with much satisfaction GEORGE III. S3 on that maxim of antient wisdom, which pro- BOOK nounced treason to be a crime of so deep a dye, ^-v-O that nothing less was adequate to its punishment than the total eradication of the person, the name, and the family, out of the community. Happily, on dividing the house, this nobleman was left in a small and disgraceful minority, and the bill finally passed with that public approbation and applause it so justly merited. An end was put to the session August 20, 1784, the king returning his warmest thanks to the two houses for their zealous and diligent attention to the public service. He predicted the happiest ef- fects from the bill for the better government of India. He spoke in terms of high commendation of the laws enacted for the improvement of the revenue. He thanked his faithful commons for their provision for the arrears of the civil list j deploring, nevertheless, in the accustomed style, the unavoidable burdens imposed upon his people. He noticed the definitive treaty with Holland, and the peace concluded in India ; and trusted, from the assurances of foreign powers, that the present tranquillity would prove of permanent du- ration. In the interval between the prorogation of the short inter- parliament and its re-assembling in the course the ensuing winter, the nation enjoyed a flattering" and delightful repose. Highly gratified with the VOL. VIII. D 34, HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK recent change which had taken place, they viewed XXII. v^-v>l> with unbounded complacency and confidence the minister now at the head of affairs j and indulged the most fond and sanguine hopes, that under his auspices Britain would be restored to her former enviable state of prosperity and greatness : and the name of PITT, endeared by the recollection of all that can interest the feelings of a generous and grateful people, seemed anew consecrated to pa- triotism, to liberty, and to virtue. state of Ireland, however, at this period, exhibited a ,. . ., . ,-,, ,. . , very dissimilar picture, ihe political tempest which had agitated that kingdom during the latter years of the late war had not yet subsided. Much had indeed been acquired, but much also yet remained to be done. The two questions which at the present juncture chiefly occupied the public attention were those which related to the state of their commerce and the state of their representation. So long since as the ist of July 1783, the de- legates of forty- five volunteer corps had assembled at Lisburne, in the county of Antrim, to con- sider of the measures proper to be adopted, in order to effect a reform in the national represen- tation. A committee was by them appointed to meet at Belfast, at the head of which presided colonel Sharman. By this committee letters were addressed to many persons in the sister kingdom GEORGE III. 35 most distinguished for their talents, their virtues, BOOK and their zeal in the cause of liberty, requesting their advice and opinion on this important sub ject ; among these were the Duke of Richmond, lord EfEngham, Mr. Pitt, Dr. Price, and Dr. Jebb. The most remarkable of the answers returned to this committee was that of the Duke of Rich- mond, who recommended with great force, and in the most decided language, the plan of UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. " I have no hesitation in saying," such is the memorable declaration of this bold reformer, " that from every consideration which I have been able to give to this great question that for many years has occupied my mind, and from every day's experience to the present hour, I am more and more convinced that the RESTORING the RIGHT of VOTING UNIVERSALLY to every man not incapa- citated by nature for want of reason, or bylaw for the commission of crimes, together with ANNUAL ELECTIONS, is the only reform that can be effectual and permanent. I am further convinced that it is the only reform that is practicable. All other plans that are of a palliative nature have been found insufficient to interest and -animate the great body of the people, from whose earnestness alone any reform can be expected. A long exclusion from any share in the legislation of their country had rendered the great mass of the people indiffe- rent whether the monopoly that subsisted conti- D 2 56 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK mied in the hands of a more or less extended com- XXII i^v-^j pany, or whether it is divided by them into shares of somewhat more or less just proportion. The truth is that the people have been so often deceiv- * ed, that they will now scarcely trust any set of men ; and nothing but self evident conviction that a measure tends effectually to the recovery of their rights, can, or indeed OUGHT, to interest them in its favor." The meeting at Lisburne was quickly followed by an assembly of delegates held at Dungannon, for the province of Ulster ; at which the earl of Charlemont, generalissimo of the volunteer corps, throughout the kingdom ; Mr. Conolly, consider- ed as the first commoner in point of property ; and the bishop of Derry, brother to the late earl of Bristol, nominated in the year 1 766 to the lord- lieutenancy of Ireland, were present. The pro- vinces of Leinster and Munster followed the ex- ample of Ulster a NATIONAL CONVENTION was appointed to be held at Dublin on the iclh of November. Such was the posture of affairs in that kingdom, when the parliament of Ireland, recently elected, met on the i4th of October, 1783. The earl of Northingtpn opened the session with a judicious speech, in which he professed to anticipate the greatest national benefits from the wisdom and temper of the new parliament. On the very first ion Dublin. GEORGE III. 37 day of the session the thanks of both houses were BOOK xxn. voted to the different volunteer corps of Ireland ^-Y-^ for their public services : and a farther proof of the independent spirit now prevalent appeared in the resolution proposed by lord Mountmorres, and which received the sanction of both houses, *' That, in the present state of the kingdom, it was expedient that there should be a session of parlia- ment held every year." On the i oth of November the national conven- National , , i. . s~\.r i conven tion met agreeably to their appointment. Or this held at formidable assembly the earl of Charlemont was elected president. On the motion of the bishop of Derry, a committee was forthwith appointed to digest a plan of reform, who in a short time reported their opinion, That every Protestant free- bolder > or leaseholder, possessing a freehold or lease* hold for a certain term of years of forty shillings value, resident in any city or borough, should be entitled to vote in the election of member for the same : That decayed boroughs should be enabled to return representatives by an extension of fran- chise to the neighbouring parishes : That the suf- frages of the electors should be taken by the sheriff or his deputies on the same day at the respective places of election : That pensioners of the crown, receiving their pensions during pleasure, should be incapacitated from sitting in parliament : That every member of parliament accepting a pension 38 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK for life, or any place under the crown, should JfV-?^.Ii. v^-v^* vacate his seat : That each member should sub- 17S4. scribe an oath, that he had neither directly nor indirectly given any pecuniary or other considera- tion, with a view of obtaining the suffrage of any elector : Finally, That the duration of parliament should not exceed the term of three years. This report was received by the convention with great applause, and resolutions to the same purport una- nimously passed. Mr.Fiood's On the very next day Mr. Flood, long known motion for,., ,. . .,*" - a reform in by his able and eloquent exertions in the cause or "'liberty, moved the house of commons, for leave to bring in a bill for the more equal representation of the people in parliament. It now appeared that the coalition ministers, as yet in the zenith of their power, had formed a fixed determination to op- pose to the utmost the encroachments of a dan- gerous and armed democracy, unknown in their newly-assumed capacity to the laws and to the constitution, Mr. Yelverton, attorney-general, declared that the question thus introduced did not deserve tq be discussed, but that it ought to be regarded as an insult upon the house. If the bill originated, as it was notorious it did, with a body of armed men, they should decidedly set their faces against receiving it. They did not sit there to receive propositions at the point of the bayonet. He en* GEORGE III. tertained an extreme reverence for the volunteers, X xn. for the essential services they had conferred on "^TsT^ their country ; but when they formed themselves into a political body, to discuss the modes of re- forming parliament, and to regulate the affairs of the nation when they would probe the wounds of the constitution with the sword he would be their most determined opponent. The question was now, Whether the national convention or the parliament of Ireland were to legislate for the country ? What phenomenon was it they had so lately seen ? Armed men drawn up in files, pre- paring the way for other armed men, resorting in fastidious pomp to a general assembly, and dis- playing all the ostentation of a real parliament ! Would they submit to this ? Was it decent for parliament to enter into any sort of compromise with this congress ? Were the members of that house free in their deliberations while this military congress was sitting ? No : it was necessary they should say to the volunteers " You have obtain- ed a constitution and commerce; and now, instead of dictating to the legislature of the kingdom, go to your own homes, change your attire, and turn your swords, no longer needed for the defence of your country, into plough-shares and pruning- hooks." This speech, seconded by the efforts of Mr. Pelham, secretary to the lord-lieutenant, and other zealous partisans of government, was deci- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. sive ; and notwithstanding the ardent exertions of the rival patriots, Mr. Flood and Mr. Grattan, the house at a very late hour divided Ayes 77, noes 157. Desirous to fix a still farther stigma on the mea- sures of the convention, it was immediately moved by Mr. Yelverton, " That it was now necessary to declare that this house would support the rights and privileges of parliament against all encroach- ments." This resolution being carried by a great majority, an address to the king was moved, ex* pressive of the sense felt by the house of the bles- sings they enjoyed under his auspices, and assur- ing him that they were determined to support in- violate the present constitution with their lives and fortunes. In this address the lords concurred. A protest, however, signed by the earl of Charle- mont and four other peers, was entered in the journals of the house against it. Mr. Flood reported to the national convention, at their sitting of the ist of December, the conduct of the house of commons; but far from displaying any symptoms of resentment, or even surprise, they came only to a tame and unintelligible reso- lution, " That they would carry on individually such investigations as might be necessary to com- plete the plan of parliamentary reform ;" not ad- verting to their recent and unanimous approval of a plan of reform, which they now virtually dis-. GEOR-GE III. 41 carded as Incomplete. But their humiliation was BOOK XXil. yet more apparent in the address voted on the 1784. following day to. the king, on the motion of Mr. Flood, in the name of the delegates of all the vo- lunteers of Ireland, " expressive of their duty and loyalty, claiming the merits of their past exertions, and imploring the king that their humble wish to have certain manifest perversions of the parlia- mentary representation of that kingdom remedied by the legislature in some reasonable degree might not be attributed to any spirit of innovation, but to a sober and laudable desire to uphold the con- stitution, to confirm the satisfaction of their fel- low subjects, and to perpetuate the cordial union of both kingdoms.'* This act of passive obedience and submission being ended, the convention ad- journed sine die, So unexpected and extraordinary a termination of a business which had previously wore so me- nacing and formidable an aspect merits some at- tention. The convention probably did not at all expect a conduct so spirited and decisive on the part of the house of commons. If they resolved on the prosecution of their plan, in direct contra- vention to the declared sense of the house, the most alarming consequences might be expected to en- sue. Exclusive of the personal risk which they must in that case necessarily incur as members of an illegal and TRAITOROUS assembly, they unqucs- 42 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B yxn K tionably neither wished themselves, nor was it by ^^^^ any means clear that their constituents were pre- 1784. r pared to support them in any attempt, to subvert the established government by force. The pros- pect of ultimate advantage bore no proportion to the certainty and magnitude of the evil to be en- countered. Another consideration of the greatest moment was, that this convention well knew they did not really possess the confidence of the nation, taking that term in its proper and most extensive sense. It was an undoubted fact that more than two thirds of the inhabitants of the kingdom were Catholics, who, if the proposed plan of reform had been adopted, would receive no benefit from it, and who were of course wholly indifferent as to the success of it. By some daring and decisive spirits it was indeed proposed, at the provincial meetings, to place the Catholics, in the new order of things, precisely upon the same footing with the Protestants. This would indeed have given irresistible weight to the application ; but men capable of cool and sober reflection, though firm and zealous friends to safe and moderate reform, were with reason startled at the idea of so novel and hazardous an experiment. The notion of abstract rights, founded on a false metaphysical theory, will never operate powerfully but on the minds of speculatists, who, remote from scenes of action and danger, " dream over books, and leave mankind unknown." GEORGE III. 4-3 ical enquiry with the generality of persons on this grand question of UNIVERSAL The real practical enquiry with the generality BOOK .A..A.11* SUFFRAGE, as it undoubtedly ought to be on all occasions of a political nature, was What will be the EFFECT PRODUCED ? And it was obvious that the recognition of this claim would at once throw the entire power of the kingdom into the hands of the Catholics; and no credulity could surely reach that degree of infatuation, as to expect a body of men so ignorant, bigoted, and ferocious, as the collective mass of the Irish Catholics, to make a wise and temperate use of the power thus prepos* terously put into their hands. To reform the government and constitution upon Protestant principles, and still to preserve the Protestant ascen- dancy^ was all that, in present circumstances, the state of the kingdom would bear, and all that an enlightened benevolence would consequently aim to accomplish. A liberal and patriotic Protestant government would undoubtedly relieve the Ca- tholics from all positive penalties, and grant them a participation of all civil rights and privileges con- sistent with a regard to its own safety. And in consequence of the gradual and certain diffusion of knowledge under a mild and beneficent govern- ment, there was good reason to hope that the time would at no very distant period arrive, when all distinctions might be safely and for ever extin- guished. The national convention saw clearly HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. Dilemma to which it was reduced ; but they chose what appeared to them the least of the two evils : and rather than call in the aid of the great body of Catholics, without which their strength was unequal to the contest, they sub- mitted quietly and tamely to the chastisement of that government whose authority they had in- sulted, and in a manner defied incurring by this means the censure of the moderate for their vio- lence, and of the violent for their moderation. The parliament of Ireland adjourned for the Christmas recess, on the 22d of December, 1783. Previous to their re-assembling, that memorable ministerial revolution had taken place in England which advanced Mr. Pitt to the helm of govern- ment ; and the duke of Rutland had in conse- quence superseded the earl of Northington in the viceroyalty of Ireland. Mr. Flood's On the 1 3th of March, 1784, Mr. Flood renew- second mo- ,,. . . , i t i r i /* tionofrt- ed his motion, as it was noped, by the mends or parliamentary reform, under more favorable au- spices the new English minister having distin- guished himself as one of its most eloquent and zealous advocates. Mr. Yelverton having been for his recent services promoted to the high sta- tion of lord chief-baron of the court of Exchequer, Mr. Fitzgibbon, who succeeded him in the office of attorney-general, opposed the present motion GEORGE III. 45 with equal zeal, though he allowed that, as it now came before the house in a regular and constitu- 1784. tional form, supported by numerous petitions from different parts of the kingdom, it was en- titled to respect and attention. On the second reading it was nevertheless rejected on a division by 159 to 85 voices. This decision was received with secret satisfac- tion by those friends of reform who dreaded the emancipation of the Catholics, as an evil yet greater than the permanent predominance of the present system of influence and corruption. But the mur- murs of the majority were distinctly heard. The Ulster volunteers, who had from the commence- ment of the business stood conspicuous in the van, presented on a subsequent occasion an address to their general, the earl of Chaflemont, expressing " their satisfaction at the decay of those prejudices which had so long involved the nation in feud and disunion, which, by LIMITING THE RIGHTS OF SUF- FRAGE, and circumscribing the number of their citizens, had in a great degree created and fostered the aristocratic tyranny, the source of every grieve, ance, and against which the public voice now una- nimously exclaimed." The earl of Charlemont, in reply, coldly professed himself " free from every illiberal prejudice against the Catholics, but he could not refrain from the most ardent entreaties to the volunteers to desist from a pursuit that 46 , HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xxn K would fatally clog and impede the prosecution of ^v^; their favorite purpose ; and besought them not to indulge any opinion which must and would create disunion." This answer being assiduously circu- lated throughout the kingdom, effectually caused, or most sensibly heightened, that disunion which it professed to deprecate. The object itself seemed now relinquished in despair, and the triumph of the court was complete, state of The other errand object to which the attention Irish com- . merce. of the kingdom of Ireland was at this period di- rected, related to the actual state of her commerce. The free trade granted to the Irish nation had pro- duced none of those advantages respecting which she had indulged such sanguine and credulous ex- pectations. The manufacturers and lower classes of the people in general were exposed to all the evils arising from the extremest indigence ; and it began to be clearly perceived, that while the pre- sent system of commercial intercourse with Eng- land subsisted, there was little prospect of a favor- able change in the situation of Ireland. While all English manufactures and commodities were im- ported at a trifling per-centage ad valorem into the Irish ports, duties amounting nearly to a prohibi- tion were imposed upon the produce or manufac- tures of Ireland, with ONE very important excep- tion, that of LINEN, on the importation into Eng- land. The general voice of the people of Ireland GEORGE III. 47 now loudly called for PROTECTING DUTIES, in order to foster the infant manufactures of that country, and to compel the inhabitants to consume the produce of native ingenuity and industry. On the 3ist of March Mr. Gardiner, member for the county of Dublin, in an able speech de- picted the distresses of the kingdom, traced the cause, and pointed out the remedy. He contrast- ed the condition of the people of Ireland with that of the people of England. He asked, " What; was the reason of so vast a difference ? Were Irishmen less capable by nature of earning a livelihood than their neighbours ? Was there any disadvantage in the nature of their climate ; or was the situation of their country, a situation adapted to render them the general mart of Europe, such as to pre- vent their prosperity ? No people were more labo- rious, more ingenious, or more active. There was not any branch of manufacture in which they were encouraged that they had not carried to an high degree of perfection. If then the evil did not arise from any of these causes, to what was it to be attributed, but to the vast importation of fo- reign articles, by which. a home consumption was denied, and their manufactures nipped in the bud? Mr. Gardiner therefore called upon the house to copy the conduct of England, of France, and other commercial countries, by protecting their manufactures at home. From an adherence to 48 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xx?i K t ^ ie svstem now recommended, England, notwitlt- ^-^v^ standing the pressure of an immense debt of two hundred and forty millions, had attained to a pitch of greatness truly astonishing." At the conclu- sion of his speech, Mr. Gardiner moved for an high duty on woollens imported into the king- dom. This, after a very warm debate, was nega- tived by a vast majority, and the whole system of protecting duties ridiculed and reprobated as futile, visionary, and pernicious. At the failure of this second grand attempt at relief and reform the dis- appointment of the people kindled into rage, and the short-lived popularity of the new viceroy, founded on the extreme unpopularity in Ireland, no less than in England, of the preceding coalition ministry, was now in the space of a month a little month entirely at an end. Such was the state of the metropolis at this pe- riod, that it was thought necessary to counter- mand the embarkation of several regiments des- tined to the East Indies, and to furnish the garri- son of Dublin, consisting of about 4000 regular troops, with thirty rounds of powder and ball per man. Before the end of the session an address was unanimously voted by the house of commons to the sovereign, representing the distressed state of the kingdom, and praying for the establishment of a more advantageous system of commerce be- tween Ireland and Great Britain j and on the GEORGE III. 49 1 4th of May, 1784, the parliament was prorogued. BOOK The last measure adopted by this assembly seemed v^->X-> in some measure to calm the violence of the people, and to suspend the effervescence of their anger and discontent. On the 7th of June an extraordinary meeting of the aggregate body of the citizens of Dublin was convened by the sheriffs, in which they came to several important resolutions declaratory of " the clear, original, and imprescriptible right of the people of Ireland to a frequent election, and an equal representation. They call upon the na- tion to unite with them in the measures necessary to its introduction, and in presenting petitions to the king for a dissolution of the existing parlia- ment. They assert, that the force of the state consists in the union of the inhabitants that an equal participation in ALL the rights of a man and a citizen was proper, henceforth, to engage all the members of the state to co-operate efficaciously for the greatest general good. Finally, that it would be of the happiest consequence to the pros- perity of the state, and the maintaining of civil liberty, to extend to their brethren, the Roman- catholics, the RIGHT of SUFFRAGE, as fully as was compatible with the maintenance of the PROTEST- ANT GOVERNMENT. In an address to the people of Ireland, they propose the election of five delegates from each VOL. VIII. !0 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK county, city, and considerable town, to meet in V-^-Y^ Dublin, October 25th next ensuing:, in NATIONAL 1734. CONGRESS. On the Qth of August, resolutions nearly similar were agreed to at the general meet- ing of the freeholders of the county of Dublin ; and a petition was also voted by them to the king for a dissolution of the present parliament. On application being made to the lord-lieutenant to transmit these petitions to England, his grace without hesitation " declared it to be his duty so to do. At the same time he informed them that he should not fail to accompany them with his en- tire disapprobation, as they included unjust and indecent reflections upon the laws and the par- lianterit of Ireland., and as they tended to foment fatal dissensions among the people." The town of Belfast, distinguished much more for its zeal than its discretion in the cause of li- berty, nearly at the same time voted a petition of a nature inost extraordinary, and in the highest 'degree exceptionable, to the king, which they transmitted to Mr. Pitt, in order to its being pre- sented by the minister to the sovereign. The prayer of the petition was, " That the king would be pleased to dissolve the present and to issue the ' wfrits necessary for the assembling Of a new parlia- ment, ACCORDING tO the PLAN of REPRESENTA- TION which should be agreed upon in the NA- TIONAL CONGRESS of the 25th of October. Mr. GEORGE III. SI Pitt, in reply, very calmly and forcibly remarked, BOOK XXII that he had undoubtedly been, and still continued, v^-v^ a zealous friend to a reform in parliament, but he must beg leave to say that he had been so on grounds very different from those adopted in the petition. What was there proposed he considered as tending to produce still greater evils than any of those which the friends of reform were desirous to remedy. He had great concern in differing so widely on this subject from a body of men who professed to be guided by motives of loyalty and reverence for the constitution : but, animated him- self by the same motives, and sincerely anxious for the prosperity and freedom of every part of the British empire, he had thought it his duty to communicate to them his sentiments with fair- ness and precision*." * Candour would induce us to hope that Mr. Pitt was at this period sincerely attached to the principle of parliamentary re- form. His own friend and his father's friend, -lord Camden writing confidentially (August 1784) from Ireland, to a noble- man of high rank in England, expresses himself inthefollow- ing remarkable terms. " There is one question which seems to have taken possession of the whole kingdom, and that is, the REFORM of PARLIAMENT, about which they seem very much in earnest. Who wish for that reform at home, cannot, with much consistency, refuse it to Ireland. And yet their corrupt parliament is the only means left to preserve the union between the two countries. But this argument will not bear the light, and no measure ought in my opinion to be adopted that is too scandalous to be avowed." E 2 52 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Conscious of its strength, notwithstanding the ^S~Y~^> . extreme unpopularity of its measures, the go- vernment of Ireland did not long content itself with a cold expression of disapprobation at the proceedings now in contemplation. The 2oth of September had been fixed upon as the day for electing five delegates to represent the city of Dublin in NATIONAL CONGRESS. A short time previous to the intended meeting, Mr. Fitzgib- bon, the attorney-general, wrote a letter to the sheriffs, " expressing his astonishment at having read a public summons signed by them for this purpose and declaring them responsible for such outrageous breach of their duty to the laws of their country, and signifying his resolution to proceed officially against them." The sheriffs, in a consternation at this menace, refused to take any part in the business. After some embarrass- ment and delay, five delegates were nevertheless chosen, and a resolution passed, declaring the conduct of the attorney-general to be a violation of Magna Charta. The attorney-general, holding this resolution in contempt, actually filed informa- tions against the high-sheriffs of various counties for convening and presiding at similar meetings. Second Notwithstanding all obstacles, the NATIONAL CON- Irish Nati- onal Con- GP.ESS met on the 25th of October. After a ses- sion of three days only, finding their numbers on the return very incomplete, they adjourned to the GEORGE III. 53 Gth of January 1785 j having previously passed BOOK several resolutions, importing, that the appoint- v^~v^ ment of that assembly, and the steps that had been taken, were in entire conformity with the consti- tution of Ireland. On the same day commenced the second session Commer- cial propo- of the parliament of Ireland 5 and in a short timesitiommov- Mr. Orde, secretary to the lord-lieutenant, laidorde. before the house, in a series of propositions, the grand commercial regulations, digested, during the recess, into a regular system. There were two plans, obviously and radically different, on which a permanent arrangement might be form- ed on the basis of equality i. A system of mu- tual prohibition. 2. A system of mutual admis- sion. The propositions, eleven in number, moved by Mr. Orde, were framed in conformity to the latter, and beyond comparison the wiser, of these opposite systems. An arrangement founded on the basis of mutual prohibition, or, in the more favorite and fashion- able language, of protecting duties, would have been fatal to the great staple manufactory of LINENS imported into England, not only duty- free, but with the positive advantage of a bounty on re-exportation. On the system of prohibition Ireland would have been totally deprived of the colonial traffic ; and the city of Cork, the empo- rium of the kingdom, and the grand mart of the 5* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK West-Indian and victualling: trade, would have XXII. ^v-O been precipitated from the height of prosperity into the depth of distress and ruin. It would have amounted to a virtual declaration of national en- mity and hostility ; and there was good reason to fear lest Ireland should have sunk under the weight of so unequal and dangerous a competition. On the other hand, the system of amicable equali- zation was open to very plausible and even serious objections. Such was the prodigious inferiority of Ireland in almost every branch of traffic, that, were the high prohibitory importation duties repealed by England, there was but little ground to hope that Ireland would for many years to come find herself materially or sensibly benefited. It was urged by Mr. Flood and other members in the opposition, that the greater object was now about to be sacri- ficed to the less; Ireland asked for bread, and England had given her a stone ; she had asked for protecting duties, and she was offered equa- lization ; amid a parade of concession the real desideratum was withheld. This might be com- pared to the procedure of a certain company of strolling players, who advertised the tragedy of Hamlet, in which the part of Hamlet was, by particular desire, to be omitted. By the proposed regulations Ireland was indeed at liberty to send her woollens to Leeds and Halifax, and her coals GEORGE III. (TfT 55 to Sunderland and Newcastle. England would BOOK Y'V" T I not suffer, even under the new system, the expor- v^v- ^ tation of her raw wool to Ireland ; but then Ire- Ian4 was at liberty, when the quality of her wool was improved, and the price lowered, to retail* ate, by prohibiting the exportation of Irish wool to England and this was called equality. The starving woollen-manufacturer of Ireland was in the mean time left to perish ; and if he presumed to complain, he was told that he ought to rest satisfied, for that the linen manufacture would, under the new system, flourish more than ever. By the last proposition it was resolved, " that whatever sum the gross hereditary revenue of the kingdom should produce above the amount of the regular peace establishment, should be ap- propriated towards the support of the naval force of the EMPIRE, in such manner as the parliament of Ireland shall direct." This was inveighed against as a palpable collusion an artifice by which a revenue was to be raised in Ireland, to be afterwards applied to the advantage of Great Britain. Had England, it was a sired, ever en- tered into a war on the account of Ireland ? Had she ever equipped a ship more than she would have done had Ireland been sunk into the abysses of the ocean ? Were Ireland entirely independent df and unconnected with England, it was forci- bly asserted that the minister who should form a 56 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK treaty of commerce with England on the founda- XXIL ^^y^j tion of these resolutions would deserve to be im- peached for sacrificing the essential interests of Ireland. In the heat and passion of debate, it was affirmed to be fortunate for Mr. Ordc that he was at present in a civilized country ; had he brought forward his plan in a Polish diet, he would not have lived to carry back his answer. Notwithstanding these reasonings and invec- tives, the good sense and moderation of the house were well satisfied with the concessions made by ' England, so far surpassing what the most sanguine expectation a few years since could have ventured to indulge. The propositions were received not only with approbation, but with joyful applause, and were ultimately ratified by a very decisive majority of the house. In the mean time the NATIONAL CONGRESS had continued its sittings almost unregarded. In a brief and final address to the people of Ireland, this assembly observed " that if the abuses of former parliaments did not inspire a distrust of those which were to come if the venerable opinion of those illustrious men who were now no more, and the assistance of those whose present labours co-operated with them in the same pursuit, had no influence to awaken their fears, to animate their efforts, and to invi- gorate their hopes, this and every other endea- vour must sink into oblivion ; and they would GEORGE III. 57 shortly repose in indolent acquiescence, under BOOK XXII such a representation as would gall themselves v^-v^- and their posterity with increasing taxes and op- pressions." After longj delay, Mr. Flood, on the i2th ofMr.Fiood's i i -11 r third m - May (1785), presented once more his bill for t km of re- effecting a reform in the representation, somewhat varied from that of the last year. A previous motion of the same senator, " that it be an in- struction to the committee appointed to prepare the bill, that no borough in the province of Con- naught having less than forty, or in the other provinces having less than seventy, electors, should be permitted to return more than one member to parliament," was negatived without a division. On the introduction of the bill, Mr. Brownlow observed, " that he greatly doubted indeed whether there was virtue enough in that house to pass the bill ; but, whatever might be its fate, he would be bold to affirm, that sooner or later the reform so repeatedly denied WOULD and MUST be given." Mr. Flood remarked, " that when his first Bill of Reform was presented to that house, the ob- jection was, that it was presented on the point of a bayonet the air-drawn dagger of Macbeth had appeared to the affrighted imagination and con- science of the house. These apprehensions had at length subsided ; a more favorable treatment might now therefore be reasonably expected. At 58 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK least he called on the house to permit the printing of the bill, that the voice of the public might be heard respecting it ; and not, like mutes in a seraglio, to strangle it on that day while in the act of challenging a fair and free trial and discus- sion." The bill was nevertheless with little cere- mony rejected, on a division of 1 1 2 to 60 voices. It is now proper to revert to the state of affairs parliament. . in England. On the 24th of January (1785) the session was opened by a speech from the throne, the principal feature of which was the recom- mendation of the king to the two houses of par- liament, " to apply their earnest attention to the adjustment of such points in the commercial in- tercourse between Great Britain and Ireland as are Further not yet finally arranged.'* The first business which proceed- - . c , . in^s on the attracted the notice or the house or commons was Westmiri- t r i TTT 1-111 *ter mum. the state or the Vv estmmster scrutiny, which had now existed for a period of eight months. In this time two parishes only had been scrutinized the result was, that 105 votes had been struck off the poll of Mr. Fox, and 87 from that of sir Cecil Wray, the examination of which was not yet closed. Fifteen parishes more remained for future investi- gation ; so that there existed but little apparent probability that the question relative to the re- turn would be decided before the next general election. The miserable imbecility of what was now for the first time dignified by the appella- GEORGE III. 5{ tion of the COURT OF SCRUTINY was exposed in BOOK the most sarcastic and contemptuous terms. The v^-v * 1785. high-bailiff had no power to summon witnesses, to impose an oath, or to commit for contumacy, The scrutiny was evidently a mere personal act of revision, and the high-bailiff himself declared that he acted under the sole authority of the resolu- tion of that house. Mr. Pitt, however, condescended to vindicate the proceedings of this mock judicature, and maintained, with unaltered countenance, " that the expediency of the scrutiny was amply justi- fied by the experiment." Mr. Fox, with gene- rous and iridignant warmth, replied, " that he well remembered the day when he congratulated the house on the acquisition of Mr. Pitt's splendid abilities ; it had been his pride to fight in con- junction with him the battles of the constitution ; he had been ever ready to recognize in the right honourable gentleman a formidable rival, who would leave him far behind in the pursuit of glory but he had never expected that this rival w r ould become his persecutor. He thought he had pos- sessed an elevation of mind wholly incompatible with so low and grovelling a passion. He consi- dered the present measure, with regard to West- minster, as a succedaneum to expulsion. The case of the Middlesex election, so much reprobated, had at least the merit of being more manly ; for the CO HISTORY OF CHEAT BRITAIN. BOOK procedure now adopted accomplished the same end vX.XII. 9 fc^-v^o or expulsion, without daring to exhibit any charge against the person expelled.*' The motion of Mr. Welbore Ellis, " that the high-bailiff do attend at the bar of this house," was at length negatived, February 9 (1785), by a majority of 174 to 135 voices. This being such a majority as by no means discouraged fu- ture efforts, a similar motion was soon after made by colonel Fitzpatrick : this was negatived by a majority of nine voices only. And on the 3d of March, being a third time repeated by Mr. Al- derman Sawbridge, it was carried in the affir- mative, ayes 1 62, noes 1 24 ; leaving the minister, and the veteran phalanx of courtiers and king's friends, in one of the most disgraceful minorities ever known in the British house of commons. Mr. Fox now, as member for Westminster, moved to expunge the resolutions of the 8th of June last, relative to this business, from the jour- nals of the house ; but the minister, now seriously alarmed, summoned all his strength to oppose this attempt to redeem the honour of the house thus wilfully and wantonly degraded : and on a division it was carried in the negative, ayes 139, noes 244. Fortunately for Mr. Pitt, the publio attention was quickly turned to another and higher subject of political discussion, in which he appeared in a light far different such indeed as GEORGE III. 61 tended to revive in his favour all the former flat- BOOK XXIL terina: prepossessions of those who viewed the late ^>^y-^^ j- i- u - -ui 1785 - proceedmgs in parliament with inexpressible re- gret and astonishment. On the 1 8th of April (1785) Mr. Pitt brought Mr. pitf. r VV-^W ^ ultimate forward his final plan for a reform in the repre- plan of par- liamentary sentation, in some degree varying from his pre- reform. ceding attempts, and in all respects guarded, temperate, and judicious. " He rose (he said) with hopes infinitely more sa'nguine than he had ventured to entertain at any former period. There never was a moment when the minds of men were more enlightened on this interesting topic, or more prepared for its discussion. He declared his present plan of reform to be perfectly coinci- dent with the spirit of those changes which had taken place in the exercise of the elective franchise from the earliest ages, and not in the least allied to the spirit of innovation. So far back as the reign of Edward I. before which the component orders of the representative body could not be distinctly traced, the franchise of election had been con- stantly fluctuating. As one borough decayed and another flourished, the first was abolished and the second invested with the right. Even the re- presentation of the counties had not been uniform. King James I. in his first proclamation for calling a parliament, directed that the sheriffs should not call upon such decayed and ruined boroughs to 62 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK send members to that parliament. For this dis- xxn. . j.i_ i . , v-"-v^v- cretion, as vested in the crown, he was certainly j*-o - no advocate ; but he wished to establish a per- manent rule to operate like the discretion out of which the constitution had sprung that the principle on which it was founded should be rescued from the accident and caprice in which it was unhappily involved. He wished to bring forward a plan that should be complete, gradual, and permanent a plan that not only corrected the inequalities of the present system, but which would be competent to preserve the purity it restored, and give to the constitution not only consistency, but, if possible, immortality. With- out a parliamentary reform (said this too pro- phetic statesman) the nation will be plunged into new wars ; without a parliamentary reform you cannot be safe against bad ministers, nor can even good ministers be of use to you." It was his design that the actual number of the house of commons should be preserved inviolate. His immediate object was to select a certain number of the decayed and rotten boroughs, the right of representation attached to thirty-six of which should be transferred to the counties, in such proportions as the wisdom of parliament might prescribe ; and, that all unnecessary harshness might be avoided, he recommended the appro- priation of a fund of one million to be applied to GEORGE III. 63 the purchasing of the franchise of such boroughs, BOOK oh their voluntary application to parliament, v.^v^- When this was effected, he proposed to extend the bill to the purchasing the franchise of other boroughs, besides the original thirty-six ; and to transfer the right of returning members to large towns, hitherto unrepresented, upon their peti- tioning parliament to be indulged with this pri- vilege." The other most important particulars of Mr. Pitt's plan were the admitting of copyholders to an equality with freeholders, and the extending the franchise in populous towns, where the elec- tors were few, to the inhabitants in general. The result of this plan was to give one hundred members-to the popular interest in the kingdom, and to extend the right of election to one hundred thousand persons, who, by the existing provisions of the law, were excluded from it. This was a very wise and excellently digested plan, which did great honour to the framer; and the eloquence, ability, and vigour, with which it was supported, left no reasonable ground of doubt as to the sin- cerity with which it was, brought forward. The most important animadversion in the course of the debate to which this motion crave rise was made by Mr. Fox, who, justly remark- ing " that government was not a property, but a trust," strongly objected to the idea of purchasing 64- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN'. BOOK franchises of boroughs which from their insigni- XXII v>-v^- ficance were no longer entitled to send members 1185. ,. i r to parliament " whatever was given for consti- tutional purposes should be resumed when those purposes were no longer answered." With this and some other less important exceptions, Mr. Fox bestowed upon the plan of the minister a very just and liberal tribute of praise j and it yet remains a doubt, whether, upon the ground of expediency, Mr. Pitt was not fully justified in pro- posing that regulation which the more unaccom- modating and decided policy of Mr. Fox disdained to approve. On the other hand, the whole plan was repro- bated and ridiculed by Mr. Powys, as " the mere knight-errantry of a political Quixote. It was an example, a precedent, an incitement, to the wildest and most paradoxical nostrums that specu- lative theorists could devise. They got by it what Archimedes wanted a foundation for their in- ventions a fulcrum from which they could throw the parliament and constitution of England into the air. He could not contemplate it with any degree of patience. He should not treat it, there- fore, with the ceremony of calling for the order of the day ; but as its purposes were so hostile to the constitution, so menacing and unqualified, he would meet the question in front by giving it a direct and unequivocal contradiction. It cannot GEORGE III. 65 be supposed owing to the superior force of such arguments as these, that on a division, after a long ^~v>~' protracted debate, the bill was rejected by a majo- rity of 248 to 174 voices. In consequence of the very able reports present- Beneficial regulation! ed from time to time by the commissioners of ac- of office, counts appointed by act of parliament, Mr. Pitt, in the course of the present session, brought in three several bills, for the better auditing and examining the public accounts, and for the regulation and re- form of the public offices, which passed both houses with much applause, and no material opposition. The balances of the Navy and Ordnance offices were by these bills ordered, as those of the pay- master of the forces by a former regulation, to be paid into the Bank. The antient mode of pro- ceeding by the auditors of the Imprest was abo- lished as wholly frivolous and nugatory, though the perquisites of the auditors were estimated at no less than 34,0007. annually in times of peace, and during the war they had risen to a height in- credibly enormous. A new and efficient commis- sion of examination and control was instituted ; many of the inferior departments of office, or heads of service, were consolidated; and the whole now assumed the appearance of a regular and ra- tional system. * The remaining part of the floating arrear of debt, consisting of navy bills and ordnance deben- VOL. VIII. F 66 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. tures, was now funded on five-per-cent. stock ; and the interest, amounting to above four hundred thousand pounds per annum, was provided by shop-tax fresh taxes ; one of which, a tax on retail shops, imposed. calculated at one hundred and twenty thousand pounds per annum, proved singularly obnoxious. It was said to be, under a new denomination, nei- ther more nor less than a partial house-tax ; and the whole body of retail traders were universally agreed, that it was utterly impracticable, for ob- vious reasons, to indemnify themselves by raising the price of their different commodities upon the consumer. By way of recompence or douceur to the shop-keeper, Mr. Pitt proposed, by a deed of unprecedented oppression, proceeding certainly from prejudice or inattention, rather than any fixed malignity of design,, to revoke and take away Unjust im- the licence from all hawkers and -pedlar \r, whom he position on hawkers styled " a pest to the community, and a nursery andpedlars. r , r . . . and medium for the preservation or illicit trade. That this class of traders were engaged in, and derived their chief support from, illicit practices, was a very heavy and serious charge, and ought to have been clearly proved at the bar of the house, in order to have justified a measure of such unexampled severity, and of a nature so highly penal. Far from being the pests of society, an im- partial and disinterested person can discern in these itinerant traders only an industrious class of men, GEORGE III. 67 who pursue an' occupation perfectly innocent in B 9 K .2V.X. ( itself, and highly useful to the inhabitants of small ^^~^ towns and villages, who would otherwise find it difficult to procure the various articles of merchan- dize with which they are thus occasionally sup- plied. Upon what principle of equity or justice any government could exercise the power of pre- venting these people from enjoying the fruits of their honest labour, and of devoting them to re- mediless ruin, it is surely difficult, or rather im- possible, 'to discover. Mr. Fox, struck with the inhumanity and utter indefensibility of the proposed regulation, gene- rously and powerfully pleaded, in conjunction with Mr. Dempster, Mr. Courtenay, and other gentlemen, though with very incomplete success, in behalf of this friendless and unprotected de- scription of men. In the result, the prohibition was changed to a heavy duty, which, combined with other severe restrictions, would, it was hoped, effect the same ultimate purpose. " Had we been informed," says a very intelligent and truly philanthropic writer (lord Gardenstone), speak- ing of this prohibitory regulation, " that Nadir Sha, or any other oriental despot, had invented a tax for the purpose of exterminating the object of it, we should naturally have exclaimed, that this was the extremity of oppression." The principle of this bill was in the course of the debate truly 68 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xn K a ^ rme< ^ by Mr. Dempster to be no less iniquitous ^C than that of the expulsion of the Moriscoes from 1785. * Spain, or of the Huguenots from France, irhh com- But the subject which chiefly engaged the at- mercial r .. . . proposi- tention or parliament during the present session ducedhito" was the projected plan of commercial intercourse house"?/* with Ireland. In the opening of this important business, Mr. Pitt made some excellent observa- tions on " the species of policy which had been Jong exercised by the English government in re- gard to Ireland, the object of which was, to debar her from the enjoyment and use of her own re- sources, and to make her completely subservient to the interest and opulence of this country. Some relaxation of this system had taken place indeed at an early period of the present century; more had been done in the reign of king George II. ; but it was not till within a very few years that the system had been completely reversed. Still however the future intercourse between the two kingdoms remained for legislative wisdom to arrange ; and the PROPOSITIONS moved by Mr. Orde in the Irish parliament, and ratified by that assembly, held out (he said) a system liberal, bene- ficial, and permanent.* If the question should * These famous propositions, eleven in number, were in purport and substance, and divested of their technical form, as follow-: J. That it is the opinion of this committee, that it is highly GEORGE III. 69 be asked, whether, under the accumulation of our heavy taxes, it would be wise to equalize the du- ties, and to enable a country free from those taxes important to the general interest of the British empire, that the trade between Great Britain and Ireland be encouraged and extended as much as possible ; and for that purpose, that the intercourse and commerce be finally settled and regulated on permanent and equitable principles for the mutual benefit of both countries. II. That all articles, not the growth or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, should be imported into each king- dom from the other, reciprocally, at the same duties to which they are liable when imported directly from the place of their product ; and that all duties originally paid on the importa- tion into either country respectively shall be fully drawn back on exportation to the other. III. That no prohibition should exist in either country against the importation of any article of the other, and that the duty on importation should be precisely the same in both countries, except where an addition may be necessary in con- sequence of an internal duty on any such article of its own consumption. IV. That where the duties on articles of the product of either country are different on the importation into the other, they should be reduced where they are highest to the amount payable in the other ; and that all such articles should be ex- portable from the kingdom into which they shall be imported, as free from duty as the similar commodities or home manu- facture of the same kingdom. V. That in all cases where either kingdom shall charge ar- ticles of its own consumption with an internal duty, the same articles, when imported from the other, may be charged with a duty adequate to countervail the internal duty. 70 - HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B K to meet us in their own market and in ours, he would answer, that Ireland, with an independent legislature, would no longer submit to be treated VI. That no prohibition or new duty shall hereafter be im- posed in either kingdom on the importation of any article the product of the other, except such additional duties as may be requisite to countervail the duties on internal consumption. VII. That no prohibitions or new duties shall be hereafter imposed on the exportation of any article of native growth, ex- cept such as either kingdom may think expedient from time to time, upon corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuit ; and also, except where there now exists any prohibition not reciprocal, or duty not equal, in every such case the prohibition may be made reciprocal, or the duties raised so as to make them equal. VII L That no bounties whatever should be payable in either kingdom on the exportation of any article to the other, except such as relate to corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuits, and such as are in thenature of drawbacks or compensation for duties paid ; and that no bounty should be granted in Ireland on the exportation of any article imported from the British plantations, unless in cases where a similar bounty is payable in Britain ; or where such bounty is merely in the nature of a drawback or compensation for duties paid internally, over and above any duties paid thereon in Britain. IX. That the importation of articles from foreign states should be regulated in each kingdom,- so as to afford an ef- fectual preference to similar articles of the growth and pro- duce of the other. X. That it is essential to the commercial interests of Ire- land to prevent as much as possible an accumulation of na- tional debt; that therefore it is highly expedient that the annual revenue of this kingdom shall be made equal to its annual expence. GEORGE III. 71 with inferiority. A great and generous effort was to be made by this country, and we were to 1785 choose between inevitable alternatives. Our ma- nufactures however were so decidedly superior to theirs, that the immunities proposed would be in fact, and for many years to come, productive of little alteration. It would require time for the ac- quisition of both capital and skill ; and as these increased, the difference between the price of labor there and in this country would be incessantly di- minishing. After all, there might, he admitted, be some branches of manufacture in which' Ireland might rival and perhaps excel England. But this ought not to give us pain. We must calculate from general and not from partial views. Above all, we should learn not to regard Ireland with an eye of jealousy. It required little philosophy to reconcile us to a competition which would give us a rich customer instead of a poor one. The pros- perity of the sister kingdom would be a fresh and inexhaustible source of opulence to us." XI. That whatever sum the gross hereditary revenue of the kingdom, after deducting all drawbacks, re-payments, or bounties granted in the nature of drawbacks, shall produce above the sum of six hundred and fifty-six thousand pounds in each year of peace, wherein the annual revenue shall equal the annual expence, and in each year of war, without regard to such equality, should be appropriated towards the support of the naval force of the empire, in such manner as the parlia- ment of Ireland shall direct. 7$ HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK These comprehensive and liberal ideas, so op- ^jfV TT ,^-Y-O posite to the wisdom and policy of past ages, were 785 ' on this great and interesting occasion received by the British house of commons with general com- placency and approbation, and by the public at large with apparent tranquillity and acquiescence. The vastness of the plan, and the multiplicity .and complexity of the objects which it embraced, seemed to keep the public mind in a kind of sus- pense ; and for near a month after its first intro- duction there were no indications discernible of serious or determined opposition. Mr. Fox, in* deed, at the onset of the business, commenced the attack, by sarcastically observing, that far the greater part of Mr. Pitt's speech was little else than a reply to Mr. Orde in the Irish house of com- mons. In Ireland, the propositions had been stat- ed as in the highest degree advantageous to that country, as rendering it the emporium of Europe, and the source and supply of the British "markets. Here the great recommendation of the system was, that the benefits accruing to Ireland were, if not wholly visionary, at best trivial and remote j "that Ireland could not rival England ; that she was poor and feeble, and would very long; in all probability, remain so. He must, however, do Mr. Orde the justice to acknowledge, that his ar- guments were far the most solid and convincing. As to the report of the privy council, to whom the GEORGE HI. 73 consideration of this business had been previously BOOK XXII. referred, Mr. Fox remarked, " that a question ^v-L> 1 7R^i which appeared to him of primary importance had been entirely overlooked by them ; he meant the propriety and policy of permitting the produce of Africa and America to be brought into Great Bri- tain through Ireland. By this measure, we threw down the whole fabric of our navigation laws. The period was not very distant when the charter of the East-India, Company would expire j and, according to the tenor of the resolutions now proposed, there remained no power in this country to renew it with the same or indeed any exclusive privileges. Mr. Fox censured the precipitancy with which this business was urged, and contended for the necessity of calling the merchants and manufacturers to the bar of the house, in order that the house might be fully in- formed in a case of this momentous nature, be- fore they proceed to vote a definitive resolu- tion." On the 1 4th of March, Mr. Eden moved, that' the commissioners of customs and excise should be examined at the bar of the house j which was carried in the affirmative. On the same day a petition was presented by Mr. Stanley, member for Lancashire, from the ma- nufacturers of that county, praying to be heard by counsel against the bill. Petitions were like- T* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK wise presented from Liverpool, Glasgow, and v^v-^ Manchester. The malign spirit of commercial 1785 jealousy appeared to be at length thoroughly awakened, and petitions upon petitions were sent up to parliament in incredible numbers, from every quarter of the kingdom. At the end of a long and tedious investigation of facts and examination of witnesses, Mr. Pitt was reluctantly compelled to acknowledge the necessity of making some ma- terial alterations and amendments in his original plan. irishpropo- On the 1 2th of May, 1785, Mr. Pitt brought forward, in consequence of the additional lights . . , . . . r thus thrown upon tne business, a series or pro- positions, so altered, modified, and enlarged, as to exhibit in its new form what might well be considered as a new system. Mr. Fox, in the language of 'triumph, congra- tulated the house on the happy escape they had made from the system proposed by the chancellor of the exchequer but two months since, all oppo- sition to which was then treated as the effect of faction and disappointment. " If (said Mr. Fox) the original resolutions had passed, we should have lost for ever the monopoly of the East- India trade ; we must have hazarded all the revenue arising from spirituous liquors ; we should have sacrificed the whole of the navigation laws of this country. If these resolutions had passed into a GEORGE III. 75 law, we should have risked the loss of the colonial BOO?: XXiL market for the manufactures of Great Britain, and v-*~v^> 1785- incurred the most extensive danger to the colonies themselves ; we should have left it in the power of Ireland to have drawn a revenue from our con- sumption. The just alarm of the minister on the subject of the navigation laws (Mr. Fox said) suffi- ciently appeared from the extraordinary nature of the remedy he had thought it expedient to adopt, which was no other than to assert that, notwith- standing the independence of Ireland, she must still, in commercial laws and external legislation, be governed by Britain." Mr. Fox affirmed, " that the wild scheme of extravagant speculation comprised in the resolutions did not originate with the Irish nation. A stranger had been sent thither to offer a nostrum of his own invention for the relief of a disordered state. For the irritation . and ill humour existing in that country ministers were responsible. The violences which they com- mitted in Ireland merited the most decisive and general reprobation. Their attacks on the liberty of the press, their endeavours to prevent legal meetings, for the purpose of deliberating on the best means of reforming the national represen- tation, their proceedings against men by sum- mary attachment, were measures which might well be supposed to inflame the minds of the people of Ireland. Now imprudent insult was to be com- 7<5 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK pensated by imprudent concession. But let the :*-v-^> house beware of a design so insidious and ruinous 1 wo a* as that of a commutation of English commerce for Irish slavery, the propositions, as they were even now modified, were far too complicated and extensive to be voted by the majority of the mem- bers of that house, on any other ground than that of confidence in the minister: and surely the right honourable gentleman had sufficiently demonstrat- ed, that implicit confidence in him was as dange- rous as it was absurd that infallibility was no more his prerogative than that of the rest of the world." The house at length divided on the mo- tion of adjournment, ayes 155, noes 281; and at eight o'clock in the morning, the first resolution, broken into two distinct propositions in the new arrangement, passed the house. The remaining resolutions were subsequently carried after an ob- stinate contest ; and on the 3oth of May they were carried up to the house of lords. Here they were again the subject of long and laborious investigation ; in the course of which the lords Stormont and Loughborough chiefly distinguished themselves on the part of the oppo- sition. Various amendments, though not of very material import, were offered and received by the house. In the progress of the business the earl of Shelburne, recently created marquis of Lansdowne, made a remarkable speech, which, though not un- GEORGE III. T favourable to the measure before the housej clearly BOOK XXIL .manifested how little cordiality subsisted between v^v^-> 1 78 % v that nobleman and the present minister, notwith- standing their former intimate political connec- tion ; so frail are the friendships and so transient the attachments of statesmen ! The marquis en- tered into a very masterly survey of the construc- tion and general effect of the proposed arrange- ment. He declared " the result of his enquiry to be very opposite to that of the merchants and ma- nufacturers, however respectable, who had been examined at their lordships' bar. Though much valuable information might doubtless be derived from evidence, it must not be forgotten that they were men peculiarly subject to prejudice'and error, in all cases where their personal interest was con- cerned. Were any one, for instance, to ask a ma- nufacturer of Halifax, 'what was the greatest crime upon earth ? was it felony, was it murder, was it, parricide ?' he would answer, c No none of these ; it was the exporting of WOOL.' His lordship declar- ed himself of opinion, that the unlimited commerce of Ireland would not create a formidable competi- tion to England. Ireland, destitute as she was of the grand materials for ship-building, timber and iron, was incapable of the carrying trade, and had little capital. These were disadvantages not to be easily or speedily surmounted. The noble lord said, he was himself recently arrived from the groves of 78 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Bowood, and had not entered into any accurate XXII x^-v^ or minute investigation of this business. But mi- 178 *> nisters must have been lost in the most criminal infatuation, if they had not prepared this great system with due and proper deliberation if they had not made themselves masters of its bearings and tendencies. He placed the utmost reliance on the integrity and abilities of the nobleman now at the head of affairs in Ireland, and on those of his secretary. He was certain they would not disgrace themselves in a transaction to which they were in every re- spect equal. Delay he knew to be dangerous ; something decisive must be done. If this were not the proper measure, what was to be substi- tuted ? Plausible objections might no doubt be ad- duced. It might be urged that the present system would be acceptable in neither kingdom ; that the author of it was too young, and was ignorant of what should constitute a minister ; that if others more competent to this task had remained longer in office, things would have been better and more satisfactorily settled. It might be said, ' How, in the name of God, did this man contrive to elevate himself to the rank of a minister?' We must how- ever take things as we found them. The most serious interests of both countries were at stake, and the most alarming consequences might attend the postponement of this business." The Irish resolutions were sent down from the GEORGE III. 79 lords to the commons the' ipth of July, 1785. BOOK After much fresh and eager debate, the amend- ^v-O ments of their lordships were agreed to by the commons ; and on the 28th of July an address was presented to the king by both houses of par- liament, acquainting his majesty with the steps which had been taken in this affair; adding, " that it remained for the parliament of Ireland to judge of the conditions according to their wisdom and discretion, as well as of every other part of the settlement proposed to be established by mutual consent." The two houses now adjourned them- selves to a distant day ; and on the 3th of Sep- tember, 1785, the parliament was prorogued by royal proclamation. The amended propositions, increased to no less than twenty in number, having been transmitted to Ireland, Mr. Orde, on the 1 2th of August, mov- ed for leave to bring in a bill for establishing the system of commercial intercourse therein con- tained. This minister defended the variations that now appeared, by alleging the natural progress of a measure of this nature. Ireland had, in the early part of the session, stated what she had thought herself entitled to claim, and Britain in return had declared what she was willing to concede. Mr. Orde averred, that the amendments and additions made by the British parliament to the original propositions did not in reality interfere with the prosperity of Ireland. Wishing, however, to fol- 80 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK low the example of mature deliberation sriven by XXII o^-v^ England, it was his intention, after bringing in the -t Ijo bill and printing it, to pause, in order to learn the sentiments of the country respecting it. Let the house receive every petition that could be brought; let them listen to all the evidence that could be offered. On a comparison of the two sets of pro- positions, the magnitude and importance of the alterations strikingly appeared. By the third of the English resolutions, Ireland was virtually in- terdicted, even after the expiration of the charter of the East-India Company, from exporting articles to England, the growth and produce of any of the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan. By the same resolution, this interdiction was extended to arrack and foreign brandy ; also to rums and other strong waters not imported from the British colonies in the West Indies. By the fourth resolution, it was declared to be highly essential that the laws for regulating trade and navigation should be the same in both countries j and, for that purpose, that all laws which have been made, OR SHALL BE MADE, in Great Britain, securing exclusive privileges to the ships and mariners of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British colonies and plantations, and for re- gulating and restraining the trade of the Bri- tish colonies and plantations, such laws impos- ing the same restraints and conferring the same benefits on the subjects of both kingdoms, should GEORGE III. 81 be in force in Ireland, BY LAWS to be passed by the BOOK .XXII. PARLIAMENT of that kingdom, for the SAME TIME v^-v-o 1785. and in the SAME MANNER as in GREAT BRITAIN. By the fifth resolution, this legislative power of regulation and control was in like manner extend- ed to all goods and commodities imported into Ireland from the British or foreign colonies in Africa and America. By the sixth and seventh resolutions, the commercial intercourse between the two kingdoms was incumbered with many burdensome and rigorous regulations respecting bonds, cockets, certificates, &c. in order effectually to repress all illicit practices apprehended from the circuitous commerce granted to Ireland. By the eighth, the regulating power of Britain is extend- ed to all goods exported from Ireland to the Bri- tish colonies in the West Indies, America, or the coast of Africa. By the ninth, Ireland is excluded, so long as the charter of the East-India Company shall exist, from trading to any port beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan ; and during the continuance of the said charter, no goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of India shall be allowed t& be imported into Ireland but through Great Britain. By the fifteenth re- solution, the bounties allowed by Great Britain on the exportation of beer to Ireland, and spirits distilled from corn, are expressly continued. By the sixteenth, it is provided, that all goods the VOL. VIII. G 82 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK produce of the North- American States, which are subject to higher duties on importation into Great Britain than the like goods the produce of the British colonies such articles shall be subject to the same duties on importation into Ireland. These were the grand and leading features of difference between the old propositions and the new : and so great was the dissimilarity, that the Irish parliament seenled scarcely to recognize the traces of its own original creation. A general sen- timent of amazement and indignation seemed to pervade the house ; and the FOURTH RESOLUTION in particular, by which England assumed a power of legislative regulation and commercial control with respect to Ireland, was rejected with a kind of horror. Mr. G rattan a who had supported the propo- sitions in their primitive form, now exerted the whole force of his eloquence to expose them to the public scorn and detestation. " What," said this powerful orator, " is this pretended equitable arrangement, but a plan to perpetuate to England all her advantages, and to Ireland all her disadvan- tages ? Ireland is required to grant a monopoly of the trade of India to the present East-India Com- pany during its existence, and to Great Britain for ever after. This is not a surrender of the political rights of the country, but of the natural preroga- tives of man not of the privileges of parliament, GEORGE III. 83 but of the rights of nations. They were not to BOOK XXII sail beyond the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits ^-v-O - 1785 of Magellan an awful interdict ! Other interdicts extended to a determined period of time, but here was an eternity of restraint. Other interdicts ex- tended to particular places, for local reasons ; but here regions of immense extent were indiscrimi- nately forbidden, and the bounties which Provi- dence had given they were prohibited to enjoy. It resembled a judgment of GOD rather than an act of legislature, whether they measured it by extent of space, or infinity of duration and had nothing human about it except its presumption. The principle of equal duties and equal restrictions (Mr. Grattan said) did not constitute an equality of participation, because the condition of the two countries was totally dissimilar. Supposing Great Britain, in order to answer the exigency of some future war, or to fund her present debt, should raise her colony duties still higher, Ireland must follow ; not because she wanted the tax, but lest her exemption from taxes should give her manu- facturers any comparative advantage. Irish taxes were to be precautions against the prosperity o Irish manufactures. Nay, worse than this ; the propositions in question would make English jea- lousy the barometer of Irish taxes. The exclu- sion of foreign plantation produce would have seemed sufficient for every purpose of power and G 2 8* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK do'minion ; but, for the purpose of aggravation ^v^ and insult, the independent States of America 17*5. i i_ i were most ungraciously brought into the arrange- ment, and expressly named, as if North America continued a part of the British dominions. This was called a system of concession and compensa- tion; but (said Mr. Grattan)the people of Ireland, ^//^/compensation, obtained a colony trade, a free trade, the government of their army, the ex- tinction of the unconstitutional powers of the council, the restoration of the judicature of their lords, and, finally, the independence of their legis- lature. Let them see now what they obtain by compensation : A covenant not to trade beyond the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magel- lan ; a covenant not to take foreign plantation produce, not to take American produce but as Great Britain shall permit ; a covenant not to take British plantation produce but as Great Bri- tain should prescribe ; a covenant never to pro- tect their own manufactures, never to guard the primum of those manufactures. Surely some god presided over the welfare of Ireland, who made it wisdom to fulfil their duty, and who annexed the penalties of folly as well as infamy to the surren- der of their privileges. From the consideration of commerce,'* said this animated orator, " I pro- ceed to a question much more high and inesti- mablebefore which the ideas of protecting du- GEORGE III. 85 ties, of reciprocal duties, of countervailing duties, BOOK vanish into nothing ; and by the tendencies of which, the prudence of every head and the ener- gies of every heart are called forth to shield the newly-acquired rights of a nation, so long depress- ed, and so recently and wonderfully emancipated. If any body of men could think the Irish constitu- tion incompatible with the unity of the British empire, a doctrine which he abjured as sedition against both, he would answer, ' Perish the em- pire! live the constitution!' No transfer of legisla- tive authority could be made. They, the limited trustees of delegated power, born for a particular purpose, confined to a particular line, and bearing an inviolable relationship to the people who sent them to parliament, could not break that relation- ship, counter-act that purpose, and surrender, di- minish, or derogate from those privileges they lived but to preserve. The propositions granted a perpetual money bill a money bill to continue as long as Great Britain shall please, with a cove? nant to increase it as often as she shall require. The trade and the purse of the nation were alike in covenant. Pass this bill, and they had no con-. stituents ; their constituents had no representa? tives : they were the mere register of the British parliament, and the equalizer of British duties. But have you traced the map of the globe ? Have you marked there the countries, the right of trad- g6 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ing to which you are to surrender for ever? Havs XXII v_>-v-^ yu surveyed the settlements of the several Euro- 85 ' pean nations in Asia, in Africa, in America ? Have you considered the state of North America its present situation, its future growth, and every in- cident in the endless succession of time that may attend that nurse of commerce and ASYLUM of MANKIND ? Are you competent to declare, that a, free trade to those vast regions will never in the efflux of time tend to the advancement of the interests of Ireland ? If you possess satisfactory in- formation upon this subject, it must be by inspi- ration, not by knowledge. Let us then guard our free trade and free constitution as our only real resources. They are the result of great virtue, of much perseverance, and the source to this house of immortal honor. Let us preserve uncontami- nated to the latest generations the dignity of par- liament, the majesty of the people, and the impe- rial sovereignty of the Irish crown and nation." The feelings of the parliament and of the people of Ireland were on this subject in perfect unison. Scarcely could the great and acknowledged talents of Mr. Fitzgibbon obtain him any share of atten- tion when he rose to speak in vindication of a measure so supremely obnoxious. " If England relaxed her navigation laws in favor of Ireland, she had a right (Mr. Fitzgibbon affirmed) to ex- pect to be followed by her in a code of laws which CEORGE III. 87 had been the source of her commercial opulence, BOOK and the basis of her maritime strength. It had -been insinuated, that they could trade to more advantage with the colonies of foreign states. But what foreign states would allow them to trade with their colonies ? Who was to protect them if fo- reign states refused to do them justice ? Or who was to assert their rights, supposing them to be violated ? When an arrangement so advantageous was offered to Ireland, for what reason was it that she hesitated and demurred ? Because she is told that the treaty struck at the independence of her legislature. But it is as an independent power that Ireland has negotiated. It is as to an inde- pendent power that the overtures of Britain are made. An arrangement of trade could not be agreed upon between two nations, unless they settled at the same time principles of mutual re- striction ; and if the Irish nation would never con- descend to promise compliance with any condition of a treaty, she must determine never to make any commercial treaty, or any treaty whatever." Mr. Fitzgibbon concluded a most able speech, by re- marking, " that whatever might have been inti- mated concerning the possibility of Ireland stand- ing alone, he was convinced that, situated as she was in the neighbourhood of powerful Popish countries, with a great majority of her people of the Popish religion, she could not exist one hour *8 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 3 o o K as a Protestant state if the protection of England *^-Y^L> were withdrawn." After a vehement debate, in which both parties exerted their utmost ability and eloquence, the house divided at nine in the morning upon the motion of Mr. Orde for leave to bring in the bill, ayes 127, noes 108. Such a division in the first stage of the business was equi- valent to a defeat : and on the Monday following, Mr. Orde moved the first reading of the bill and the printing it ; declaring, that he did not intend to make anv further progress in the business dur- ing the present session. He had completed his duty respecting it. If it were revived, it must be by a motion from the public, who at the com- mencement of the ensuing session might take such further steps as they thought proper. Their final In order to preclude a motion of censure framed tKish 7 by Mr. Flood, the secretary then moved an ad- :ntt journment ; and Mr. Flood consenting, not with- out difficulty, to wave his motion, the adjourn- ment was carried without a division. Public illu- minations testified the joy excited by the sudden termination of this extraordinary business ; and from this period no effort has been made in either kingdom to revive in any shape this important and interesting discussion. Upon the whole, though it might perhaps justly be regarded as too daring an experiment, the pro- bability is, that a commercial treaty founded on G E O R. G E IIL 8S the basis of the original propositions would have BOOK xxn proved very beneficial in practice. The prodi- v^-vO 1 *7Q ff gious inferiority of skill, of credit, and of capi- tal, must have effectually prevented Ireland from becoming formidable as a competitor to England; and in proportion as Ireland advanced in opulence, her artificial wants would have increased, and con- sequently her consumption of British manufactures and commodities. Notwithstanding the great alarm excited when the first commercial concessions were made to Ireland, no detriment was in fact sustained by Great Britain : on the contrary, the trade to Eng- land continued rapidly to increase, even in regard to those very articles which Ireland was allowed to import from the place of their growth and produce. From the year 1781 to the year 1784 muscovado sugars imported from the West Indies rose from 7,384 cwt. to 27,492 cwt. ; and in the same term sugars imported from Britain rose from 130,056 to 160,083 cwt. Another remarkable fact is, that the linen manufacture both in Eng- land and Scotland has flourished with constant and regular acceleration, notwithstanding the un- limited competition of the Irish nation. Accord- ing *"o a seven years' average, ending A. D. 1755? not more than 576,373 yards were exported from England; and in the year 1771 the export amounted to no less than 4,41 1,040 yards* Why 90 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK then mi arht not a similar competition be as safely XXII v^-v^-> and advantageously established in other branches ^j .> * * of commerce? These arithmetical statements shew to a demonstration the extreme weakness and futility of those fears and apprehensions which are so apt to agitate the mercantile world at the slightest breath of innovation, and their total incompetency to deduce, from a comprehensive and impartial survey of the whole system, just and accurate conclusions. Considering, never- theless, the narrow limits of the highest human sagacity, it must be acknowledged that prudence would have dictated a temporary duration to this commercial arrangement, in order to bring the utility of it to the infallible touchstone of experi- ence. As to the fourth proposition of the English series, which was the immediate cause of the virtual rejection of the whole, it might in all pro- bability have been very safely dispensed with, as there is no reason to doubt but that Ireland would have spontaneously adopted with good-faith and good-will any regulations necessary to enforce a treaty which she found upon the whole conducive to her prosperity ; and the perpetuity of which must have been, in some mode explicit or implicit, made to depend upon such adoption. session of The parliament of Great Britain, after a tran, parliament. qua interval of a few months, met on the 24th of January, 1786. In the speech from the throne GEORGE III. 91 the king declared to the house of commons his BOOK earnest wish to enforce ceconomy in every depart- ^x-vO ment ; recommended to them the maintenance of our naval strength on the most respectable foot- ing ; and above all the establishment of a FIXED PLAN for the reduction of the NATIONAL DEBT. Nothing remarkable passed until about the middle of February, when the estimate of the ordnance was brought up in the Committee of Supply. Upon Fortifica- TV 1111 r i t ' on project this occasion Mr. Pitt called the attention or the O f the duke house to the plan laid before them in the course of moa d. ~ the last session, under the sanction of the duke of Richmond, masterrgeneral of the ordnance, for FORTIFYING the DOCK-YARDS of the kingdom ; the propriety of which it was then agreed to refer to a board of land and sea officers, whose report Mr. Pitt stated to be in the highest degree favor- able to the plan of fortification submitted to their decision ; but the report itself he declined, as a matter of too serious and delicate a nature, to lay before the house. The discontent and surprise manifested when the question \vas last year under discussion now rose into great warmth of indignation and resent- ment. " If the report or the essentials it contain- ed were riot to be in some mode subject to the inspection of the house, they .were, it was affirmed, in exactly the same situation in which they had stood before the Board was appointed. They must 92 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK decide, not upon their own judgments, but in de- XXH ^-v->^ ference to the authority of others. But the house of commons were not justified in voting away the money of their constituents upon the grounds of Passive complaisance and courtly submission. The expence attending this novel system would be enormous, and it was their duty before they adopt- ed it to be fully convinced of its necessity." General Burgoyne, who was one of the Board, controverted the assertion of Mr. Pitt as to the entire approbation expressed by them of the system in question. " It was well known (he said) that cases hypothetically put admitted only of a direct answer given under the admission of the hypothesis. It remained to be ascertained, whe-* ther the case thus hypothetically put was sufficient ly within the limits of probability to deserve aU tendon. Several of the cases on which the Board were called upon to decide were mere postulata^ and hypothetically as extravagant as if it were asked, Suppose by some convulsion of nature the Straits of Dover should vanish out of existence, and the coasts of England and France were ^ to unite, would it not be expedient to fortify the isthmus between the two countries?" Mr. Pitt, waving the farther discussion of the question for the present, declared his determina- tion to bring the business in the most specific and solemn manner before the house. He accordingly GEORGE 111. & after a short delay moved a resolution, " That it BOOK XX1L appeared to the house, that to provide effectually v^-v~w for securing the dock-yards of Portsmouth and Plymouth by a permanent system of fortification was an essential object for the safety of the state, &c. &c." A violent debate arose, in the course of which no member distinguished himself so eminently as Mr. Sheridan, a gentleman who had been for some time gradually rising to a very elevated height of parliamentary reputation ; and previous to his introduction into the house of commons the public had long known and admir- ed the brilliant talents of this second Oongreve in dramatic literature. Mr. Sheridan stated for- cibly the danger to which the constitution would be exposed in consequence of this vast addition to the military power of the crown. " These strong military holds, maintained by numerous and disciplined garrisons, would afford tenfold the means of curbing and subduing the country as would arise from doubling the present army establishment. Could any one, (he exclaimed) possibly imagine that the system now recom- mended was to end with Portsmouth and Ply- mouth, and that the reasonings of the minister would not apply to other parts of the kingdom ? No we were to figure to ourselves the same board of officers, acting under the same instruc- tions, and deliberating with the same DATA, going * HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK a circuit round the coasts of the kingdom. He XXII v-^Y-L' wished to see the estimate for the stationary de- 178fi fence of such places as Chatham, Sheerness, &c. in addition to the two-and-twenty thousand men demanded for Portsmouth and Plymouth. Mr. Sheridan professed, nevertheless, his readiness to abide by the decision of the board of officers, if it could be fairly shewn that, upon a full and unfet- tered investigation of the subject, they had report- ed it as their clear and unqualified opinion that the plan proposed by the duke of Richmond was such as it became the wisdom of parliament to adopt. But if the professional abilities of the duke of Rich- mond were ill-employed in the fabrication of so wild a project, it must be acknowledged they con- spicuously appeared in the' planning and construct- ing the report in question. There were certain detached data^ like advanced works, to keep the enemy at a distance from the main object in debate. Strong provisions covered the flanks of his asser- tions. His very queries were in casemates. No impression, therefore, was to be made on this for- tress of sophistry by desultory observations ; and it was necessary to assail it by regular approaches. Much ingenuity likewise had been shewn in ex- tracting such parts of the report as were deemed most favourable to the proposed system. The minutes which contained the opinion of the naval officers in condemnation of the plan were wholly GEORGE III. 95 omitted, because they were mixed with matter of BOOK xxii such dangerous import that no chemical process v^-v-O known in the ordnance elaboratory could possibly separate them ; while on the contrary every ap- proving opinion, like a light oily fluid, floated at the top, and was capable of being presented to the house pure and untinged by a single particle of the argument and information upon which it was founded." The minister upon this occasion found himself very generally deserted by the country gentlemen or independent interest in the house ; and the di- vision was rendered memorable by an exact equa- lity of numbers, both the ayes and the noes amount- ing to 169. The speaker being of course com- pelled to give his casting vote, acquired much credit and applause by adding his negative to those who had voted for the rejection of this chimerical, absurd, and extravagant system. It is very remarkable that the minister, not- withstanding this defeat, had the temerity, after an interval of a few weeks, to bring forward the question once more in a new form, by moving, " That an estimate of the expence of such part of the plan of fortification recommended in the late report, as might appear most necessary to be car- ried into immediate execution, be referred to a committee of supply" the probable expence of which was estimated at only 40o,ooo/. / This was 93 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 'BOOK received with extreme disapprobation ; it was said v>-v-v> to be impossible for parliament to submit to so open an attack upon their declared sentiments, and they were called upon ta resist it in the most peremptory manner. Mr. Pitt, perceiving the sense of the house so manifestly adverse to this attempt, thought proper to withdraw his motion ; on which Mr. Fox expressed his earnest hope " that the minister would in future pay more respect to the opinion of the legislature, and not attempt to force an obnoxious measure upon the country." The pertinacity of Mr. Pitt in this business occa- sioned much speculation : and those who recol- lected the tenor of his conduct respecting the Westminster return were not backward to throw disgraceful imputations upon his integrity. It was thought by many to be impossible that a man of Mr. Pitt's discernment could be the sincere and cordial advocate of so preposterous a scheme ; and it was strongly suspected that the duke of Rich- mond, in the prosecution of this favorite project, yelied upon far other and higher support than that which could be derived from the obscure and am- biguous decision of a board of general officers.* * The fortification projects of the duke of Richmond be- came, in consequence of this parliamentary investigation of their merits, the theme of the public derision and ridicule ; and, according to the observation of that unerring judge of mankind, the due de la Rochefoucauk, " ridicule is like a GEORGE III. 9 The grand business of the session, as alluded to BOOK , J\..\.ii. in the speech, was not brought forward till the o*-v 1786. month of March, when Mr. Pitt moved for the ap- Mr> p;tfs pointment of a Select Committee, by ballot, to re- port to the house the state of the public revenue and expenditure. The result of their enquiry was in a very high degree pleasing and satisfactory. The amount of the revenue for the current year was estimated by the committee at 1 5,397,0007. the permanent expenditure, including the civil list and the interests payable on the different funds, amounted to 10,554,0007. the peace establish- ment, allowing eighteen thousand men for the navy, and the usual complement of seventy regi- ments for the army, exclusive of life-guards and cavalry, was estimated at 3,924,0007. in all, 14,478,0007.; of consequence there remained a surplus of more than 900,0007. gangrene, which, when once it fastens upon one part of a cha- racter, is easily extended to the rest." In a humorous politi- cal publication of the times, styled the ROLLIAD, the duke of Richmond is thus severely and sarcastically apostrophized : With gorges, scaffolds, breaches, ditches, mines ; With culverins whole and demi, and gabines ; With trench, with counterscarp, with esplanade; With curtains, mote, and rhombo, and chamade ; With polygon, epaulement, hedge and bank ; With angle saliant, and with angle flank ; Oh thou shalt prove, should all thy schemes prevail, An UttCLE TOBY on a larger scale I VOL. VIII. H 98 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Mr. Pitt observed upon this report, " that XXIL v-^-v-^ though this was stated to be the annual expendi- ture, a considerable interval must elapse before this reduction could take place ; this term he fixed at four years. The exceedings of the army, navy, and ordnance, together with the sums necessary for the indemnification of the American loyalists, he calculated would not during this period fall short of three millions. The war from which we were just delivered had been most expensive and ruinous; these unavoidable exceedings were amongst the bitter fruits of it ; but if during the first years of peace extraordinary expences were incurred, they afforded also extraordinary savings. There were sums appropriated during the war to differ- ent services, which had not been expended ; four hundred and fifty thousand pounds had already been paid into the Exchequer upon this account. There were moreover immense sums in the hands of former paymasters, which it was expected would soon be brought to account; these he conjecturally stated at the sum of one million. There was a ba- lance of 6oo,ooo/. due to government from the East-India Company. When to these were added the improvements that might yet be made by ju- dicious regulations in the different branches of the revenue, he was not (Mr. Pitt said), he hoped, too sanguine in affirming that we possessed resources equal to all our ordinary and extraordinary de- GEORGE III. 99 mands. The proposition which he now submitted BOOK XXIL to the house was, the appropriation or the annual ^-^v^ sum of one million to be invariably applied to the liquidation of the public debt. The surplus of the revenue amounting to the sum of 900,0007. only, Mr. Pitt moved for an additional duty on spirits, on certain kinds of timber imported, and on per- fumery, which would together be more than suffi- cient to make up the deficiency. This annual mil- lion Mr. Pitt wisely proposed to vest in the hands of certain commissioners, to be by them applied regularly to the purchase of stock; so that no sum should ever lie within the grasp of any future mi- nister large enough to tempt him to violate this sacred deposit. The interests annually discharged were, conformably to this plan, to be added to and incorporated with the original fund, so that it would operate with a determinate and accelerated velocity ; being in this respect framed upon the model of the sinking fund formerly projected by sir Robert Walpole. This fund was also to be assisted by the annuities granted for different terms, which would from time to time fall in within the limited period of twenty-eight years, at the expiration of which Mr. Pitt calculated that the fund would produce an income of four mil- lions per annum. When a progress so consider- able was made in the reduction of the debt, par- liament might with propriety pause, and adopt H 2 100 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B Jli K sucn new measures for the relief of the nation, and .X. Jvll. v^v^^ the extinction of the most oppressive and burclen- 1786. . . some taxes, as to the legislative wisdom should seem meet. The commissioners to be nominated under the act were the chancellor of the Exche- quer, the speaker of the house of commons, the master of the rolls, the governor and deputy-go- vernor of the Bank of England, and the accomp- tant-general of the high-court of Chancery. Such were the persons (Mr. Pitt said) whom he should propose to be appointed to this trust. This plan had long been the wish and the hope of all good men, and he felt inexpressible pleasure in being able to flatter himself that his name might be in- scribed on that firm column which was now about to be raised to national faith and national prospe- rity." It was in the progress of the bill suggested by Mr. Fox, " that whenever a new loan should here- after be made, the commissioners should be em- powered to accept the loan, or such proportion of it, as should be equal to the cash then in their hands ; the interest and douceur annexed to which should be applied to the purposes of the sinking fund." This amendment, the only one of mate- rial consequence offered, was received with candor and facility by Mr. Pitt, who declared it to be " an auspicious omen of the ultimate success of the plan, that its propriety and necessity had been so obvious GEORGE III. 101 as to overcome the spirit and prejudice of party, and create an unanimity of sentiment in persons who more, he was sure, from accident than incli- nation were so frequently of different opinions." The bill finally passed with great and deserved approbation j all intelligent persons throughout the kingdom perfectly concurring in the sentir ments expressed in the recent report of the corn? missioners of public accounts upon this subject. *' This debt (say these impartial and faithful re* porters) is swelled to a magnitude that requires the united efforts of the ablest heads and the purest hearts to suggest the proper and effectual means of reduction. A PLAN must be formed for the reduction of this debt, and that without delay : NOW is the favourable moment of peace. The evil does not admit of procrastination, palliatives, or expedients. It presses on, and must be met with force and firmness: what can be done, the support of public credit, the preservation of national ho- nor, and the justice due to the public creditor, de- mand should be done. It MUST be DONE, or SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES will ensue." Notwithstanding the acknowledged necessity of KJn , r .a fift! tiaie ceconomy in every department or government, it discharged. is grievous to relate, that even before the Sinking- Fund Bill passed into a law, a message from the KING to the house of commons was delivered by the minister, stating, ^ that it gave him great con- 102 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK cern i o inform them, that it had not been found XXII. <^v^-' POSSIBLE to confine the expences of the civil list 1 786 within the annual sum of eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds, now applicable to that purpose. A farther debt had been NECESSARILY incurred, and the king relied on the ZEAL and AFFECTION of his PARLIAMENT to make provision for its dis- charge." In support of the motion grounded on this message, Mr. Pitt stated, " that under Mr. Burke 's Reform Bill an annual reduction of fifty thousand pounds from the civil list had been set apart by parliament for the liquidation by instalments of the sum of three hundred thousand pounds, then issued in Exchequer bills for the supply of former deficiencies. Of this debt one hundred and eighty thousand pounds yet remained unpaid, and a fresh debt of thirty thousand pounds had accrued: and he rested the necessity of a grant equal to these united sums upon this perplexing dilemma : Either parliament had at the period referred to, directed that, when the proposed liquidation should be ef- fected, the civil list should be allowed fifty thou- sand pounds per annum more than was necessary, or it was then put upon a footing of fifty thousand pounds per annum less than was necessary. Expe- rience had proved the latter to be the case ; and therefore it was reasonable to expect that the sum of two hundred and ten thousand pounds, now GEORGE III. 103 wanting to clear off the old and new incumbrances, B K would be voted without hesitation." v^-v^ 1786. In reply to Mr. Pitt's courtly logic, it was ob- vious to observe, that the parliament which fixed the expenditure of the civil list at eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds, until the debt previ- ously contracted should be liquidated, thought it at least POSSIBLE that the DIGNITY of the CROWN might be sufficiently sustained without passing the prescribed limits ; and it was by a very peculiar sort of reasoning that the actual transgression of a law was urged as affording of itself an adequate and satisfactory proof of the necessity of the trans- gression. It might even perhaps occur to some of the members, however indecorous the mention of it in a parliamentary debate, that the executive government of the republic of America was sup- ported, without any apparent forfeiture of DIG- NITY, at less than one FORTIETH part of the ex- pence. This demand was the more extraordinary, as the king in his speech from the throne at the open- ing of the session, December 1782, had said, " I have carried into strict execution the several re- ductions in my civil list expences, directed by an act of last session ; I have introduced a farther reform in other departments, and suppressed se- veral sinecure places in them. I have by this means so regulated my establishments, that MY 104, HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK EXPENCES SHALL NOT IN FUTURE EXCEED MY XXII. -, ^v^> INCOME. ' No attempt being made to repeal that clause in Mr. Burke's Reform Bill which regulated the ex- penditure of the civil list, it was urged to be very extraordinary, while that bill remained in full force, to come down in the face of an act of parliament, and call upon the house to vote money for the debts of the crown. It is almost superfluous to say, that all the arguments offered on this head proved a mere waste of words, and that the money was ulti- mately voted. * This species of parliamentary bubble is a royal practice and privilege of very ancient date The KING shall pass his HONEST WORD; The chancellor make a speech ; The pawn'd revenue sums afford ; And then come liss my ******. DRYBEN. It is related of Francis I. king of France, that upon using to one of his courtiers a man of honour on some occasion, his usual asseveration ** Foi de Roi !" he perceived marks of manifest incredulity on his countenance. On which he gra- ciously repeated " Foi de gentilhomme !" and the courtier declared himself satisfied. The Huguenots negotiating with the famous Catharine of Medicis insisted on security for their rights and immunities ; and many methods being proposed and rejected as inadequate, the queen at length angrily said, " Is, not the word of a KING a sufficient security ?" One of the de- puties with quickness replied, " No, by St. BARTHOLOMEW, madam." GEORGE III. 105 Many petitions were presented during the ses- BOOK sion for the repeal of the odious tax upon retail v^v^- 1 '7firf7 shops ; and a motion was formally made by sir Watkin Lewes, member for the city of London, s iiw tkL for that purpose, without effect, though it was r J somewhat mitigated by a reduction of the rates. sh P" tai - In this business Mr. Pitt shewed a degree of per- severance bordering upon obstinacy, which it had been surely better to have reserved for a more im- portant occasion. Mr. Fox acutely remarked on the subject of the proposed alterations, * e that the greater part of Mr. Pitt's arguments had been intended to prove that the tax was not personal ; and that it must find its level and fall upon the consumer. If this were true, what was there to recommend his mo- difications ? He had stated, that he would take off or diminish the portion of the tax paid by the poorer class of shopkeepers, which would consi- derably exonerate that description of persons. Of what would it exonerate them ; of the burden borne by the consumer ? Glaring indeed was the inconsistency of his actions, when compared with his arguments." An attempt was also made by Mr. Pulteney, Humane supported by many respectable members of the thc house, to explain and amend the act of the last am session, relative to hawkers and pedlars ; and par- ticularly to repeal a most detestably oppressive lo& HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK clause, by which justices of the peace were em- -x~v-^ powered to imprison any person of this profession 1786. m at their discretion. This was rejected, at the second reading, by a majority of fifty voices. About this period Mr. Pitt brought in a bill for transferring part of the duties on foreign wines from the customs to the excise. The revenue on this article, the consumption of which had cer- tainly not diminished, Mr. Pitt stated to be infe- rior by the sum of two hundred and eighty thou- sand pounds to what it had been in the middle of the century. The terrible alarm excited by sir Robert Walpole's memorable attempt to extend the laws of excise fifty years before had now com- pletely subsided, and the bill passed with general approbation. In the house of peers lord Loughborough, who was now again transformed into a Whig and a patriot, opposed the bill, as in the highest degree arbitrary and unconstitutional. He was answered by lord Camden, whose zeal for the constitution had been subject to no such remarkable variations. Lord Camden admitted fct that the excise laws, taken collectively, might in a certain sense be considered as a departure from the constitution ; but the present state of the country rendered them necessary. The present bill, in particular, was calculated to counteract the notorious impo- sitions practised by the wine-merchants to delude GEORGE III. 107 the public, to cheat the revenue, and injure the health of the consumer. In these iniquities it was 1786. that a justification of this useful and salutary mea- sure was to be found." The bill passed without a division. Next to the establishment of the new sinking East India fund, the affairs of India occupied, during this " session, the chief attention of parliament. A bill was brought in by Mr. Dundas, which with some opposition passed into a law, to explain and amend the act of 1784. This bill, among other regula- tions of inferior importance, bestowed upon the governor-general of India the high prerogative of deciding in opposition to the sense of the majority of the council. The offices of commander-in-chief and governor-general were in future united in'the same person ; and earl Cornwallis, who had borne LordCom- . . M i A . , wallis no- so conspicuous a part in the American war, and whose character stood deservedly high in the public estimation, was nominated to fill this im- IndlBl portant commission. ' Soon after this Mr. Pitt, stating certain exigen- cies arising from the peculiar situation of the East- India Company, moved that they be empowered to raise the sum of two millions for the necessary increase of their capital. This was in itself a very problematic proof of the vaunted prosperity of the Company ; but Mr. Pitt asserted the necessity to be temporary, and that it arose chiefly from the 108 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xxii K b 6116 ^!*! operation of the Commutation Act, in *~^y^~ > consequence of which the Company's sales of tea had increased from six to fourteen millions of pounds, exclusive of other articles ; and in pro- portion to an increase of trade, an increase of capi- tal became indispensably requisite. And on this ground the bill passed with little difficulty. These- measures were regarded with cold indifference j but the feelings of the nation were wrought up to an high pitch of solicitude and curiosity by the subsequent proceedings of parliament relative to India. Mr. HASTINGS, late governor of Bengal, arrived in England in the month of June 1785; and the season being then far advanced, Mr. Burke gave notice of his intention to move early in the next session for a parliamentary investigation into his conduct. On the first day of the meeting of par* liament after the summer recess major Scott, who had upon all occasions distinguished himself as the friend and advocate of Mr. Hastings, remind- ed Mr. Burke of the pledge he had made, and challenged him in pressing and peremptory terms to come to an immediate decision. Mr. Burke calmly replied, " that he should imitate the con? duct of the duke of Parma, who came from the Low Countries to relieve the city of Paris, then besieged by king Henry IV. The king, impatient and full of ardor, urged the duke to instant battle j GEORGE III. but that experienced and celebrated commander replied, that he had not travelled so far to learn * 1780. from his enemy the time when it was most proper to engage." On the 1 7th of February 1786, however, Mr.Mr.Ha*- . 1*1 i Burke, in the spirit of ancient chivalry, threw . . . cusedfoy down the gauntlet ; and, desiring that the reso- Mr. Burke, lutions of May 28, 1782, might be read (reso- lutions moved by Mr, Dundas. as chairman of the Select Committee, declaratory of the culpability of Mr. Hastings, and the consequent necessity of his recall), declared his " deep regret, that the solemn and important business of that day had not been brought forward in the plenitude of weight and efficiency, by the original mover of the resolutions now recited. Most feelingly did he lament, as the unwelcome consequence of a devolution caused partly by the natural demise of some, the political decease of others, and in particular cases a death to virtue and to principle, that he should now re- main alone engaged in the attempt to preserve unsullied the honor and the consistency of that house, which had fixed upon Mr. Hastings as an object of their particular and formal accusation. Acting under their sanction, he asserted a claim to their protection. There were various modes of proceeding which might be adopted in this busi- ness. The first of these was a direction to the attorney-general to .prosecute. But not to insist HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK upon the apparent disinclination of the present at- torney-general (Mr. Arden) to exert his powers in this great and momentous cause, he -did not conceive that a trial by jury was well calculated for the purpose of obtaining justice against so elevated an offender. In the court of King's Bench the dignity of such a trial w r ould ill assort with causes of meum and tuum^ actions of battery and assault, of trespass and 'trover, together with the innumerable tribe of subordinate misdemeanors. The second mode of prosecution was that by bill of pains and penalties. To this he had insuperable objections, as radically unjust, and as tarnishing in no slight degree the character of that house, the members of which would thus preposterously ap- pear in the two-fold capacity of accusers and judges. The only alternative which remained was the an- tient and constitutional mode of proceeding by IMPEACHMENT i as a necessary preparatory to which, he concluded with moving for the papers necessary to substantiate the charge which he had now in immediate contemplation to bring forward against the late governor-general "Hastings." Mr. Dundas with his usual versatility affirmed, " that though he had thought it expedient in the year 1782 to recall Mr. Hastings from India, he now rejoiced that the resolutions moved by him had not taken effect. Since that period Mr. Hastings had rendered most essential services to GEORGE III. Ill the Company, and he should have extremely re- B ? T K A. JvA! . gretted to have been the means of depriving the ^'^ Company of a servant so distinguished by his zeal and capacity. He had certainly moved a vote of censure on Mr. Hastings ; but Mr. Hastings had since received the thanks of the Court of Direc- tors, in which, had he been a director, he would most willingly have concurred, from a thorough conviction that the thanks were merited.'* Some difficulties having been suggested by Mr. Pitt, respecting the production of the papers called for, Mr. Burke declared in lofty terms this demur to be " an invasion of the prerogative of a public accuser. He had an unquestionable claim to all such documents, proofs, and papers, as he saw or esteemed to be necessary to- support the charge which he undertook to advance. The downfall of the greatest empire in the world had originated in the mal-administration of its provinces. When Rome felt within herself the seeds of decline, and the inroads of corruption, a man of the first rank and highest connections in the state was brought to punishment. VERRES, the .governor of Sicily, was united in affinity with all that was most splen- did and most opulent in the seat of empire, with, the Hortensii and the Metelli. But when CICERO- undertook his accusation, the government itself adopted his prosecution. No less than one hun- dred and fifty days were allowed for the collection HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK of materials, and the justice of the Roman senate "VV f I ij-v^ opened to the accuser all the cabinets whence the 786 ' documents were to be obtained." In the result, the papers, with some few exceptions, were granted. On the 4th of April, 1786, Mr. Burke solemnly rose to charge Warren Hastings, esq. late gover- nor-general of Bengal, with high crimes and mis- demeanors in the execution of his office, exhibiting at the same time nine distinct articles of accusation, which in a few weeks were increased to the num- ber of twenty-two. inr. Hat- On the i st of May Mr. Hastings, at his own ex- mature and press desire, and by the indulgence of the house, was heard at the bar of the house, in this early pe- riod of the business, in his own defence : and at the farther request of the accused, the minutes of his defence were ordered to lie on the table. But the general opinion, faintly controverted even by the friends of Mr. Hastings, was, that the DEFENCE, thus precipitately and prematurely delivered, was of no service to his cause, and contributed in a very slight and inadequate degree to the vindica- tion of his character. Though his assertions were bold, his arguments were feeble, and the language of this defence was beyond all example boastful and arrogant. He had even the weakness and presumption to call in question the AUTHORITY of the house to institute a judicial inquiry into his conduct. GEORGE III. 113 *The house, unmoved by what they had heard, BOOK XXII. proceeded in the examination of evidence : and ^^^j 1 7R/5 the first article of impeachment respecting the Rohilla war was brought formally before the Decision in house on the ist of June. After a very long de- Mr. Hast- bate, the question was decided in favour of Mr. JUSing "the Hastings, sixty-seven members voting for, and one war. 1 a hundred and nineteen against the impeachment. Mr. Pitt on this occasion gave a silent vote against the motion; but the ground on which he voted was tolerably well ascertained by a declara- tion he had previously made, when the subject of the Rohilla war was in a more general way dis- cussed, " that he considered that transaction in a horribly alarming point of view, and as being so repugnant to every sentiment of human nature, that nothing could justify it but the strongest mo- tives of political expediency, and the invincible principles of retributive justice adding, neverthe- less, that it would be highly inconsistent and ab- surd to consider Mr. Hastings now in the light of a culprit, for any measures taken by him previ- ously to the period in which he had been nomi- nated by act of parliament governor-general of India, which was the highest certificate of legisla- tive approbation." But surely, in the contem- plation of common justice and common sense, this re-appointment could not be regarded as equiva- lent to an acquittal, unless the house were at that VOL. vm. i 11* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK period in full possession of the evidence on which XXII -v^-v-o the merits or demerits of the transaction rested, 17S6. which it was notorious they were not, Decision On the 1 3th of June, the second charge rela- against Mr. . . . r _. i t r Hastings on tive to the rajah or Benares being brought for- charg e e! ares ward, it was resolved by the house, on a division of 1 19 to 79 voices, The king happily avoided the blow by drawing back ; and as she was preparing to make a second thrust, one of the yeomen caught her arm, and the weapon was wrenched out of her hand. On examination before the privy-council, it immediately appeared that the woman was insane. Being asked where she had lately resided, she answer- ed frantically, " that she had been all abroad since that matter of the crown broke out." Being further questioned what matter ? she said, " that the crown was hers ; and that if she had not her right, England would be deluged in blood for a thousand generations." On being interrogated as to the nature of her right, she refused to answer, saying, in the genuine style of royalty, " that her rights were a MYSTERY." It appeared that this poor maniac, whose name was Margaret Nicholson, had presented a peti- tion ten days before, full of wild and incohe- rent nonsense. Like most other petitions it had probably never been read, or the person of the pe- titioner would have been secured. The idea of a judicial process was of course abandoned, and she was consigned to a fit apartment provided for her in Bethlem Hospital. In a few days the lord mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and common council of the city of London, went in procession to St. I 2 116 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK James's to present an address to his majesty on his. v-^v^L happy escape from assassination. This example was followed by nearly all the corporate bodies throughout the kingdom ; and the popularity of the king was sensibly increased by this trivial and almost ludicrous incident. The number and qua- lity of knighthoods conferred on occasion of these addresses were such as completed the ridicule, so successfully levelled since the days of Cervantes, against that once honourable and envied distinc- tion.* In the month of September 1786, the king was pleased to appoint a new Committee of Council, for the consideration of all matters relating to trade and foreign plantations. Of this board the famous Charles Jenkinson, now for his long and faithful services created lord Hawkesbury, and constituted chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, was declared president. Under the auspices of this new corn- Treaty of mission a TREATY of COMMERCE was signed be- withFrance.tweenthe two courts of England and France (Sep- tember 26, 1786) OB the liberal principles of equa- lity and reciprocity. Its general principle was to * According to an anecdote somewhere related of Charles, II. the witty and profligate, that monarch observing a person on whom he was about to confer the honour of knighthood to hang dowrthis head and blush, as if conscious of the deficiency of his pretensions, exclaimed with his usual good humour and pleasantry, " Don't be ashamed 'Tis I who have most reason." GEORGE III. 117 admit the mutual importation and exportation of BOOK "V"V"IT the commodities of each country at a very low 4^ ^r-v-O valorem duty. The negotiator of this treaty was Mr. Eden, who under the coalition administration had filled the lucrative office of vice-treasurer of Ireland. This was the first memorable defection from that ill-starred and heterogeneous alliance : and it was the more remarkable, as Mr. Eden had himself been generally considered as the original projector of the coalition, or at least as the man who might contest that honour with Mr. Burke, He was soon afterwards rewarded for this deser- tion by a peerage, under the title of baron Auck- land, and, gaining the entire confidence of the minister, was appointed in the sequel ambassador to the Hague. About the same time a convention was signed Convention . t . r - r 11 . with SP*"* with Spain or some importance, as it finally termi- relative to nated the long-subsisting disputes respecting the quito settle- settlements of the English nation on the Mosquito shore and the coast of Honduras. The Mosquito shore extends by sea eastward from Point Castile, the boundary dividing it from the Bay of Hon- . duras, to Cape Gracios-a-Dios, 87 leagues ; and southward from Cape Gracios-a-Dios to the river of St. Juan, 94 leagues. The interior part of the country is bounded by the Lake of Nicaragua, and fenced by mountains stretching to the west. In magnitude it considerably exceeds the kingdom 118 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK of Portugal; -is excellently watered by navigable v^v-O rivers and lagunes ; abounds in fish, game, and 1786 provisions of all sorts ; furnishes every necessary for raising cattle and stock, and is clothed with woods producing the most valuable kinds of tim- ber. The soil is said to be superior to that of any of our West-India islands, the air incomparably more salubrious, and the climate more healthy. In this beautiful country the native Indians have yet been able to maintain their independence in opposition to the power of Spain 5 and they have invariably indicated a disposition to cultivate the alliance and friendship of Great Britain. By the present treaty the Mosquito settlements were formally and explicitly relinquished, as they had already virtually been by the 6th article of the ge- neral treaty of 1783. In return the boundaries of the English settlements on the coast and bay of Honduras were somewhat extended, but in such manner, and on such conditions, as to leave the king of Spain in full possession of his territorial rights and exclusive dominion. In a political view this convention answered a valuable purpose, as it removed a probable source of national disagreement. But the claims of hu. manity and justice were not sufficiently attended to. For the Mosquito settlers, who had from time immemorial occupied their lands and habitations under the protection of the English government, GEORGE III. 119 and who amounted to many hundred families in BOOK XXII. number, were peremptorily commanded to eva- ^^-v^- cuate the country of the Mosquitoes, without ex- ception, in the space of eighteen months, nothing farther being stipulated in their favor, than that his Catholic majesty " shall order his governors to grant to the said English so dispersed all possible facilities for their removal to the settlements agreed upon by the present convention." The greatest confusion, consternation, and dis- tress, among this unhappy people, was the inevi- table result of this barbarous edict of expulsion, which, with the cold-blooded politicians of Europe, at the distance of 3000 miles, passed only for a re- gulation of commerce. An affecting representa- tion of their distresses, and an humble petition for some sort of indemnification from the government which had thus carelessly abandoned them to their fate, was subsequently presented to the Board of Treasury ; but it does not appear to have excited any attention. By " the insolence of office," the sighs of the oppressed are regarded as a species of insult. On the 3 1 st of October in the present year ( 1 786) died the princess Amelia, last survivor of the nu- merous issue of king George II. at the advanced age of 75 years. Her immense riches she devised, by a gross affront to the reigning family, and by a species of flagrant injustice to the nation, by whose 120 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK bounty she had acquired them, to the landgrave of XXII ^r-y^L/ Hesse, nearest in blood of her German relations. She had not appeared at court for many years, being highly disgusted, not merely with the per- sonal disrespect with which she conceived herself treated, but with the Tory and high-church max- ims and policy of the present reign, so different from those of the former. Scarcely were the ap pearances of decency preserved by the court on the occasion of her decease. session of On the re-assembling of parliament, January 23, Debat ^n J 7^7> t ^ le ^ rst ^j ect ^ debate which presented the com- itself was the commercial treaty with France. On mercial * treaty with the 1 2th of February the house resolved itself into France. * a committee on this subject, when Mr. Pitt entered into a most able and eloquent vindication of the measure, though, in the opinion of impartial per- sons, the treaty sufficiently spoke its own merits. Mr. Pitt declared in energetic terms his abhor- rence of the maxim, that any nation was destined to be the natural and unalterable foe of another. It had no foundation in the experience of nations, or in the history of men. It was a libel on the constitution of political societies, and supposed the existence of infernal malignity in our original frame. " France (Mr. Pitt said) in most of our wars had been the aggressor ; but her assurances and frankness in the present negotiation were such as to entitle her to a return of confidence. It GEORGE III. 121 indeed ridiculous to imagine that the French BOOK would consent to yield advantages without the idea of compensation. The treaty would doubt- less be a benefit to them ; but he did not hesitate to say it would be a much greater 'benefit to us. She gained for her wines and other productions a great and opulent market. We did the same for our manufactures to a far greater degree. She procured a market of eight millions of people, we a market of twenty-four millions. Both nations were disposed and prepared for such a connection. France, by the peculiar dispensation of Providence, was gifted, perhaps more than any other country upon earth, with what made life desirable, in point of soil, climate, and natural productions, in the most fertile vineyards, and the richest harvests. Britain, on the other hand, possessing these advan- tages in an inferior degree, had, from the happy freedom of its constitution, and the equal security of its laws, risen to a state of commercial gran- deur, and acquired the ability of supplying France with the requisite conveniences of life, in exchange for her natural luxuries." Very plausible objections were nevertheless sug- gested by the leaders of opposition against this treaty, and predictions hazarded of the injury which would be sustained by Great Britain in con- sequence of this measure, which were far from being eventually verified, and which it is therefore 122 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK superfluous to particularize. Such, nevertheless, XXII. v^X-' was the impression made upon the house by the 1787 arguments advanced, that no less than 162 mem- bers divided against the minister on a motion for an address to his majesty, declaratory of the ap- probation of the house ; which was ultimately carried by a majority of 76 voices. The opposition in the house was- not however supported, as in the case of the Irish propositions, by any commercial clamors beyond its walls. And Mr. Pitt accurately and satisfactorily accounted for this difference, by observing " that in the former instance the clamors of the manufacturers, though he thought them founded in error, had been ge- neral and violent, because they perceived no great and positive advantage in the intercourse to ba- lance the apprehended evil of a rivalry and com- petition, England being already in possession of the Irish market. But now that they saw so mani- fest and valuable a benefit to be reaped, they were willing to hazard the possibility of the injury." The topic on which the opposition insisted with the most advantage, and indeed the only real diffi- culty respecting the execution of this treaty, arose from its palpable inconsistency with the famous Methuen treaty, concluded with Portugal early in the present century, in conformity to which the duties on Portugal wines were to bear in future the proportion of only two-thirds of those import- GEORGE IK. 125 cd from France and other countries. But this BOOK XXII. point being candidly conceded by France in the v^v-O progress of the business, the measure received, as it well deserved, the necessary concurrence and sanc- tion of parliament, and the whole transaction ter- minated greatly to the honor of the minister, and the advantage of the nation ; the sole cause of re- gret, in fact, being the limitation of the treaty to the short period of twelve years. Another very useful commercial measure, consoiida- _ . c . tion of the though of very inferior importance, a measure customs, founded on the reports of the commissioners of public accounts, was early in the present session brought forward by Mr. Pitt for the consolidation of the customs, by the total abolition of all the existing confused and complex duties, and substi- , tuting in their stead a single duty on each article, amounting as nearly as possible to the aggregate of the various subsidies now paid ; taking univer- sally, instead of a fraction, the nearest integral number above it. By this means the revenue would be considerably benefited, and the merchant relieved from a serious inconvenience. It is a cu- rious circumstance, that the series of resolutions presented to the house, but of which they chose to wave the formality of reading, amounted to more than three thousand in number. A regulation of finance, much less generally ap- p os t-horse proved, was also proposed by Mr. Pitt, relative to tax famcd ' J2 * HISTORYvOF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the tax on post-horses, which he affirmed to have J^L been most grossly and scandalously evaded. By m7 ' way of remedy, he recommended that it should be farmed by auction to the highest bidder, on the usual plan of the turnpike duty. This was repre- sented as repugnant to the genius of the English constitution. It might prove, as the farming of the revenue had notoriously done in France, the source of infinite abuse and oppression. It estab- lished a dangerous and alarming precedent, and required to be resolutely resisted in the onset. Upon the question for going into a committee on this bill, the numbers were only 147 ayes to ios noes.* It must however be acknowledged, that this obnoxious regulation has not been found pro- ductive of any practical inconvenience. Mr. FOX'S In the course of the session Mr. Fox moved for motion for t/-i i r>i m i i tbe repeal the repeal or the odious Shop 1 ax, which, in Lx. e P ~ consequence of the pertinacious adherence of Mr. Pitt to a measure in itself very trivial and unin- teresting, had become a matter of permanent and serious concern. It appeared from the statement of Mr. Fox, that the city of London and its en- virons paid forty-three shares in fifty-nine of this duty, the whole produce being estimated at only fifty-nine thousand pounds. This was affirmed with reason to be an unjust and monstrous dispro- portion. But in truth the Commutation Tax fell as heavily in proportion upon the country, as the GEORGE III. 125 XXII Shop Tax upon the metropolis; however com- BOOK paratively destitute of the means of enforcing their complaints, or procuring redress. On the division the numbers were, ayes 147, noes 183 ; the minis- terial majority in a full house being, on this second attempt at repeal, reduced to 36 voices only. On the 28th of March, 1787, a motion of great Mr. foy's mo- importance was made by Mr. Beaufoy, a member ti6n for th rcoc-tl of of the house distinguished by his knowledge, ta- the test- lents, and general respectability of character, for amending, and in part repealing, the laws known by the appellation of the Corporation and Test Acts, so far as related to the Protestant dissenters, who weakly flattered themselves that their recent services were not as yet wholly lost to the recol- lection of the court. In his introductory speech, Mr. Beaufoy gave a clear and judicious historical narrative of the origin of these acts. " The Cor- poration Act declared that no person should be elected into any municipal office who should not one year before his election have taken the sacra- ment according to the usage of the church of Eng- land. The Test Act required of every person ac- cepting a civil or military office under the crown* to take the sacrament in like manner within a limited time ; in default of which he was liable ta a fine of 5007. and incurred other penalties in the , highest degree severe and rigorous. The first of these acts was. passed in the year 1661 j and the 126 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN'. BOOK despotic and arbitrary spirit in which it was framed ^Y-L> sufficiently appeared from a single clause in the act, empowering the king for a limited time to remove at his pleasure all municipal officers by commis- sioners of his appointment. This act was levelled indiscriminately against Protestant and Catholic dissenters : but in the year 1 673, the sera of the Test Act,the state of things was materially changed. The jealousy of parliament in regard to the Pro- testant dissenters had now subsided, and the alarm of all the different denominations of Protestants was equally excited by the dangers to which Pro- testantism itself was exposed by the flagrant at- tempts of the court to effect the restoration of the Popish religion. The king himself was believed, on good ground, to be nothing better than a con- cealed Papist. The duke of York, his brother, and immediate successor to the crown, was not only an avowed convert to that religion, but a flaming and furious zealot. Lord Clifford, the first minister, and other persons in high authority, were also bigoted papists ; and a declaration of indulgence had been published by the king, in order to make way for the introduction of Po- pery. In these circumstances, the Test Act was a measure of national policy and safety. It bore the title of ' An Act for preventing the danger which may happen from Popish recusants' and the dissenters, far from concurring in the opposU GEORGE III. 121 tion made by the court to this bill, publicly deckr- BOOK ed, through the medium of Mr. Alderman Love, ^y~+-> 1 *"&"* one of the members for the city of London, and himself a dissenter, ' that in a time of public dan- ger they would in no wise impede the progress of a measure deemed essential to the safety of the kingdom ; and though they were accidentally in- cluded in the operation of it, they would wave their claim to an exemption, trusting to the good faith, justice, and humanity of parliament, that a future provision should be made for their relief.' This seasonable declaration extremely facilitated the passing of the bill, and was received with just and general applause. A bill for their relief was ac- cordingly at a subsequent period of the session passed by the commons, but defeated by the sud- den prorogation of parliament. A second bill was in a succeeding parliament brought in, and passed both houses ; but while it lay ready for the royal assent, the king degraded his dignity so far, as secretly to order the clerk of the crown to with- draw the bill; and the parliament being soon after- wards dissolved, it never passed into a law. " But the relief which the unprincipled profli- gacy of Charles refused to grant, the magnanimity of William was impatient to bestow. In one of his earliest speeches from the throne, he expressed his ' earnest hope, that such alteration would be made in the laws as would leave room for the ad- 128 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK mission of all his Protestant subjects who were Y YTT v^vO willing to serve him.' But at this period the 87 ' High Church and Tory interest predominated in opposition to the wise and salutary policy of the court. From the memorable protest of the lords upon this subject in the year 1689, it appeared nevertheless that the sentiments of several of the greatest men in that extraordinary aera coincided with those of their sovereign. And upon another occasion of a still later date a conference between the two houses upon the Bill of occasional Con- formity the peers (not a few individuals only of that assembly, but the whole house) expressed in language still more emphatical their abhorrence of the injustice of the Test Act." In discussing the general policy of this law, Mr. Bcaufoy observed, " that to the higher trust of legislative authority the dissenters were admitted without reserve. From the members of that house, from the members of the house of peers, no religious test was required. Hence he strongly inferred the absurdity of the imposition in question. He had heard indeed of an idle opinion, that there was something of a republican tendency, of an anti-monarchical bias, in the very doctrines of the Presbyterian church. From so vague an assertion he appealed to experience. Were the Scots sus- pected of an indifference to monarchy ? He had heard them taxed with a predilection for those GEORGE III. 129 maxims of policy which were the most favorable to power; but of levelling principles, of republican attachments, he had never heard them accused. The English dissenters, since the Revolution, which had first given this country a constitution, had uniformly acted on principles the most bene- ficial, and had constantly proved themselves the ardent supporters and the faithful adherents of that system of monarchy which was established by law. Would then the repeal of the Test Act prove injurious to the established church ? GOD FORBID ! The suggested repeal was no attack upon the rights of others ; it was merely the completion of that wise system of toleration adopted at the sera of the Revolution. The church of England flourished long before the Test Act existed. In Scotland no such law ever had a being. Had Scot- land therefore no established church? In Ireland, the relief now solicited had been granted seven years ago. But was the church of Ireland there- fore destroyed ? In Holland, in Russia, in Prussia, in HANOVER, no traces of such a test were to be found. In the dominions of the emperor, all dis- qualifications of this nature had been recently abo- lished. In France, a similar relief was granted by the edict of Nantz, from the revocation of which France had so severely suffered, and which was now, as it was supposed, about to be restored. In fact (Mr. Beaufoy justly added), the repeal of the VOL. VIII. K ' 130 HISTORY QF GREAT BRITAIN 7 . BOOK Test, so far from being pernicious to the estate lished church, would be salutary. The different classes of dissenters had no general interest, no bond of union, but that reproachful exclusion from public employments which was common to them all. If he were further asked, If justice be the principle on which you decide, shall not the Catholics enjoy the common privileges of citi- zenship ? he would answer without hesitation, If the Catholics could give a sufficient pledge of loy- alty to their sovereign, and attachment to the laws questions not now before the house he should think they ought to be admitted to the civil and military service of the state." Such were the li- beral and elevated sentiments of this speaker, who concluded this excellent address with an enume- ration of other considerations, more of a religious than political kind, in favor of the repeal, deduced from the gross profanation to which the nature of the present Test subjected a sacred and solemn Christian rite. Mr. Beaufoy declared, " that he should have thought it not unbecoming the sanc- tity of the bishops to have solicited the removal of this scandal from the church. But let the requi- sition come from whatever quarter it might, sure he was that a compliance with it would reflect ho- nor on that house : for, whatever tended to the debasement of religion diminished political autho- rity, and weakened all the functions of civil and social order.'* GEORGE IIL 131 Lord North, true to his orio;inal principles of BOOK xxn. Toryism and High Churchism, rose with much v^^v-O zeal to oppose " this dangerous attempt at inno- vation. Declaring himself a friend to toleration in its full extent, he conjured the house at the same time to consider, that the present motion went not merely to toleration, but to the repeal of an act which was the great bulwark of the constitution, and to which we owed the inestimable blessings of freedom. The exclusion of the dissenters from civil offices (lord North said) was no injury or dis- grace. The Test Act was merely a civil and poli- 'tical regulation ; and the arguments against it were equally applicable to all those restrictions which the wisdom of government in all countries had found it necessary to establish. His lordship men- tioned the alarm of the clergy at this attempt; and he added, that they all knew the pernicious nature of a cry, that THE CHURCH is in DANGER. There was no complaint of ecclesiastical tyranny; universal toleration was established. Let them therefore be upon their guard against INNOVATION in the CHURCH, nor confound the toleration of religious opinions with the mode of admission to civil and military appointments." Mr. Pitt enforced the arguments of lord North, but with far more ability and address. He de- clared, in very flattering and explicit terms, the esteem and regard which he entertained for the K 2 1S2 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK collective body of Protestant dissenters, who hacf XXII v-^-r^ ever proved themselves the genuine and zealous friends of constitutional liberty, of which their conduct during the late political conflicts had ex- hibited a memorable proof; and he acknowledged witJi gratitude and pleasure the honorable and unanimous support which he had experienced from them at that momentous and interesting crisis. He must nevertheless, however reluctantly, discharge what he conceived to be his indispens- aWe duty, in opposing the present application for a repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts. It had been said, If you grant this, the same persons will soon come to you again to ask something more. This had no weight with him. He would not ob- ject to concede what he ought to concede, because he might be asked to concede what he ought not to concede. But a distinction was, in his opinion, here necessary to be made between political and civil liberty. The latter he contended that the dissenters already enjoyed in its fullest extent. The former was in fact nothing else than a distri- bution of power, which must be regulated by the discretion of the state. The employments and of- fices of the state were not the property of indivi- duals ; they were public trusts, to be confided to those who were politically competent to occupy them. The dissenters desired, as a matter of right and justice, a participation of ofiices. If this were GEORGE III. 133 granted, they might acquire a dangerous ascen- BO o K dency in corporations ; and an exclusive corpora- v^-vO tion interest in the hands of the dissenters was a very different thing from the liberty of sitting in that house on the free choice of the general mass of electors. It was now indeed asserted that they had no such object in contemplation. But it was necessary to take into the account the real springs by which human affairs were regulated, and not to depend upon the security of words in contra- distinction to the tenor and tendency of actions. There were persons amongst the dissenters who would not admit any ecclesiastical establishment to be necessary. Against such persons it became the legislature to be upon their guard. He had indeed an high opinion of the merits of dissenters ; but they already enjoyed every mental privilege, every freedom to serve GOD according to their consciences, in the most ample degree." The motion of Mr, Beaufoy was powerfully supported by Mr. Fox, who magnanimously de- clared, " that, whatever personal reason he might have to complain of the recent conduct of the dis- senters, he would never lose sight of the great prin- ciples of civil and religious liberty, on which the present application to the house was founded. He had considered himself as honored in acting with them on many former occasions, and he acknow- ledged the general tenor of their political conduct 3* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK to be in the highest degree meritorious. In his Y YTI i^~Y-*L> opinion, it was very unwise in any case to take >787< religion for a test in politics ; and he averred, that the maxims advanced by Mr. Pitt were such, that though he declined persecution in words, he ad- mitted the whole extent of it in principle." Upon 3, division, after a long debate, the numbers ap- peared, for the motion 100, against it 178. This was by no means, considering the opposi- tion of the minister to the motion, a discouraging division on the first effort. But the dissenters were in the last degree astonished and chagrined at the part taken by- Mr. Pitt in this debate, it being almost universally understood by them that the application would at least not be discounte- nanced by him. And the expressions used by him in the previous conferences held with the leading dissenters, though far from amounting to a pro- mise of support, were considered as certain indi- cations of a favorable disposition. Doubtless Mr. Pitt found, in the progress of the business, ob- stacles in the way of the repeal which he had not at first apprehended ; and he flattered himself that his public professions of regard and esteem for the dissenters would so far sooth and conciliate their minds as to reconcile them to the disappointment they sustained. But the most refined address, and the greatest ability in the management of business^ may easily be over-rated. It was not possible for GEORGE III. 135 Mr. Pitt, on this grand question, to stand well at BO-OK once with the court and with the dissenters. The ^^T^J 1 7** 1 *? dissenters clearly perceived the difference between the situation of Mr. Pitt and that of his predecessor sir Robert Walpole, when the last application for a repeal of the Test was made on their part above fifty years before. That wise minister, though his judgment was decidedly in favor of the repeal abstractedly considered, was justly apprehensive of clamors which would have been unquestionably raised at that turbulent period against a measure, as the consequence of which the weak, the bigoted, and the factious, would have joined in vociferating that the CHURCH was in DANGER. It was an experiment at that time not worth the risk ; and the minister chose the least of the two evils, con- descending himself to talk absurdly, in order to prevent others from acting mischievously. But that senseless and terrific clamor had long since become a mere brutumfulmen. The application of the dissenters in the present instance was in unison with the general sense of the public and of the par- liament, or at least not inconsistent with it; and a slight degree of countenance only from the court would have sufficed to ensure the success of the motion : nor, on the other hand, was the opposi- tion of the court so openly and decidedly hostile as to preclude the idea of future attempts.* * The opposition of Mr. Pitt to the repeal of the Test Laws was the first grand deviation in his conduct from the funda- 186 BOOK XXII. v-~v^ 1787 debt$> HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. The attention of the house and of the nation was soon transferred to a subject of a very dine- r ent nature. When the prince of Wales attained the age of majority, A. D. 1783, the sum of fifty thousand pounds per annum only was allotted to him out of the civil-list revenue to defray the entire expence of his establishment. Considering the numerous salaries payable to the officers of his household, this sum was manifestly inadequate to the just support of his rank and situation in life ; and the then ministers, Mr. Fox and lord North, mental principles of Whiggism. Sir Robert Walpole, wisely declining to enter into the merits of those odious laws, rested his opposition as minister wholly upon the impolicy of agitating in times so contentious so contentious a question ; in his pri- vate judgment he was well known to be decidedly hostile to them. But Mr. Pitt's arguments were founded on the most narrow conceptions of national policy, and to him the excel- lent and applicable reasonings recorded in the immortal writ- ings of the great Roman historian must have appeared, if he ever made them the subject of his reflection, false or futile. " Ccetum et seditiones affel/avit quod vos rogassent ut legem in se latam temporibus duris in pace et florente ac beata re- publica abrogaretis. VERBA MAGNA quae rei augendje causa, conquirantur et haec et alia esse scio. - Ego enim quemadmo- dum ex his legibus quae non in tempus aliquod, sed perpetuae utilitatis causa in sternum latae sunt, nullam abrogari debere fateor, nisi quam aut usus coarguit, aut status aliquis reipub- licae inutilem fecit : sic quas tempora aliqua desiderarunt leges s, ita ut dicam et temporitus ipsis mutabiles esse video.'* Liv. lib. xxxiv. 5, 6. GEORGE III. 137 strongly insisted upon the necessity of fixing the revenue of the prince at one hundred thousand pounds per annum, which the late king had en- joyed as prince of Wales at a period when the civil list produced two hundred thousand pounds per annum less than at present. To this the so- vereign positively objected ; and the prince, in order to prevent disagreeable consequences, gene- rously declared, that he chose to depend upon the spontaneous bounty of the king. The obvious result of this miserable ceconomy was, that the prince, in the four years which were now elapsed, had contracted debts to a large amount, his neg- ligence as to pecuniary concerns being perhaps increased by the consciousness of the extreme dif- ficulty and apparent impossibility of contracting his expences within the narrow limits of his in- come. The public, not sufficiently adverting to these circumstances, censured the prince with a too rigid severity for the heedlessness and prodi- gality of his conduct. The general prejudice was much heightened by the hibitual and confidential intercourse maintained by the prince with the great leaders of the late unpopular administration. It was also too notorious to admit of disguise or palliation, that the prince was exempt from none of those youthful indiscretions and excesses by which men of high rank in early life are for the most part so unhappily characterized. IS8 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xx?i K ^ report of a very serious nature had mor- *^~*~*s over for some time past gained very general credit ; namely, that the prince had contracted a secret marriage with a lady of the Roman-catholic re- ligion, a fatal step, for which the acknowledged personal charms and mental accomplishments of Mrs. Fitzherbert (such was the name of the lady in question) would make in the public opinion very inadequate compensation. It is true that the marriage, in whatever mode it was solemnized, could not by the Royal Marriage Act be regarded as legal ; and by a clause in the Act of Settlement, if the legality of the marriage was affirmed, the prince, by marrying a Papist, would ipso facto for- feit his right of succession to the crown. His si- tuation therefore was in the highest degree singu- lar and critical, especially as the Marriage Act itself was by many persons considered as founded in such a manifest absurdity and injustice, as to be in its own nature null and void. To balance these unfavorable circumstances, the prince was said to possess good temper and good sense : his person wais agreeable, his deportment affable and enga- ging, and, by mixing familiarly in the society of men of enlightened minds, he had, as there was good reason to believe, acquired far juster and more liberal ideas of the nature of government and the spirit of legislation than those which constituted the policy of the present reign, i Happily also, GEORGE III. as it was contrary to law for the heir apparent to leave the kingdom, he had the advantage of an English education, and his manners and modes of thinking were entirely English ; while the German education of the bishop of Osnaburgh, now duke of York, and of the other younger branches of the royal house, and their familiarity with the German courts, could have no other tendency than to in- spire them with sentiments totally opposite to the genius of the English constitution. There is no- thing indeed more surprising in the history of the present reign than the tame acquiescence of the legislature in so apparent an affront, as is implied in the supposition that an English prince cannot receive an education in England proper for his sta- tion. England has, it must be confessed, been in- deed grossly and culpably inattentive to the educa- tion of her princes ; and in this respect, as well as many others, the present reign will furnish to pos- terity a striking and instructive lesson. Finding his embarrassments continually increas- ing, and a large debt accumulated, the prince of Wales, in the summer of 1786, applied to the king his father for assistance : but meeting with a harsh and peremptory refusal, he adopted a resolu- tion which seemed to indicate a firmness and vi- gour of mind, capable, under a right direction, of great and noble things. Suppressing the estab- lishment of his household, he formally vested forty WO HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK thousand pounds per annum of his revenue in the XXII. -0.-Y-O hands of trustees for the liquidation of his debts. His stud of running horses, his hunters, and even his coach horses, were sold by public auction. The elegant improvements and additions making to the palace of Carlton House, where he resided, were suddenly stopped, and the most splendid apartments shut up from use; in this manner choosing to retire from the world, rather than for- feit the honor of a gentleman by practising on the credulity of his creditors. Things had remained in this posture for near a twelvemonth, when the prince was persuaded to give his assent to a proposal for laying the state of his affairs before parliament ; and on the 2oth of April. Mr. Alderman Newnham, member for the city of London, gave notice that he would bring forward a motion for an address to the king, praying him to take the situation of the prince into consideration, and to grant him such relief as he in his wisdom should think fit, and pledging the house to make good the same. This gave rise to an interesting conversation ; and Mr. Newnham was, by the minister and many other members of the house, earnestly entreated to withdraw his motion, as fertile of inconvenience and mischief. Mr. Pitt said, " that by the perseverance of Mr. Newnham he should be driven to the dis- closure of circumstances which he should other- GEORGE III. 1*1 wise have thought it his duty to conceal." And BOOK Mr. Rolle, member for Devonshire, declared, v^v-^ 1787 " that the investigation of this question involved in it circumstances which tended immediately to affect the constitution in church and state.*' Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheridan, and other gentlemen in the confidence of the prince, declared that " there was nothing which the prince of Wales less feared than a full and impartial investigation of his conduct ; and nothing that his royal highness would more deprecate than .a studied ambiguity, or affected tenderness, on the pretence of respect or indulgence-" Mr. Rolle was particularly called upon, though in vain, to explain the extraordinary language he had usued. The subject being in a few days resumed, Mr. Fox again called the attention of the house to the declaration of Mr. Rolle. " To what that decla- ration alluded (Mr. Fox said) it was impossible to ascertain, till the person who made it thought proper to explain his meaning : but he supposed it must refer to that base and malicious calumny which had been propagated without doors by the enemies of the prince, with a view to depreciate his character, and injure him in the esteem of his country." Mr. Fox further declared " that the prince had authorised him to assert, that, as a peer of parliament, he was ready in the other house to submit to any the most pointed questions that U2 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xxir K cou ^ k P ut to n * m u P on the subject, or to afford *^v~^ the king or his ministers the fullest assurances of 1787. the utter falsehood of the fact in question." Mr. Rolle now thought proper to acknowledge, that the subject upon which Mr. Fox had spoken was the matter to which he had alluded, as affect- ing both church and state. He said " that the re- ports relative to this transaction had made a deep impression upon the minds of all men who loved and venerated the constitution. He knew that this thing could not have been accomplished under the formal sanction of law ; but if it existed as a fact, it might be productive of the most alarming consequences, and ought to be satisfactorily clear- ed up." Mr. Fox replied, " that he did not deny the calumny in question merely with regard to the effect of certain existing laws, but he denied it in 1oto, in fact as well as in law. The fact not only could never have happened legally, but never did happen in any way, and had from the beginning been a vile and malignant falsehood." Mr. Rolle rose again and asked, " whether in. what he now asserted Mr. Fox spoke from direct authority ?" Mr. Fox said, he had spoken from direct authority. In consequence of these explicit and authorita- tive asseverations^ Mr. Rolle was loudly called upon to express his satisfaction. But this he obstinately GEORGE III. . M3 declined, saying only " that the house would judge BOOK for themselves of what had passed." On this Mr. ^y-^j> Sheridan was provoked to declare, " that if Mr. Rolle persisted in his refusal, or otherwise to put the matter into such a state of enquiry as should satisfy him, the house ought to come to a resolu- tion, c that it was seditious and disloyal to propa- gate reports injurious to the character of the prince.' ' Mr. Pitt now properly interposed, and protest- ed against so flagrant an attack on the freedom of speech and deliberation in that house. And it must be confessed that Mr. Rolle was so far justified as the voice of the public could justify him, in retaining his doubts j for a general and firm persuasion still prevailed of a secret marriage between the prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert : though no one presumed to call in question the honor of Mr. Fox in the declarations made by him in the prince's name, for which he undoubtedly had, or thought he had, sufficient authority, and which operated to the perfect apparent conviction of the house of commons ; though, to complete the mys- tery and perplexity of the business, it was subse- quently reported and believed that a temporary Coolness at least had taken place between the prince and Mr. Fox from the cera of this debate, and as the consequence of that warmth of indignation which carried Mr. Fox inadvertently bevond the 4 * strict limits of his commission. . 144- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK In this stage of the business an interview, at the xxn. \^v^L> desire of the king, took place between the prince of Wales and Mr. Pitt, at Carlton House; and the prince was informed, " that if the intended mo- tion were withdrawn, every thing might be settled to hk royal highness's satisfaction." This being acceded to, a message was delivered by the minister from the king to the house, stating his majesty's great concern, " that from the accounts of the prince of Wales it had appeared that he had in- curred a debt to a large amount, which, painful as it was to him to propose any addition to the bur- dens of his people, he was induced, by his paternal affection to the prince, to desire the assistance of parliament to discharge on the well-grounded expectation, nevertheless, of the prince's avoiding to contract any similar debt in future; with a view to which, the king had directed a sum of ten thousand pounds to be paid out of the civil list, in addition to his former allowance." On the very next day after the accounts re- ferred to in the royal message were laid before the house, and of which the dignified generosity of the house suffered not the inspection, an address was voted to the king, to request him to direct the sum of one hundred and sixty-one thousand pounds to be paid out of the civil list for the full discharge of the debts of the prince of Wales, and the farther sum of twenty thousand pounds to GEORGE III. 145 . complete the repairs of Carlton House. It may BOOK be remarked, in dismissing this subject, that the J^L* sum of fifty thousand pounds had been already actually expended on Carlton House ; so that, if the prince had enjoyed a revenue equal to that of the late king when prince of Wales, there would have accrued in the four years elapsed since his majority a very considerable saving, notwith- standing that extraordinary expence ; and thus the complaints of extravagance do not appear to rest upon a very solid foundation. The subject of Mr. Hastings's impeachment had been resumed early in the present session, and had occupied a large proportion of it. The primary charge respecting the Rohilla war, brought for- ward by Mr. Burke towards the conclusion of the session of 1786, had made a deep impression upon the house : and although Mr. Hastings had been acquitted of the charge, it was upon grounds on which it was impossible to rest his future defence. The conduct of Mr. Pitt had been hitherto inde- cisive and mysterious ; but thq part taken by Mr. Jenkinson, and the party of which he was consi- dered as the head, left no room for doubt as to the secret inclination of the court ; and although Mr. Pitt, on the Benares charge, stated by Mr. Fox,' had voted against Mr. Hastings, he expressly de- clared that he did not, upon that account^ consider himself as committed to a final vote of impeach- VOL. VIII. L $46 HlSTQRr OF GREAT BRITAIN*. BOOK ment. The grand question therefore still remain- ^^ ed doubtful, when on the ;th of February, 1787, 1787t Mr. Sheridan opened the third charge respecting Charge p , against Mr. the Bcffum princesses or Oude, with an eloquence Hastings . respecting and energy which were perhaps never surpassed, the Begums .... j i of oude. and which, in their consequences* proved entirely . decisive. The substance of this, as of the other principal charges, has already been recorded in the regular narration of Indian transactions. A slight extract or two from Mr. Sheridan's speech may serve to excite a faint idea of the transcendant ability with which this charge was enforced. Mr. Sheridan said, " that the conduct of Mr. Hastings respecting the nabob and Begums of Oude comprehended in it every species of human offence. He had beea guilty of rapacity at once violent and insatiable, f treachery cool and premeditated, of oppression unprovoked, of barbarity wanton and unmanly. $o long since as the year 1775, the Begum princess, widow of Sujah ul Dowla, had written to Mr. Hastings in the following moving terms : ' If it is your pleasure that the mother of the late nabob, that myself, his other women, and his infant chil. dren, should be reduced to a state of dishonor and distress, we must submit. But if, on the con- trary, you call to mind the friendship of the late blessed nabob, you will exert yourself effectually in favor of us who are helpless* Inflamed by GEORGE III. 147 disappointment at Benares, he hastened to the BOOK fortress of Chunar, to put in execution the atroci- v-*-v^- T7fl*7 ous design of instigating the nabob, son of this princess, to parricide and plunder. No sooner had Mr. Hastings determined to invade the sub- stance of justice, than he resolved to avail himself of her judicial forms, and dispatched a messenger for the chief-justice of India to assist him in per- petrating the violence he had meditated. Without a moment's pause, or the shadow of process insti- tuted, sentence was pronounced. And thus, at the same time that the sword of government was converted to an assassin's dagger, the pure ermine of justice was stained and soiled with the basest contamination. It was clear to demonstration, that the Begums were not concerned in the insur- rection of Benares. No, their treasures were their treason. If (said this eloquent speaker) the mind of Mr. Hastings were susceptible of superstition, he might image the proud spirit of Sujah ul Dowla looking down upon the ruin and devasta- tion of his family ; beholding the palace which he had adorned with the spoils of the devoted Rohil- las, plundered by his base and perfidious ally ; and viewing the man whom on his death-bed he had constituted the guardian of his wife, his mother, and his family, forcibly exposing those dear rela- tions, the objects of his solemn trust, to the rigor of the merciless seasons, or the violence of the L 2 148 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK more merciless soldiery. Such were the awftfl XXII v^-v^L/ dispensations of retributive justice ! It was not 1787 . . given to that house to witness the tremulous joys of the millions whom the vote of that night would save from the cruelty of corrupted power. But the blessings of the people thus delivered would not be dissipated in empty air. No ; they would lift up their prayers to Heaven in gratitude to- the power, which, by stretching its mighty arm across the deep, had saved them from ruin and destruction." On this occasion Mr. Pitt acted a part which did him great honor. Though the eloquence of Mr. Sheridan had excited a spirit of enthusiasm in the house, which perhaps no degree of ministe- rial influence could have counteracted, it would be highly invidious and unjust to attribute the decided conduct of Mr. Pitt on this memorable night to the apprehension of being left in a mino- rity by an attempt to negative the motion. On the contrary he appeared penetrated with a perfect conviction of the atrocity of the facts, and of the strength of the evidence by which they were sup- ported. And the minister, who in the compara- tively insignificant business of an election return could so far degrade himself as to countenance, and even publicly to vindicate, an act of deliberate in- justice, now felt all the .sympathies of humanity, all the energies of virtue, awakened in his breast* GEORGE III. 149 anH impelling him to testify, in terms the most ex- B , K A.Jvll plicit and expressive, his detestation of perfidy so v-^^ vile, of cruelty so remorseless. On 3. division the numbers were, in favour of the motion 1 75, against it 68: On the second of March Mr. Pelham opened the charge relative to the nabob of Ferruckabad. Although Mr. Hastings had, as Mr. Pelham re- marked, declared, in relation to the powers exer- cised by the sezawcdl or sequestrator of the reve- nues of Ferruckabad, appointed by the vizier, that it was incompatible with the dignity and honor of the government over which he presided to ap- pear to countenance the exercise of an authority altogether unsupported by equity and justice ; and had, to use his own express words, " from motives of common justice caused the dismission of the sezawall," and nominated one of the Company's civil servants, Mr. George Shee, to the same trust; he, in the ensuing year, 1781, by an article of the . treaty of Chunar, stipulated with the vizier, that no British resident should in future be appointed at Ferruckabad, and the present one be recalled thus virtually abandoning that country, the pro? tection of which he had so recently and ostenta- tiously undertaken, to the rapacity and oppression of the vizier. But Mr. Hastings in this, as in al- most every other respect, proved unfaithful to his engagements j and, after a short interval, the new 150 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK sezawall appointed by the vizier, was, by the in- .A. .A. II. wx-v-*^ terposition of Mr. Hastings, recalled, and one Subghut Ulla, on the recommendation of the go- vernor-general, was, by the nabob of Ferruckabad, placed at the head of his affairs. No complaint of a political nature was alleged against this minister during the short period of his administration. But Mr. Hastings, being moved with the highest in- dignation at the incredible report that the protection of the English government had been purchased at a very great price by the vakeel or resident of the nabob at Calcutta, soon after " withdrew all mediation and interference (to use his own lan- guage) which stood between the nabob vizier and the collection of the tribute from Ferruckabad," even sending a military force to support the seza- wall appointed by the vizier for the ensuing year. In consequence of this act of virtuous revenge, Mr. Hastings acknowledged that " he had been informed the said sezawall did renew severities formerly exercised in respect to the said nabob Muzuffer Jung." In fact, the evils produced by this re-appointment were so enormous, that Mr. Hastings, to preserve some faint colour of equity, assented to the nomination of Mr. Willes as resi- dent at the court of Ferruckabad, but whose ta- lents and probity were rendered useless by the li- mitations and impediments to which he was artful- ly and purposely subjected. This article of im- GEORGE III. 151 peachment concluded with denouncing the go- BOOK vernor-general Hastings as " a criminal guilty of ^^r^ great neglect of duty, usurpation of authority, complicated breach of treaty and duplicity, both towards the vizier and the nabob, to the gre;at disgrace of the British name and the discredit of the British government in India ; having reduced himself to the situation, that he could neither de- liver Muzuffer Jung from oppression without a breach of faith to the nabob vizier, nor suffer him to remain under the said oppression without vio* lating all faith and justice with regard to him." And on the division the accusation was affirmed by a majority of 1 1 2 to 50 voices. On the i cth of March the charge upon the sub- chanrere- . i specting ject of contracts was brought forward by sir James contracts. Erskine. " All of them (sir James Erskine ob- served) were made in direct violation of the regu- lations of the court of directors, ' that the contracts should be given from year to year, that they should be publicly advertised, and be disposed of to the best bidder.' The contract for rice was avowedly given to Mr. Auriol, as ' a reward for his long and faithful services.' Of his expenditure no vouchers were required, but the accounts were to be given in upon honor. This mode of passing accounts was (the honorable mover observed) peculiar to India, as indeed honor there was of a peculiar na? ture. It dreaded the production of proofs, had 152 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK an intuitive abhorrence of being confronted with truth, and shrunk, like the sensitive-plant, from the touch of enquiry. The opium-contract was given immediately upon his arrival in Bengal to Mr. Sullivan, son to the chairman of the India Company, who had immediately SOLD the same to a Mr. Benn for a clear profit of 35,0007.; and Mr. Benn immediately RE-SOLD it for the sum of 59,6eo/. Another agency or contract appeared to be conferred on Mr. Belli, for supplying Fort Wil- liam, &c. with stores. The rate of his commission was fixed by a committee of merchants, to whom it was referred, at twenty percent.; but Mr. Has- tings declared that it should be thirty, and took upon himself solely and expressly all the responsi- bility of this measure, which added the sum of 34,ooo/. to the amount of the profit. A fourth contract, for repairing the pools and banks in the province of Burdwan, held for a series of years by the Rajah of Burdwan, at the rate of 25,000 ru- pees per ann. was bestowed on Mr. Archibald Fra- ser, at the rate of 1 20,000 rupees for the first year, and 80,000 for each of the four succeeding years, with a permission to make special repairs when- ever he should judge them necessary at the ex- pence of government. This gentleman was the near relation of sir Elijah Impey, who had thought it necessary to dispatch affidavits to Eng- land for the purpose of clearing himself from the GEORGE III. 153 suspicion of participating in the profits accruing BOOK from the contract. These affidavits (sir James v^vO 1787 said) were the pastoral essays of the learned judge, his songs in rlpas et flumina, the forerunners only of those epic attestations, the pr^v-O view; the reputation of sir John Clavering, colonel Monson, and myself, is secure; your votes are my authority : the house of commons are my com- purgators. The only victory I ever aimed at was to clear my character from foul aspersion, and to establish, as I trust I have done, the integrity of my conduct in the^ estimation of my country.'* This charge was confirmed, notwithstanding the unexpected dissent of the minister, by 71 to 55 voices. On the gth of May the report made by Mr. Burke from the committee, to whom it had been referred to prepare the articles 'of impeachment, was confirmed by the Tiouse, ayes 175, noes 89, Mr. Hast- On the following day it was voted that Mr. Has* lugs im- . it * T i 1*1 peached at tings be IMPEACHED i and Mr. Burke accordingly, the name of the house of commons, and of all the commons of Great Britain, repaired to the bar of the house of lords, and impeached Mr. Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanors at the same time acquainting their lordships, that the commons would with all convenient speed exhibit articles against him, and make good the same. On the 1 4th another charge respecting misder meanors in Oude was added to the former by Mr. Burke, and voted without a division. On the same day- the articles actually prepared were sent to the lords j and on the 2ist, Mr. Hastings, being GEORGfc III. conducted to the bar of that house by the serjeant BOOK at arms, was taken into the custody of the black rod, but on the motion of the lord-chancellor was admitted to bail himself in 2o,ooo/. and two sure- ties, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Sumner, in io,ooo/. each ; and he was ordered to deliver in an answer to the articles of impeachment in one month from that time, or upon the second day of the next ses- sion of parliament. On the 3oth of May (1787) the king put an end to the present session by a speech, applauding " the measures taken by parliament respecting the reduction of the national debt, and the treaty of navigation and commerce with the Most Christian king. He spoke of the general tranquillity of Eu- rope, and lamented the DISSENSIONS which un- happily prevailed amongst the STATES of the UNITED PROVINCES." This then is the proper pe- riod to pause, and take a retrospective view of the politics of the Continent, and of the origin and progress of these dissensions. i\j } A. 158 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK XXIII. State of Europe. Commotions in Holland. Prussian Army enters Holland. England arms in Support of Prussia. Unexpected Acquiescence of France. Alliance between England, Prussia, and Holland. Unpopular Naval Promotion Resignation of Lord Ho-we. Resignation of ihe Earl of Mansjield. India Deelara~ tory Act. Honorable Testimony in Behalf of Mr. Francis. Proceedings against Sir Elijah Impey. Bill for regulating the African Slave Trade. Alarming Illness of the King. Proceed- ings relative to the Regency. Perfect Recovery (f the King. Wise Conduct of the Irish Parliament respecting the Regency. ShopT&v repealed. Hawkers' and Pedlars' Act explained and amended. Mr. Beatifoy's second Motion for a Repeal of the Test. Lord Stanhope's Motion for repealing various Penal Sta- tutes. Mr. Willerforcf's Motion respecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Trial of Mr. Hastings resumed Indiscretion of Mr. Burke. Mr. Addington chcsen Speaker. Tobacco Excise Bill. Slate of Europe. Political Embarrassments of France. States General convened at Versailles Assumes the Appellation of National Assembly. Publishes a Declaration of the Rights of Man. Congratulatory Address of the Revolution Society. French Revolution reprobated by Mr,. Burke and the King's Friends- Vindicated by Mr. Fox and the Friends of the People. Mr. Fox's Motion for a Repeal of the Test. Negatived by a prodigious Ma- jority, ivith remarkable attendant Circumstances. Mr. Flood's Motion for a Reform in the British Parliament. Trial of Mr. Hastings Its dif graceful Procrastination. Wise Administration of Lord Cornwallis in India. BOOK XXIH. AF the embarrassments of Great Britain at the return of peace, in consequence of the alarming addition of debt contracted during the war, were GEORGE III. 159 very great, those of France, it must be confessed, BOOK were of still greater magnitude. The finances of v-^vw France during the war had been committed to the management of M. Necker, a Genevan Protestant, a man of strict probity, of genuine philanthropy, of extensive knowledge in the detail of affairs, but who, nevertheless, appears to have been destitute of those clear and comprehensive views which dis- tinguish the great and enlightened statesman ; and his vanity, ostentation, and egotism, formed a great deduction from the aggregate of his virtues. This celebrated financier conceived the romantic and impracticable plan of raising the loans neces- sary for the service of the war upon the credit o funds to be created by ceconomical savings in the public expenditure. The revenue of France was indeed immense, not perhaps falling short in the gross receipt of twenty- five millions sterling ; but the civil, military, and naval establishments of that vast kingdom were also upon a proportionable scale : and if it had been possible, which it cer- tainly was not, by any efforts within the compass of M. Necker's ability, effectually to have coun- teracted that spirit of extravagance and corrup- tion which had so long pervaded all the depart- ments of government in France, and to have sub- stituted in their stead the order and frugality of his native republic, still an enormous deficiency must ultimately have resulted from a scheme so 160 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK visionary and chimerical as that of carrying on a v^v^J war without taxes* At the aera of the peace this 1787 was found to be actually the case ; and M. Necker, who had enraged one party by his attempts, and disappointed the other by his failures, was com- pelled to resign to M. de Calonne, a man of great talents, but who, immersed in dissipation and intrigue, and neither able nor solicitous to reform the abuses of the government, proposed to supply the present grand deficiency in the revenue in the usual way, by new -and heavy imposts. Derange- The excessive and notorious derangement of xnentofthe French the French finances, and the consequent indispo- finances, sition of the court of Versailles to involve itself in hostilities with any of the leading powers of Eu- rope, probably emboldened the restless and ambi- Ambitious tious spirit of the emperor, who also, doubtless, projects of theempe- relied on the influence r of the queen his sister in ror. the cabinet of France, to venture upon measures which the most powerful of his predecessors would have regarded as harsh and presumptuous. Taking advantage of the animosity subsisting between the , maritime powers, he had during the late war for- mally cancelled the Barrier Treaty originally con- cluded between the guarantee of England, and had dismissed the Dutch garrisons from the frontier towns of the Low Countries. In the vain expec- tation of permanent amity with France, he had even dismantled the greater part of those impor- GEORGE III. 161 tant fortresses, leaving by this means the country BOOK wholly exposed, in case of a future rupture, to the v^-v-O inroads of that formidable power. Elated with the facility with which he had ac- complished this object, he, in the autumn of the year 1783, suddenly demanded of the States Ge- neral the appointment of a commission to meet at Brussels, for the accurate ascertainment of the boundaries of the Dutch and Austrian Netherlands. While this extraordinary demand was under dis- cussion, a detachment of the Austrian troops en- tered the Dutch territory, and seized upon two small forts in the neighbourhood of Sluys j and a new demand was made of the free navigation of the Scheld beyond Fort Lillo, as far as the land of Saftingen. Conferences being at length agreed upon to be held at Brussels, in order to the final settlement of these claims, the plenipotentiaries of the emperor delivered in to those of the States General, May 1784, the entire demands of his im- perial majesty, purporting the enlargement of his boundaries on the side of Breda and Bois-le-Duc ; the demolition of the forts Kruickshank and Fre- deric-Henry ; the inland navigation of the Scheld as far as Saftingen ; the requisition of various sums of money pretended to have been due to the em- peror since the beginning of the present century ; and the CESSION of the CITY of MAES^RICHT, and VOL. VIII. M 162 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the contiguous district of Outre Meuse, disjoined from the general mass of the Dutch possessions. The States, astonished and alarmed at these novel claims, were urgent to obtain the mediation of the court of Versailles. The situation of Hol- land was indeed at this period such as to make all opposition apparently fruitless. The weight which she had been accustomed 'to derive from her inti- mate connection and alliance with England was no more ; and, in consequence of a strange fatality, she was now reduced to the humiliating necessity of resorting for protection to that very power by whom her liberties had been so frequently me- naced, and at one time so nearly subverted. Since the termination of the war with England she had been distracted with internal commotions. A great majority of the Dutch nation accused with vehe- mence the prince of Orange of gross and flagrant partiality to England during the war. It was affirm- ed that he had betrayed his country, in leaving her in- tentionally destitute of the means of defence; and had constantly and systematically counteracted the exertions of those who were earnestly desirous to have carried on the war with vigor and effect. The person by whose counsels thevprince of Orange was supposed to be chiefly influenced prince Louis of Brunswick, guardian to the stadtholder during his minority, and generalissimo of the Dutch forces was even said to be a pensioner of England ; and GEORGE III. 163 so high did the public clamor arise against him, that he found it necessary to resign his oflices civil and military, and retire from the country. This was far however from satisfying the disaffected party, which seemed continually to increase as well in numbers as inveteracy. The authority of the prince, as established by the constitution of 1 747, was assailed in almost every province, and particularly the great and leading province of Hol- land, by all the possible modes of attack ; and the very existence of the stadtholderate seemed to have become a question of precarious and problematic import. In these circumstances it was not wonderful that the emperor, whose rapacity was unrestrain- ed by even the shadow of principle, depending upon the acquiescence of France, again rose in his demands. In what he styled his ultimatum, deli- vered in August 25, 1784, his imperial majesty observing " that divers difficulties had occurred in the discussion of his claims, and that a speedy termination of those differences was ardently de- sired by him, offered to depart from his just de- mand upon the city of Maestricht, and to moderate his other requisitions, in consideration of the free and unlimited navigation of the Scheld in both branches to the sea. His imperial majesty, not doubting but the States would accept with eager- ness so unquestionable a mark of his good will, M 2 6* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK nac t thought proper to regard the Scheld as open, -A,XIIl. ~>~v-^ and to declare its navigation free from the date of 1787. this paper ; and he concluded, that on the suppo- , sition of any insult being offered to the imperial flag in the execution of these ideas, he should be obliged to consider it as a formal declaration of war on the part of the republic." This memorial was as a stroke of thunder to the Dutch nation. The commercial grandeur of Hol- land had risen upon the ruins of Antwerp ; and though it is probable that, if the free navigation of the Scheld had been now restored to that once famous mart, the course of trade could not have been easily or speedily diverted from its accustom- ed channels, the fears of the Dutch were wrought up to the highest pitch of apprehension. The States in their answer protested against this new claim, as the flagrant invasion of a right which they considered as the most valuable of their pos- sessions. In order to establish this demand, they observed, " that the emperor must contravene the treaty by which they had been acknowledged as independent states, and also that by which the house of Austria had been put into possession of the Austrian Netherlands. They considered their prosperity, their dignity, and their existence, as linked to the perpetual conservation of this sove- reignty, and declared it to be a pretension from which they would never depart." GEORGE III. 165 Early in the month of October (1784) a small B 9 OK .X. A I ' I . vessel sailed from Antwerp, amid the shouts and v^-v^> 1787. acclamations of the inhabitants, with the intention of ascertaining this important point. On the ar- rival of the brigantine before the fort of Lillo, an account of its destination was demanded ; on the refusal of the officer to answer, a single ball was fired ; and no regard being paid to this intima- tion, a whole broadside was discharged, and the vessel immediately struck her colors. This reso- lute proceeding on the part of the Dutch excited the utmost astonishment of the emperor, who had treated the sage remonstrances of his prime-mini- ster, prince Kaunitz, on this subject, with con- tempt repeatedly and peremptorily affirming, " that the Dutch would never dare to fire" The emperor being in Hungary when this intelligence arrived, the prince wrote to his imperial majesty the following laconic letter of information, " But they have fired" Immediately the conferences at Brussels were broken up, the imperial ambassador at the Hague was recalled, and hostile preparations were made on both sides. It was at this critical moment that the court of Versailles interposed in a manner the most effica- cious to preserve the Dutch nation from the ruin which threatened them. Notwithstanding the alliance which had now for thirty years subsisted between the courts of Vienna and Versailles j not- 166 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK withstanding the ties of blood which connected XXIII. v^VO the two sovereigns} notwithstanding the pacific 1*787 disposition of the French monarch, and the finan- cial embarrassments of the government ; on this great occasion all the antient jealousy of the great rival houses of Bourbon and Austria seemed to revive. A letter written with his Most Christian majesty's own hand to the emperor, dated Novem- ber 20, 1784, pointed out the essential distinction between the primary and ultimate demands of the emperor. As to the former, the king of France declared himself neutral ; but he protested in the strongest terms against any violation of the rights of the States General respecting the navigation of the Scheld a right exercised by them for near one hundred and fifty years under the sanction of a sa- cred treaty. His Most Christian majesty exhorted the emperor therefore to listen to the voice of mo- deration and humanity, and to assent to a renewal of the conferences under his mediation. To en- force this amicable overture a great army was as- sembled in the vicinity of Luxemburg ; the mar-* quis de Verac, who possessed the entire confidence, of M. de Vergennes the French minister, was dis- patched as ambassador extraordinary to the Hague; and the mareschal de Maillebois, an officer of high reputation in the French service, was permitted to take the command in chief of the Dutch forces. On the conveningjpf a cabinet council about; GEORGE III. 16! tMs period at Versailles, preparatory to the final BOOK resolution, the queen of France' is reported to have <^~^^ . , , , -,, . . 1787. said to the count de Vergennes, as the minister was passing to the council-chamber, " Remember, shy in your deliberations, that the emperor is my bro- ther." The count, casting his eyes on the dau- phin, whom the queen then held in her arms, with great happiness replied, " Yes, madam, and I shall also recollect that the dauphin of France is your son." The emperor now thought proper to declare his acceptance of the proffered mediation, provided the freedom of theScheld,0r the cession ofMaestricht, to which he once again condescended to advert, were made the preliminaries of the negotiation. But the Dutch, animated by the avowed protec- tion, and incited no doubt also by the secret sug- gestions, of France, now peremptorily refused to accede to either of these very unequal alternatives. After an interval of decent delay, the emperor with bis characteristic inconstancy submitted to the hu- miliating relinquishment of both these favorite objects, the latter of which at least, had he never extended his views beyond it, he had once a fair prospect of accomplishing. But, as if eager to recover by his pride the reputation he had lost by his folly, he insisted that the I^utch States should make a public submission, and apologise by a formal embassy for the insult offered to his flag at Lillo. 168 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK The barons Wassanaer and Leyden being etc- XXIII v^vO puted to the court of Vienna for this purpose, con- ns?. - . if.,. ferences were again opened, and in a short time a treaty of pacification xvas signed (November 8, 1784), importing that the States should pay the sum of ten millions of florins as an indemnifica- tion for the claim of the emperor upon Maestricht and its territory, and as a compensation for the damage done by the late inundations ; the inland navigation of the Scheld was extended to the town of Saftingen, and the forts of Liefkinshoek and Lillo ceded to the emperor. The inflated and almost ludicrous style of the complimentary address of the Dutch ambassadors at their audience of leave sufficiently shews the idea entertained by them of the character of the emperor. " May the glorious reign of your impe- rial majesty (say their excellencies), destined to complete the felicity of your subjects, daily admi- nister to fame the best means to extend and per- petuate your great and awful name ! May the aera of Joseph II. like that of TITUS, TRAJANUS, and MARCUS AURELIUS, your predecessors in the RO- MAN EMPIRE, be ever recorded as that of huma- nity, peace, and the happiness of mankind !" It is remarkable that England during these transactions looked on with the most perfect in- difference, or even with apparent pleasure never dreaming that her interests were essentially affect- GEORGE III. 169 ed by the question relative to the navigation of the B o o Scheld; and much less was either court or country w^v^* at this period infected with the mania of suppos- ing it necessary or expedient to enter into a WAR, in order to prevent the people of Flanders from freely enjoying what GOD and Nature had freely bestowed. Nor indeed would the utmost efforts of England probably have availed in opposition to the projects of the emperor, in case of the acqui- escence of France. When a great nation interferes in the concerns of her neighbours, true policy and dignity require not only that the object which she aims to effect be just and important in itself, that it be clearly and distinctly marked, but also, without any exces- sive or disproportionate exertion, attainable. This was a case in which, from local and other unalter- able circumstances, France could interpose, not only with far more propriety, as a guarantee of the treaty of Westphalia, but with infinitely greater effect, than England. And GEORGE III., prompted merely perhaps by motives of unappeased resent- ment, acted precisely the part which the penetra- tion and discretion of an ELIZABETH would have suggested. The treaty of peace between Holland and the emperor was immediately followed by a treaty of alliance and friendship between Holland and France, This was no doubt an event neither plea- 170 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK sant nor honorable to England; but it was the vx^X-' natural and unavoidable result of the absurd and 1T&T mischievous politics long ago adopted by the Eng- ftsh court, and of the novel situation in which Holland had been consequently placed. But as to any serious inconvenience to be apprehended from this or any other defection of the same nature, England under a wise system of government, such as had in the main been acted upon since the dis- mission of the old execrable administration, might stand alone, the envy and admiration of the world. The business of the Scheld might be supposed to have engrossed the attention of the emperor. On the contrary, while the issue of it was yet un- known, a negotiation of still greater importance, and of a nature strangely incompatible with the former, was carried on with the elector of Ba- varia, for the exchange of that extensive and com- modious territory for the whole of the Austrian Netherlands, which were for this purpose to be converted into a kingdom under the antient and long-since obsolete appellation of Austrasia. This design could not escape the sagacity of the king of Prussia, nor the essential advantage which the house of Austria would derive from the cession, of a large and fertile country contiguous to the general mass of its possessions, in lieu of a detach- ed territory expensive and difficult to defend. In order to counteract this new attempt qf the court GEORGE III. 171 of Vienna, so hostile to the liberty and indepen- dency of the Germanic body, a treaty was signed "^C at Berlin, July 1785, by his Prussian majesty, the king of Great Britain as elector of Hanover, and the elector of Saxony, to which the duke of Deux- Ponts, the margrave of Anspach, and other princes afterwards acceded. This formidable confedera- tion was expressly affirmed to be intended for maintaining the indivisibility of the empire, the rights of the Germanic body in general, and of the respective states in particular. In a declaration subsequently issued by the king of Prussia, that monarch insists on the danger to be apprehended from the rising power of Austria, and asserts, " that the addition of so extensive and flourishing a country as Bavaria to the dominions of that ambitious house must effectually destroy the balance of Germany, if not of Europe and must end in the annihilation of all the subordinate states which enter into the composition of the Ger- manic body." The duke of Deux-Ponts, heir to the elector, strongly protested against the aliena- - tion of his patrimony; and the court of Versailles, though at variance with England and Prussia re- specting the internal affairs of Holland, was no less solicitous to oppose the aggrandisement of the Austrian power in the empire. The court of St. Petersburg, indeed, no longer shewed itself, as for- merly, decidedly hostile to the annexation of Ba- 17*2 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK varia to the Austrian dominions. Nay, she had JV -A. Ill* w-v^-< formed recent and strict engagements with that of Vienna,* which induced her to make a public declaration, professing at least to approve of this obnoxious exchange ; though in the progress of the business, and on the refusal of the duke of Deux-Ponts, the empress Catharine formally noti- fied to the king of Prussia that she had no inten- tion to enforce the execution of the project. So impracticable did it appear in the face of these impediments to proceed in this design, that the courts of Vienna and Munich were compelled, in the spring of 1785, publicly to contradict the re- port, and to assert that the convention between them had no farther object than the adjustment of the limits of their respective countries. Notwithstanding the dangerous contest in which Holland found herself involved with the court of Vienna, the domestic contentions of the republic suffered no abatement. The party antiently in opposition to the house of Orange, known by the appellation of the Louvestein party, and who con- sisted chiefly of the provincial aristocracies, or ra- * In the month of May, 1780, the czarina and the emperor had an interview at Mohilef, a town in Russian Lithuania ; and the emperor afterwards proceeded to Moscow and Peters- burg at the last of which cities, amidst a succession of festi- vities, a secret treaty was signed, portentous of future mi- series. GEORGE III. - 173 ther oligarchies, of the Union, had been recently reinforced by a heterogeneous coalition with the zealous partisans of democracy, who equally wish- ed for the total annihilation of the stadtholderian t influence and authority. On the representation of the deputies of Haerlem, respecting the riotous disposition of the populace of the Hague, distin- guished by their attachment to the stadtholder, the care of the military patrole of that place, vest- ed in the prince of Orange, was transferred to those deputies by a formal resolution of the states of Holland. The prince, after warmly remon- strating against this insult, and vainly insisting upon his claim to the undivided command of the garrison of the Hague, withdrew himself from the seat of government (Sept. 14, 1785), and retired to his palace of Loo. The states of Holland, far from feeling disposed to recede from their resolution, solemnly voted the states and senates of the different provinces to be the undoubted sovereigns, and the stadtholder to be their servant : hence inferring, that the powers so exercised were only delegated, and that the state might resume them whenever it saw suf- ficient reason ; concluding, that the entire com- mand of the garrison should hereafter vest in the council committee of the states of Holland. At this period a letter was addressed to the States General by the king of Prussia, signed 17* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xxm K at Berlin, September 17, 1785, strongly urging ^-OT^ tne interposition of their High Mightinesses, in order that the prince stadtholder might peaceably enjoy the rights and incontestable prerogatives appertaining to his dignity of hereditary stadt- holder. This application produced not the least effect. The states of Holland, who, as became their supe- rior importance, assumed the lead in the opposi- tion to the stadtholder, ordered as if in contempt of this interference, the arms of the house of Orange to be taken out of the colors of the troops belonging to that province, and that the Swiss guards attendant on the person of the prince should be disbanded. The towns of Hattem and Elbourg, in the pro- vince of Guelderland, having manifested a peculi- arly refractory and rebellious disposition, the states of Gueldres, in which assembly the Orange in- terest yet predominated, commissioned the stadt- holder to employ military force for the reduction of the burghers. But the states of Holland, Zea- land, Overyssel, and Groningen, joined in prohi- biting the troops of their respective provinces from acting in this service. The towns in question were however attacked and captured by the prince ; and Utrecht, which had deeply imbibed the same sentiments, was, in consequence of its resistance to the states of that province now as- GEORGE III. 173 sembled at Amersfort, expected to be immediately BOOK XXHL invested. On this intelligence the states of Hoi- ^--^^ 1 *787 land dispatched a letter to the prince, demanding of him, in twenty-four hours, an explicit declara- tion of his intentions. The troops of the province were at the same time ordered to march to the frontier for the protection of Utrecht, and a cordon was formed from Naerden to Schoonhoven. And notwithstanding an explanation and apology from the prince, within the time prescribed, the states of Holland proceeded (Sep. 22, 1786) to the violent resolution of suspending him from his office of captain-general of the province, by a ma- jority of sixteen out of nineteen voices, of which that assembly is composed. The prince of Orange on this occasion addressed along and elaborate letter to the states of Holland. He had expressly said in his former remonstrance, relative to the garrison of the Hague, " We have not the most distant intention to question the su- periority of your noble and great mightinesses over the military, as well of the whole province as the garrison of the Hague. Never (says he) could we suppose ourselves invested with a power equal, much less superior, to that of the States over the military, and that we might act according to our own pleasure, and independently of the SOVE- REIGN." But he now ventured to assume an higher tone; and declaring " his office of hereditary cap- 176 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK tain-general of Holland and West Friesland to XXIIF v^-v-O have been secured to him by the unanimous vote of all the members of the state, he affirmed, that as the resolution by which the office had been con- ferred, passed nemlne contradicente, it could not, supposing it to be revocable^ be cancelled or even suspended without the like unanimity." This sudden haughtiness of language may, with- out hesitation, be attributed to an event of great moment, which had recently taken place in the death of Frederic the Great, king of Prussia (August 17, 1786), who was succeeded by his nephew Frederic William II. to whom the prince of Orange was nearly allied by marriage to his sister, the princess Wilhelmina of Prussia. The new monarch, feeling for the situation of his relatives, and eager to make a display of his power, entered with far more zeal into the inte- rests of the prince than his illustrious predecessor, who during a reign of forty-six years had excited the admiration of Europe by the greatness of his talents and the splendor of his successes. He had raised Prussia from obscurity and insignificance to the rank of a first-rate power in Europe ; and had left his successor in possession of a flourishing kingdom, an immense treasure, and an army of 200,000 men in the highest reputation for courage and discipline.* * The annexation of the rich and extensive province of Silesia, wrested from the house of Austria, to the dominion of GEORGE III. 177 . : fc ?/;'. t> ' In a memorial presented by the count de Goertz, B K XXIII. his Prussian majesty's ambassador extraordinary ^"v^ to the States General (Sept. 18, 1786), he expresses without reserve " the warm part which he takes in the unhappy dissensions subsisting between some of the provinces and the stadtholder, and the very extraordinary oppressions which that prince is innocently obliged to suffer and urging that a durable termination m,ay be put to these differ- ences, in order that his serene highness the prince stadtholder may return with honor and propriety to the Hague, and resume his high employments- insisting also upon the great interest he had, as the nearest neighbour of the United Provinces, that the government of the republic, conformably Brandenburg, of whose recent grandeur It may be regarded as the basis, was an event ever present to the mind of Frederic. It is said that this monarch being one day writing in his cabi- net, and the prince royal, son of the reigning king, interrupt' ing him by playing battledore and shuttlecock^ the king, after a slight reproof, in order to prevent the inconvenience, took the shuttlecock and put it in his pocket. The boy at first endea- voured to recover possession of it by soft and soothing lan- guage ; but finding his blandishments of no avail, he raised his, voice, and, stamping_upon the ground, exclaimed with passion- ate emphasis, " SIRE, donnez-moi une reponse categorique Voulez-vous me rendre, ou non, mon volant ?" The king, embracing him with astonishment and rapture, replied, " Ah, vrai rejetton du grand electeur, on ne t'arrachera jamais LA SILESIE!" VOL, VIH. N 178 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK: to the antient constitution, should not be changed "WltT ^^-vO in any essential point." A short time previous to the delivery of this paper, a memorial had been presented to the States on the part of the king of England, con- taining, in language somewhat more guarded, the same sentiments ; protesting indeed against the interference of any foreign power in the internal 'affairs of the republic^ the management and direc- tion of which it is declared to be the wish of his Britannic majesty to preserve uncontrolled in the hands of those to whom it has been committed by the CONSTITUTION. Notwithstanding this powerful interference in behalf of the prince of Orange, the states of Hol- land shewed themselves in the highest degree averse from every idea of accommodation. And the States General having at length come to a re- solution, notwithstanding the opposition of that great and leading province, to invite the mediation of 6reat Britain and Prussia the states of Hol- land, inflamed with so unauthorised a proceeding, declared themselves determined rather to strike out their names from the union of Utrecht, than to suffer such a measure to receive the sanction of the republic. The prince of Orange having now removed his court to Nimeguen, an ineffectual negotiation was carried on during the winter of 1786-7, through GEORGE III. 179 the medium of the count de Goertz and M. de BOOK XXIII. Rayneval the French envoy. The stadtholder be- v-^-v-O 1787 came inflexible in his pretensions.* Every thing on the breaking up of these conferences wore the face of war. The prince encamped near the city of Utrecht, opposite to the cordon formed by the troops of Holland. The States General, whose constitutional powers were unhappily too limited and feeble to interpose with efficacy, could do no- thing more to avert the calamities which menaced the nation than enforce by a resolution that article of the union which forbad the troops of the repub- lic from marching into any province without the leave of the states of that province first obtained. From the commencement of the contest, the in- capacity and intractability of the prince of Orange had been very apparent. Head of the house of Nassau, he displayed neither the talents nor vir- tues which had for ages been supposed attached to that illustrious name. The princess, his consort, * Frederic William (says the count de Segur), staggered by the representations of the minister of France at Berlin, sud- denly changed his plans and his language, sent more pacific instructions to his ambassador, and directed him to enter on a negociation, which might have re-established tranquillity in a solid manner, if the machiavelism of sir James Harris, the resentment of the princess of Orange, and the weakness of the court of France, had not united to overturn all the plans Qf reason, and destroy all the combinations of prudence. Memoirs of Frederic William 'II. W. / p. 81. N 2 180 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK was said to possess a much larger share of spirit as v^-vxJ well as understanding. In the month of June 178* 7 (1787), with a view, as was universally believed by the patriots, of exciting an insurrectionary movement, her royal highness, then resident at Nimeguen, adopted the bold and hazardous reso- lution of proceeding in person to the Hague, where the States General were at that time assembled, accompanied only by the baroness de Wassanaer and a few domestics. As might previously be ex- pected, she was arrested in her progress at about a league beyond Schoonhoven, and forced back to Nimeguen. This incident brought matters to a crisis. On the i oth of July a memorial was ad- dressed by the Prussian monarch to the states of Holland, in which he affected to consider the in- dignity offered to his sister as a personal insult to Prussian himself. To avenge this pretended insult, the HoHand. duke of Brunswic, who commanded the Prussian forces in the contiguous duchy of Cleves, entered Holland at the head of an army consisting of about twenty thousand men on the i3th of September, 1787. Notwithstanding the previous probability of this invasion, the consternation of the Dutch nation was extreme, and the country seemed every-where unprepared for resistance. Utrecht, beyond all other cities of the union distinguished for the violence of her democratic zeal, surrender- ed almost as soon as summoned. This important GEORGE III. 181 place was garrisoned by no less than 7000 men, BOOK exclusive of the armed citizens, commanded by ^-vO 1787 the Rhingrave of Salm, one of those base but spe- cious characters who appear anxious to gain the public confidence merely to betray it. In a coun- cil of war he declared the city to be incapable of sustaining a siege, and concluded for its immediate evacuation, in contradiction to the opinion of M. Bellonet, a French officer at the head of the artil- lery, who engaged to maintain it for a month. The order of the rhingrave was executed in the utmost confusion. The troops of the garrison re- tired precipitately towards Amsterdam, and the commander consulting only his personal safety suddenly disappeared. After this conquest the march of the Prussian general bore the appearance of a triumphal procession. While a futile resolve to suspend the office of stadtholder passed the senate of Amsterdam Gorcum, Dort, Schoon- hoven, and other towns in his route, submitted tamely to the conqueror. On the seventh day from the commencement of the invasion, the prince of Orange made his public entry into the Hague. Amsterdam only made a shew of resist* ance : but on the icth of October that proud ca- pital, now closely invested, opened its gates to the victor. To the astonishment of the world, that republic which maintained a contest of eighty years, against the power of Spain, which contended 182 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BO o K for the empire of the ocean with Great Britain, XXIII ^-vO and which repelled the attacks of Louis XIV. in 1787 the zenith of his glory, was over-run by the arms of Prussia in a single month. Such and so dire are the effects which flow from civil discord and disunion! In the whole of this transaction, Prussia acted in intimate and avowed concert with Eng^ land ; and while France was slowly assembling troops in the vicinity of Liege, and the emperor was presenting feeble remonstrances at Berlin, the revolution projected by the stadtholderian faction was carried into complete execution, and the stadt- holder triumphantly reinstated in all his real and pretended prerogatives. It is not to be imagine^ that the court of Ver- sailles saw the termination of this great contest with frigid indifference ; but the distracted state of her own affairs, and the increasing discontents and disorders of the kingdom, in a manner com- pelled her reluctant acquiescence. The projects of the new minister of finance, M. de Calonne, proved unsuccessful and abortive. In the latter end of the year 1785, a loan of 3,330,0007. being the acknowledged deficit of the current year, was negotiated ; which the parliament of Paris, after repeated remonstrances, at last registered only in pursuance of the king's positive commands; at the same time accompanying it with a resolution im- porting " that the public ceconomy was the only GEORGE III. 183 genuine source of revenue, and the only means of BO o K providing for the necessities of the state, and of re- storing that credit which borrowing had reduced to the brink of ruin." The king, incensed at their presumption, ordered this resolution to be erased from their records declaring " that he would never consent that the parliament should so far abuse his confidence and clemency as to make themselves the censors of his administration. He declared himself satisfied with his comptroller- general, and determined on no account to suffer groundless apprehensions to interfere with the execution of plans calculated for the good of the state and the welfare of the nation." The hostile disposition of the parliament, and the evident impossibility of obtaining their cordial concurrence to the measures in contemplation, de- termined the minister to adopt a plan more suited to the boldness and extent of his views. In the month of August, 1786, M. de Calonne presented a memorial to the king, representing " the amelioration of the finances to be essentially connected with public order ; and averring that what the national benefit required could not be effected by partial operations, and that the repara- tion of the whole was necessary to prevent the ruin of the whole. Of consequence, the pro- ject he had formed embraced all the parts of the monarchy, and was intended to bring them to a clpser union. It would be an inexhaustible source 184 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK of happiness for the people of France; it would ,, , f -, set the monarch for ever at rest respecting the situation of his finances j it would raise his POWER. higher than that of the most prosperous of his ancestor 's-, and enrol his name with those of the most vir- tuous and enlightened legislators. In fine, what induced him to conjure his majesty to adopt it was, that out of the circle of this reformation he could foresee nothing but calamity and ruin." This magnificent and wonder-working plan was no other than to convene, by royal authority and appointment, after the example of antient times, an assembly of the most considerable and enlight- ened persons in the kingdom, under the denomi- nation of NOTABLES, by whose influence and under whose sanction " a reformation might (to use the words of M. de Calonne) be effected of whatever was vicious in the constitution of the state." The minister accompanied this proposal with a specifi- cation of various details, indicating a vigorous and comprehensive mind, penetrated with a clear con- viction of the necessity of a radical reform in the state, so far at least as related to that detestable aggregate mass of extortion and oppression which assumed the lofty appellation of the National Sys- tem of Finance. Amongst the new regulations recommended by M. de Calonne, were the equali- zation of the vingtiemes or territorial revenue the abolition of the corvee the establishment of an uniform tariff throughout all the provinces of the GEORGE III. 18S kingdom the alleviation of the odious gabelle BOOK the extinction of the feudal rights as vested in the v^-vO> 1787. crown the suppression or melioration of the fo- rest laws and the application of the royal demesne lands to the service of the public. This memorial was received by the king with Assembly ' p of Notables approbation ; and before the termination of the convenedat- Versailles year summonses were issued accordingly for the meeting of the assembly of NOTABLES at Versailles, on the 22d of February, 1787. It consisted of one hundred and forty -four persons, amongst whom were seven princes of the blood, nine dukes and peers of France, eight field mareschals, eight coun- sellors of state, and eleven bishops and archbishops. The remaining members were chiefly selected from the different parliaments and magistracies in the kingdom. The Convention of NOTABLES was opened in great state by the king in person, with a speech from the throne, in which he declared " that they had been chosen by him from the different orders of the state, to impart to them his designs, and to receive from them the observations of which they might think them susceptible. This, said the mo- narch, has been the custom of many of my prede- cessors, and particularly of the CHIEF of my FA- MILY, whose name remains still dear to every Frenchman, and whose example I shall always be proud to make the rule of my conduct. His ma- jesty then in general terms stated the views by 186 . HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK which he was actuated the IMPROVEMENT of the xxin. .. . f ^v^ REVENUE the equalization of taxes the hbera- I.T87 tion of commerce and expressed t the fullest con- fidence in the zeal with which they were animated for his service." This was followed by a long and elaborate harangue from M. de Calonne, in which he accused his predecessor M. Necker of leaving at his dismission from office an arrear of six hun- dred and eighty-four millions, of livres totally un- provided for. The difference subsisting between the annual revenue and the annual expenditure he estimated at eighty millions. " It is impossible (said this minister) to suffer the state to remain in the constant and imminent danger to which a de- ficiency such as the present exposes it impossible to go on year after year applying palliatives and expedients, which, though they may retard the crisis for a time, are sure to render it more fatal at last.'* The minister proceeds to develope his plan for restoring energy and stability to the state by a grand reform of its abuses, of which he ex- hibits an interesting and curious detail. In sum- ming up the aggregate of this account, and in solving the grand question, why these intolerable abuses and oppressions have been transmitted from reign to reign, and from age to age, he thus with flowing eloquence expresses himself : " It was not in the bosom of ignorance and confusion, whose veil over-shadowed the times of our first kings it was not when kings, insecure upon their thrones, GEORGE III. 187 were entirely occupied in repelling the continual BOOK usurpations of over-grown subjects it was not in v^-v the midst of the disorder and anarchy of the feudal system, when a band of petty tyrants, issuing from their castles, committed the most atrocious depre- dations it was not when the rage for crusades, in- flamed by the double enthusiasm of religion and glory, carried into the other hemisphere the strength, the gallantry, and the misfortunes of France it was not when a prince surnamed Au- GUSTE recovered the principal dismemberments of the kingdom, and augmented its power and splendor ; nor when the gloomy politics of one of his successors, by giving extension to a municipal government, prepared the means of uniting in the hand of the sovereign all the power of the public strength j nor when the monarch, the most eager after glory and the bravest of knights, contended with a rival sovereign for the renown they both acquired at the expence of their people it was not in those turbulent and inauspicious times, when fanaticism, rending the bosom of the state, filled it with horror and calamity j nor when that good king, so dear to Frenchmen, conquered his king- dom at the point of his sword, and was taken up in adjusting the long disorders and the dis- astrous effects of the civil wars it was not when all the energy of an able and formidable mi- nister was concentrated in the double design of restraining the ambition of a power become for- 188 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK midable to Europe, and of securing the tranquil- v>->-O lity of France by establishing the monarchical au- thority; neither was it under that brilliant reign, when the beneficent intentions of a great monarch were too often thwarted by ruinous wars, when the state was impoverished by victories, while the kingdom was depopulated by persecution ; where so much care was bestowed upon giving every thing an air of grandeur, that the solid prosperity of the state was 'always neglected ; in short, it was not before the monarchy had extended its li- mits to the points nature had ordained to bound them, before she had arrived at her maturity, and the calm both within and without was securely established by the wisdom and moderation of her sovereign, that it was possible to indulge a thought of reforming the defects of the constitu- tion, and of endeavouring to render the general administration more uniform." That the patriotic professions of the king and of the minister, in regard to the general reform of abuses, were at this period not wholly insincere, may be reasonably inferred from their anxious desire to be relieved from those pecuniary embar- rassments which were by no milder or easier means to be surmounted. The interests of the crown and of the people, at this crisis, alike required that limits should be placed to the oppression of the PRIVILEGED ORDERS, who constituted in France, as it were, a nation GEORGE III. 1S9 within a nation. But every idea of fixing legal BOOK bounds to the prerogative of the monarch was re* ^v^t 1787 jected with indignation. It was not to derive in. formation from their wisdom, and much less to be controlled by their authority, that this assembly had been convened. The obvious and sole intent of the court was to carry its own pre-concerted plans into effect, under the sanction of this phan- tom of a national representation. In order to preclude even the shadow of oppo- sition, M. de Calonne had with such admirable adroitness of artifice organized this assembly, that forty-four suffrages should to all efficient purposes constitute the majority of one hundred and forty- four. The assembly was with this view divided into seven sections or chambers, over each of which a prince of the blood presided. Voting by sec- tions, the majority of four would of course be ac- counted as the majority of the whole, although, had the votes been individually taken, the majo- rity might very possibly be converted into an in- significant minority. Notwithstanding these pre- cautions, so difficult of restraint are the spirit of ambition and the love of power, that the NO- TABLES soon displayed a very refractory disposir tion. Numerous objections were started to the plan laid before them. To the new territorial impost they positively refused their concurrence,, unless the accounts and estimates of the govern- ment were submitted to their inspection. This 190 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK was refused with disdain ; and the king caused it XXII! v^^O to be signified to them, " that he was determined 1787 to introduce the imptit territorial, and that it there- fore became them to debate, not the principle of the measure, but the most equitable form it could assume." This only rendered the discontent of the assembly violent and general. It was said, that the minister had convoked them merely to serve as a battery, from which to play off his artillery against the parliaments, and oblige them to regis- ter the plans he adopted. The enemies of M. de Calonne seized with eagerness this favorable op- portunity to effect his ruin. The count de Ver- gennes, who had powerfully supported in the ca- binet the authority and credit of M. Necker, had expired a few days only before the meeting of the NOTABLES. The mareschal de Castries, minister qf the marine, the baron de Breteuil, master of the household, and M. de Miromesnil, keeper of the seals, all of the queen's party, were active in the design, in which they were zealously assisted by the numerous friends of M. Neckar. In the midst of their investigations, and while M. de Calonne was apparently unsuspicious of danger, the assem- bly was adjourned from the 5th to the 1 2th of April for the Easter recess : and on the 8th that minister was dismissed from his employments. Nevertheless, that the triumph of his enemies might not be complete, M. de Miromesnil was at the same time, conformably to the weak and wa- GEORGE III. 191 verinff policy of the monarch* commanded to re- BOOK XXHL sign the seals. The public clamor and odium rising ^-v~^ high against M. de Calonne, whom it was now the fashion to represent as the most extravagant and profligate of ministers, he was exiled by the king to his estate in Lorraine ; and he soon afterwards thought it expedient to take refuge in foreign parts from the inveterate rage of his enemies. M. de Calonne was succeeded, after a short in- terval, by M. Lomenie de Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse, a leading member of the Assembly of Notables, and of great popularity in the kingdom at large, as an undaunted advocate and assertor of the principles of universal liberty. The sacrifice of M. de Calonne produced no concessions in fa- vor of the court. The Assembly of Notables, in their subsequent sitting, declared themselves utter- ly incompetent either to suggest different taxes, or to adopt and sanction those which had been proposed. The views of the court being thus finally frustrated, the assembly was dissolved (May 25, 1787), with a cold acknowledgment from the sovereign of the services which they had rendered to the public ; and the archbishop of Toulouse entered upon his office with the prospect of en- countering difficulties still more insuperable than those which had proved too mighty to be over- come by the far superior ability of his celebrated predecessor. 192 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK It is not wonderful that, things being: thus cir- XXIII. ^*-v-^ cumstanced, no vigorous measures were adopted by France to counteract the united interference of England and Prussia in the affairs of Holland. In the month of July (1787), the states of Holland presented to the States General a proposition for soliciting the mediation of the court of Versailles; soon after which, the French embassador presented also a memorial to the States General, declaring the king his master to be highly sensible of this mark of the confidence of the republic, and ready to co-operate by every means in his power for the restoration of harmony and peace. So late as the month of September, France tardily professed her intention of assisting the Dutch, in case they were England attacked by any foreign power. This only ani- upport of mated the court' of London to act with the greater Prussia. . . spirit and decision, and vigorous naval preparations were made to support the king of Prussia, in op-r position to the menacing declarations of France. But the object of the Prussian expedition being accomplished in a much shorter space of time than could have been previously imagined, the court of Versailles found itself, probably not without a secret satisfaction, disengaged from all obligations. The duke of Dorset, ambassador at Paris, in consequence of the events which had taken place, presented (October 27th) a memorial to the Jdng of France, signifying, that " no subject of GEORGE III. 193 discussion, muoh less of contest, now remaining BOOK V"VT1| between the two courts, he was authorised to ask, v-^-vO whether it was the intention of his Most Christian majesty to carry into effect the notification made by his Most Christian majesty's plenipotentiary ? which, by announcing that succours would be given to Holland, had occasioned the naval arma- ments on the part of his Britannic majesty, which armaments have been reciprocal. If the court of Versailles is disposed to explain herself satisfactorily on this subject, the ambassador proposes, that all warlike preparations should be discontinued, and that the navies of the two nations should be again placed on the footing of the peace establishment, as it stood on the ist of January of the present year." To this memorial the count de Montmo- rin, the new minister for foreign affairs in France, replied on the very same day, in a style of exem- r plary forbearance and moderation, " that the in- tention of his majesty not being, and never having been, to interfere by force in the affairs of Holland, the communication made to the court of London, on the 1 6th of last month, having had no other object than to announce to that court an intention, the motives of which no longer exist, especially since the king of Prussia has imparted his resolu- tion ; his majesty makes no scruple to declare, that he will not give any effect to the declaration above-mentioned j and agrees with pleasure to the, VOL. VIII. O 194 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK proposal of mutually disarming, made on the part v^r-y-O of his- Britannic majesty." Thus happily and honorably for England did this important business terminate. Foreign powers were astonished to see that country, which had a few years since been apparently reduced to the verge of ruin under an administration pre-emi- nently odious and contemptible, reassuming her rank among the nations of Europe, and attaining to a visible superiority over that hr.ughty and am- bitious rival, whose recent success was now seen to be dearly purchased by her consequent alarm- ing and inextricable embarrassments. session of The parliament of Great Britain assembled on parliament. ^ ^ o f November ^g^ The j^g remark- ed, " that at the close of the last session he had informed them of the concern with which he observed the disputes unhappily subsisting in the republic of the United Provinces. Their situation soon afterwards became more critical and alarm- ing. The king of Prussia having demanded satis- faction for the insult offered to the princess of Orange his sister, the party which had USURPED the government applied to the Most Christian king for assistance ; and that prince having notified to his majesty his intention of granting their request, the king did not hesitate to declare that he could , not remain a quiet spectator, and gave immediate orders for augmenting his forces both by sea and GEORGE III. 195 land ; and in the course of this transaction he had BOOK concluded a subsidiary treaty with the landgrave vJ^L of Hesse Gassel. In the mean time the rapid suc- cess of the duke of Brunswic enabled the provinces to deliver themselves from the OPPRESSION under which they labored ? and all the subjects of con- test being thus removed, an amicable explanation had taken place between the courts of London and Versailles." This was the language rather of a zealous parti- san of the house of Orange than of a great monarch, who, by a dignified and seasonable interposition, had rescued a country from ruin. It is inconceiv- able how the existing government of Holland could with any color of justice be stigmatized as an usurpation; for by the constitution of that coun- try the prince of Orange, as stadtholder, was not a sovereign, but a subject possessing no share of the legislative power ; and though by the formula of 1 747 the office was declared hereditary, it was not therefore irrevocable any more than the here- ditary offices of earl-martial or great- chamberlain under the English constitution : and the oppres- sions alluded to in the speech were plainly nothing else than the usual severities- inflicted upon those who presumed to resist the mandates of the su- preme government But in the recent measures adopted by the English court there were, notwith- standing this flagrant impropriety of language, so o 2 196 HISTORY OF CHEAT BRITAIN. 1 xxm K muc ^ ener g> r j an d at the same time so much prac- *-* '~v^> tical wisdom, that lesser objections were ab- 1787. > J sorbed and lost in the general merit of the trans- action. To the grand proposition " that it is contrary to the rights of nations, and a violation ef the fundamental principles of political justice, for one nation forcibly to interfere in the internal concerns of another" it must suffice to reply, that however incontrovertible this maxim may be deemed as a general truth, an interference attend- ed with consequences *hus eminently beneficial to both parties Holland being undoubtedly preserv- ed by this coercive interposition from a civil war must be allowed, like other necessary exceptions from general rules* to deserve not pardon merely, but praise. The addresses in answer to the speech were voted with great unanimity in both houses ; and the minister received from the leaders of opposi- tion, no less than his own partisans,the most liberal commendations for his spirited and judicious con- duct. The subsidy to Hesse, by which twelve thousand men were at a vast expence retained for a term of years in the service of Britain, passed without a dissentient vote ; and in a short time Alliance treaties of amity and alliance were concluded be- tween the courts of London, Berlin, and the Hague, by which the two former guaranteed the stadthol- derate in perpetuity to the serene house of Orange, GEORGE III. 197 as an essential part of the constitution of the BOOK XXIII United Provinces. By the treaty between the v^-Y-O 178&L kings of Great Britain and Prussia, each of the . high contracting powers engages, in case of attack, to furnish the other with a succour of sixteen thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, or an equivalent in money, within the term of two months from the date of the requisition. Thus was Britain once again fatally intangled in the in- tricate and inextricable toils of continental engage- ments. The army establishment, which had been re- duced from seventy to sixty-four regiments at the termination of the war, was now, at the motion of the minister, raised to the customary complement, notwithstanding the vigorous opposition of Mr. Fox, under whose administration the reduction had taken place, and who justly boasted that he was the first minister since the Revolution who had been accused of establishing too small a stand- ing army in time of peace. A very great naval promotion had also taken unpopular i i i r ' i -n naval pro- place, in the contemplation or a war with France; motion. in which it was remarkable that sixteen captains had been selected for flags, while a much greater number of officers, several of whom were men of the most distinguished gallantry and merit, had been unaccountably passed over in silence and ne- glect. In consequence of this injurious partiality 198 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. X BOOK a motion was made in the house of commons, Y YTT] ^^v-O " that the house should resolve itself into a com- 1788 ' mittee to enquire into the conduct of the admi- ralty in the business of the late promotion." This motion was destined to encounter the vehement opposition of Mr. Pitt, who declared, " that if this resolution passed, the next thing he presumed would be to resolve that the members of that house were better judges of naval concerns than profes- sional men at the head of the marine department." To this Mr. Fox justly replied, that this argument, if admitted in its full extent, would effect the total annihilation of the constitutional powers of par- liamentary control. If a complaint were lodged against 4 the conduct of a judge, it might be said, " What do you know of the law ? Leave it to the courts below : and thus of every other department in army, church, and state." Upon a divison, the motion was negatived in a house of near three hundred members, by a majority of seventeen voices only. And the first lord of the admiralty, lord Howe, became upon this occasion the subject Resigna- of very severe and general censure. His lordship lion of lord ' Howe of soon aftenvards resigned his office, and was sue- Mansfield, ceeded by the earl of Chatham. Nearly at the same time the earl of Mansfield resigned the chief- justiceship of England, which he had held with high and un diminished reputation for the long period of thirty-two years. The vacancy thus GEORGE III. made was supplied by the attorney- general, sir BOOK Lloyd Kenyon, created lord Kenyon. ^v^/ Perpetual disputes having arisen, as had been i,,di a decia- fbreseen and foretold, between the two Boards of Tatory act * Direction and Control, established by Mr. Pitt's India Regulation Bill, the minister thought proper in the course of the session to bring in his famous DECLARATORY ACT, by which various new and important powers were conferred on the Board of Control, under pretext of explaining and deter- mining the sense of the former bill. This measure met with a most animated and formidable opposi- tion. Colonel Barre protested that he had from the first discerned the traces of a system of Indian patronage, of which he believed the bill under dis- cussion to be a great advance to the final comple- tion; and if it should be suffered to pass, a fatal stab would be given to the constitution/' Mr. Sheridan called upon the house to compare the power of Mr. Fox's commissioners with those which were now asserted to belong to the Board of Control. Lord Fitzwilliam could not send out a dispatch ; he could neither declare war, nor make peace, in India ; he could neither collect the revenues of the Company, nor apply them to the purposes he should think proper, without having first the pleasure of the king signified to him through the medium of the secretary of state. The Board of Control could do all this. The minister 9QQ: HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK had now violated that compact with the Company ""XXIIL ^^-^ on which he originally and professedly stood. Jlow then could he escape the ignominy of delibe- rately breaking his most solemn engagements ? Mr. Burke desired to be informed by admini- stration, " whether, when, they brought in the act of 1784, and complained that Mr. Fox's bill took too much, they had honestly stated that all they meant to take was the military power, the political direction, the management of the revenue, and as much as they could get of the commerce ? The question then to have put to the house would have been, in whose hands they were willing this power should be intrusted in the hands of seven of the most respectable men in the kingdom, of parlia- mentary appointment, or with the shreds and rem- nants of office ? The public had been at that time infatuated, hurried on to madness. The mob of 1784 had destroyed the house of commons, and in so doing they had destroyed the palladium of their privileges ; but he now indulged the hope of seeing the house rise like a phcenix regenerated from its ashes." The question of commitment was carried by a majority of fifty-seven voices only, and, on being carried into the house of lords, it experienced a second opposition scarcely less vio- lent than the first. It passed at length, accompa- nied with a protest signed by sixteen peers, in which the Declaratory Bill was reprobated as GEORGE III. 201 friendly to corrupt intrigue and cabal, hostile to BOOK all good government, and abhorrent to the prin- ^^r^ ciples of our constitution. The patronage of the Company was said to be enjoyed by the commis* sioners in the worst of all possible forms, and with- out that responsibility which was the natural se- curity against malversation and abuse. In some degree to palliate this odious measure, by which the Company were for ever deprived of all efficient authority in India, they were empowered by a subsequent bill to borrow for the relief of their financial embarrassments the sum of i,oo,ooo/. for which, notwithstanding thejlourishing condition of their affairs, they stood in immediate and ur- gent necessity. In the early part of the session the great India delinquent, Mr. Hastings, had delivered in his an- swer to the impeachment of the commons, who immediately proceeded to the appointment of a committee of managers, to make good the same. When Mr. Francis had been in the last session pro- posed as one of the committee to prepare the ar- ticles, he had been objected to on the ground of the personal animosity known to subsist between him and Mr. Hastings, and which had been unfor- tunately productive of an encounter, wherein the life of Mr. Francis had been imminently endan- gered. Mr. Fox on the present occasion again moved 202 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the house, that the name of Mr. Francis be added to the list of managers. He urged, " that the house were not sitting as judges of Mr. Hastings not even in the capacity of grand jurors ; the bill had been found, and they were now become his accusers and prosecutors. Did it disqualify a man from acting as an accuser, that he was animated with an honest indignation against the crimes and the criminal whom he attempted to bring to jus- tice ? The enmity which Mr. Fr ncis cherished against Mr. Hastings was not a private but a public enmity, founded on a just sense of the abuses he had committed, and the trust he had perverted. Mr. Francis had with infinite application and abi- lity developed, by means of his local and personal knowledge, the whole mystery of Indian corrup- tion ; he had enforced it on the reluctant convic- tion of that house. Would the house, now they had adopted the accusation and made it their own, prevent its author from supporting it at the bar of the house of lords, where only he could support it with effect ?" Mr. Francis himself, with great dignity and animation, entered into a general vindication of his character and conduct. " Upon his return from India he had been called upon (he said) to give evidence before a committee of the house of commons. Could he without treachery to the public refuse every information in his power ? To GEORGE III. 203 act in the capacity of a whispering advis'eY, or an obscure and covert witness, he disdained. In his 178&- own opinion, and in that of men of the highest reputation whom he had consulted, he acted far more honorably in declaring himself the respon- sible accuser of Mr. Hastings in avowing his principles and abiding by their consequences. He was happy to find that the objection against him implied no imputation upon his character, no sus- picion upon his actions. He trusted that no one would think it possible that he meant to solicit the house to alter their resolution. He owed, indeed, every assistance in his power to carry into effect the task now undertaken. Exclusively of that consideration, what could he desire better than to be excused from any further concern in this toil- some, invidious, and most unthankful office ?" Mr. Pitt contented himself with saying, " that the question was in his opinion a question of feel- ing, and not of argument ; and he could not re- concile to his ideas of propriety or delicacy the appointment of a member, as the representative of the house in this business, who was distinguished from all others by the personal contest in which he had been engaged with the accused." This drew down the indignation of Mr. Burke. " Was it fit or becoming," he asked, " for a legislator, in a great and important question, to say his feel- ings compelled him to abandon his arguments ? HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK that his delicacy was offended by rational investi- gation ? What was delicacy -but at best a super* added flower to virtue-!-- an ornament, the pre- sence or absence of which 1786 Next in dignity, and next in the general esti- Proceed . mation in delinquency, to Mr. Hastings, was sir jj Elijah Impey, chief-justice of the Supreme Court Im P e 7- established by the Regulating Act of 1 773; against whom it was now determined to institute a similar process. Six articles of impeachment were ac- cordingly in the early part of the session exhibited to the house by sir Gilbert Elliot ; of which the conduct of the chief-justice in the memorable bu- siness of Nundcomar constituted the first. His decisions in the Patna and Cossijura causes, his ac- ceptance of an employment, contrary to his OATH, in the native court styled the Sudder Dewannec Adaulet, with a salary annexed, to be held during the pleasure of the governor and council, and his proceedings in concert with the governor respect- ing the affairs of Benares and Oude, furnished ample materials for the remaining charges. On the 4th of February sir Elijah was permitted to make his defence at the bar of the house ; which he performed at great length, and with great abi- lity confining himself however entirely to the charge relating to Nundcomar. For he remark- ed, with the artfulness of practised and technical subtilty, " that his mind had been so much de- ranged by the magnitude of that charge, that he found it impossible to exert himself in reply to the 206 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B It K other accusations till the question of Nundcomar J^jfcUi* v^-v-*-' was decided. He could not bear to live under the 1788. imputation or MURDER ; but if he were acquitted of that, he should consider all the other charges as frivolous and unimportant." Being requested to leave the minutes of his defence, as Mr. Hastings had before done, upon the table, the chief-justice declared it to be impossible having unfortunately spoken extempore. On the 28th of April sir Gilbert Elliot entered upon his summary of the charge. He enlarged upon the " absurdity of enforcing a law founded upon the local customs of one country against the natives of another. To extend by a constructive interpretation the English law against forgery, unknown on the other side the Tweed, to India, was no less preposterous than to try the Great Mogul and the visiers of his court upon the Eng- lish statute of bigamy. He stated in the strongest terms the expediency and equity of at least grant- ing a respite of the sentence, since conviction had been obtained by evidence the most suspicious, at . a time when Nundcomar was in the act of bring- ing forward an accusation against the governor- general, and when it was evident that the execu- tion of the sentence could not take place without exciting horror and dismay throughout Hindostan. He affirmed, that the blood of the MURDERED IIA- was upon their heads, and still crying for ven- GEORGE III. 207 seance on the man who had thus stained and crim- BOOK XXIII sonedthe spotless ermine of justice." The defence v^-yO of sir Elijah Impey had, however, engaged and pre- occupied the minds of the house. And it must be confessed, that the chief-justice had so skilfully en- trenched himself behind the impregnable ramparts of the law the letter of which, admitting the ex- tension of the system of English jurisprudence to India, he in the whole of this transaction carefully avoided overstepping that it was difficult to pro- nounce him in a legal sense guilty, however flagi- tious his conduct might appear when brought to the test of free and rational investigation. The lawyers in the house seemed to consider it as a common cause, and exerted themselves with pecu- liar ardor in his behalf ; and Mr. Pitt declaring himself convinced of the innocence of the accused, the motion of sir Gilbert Elliot was on the division negatived by a majority of 73 to 65 voices. Such was the effect of this discouraging circumstance, that the farther consideration of the impeachment was adjourned over the session, and it has never yet been resumed. It seems extraordinary, that the acceptance of an appointment contrary to his oath of office, under the governor and council, by the chief-justice, which was the immediate ground of his recall, was not made the leading article of the impeachment, as upon this head all the inge- nuity of the profession, excellent and admirable as it is, could have afforded no colorable defence. 908 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK The trial of Mr. Hastings commenced on the XXIII. *^v^ i ^th of February Westminster Hall being fitted Commence- U P ^ or ^ purpose with great magnificence. Mr. Burke was no less than four successive days in Waitings, making his preliminary speech, which was filled with vehement invective, with much rhetorical exaggeration, and with matter wholly extraneous to the subject of the impeachment. Men of plain sense, whose object was TRUTH, and who desired only a clear and simple summary of facts, sighed over these eccentricities and follies ; and augured ill of the final success of the impeachment from so injudicious an outset. If approbation, however, was wanting, the place was amply supplied by ad- miration ; and the speech was extolled by the pa- rasitical flatterers of Mr. Burke, as a more than Ciceronian effort of eloquence. On the 22d of February the Benares charge was opened by Mr. Fox ; and it was concluded on the 25th by Mr. Grey, member for the county of North- umberland, whose talents had, at a very early pe- riod of life, attracted in an eminent degree the at- tention of the house, of which .he was destined to be one of the chief and most distinguished orna- ments. On the 1 5th of April, the charge relative to the Begums of Oude was brought forward in a very able manner by Mr. Adam ; and the evidence on this charge was summed up by Mr. Sheridan, in a GEORGE III. 209 speech which lasted five days, and of which the B o o K XXIII. more vigorous compression only was wanting to ^-vO the perfection of eloquence. The last business of importance which engaged Bil1 for r - , gulatingthe the attention of parliament was a bill brought into African r slav trade. the house by sir William Dolben, member for the university of Oxford, a man of the highest inte* grity and respectability, to regulate the transpor- tation of slaves from the coast of Africa to the West Indies. At the beginning of the year, a mul- titude of petitions had been presented from the different towns, cities, and counties of the king- dom, imploring in earnest and affecting terms the abolition of that superlatively nefarious and detest- able traffic. A motion on the subject of these pe- titions was expected to be made by Mr. Wilber- force, member for Yorkshire ; but in con sequence of the long-protracted and unfortunate indisposition of that gentleman, Mr. Pitt on the gth of May moved a resolution, importing that the house would early in the next session proceed to take into consideration the state of the slave-trade. The bill of sir William Dolben, which was intend- ed merely to establish a certain reasonable propor- tion between the number of slaves and the ton- nage of the ships, was violently and obstinately opposed by petitions from the merchants of Lon- don and Liverpool concerned in the African trade. Counsel being therefore engaged, and witnesses VOL. viir. p HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK examined, it appeared in evidence at the bar of the house, that five feet six inches in length, and six- teen inches in breadth, was the average space al- lotted to each slave. The lower deck of the vessel was entirely' covered with bodies. The space be- tween the floor of that deck and the roof above, in height about five feet eight inches, was divided by a platform, also covered with human bodies. The slaves were chained, two and two, by their hands and feet, and by means of ring-bolts fasten- ed to the deck. Jn that sultry climate, their al- lowance was a pint of water each per diem ; and they were usually fed twice a day with yams and horse beans. After meals they were compelled by the whip to jump in their irons, which by the slave dealers was called dancing. They had not,, as was emphatically stated, when stowed together, so much room as a man in his coffin, either in length or breadth. They drew their breath with laborious and anxious efforts, and many died of mere suffocation. The customary mortality of the voyage exceeded seventeen times the usual esti- mate of human life. A slave ship, when full fraught with this cargo of wretchedness and abo- mination, exhibited at once the extremes of hu- man depravity and human misery. Mr. Pitt, who, on various occasions, has drop- ped the statesman to assume the nobler character of the philanthropist, declared with indignant GEORGE III. 211 eloquence, " that if, as had been asserted by the B Tr K J\ Jvlil* members for Liverpool, the trade could not be ^~v^ 1788. carried on in any other manner, he would retract what he had said on a former day, and, waving every farther discussion, give his instant vote for the annihilation of a traffic thus shocking to humanity. He trusted that the house, being now in possession of such evidence as was never before exhibited, would endeavour to extricate them- selves from the guilt and remorse which every man ought to feel for having so long overlooked such cruelty and oppression." The bill was car- ried up June 1 8th to the house of lords, where it was fated to encounter the determined opposition of lord Thurlow. His lordship said, that the bill was full of inconsistency and nonsense. The French had lately offered premiums to encourage the African trade, and the natural presumption was, that we ought to do the same* This measure appeared to him very like a breach of parliamen- tary faith. As to himself, he scrupled not to say, " that if the fit of philanthropy which had slept so many years had been suffered to sleep one sum- mer longer, it would have appeared to him more wise than to take up the subject in this disjointed manner." The duke of Chandos ventured to pre- dict a general insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies, in consequence of the agitation of the present question. And lord Sydney, who had p 2 212 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK once ranked among the friends of liberty, expressed ,A.J\.ilI v^v^w> i n warm terms his admiration of the system of the 1788. ... slave laws established in Jamaica, and saw no room for any improvement. The bill was defended by the duke of Richmond and marquis Townshendin a manner which did honor to their understanding and feelings : and it finally passed by a consider- able majority. The king put an end to the session July 1 1 , by a speech from the throne, in which he compli- mented the two houses on their attention and li- berality. " His faithful subjects had every reason (as he affirmed) to expect the continuance of the blessings of peace ; and the engagements which he had recently formed with the king of Prussia and the States General of the United Provinces, would, he trusted, promote the security and welfare of his own dominions, and contribute to the general tranquility of Europe." Alarming Soon after the recess of parliament, the kins:, illness of tfie king, who had been for some time rather indisposed, was advised by his physicians to try the mineral waters of Cheltenham, which he was believed to drink in too profuse a quantity. His health ap- peared, nevertheless, during his residence there, greatly established ; and he amused himself and gratified his people by various excursions in the vicinity of that place, displaying on these occasions much condescension and affability, and being every GEORGE III. 213. where received with loud acclamations. On his B o o K return to Windsor, late in the summer, his illness J^JHj returned with new and alarming symptoms. By i788 * the end of October, it could no longer be concealed that the malady of the king was of a nature pecu- liarly afflictive and dreadful. A mental derange- ment had taken place, which rendered him totally incapable of public business. The parliament had been prorogued to the Session of i c XT i r , ' i i P arliam ent. 2oth or November j a few days previous to which, a circular letter was issued by the ministers, in which the impracticability of a farther prorogation was signified, and the attendance of the members earnestly requested. Parliament being accord- ingly assembled, the state of the king's health was formally notified to the house of peers by the lord- chancellor, and to the commons by Mr. Pitt : and as the session of parliament could not be opened in the regular mode, an adjournment of fourteen days was recommended ; at the end of which term, if the king's illness should unhappily continue, it would be incumbent upon them to enter into the immediate consideration of the state of public af- fairs. Upon the re-assembling of parliament, on the 4th of December, a report of the Board of Privy Council was presented to the two houses, contain- ing an examination of the royal physicians j and it was properly suggested, that, considering the ex- treme delicacy of the subject, and the dignity of 214- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the person concerned, parliament would do well to XXIII vJ^v-O rest satisfied without any more direct and express- information, especially as the examinations of council had been taken upon oath, which the house of commons had no power to administer. Proceed- The situation, of affairs was at this period Sin- ings rela- tive to the gularly critical. The prince of Wales, into whose regency. * hands the government of the country was soon likely to fall, retained a. deep resentment against the present ministers, for their recent conduct re- specting him, and took no pains to conceal his de- cided predilection for the person and politics of Mr. Fox. This distinguished leader, on the ear- liest intelligence of the king's indisposition, had returned from a summer excursion to the conti- nent with incredible expedition ; and in contemp- lation of an approaching change, a new arrange- ment of administration was already believed to be formed, consisting of the principal members of the former coalition ministry, lord North only ex- cepted, and of which the duke of Portland was to- be once more the ostensible head, The policy of opposition seemed evidently repugnant to every idea of unnecessary delay. Yet doubts were unac- countably started by Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, and others of the same party, whether parliament could in this momentous case dispense with that sort of evidence on which they had been accus- tomed to proceed. The validity of the objection GEORGE HI. 215 was very faintly contested, and a committee of BOOK XXIII twenty-one persons in each house, after no long v^^v-O 1 7ftS debate, appointed to examine and report the sen- timents of the royal physicians. The report of the committee was laid upon the table of the house of commons on the icth of December; when a motion was made by Mr. Pitt, for the appointment of another committee to inspect the journals for precedents of such proceedings as had been adopted in former instances, when the so>- vereign authority was suspended by sickness, in- firmity, or any other cause. Mr. Fox, sensible perhaps of his former error, now opposed with energy the present motion, as calculated only for delay. With respect to pre- cedents, there w r ere, he said, notoriously none which applied to the present instance ; and he affirmed, that all which was requisite to their ul- timate decision had been obtained by the report now lying upon their table. By that report they had ascertained the incapacity of the sovereign. And he advanced as a proposition deducible from the principles of the constitution, and the analogy of the law of hereditary succession, "that whenever the sovereign was incapable of exercising the func- tions of his high office, the heir apparent, if of full age and capacity, had as indisputable a claim to the exercise of the executive authority, in the name and on the behalf of the sovereign, during 216 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK his incapacity, as in the case of his natural de- XXIII. . ^v-^ mise. I *?Q Mr. Pitt, eager to seize any occasion of postpon- ing, by the intervention of extraneous questions, the ultimate decision, immediately rose with much apparent warmth, and declared, " that the asser- tion which had been made by Mr. Fox was little short of TREASON against the CONSTITUTION. And he pledged himself to prove, that the heir ap- parent, in the instances in question, had no more right to the exercise of the executive power than ANY OTHER PERSON ; and that it belonged entirely to the two remaining branches of the legislature, to make such a provision for supplying the tem- porary deficiency as they might think proper." Thus was this famous question at issue between these two political rivals : in which it was remark- able, that Mr. Fox, the great advocate of the rights of the people, became the defender of prerogative; and Mr. Pitt, who had been loudly accused of de- serting the principles of liberty, appeared in the advantageous light of their intrepid and zealous as- sertor. All those popular arguments and primary axioms of government, on which the friends of freedom so justly delight to dwell, were upon this occasion urged by Mr. Pitt with the greatest suc- cess. " When the regular exercise of the powers of government was from any cause suspended, to whom could the right of providing a remedy for GEORGE III. the existing defect devolve, but to the people, from whom all the powers of government originated ? To assert an inherent right in the prince of Wales to assume the government was virtually to revive those exploded ideas of the divine and indefeasible authority of princes which had so justly sunk into contempt and almost into oblivion. Kings and princes derive their power from the people, and to the people alone, through the organ of their re- presentatives, did it appertain to decide in cases for which the constitution had made no specific or positive provision." In vain was every effort at- tempted to stem the tide of popular opinion, which ran with no less violence at this crisis in fa- vor of Mr. Pitt than at the commencement of his ministerial career. In vain was it urged, in oppo- sition to the specious reasonings and artful conclu- sions of the minister, that the primary principles of government were not the subjects of the present controversy. The question was simply, to de- termine what the analogy of the constitution re- quired in a case wherein no recourse could be had to authoritative precedents or to legal decisions. The constitutional authority of parliament to pro- vide for the safety of the nation, in an exigency like the present, must be universally acknowledg- ed. But the doubt was, whether, in the appoint- ment of a regent, they were to exercise a judicial or an elective authority. If the former, the busi- 178*. 218 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ness was at an end 5 for they must necessarily adjudge the regency to the prince. But if they were to exercise an arbitrary elective power, Mr. Pitt might make himself competitor of the prince of Wales. Upon the regent of their ELECTION they would undoubtedly, as was the practice in all elective governments, impose such limitations as they thought proper. Thus the balance of the constitution would be destroyed, the executive power would become wholly dependent upon the legislative, and the genius of the government would be radically and essentially changed. The sovereign authority is not a property, but an office. To execute that office, certain powers are neces- sary ; and whoever exercises it, and under what- ever name he acts, ought to be possessed of those necessary powers ; and no man under any title or denomination ought to be invested with more than are necessary. If hereditary monarchy be established as a salutary provision to frustrate the machinations of faction, the same rule applies to a regent, who ought to be invested with all the au- thority requisite to preserve the tranquillity and promote the welfare of the state." Mr. Fox not choosing to take the sense of the house, Mr. Pitt's motion for precedents was carried without a di- vision. A similar motion was the next day made by lerd Camden in the house of peers, and the doc- GEORGE III. 219 trine of Mr, "Fox reprobated by his lordship with BOOK XXIII great severity. It was on the other hand defended v^-v-O 1 788 with eloquence and ability by lord Loughborough, and lord Stormont, who concluded his speech with recommending an immediate address to the prince of Wales, entreating him to assume the exercise- of the royal authority. The discussion of the ab- stract question of right being perceived to afford a great and unexpected advantage to the ministry, the duke of York, soon after this debate, in the name of the prince, expressed his wishes, " that the question might be waved. No claim of right," his highness said, " had been advanced by the prince of Wales ; and he was confident that his brother too well understood the sacred principles which seated the house of Brunswic upon the throne, ever to assume or exercise any power, be his claim what it might, that was not derived from the will of the people expressed by their represen- tatives." Lord Thurlow, who had at first consented to take a part in the new administration, in the ar- rangement of which the post of lord president had been assigned to him, now varying the course of his policy, spoke with great energy of his " senti- ments of affection towards the king. Nothing could be more disgraceful than to desert the sove- reign in his distressed and helpless situation. His own debt of gratitude was ample j and when he 2SO HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK forgot his king might GOD forget him." These ^-Y~O expressions were rumored to be the result of cer- tain intimations, which his lordship had recently received, of the happy and not very distant pros- pect of the king's recovery. This was however as yet a matter of anxious and precarious speculation. In the committee on the state of the nation, December 1 6, Mr. Pitt moved two declaratory reso- lutions, importing, i. The interruption of the royal authority j and 2. That it was the duty of the two houses of parliament to provide the means of sup- plying that defect. A vehement debate ensued ; in the course of which Mr. Fox declared " the prin- ciples of the minister to be, that the monarchy was indeed hereditary, but that the executive power ought to be elective. The legal metaphy- sics that thus distinguished between the crown and its functions were to him unintelligible. The in- vestigators should be schoolmen, and not states- men, if a question that so deeply involved the ex. istence of the constitution were to be thus discus- sed. Where (said he) is that famous DICTUM to be found, by which the crown is guarded with such inviolable sanctity, while its powers, are left to the mercy of every assailant ?" The resolution was at length carried, on a division, by 268 against 204 voices. This great point being gained, the ministry proceeded without hesitation or delay to convert it to their own pre-concerted purposes. GEORGE III. 221 On the 236. of December, a third resolution BOOK passed, empowering the chancellor of Great Bri- v>^v^> tain to affix the great seal to such bill of limita- tions as might be necessary to restrict the power of the future regent. This mode of procedure was opposed with great animation by lord North. " A person," said his lordship, " is to be set up with- out power or discretion ; and this pageant, this fictitious being, is to give the force of a law to the decisions of the two houses. Was it ever before heard of, that there could be a power of giving assent without the power of refusing that assent ? Would any man seriously maintain that the third estate thus conjured up is really distinct from the other two ?" It was styled, in the heat and pas- sion of debate, " an insulting fraud,*' a " mockery of legislation," a " legal forgery." And an amend- ment was finally moved by Mr. Dempster, " That the prince of Wales be requested to take upon himself the administration of the government during the royal incapacity." On the division the amendment was negatived by 251 to 178 voices. The resolutions which had passed the commons being communicated for the concurrence of the lords, a similar amendment to that of Mr. Demp- ster was moved by lord Rawdon ; when, after a violent debate, the resolutions were confirmed, on a division of 66 to 99 peers. 222 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK On the 2d of January, 1789, to complete the s^-v^O singularity and perplexity of the business, died Mr. Cornwall, speaker of the house of commons ; and on the 5th, the vacant chair was filled by Mr. Grenville, brother to lord Temple, the irregula- rity of his entering upon the duties of his office without the sanction of the royal approbation being scarcely noticed, amid the pressure of affairs so much more important. The plan of limita- tions, when ready to be introduced into the house, was obstructed by an unseasonable motion of Mr. Loveden, (January 6) that the physicians be re- examined on the subject of the king's illness, and the probability of recovery. This motion was the result of various reports respecting the disagree- ment of opinion amongst the physicians them- selves, -reports sufficiently corroborated by the subsequent examination, which left the house as much in the dark as ever as to the event, answer- ing no other purpose than to create an additional delay, of which the minister well knew the value and the advantage. A letter had previously been written to the prince of Wales by Mr. Pitt, inform- ing his royal highness of the plan meant to be pur- sued: that the care of the king's person, and the disposition of the royal household, should be com- mitted to the queen, who would by this means be vested with the patronage of four hundred places, amongst which were the great offices of lord GEORGE III. 223 steward, lord chamberlain, and master of the BOOK XXIII horse; that the power of the prince should not ^^^L> extend to the granting any office, reversion, or pensioD, for any other term than during the king's pleasure, nor to the conferring any peerage. The answer of the prince (dated January 2) was firm, dignified, and temperate. He said, " it was with deep regret that he perceived in the propositions of administration a project for introducing weak- ness, disorder, and insecurity, into every branch of political business for separating the court from the state, and depriving government of its natural and accustomed support ; a scheme for discon- necting the authority to command service from the power of animating it by reward, and for al- lotting to him all the invidious duties of the kingly station, without the means of softening them to the public by any one act of grace, favor, or be- nignity. He observed, that the plea of public uti- lity must be strong, manifest, and urgent, that could thus require the extinction or suspension of any one of those essential rights in the supreme power or its representative, or which could justify the prince in consenting, that in his person an ex- periment should be made to ascertain with how small a portion of kingly power the executive go- vernment of his country could be conducted. In fine, the prince declared, that his conviction of the evils which might otherwise arise outweighed in 224 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B XXH? ^* s m * nc l every other consideration, and would *-"v^-' determine him to undertake the painful trust im* W89. r posed upon him by that melancholy necessity which of all the king's subjects he deplored the most/' A series of propositions, in which were compris- ed this wild and dangerous project, the offspring of party interest and personal ambition, calculated only, as was justly and forcibly remarked, " to establish a weak government and a strong opposi- tion,'* were brought into the house of commons by theminister,Mr.Pitt,on the i6th of January (1789). Long and violent debates ensued, in which the plan of limitations was attacked in its principle and all its parts with the united powers of argu- ment and eloquence. In animadverting upon that most extraordinary provision which conferred the disposal and patronage of the royal household upon the queen, on pretence of maintaining the respect due to the personal dignity of the king, Mr. Burke pronounced this to be no other than " a solemn mockery of royalty, when it was known to the whole world that Providence, in its inscrutable wisdom, had burled the monarch from his throne, and had reduced him to a state in which he was the object of compassion to the meanest of his subjects." Mr. Sheridan declared the real spring of Mr. Pitt's measures to be very obvious. Had the pre- sent minister and his colleagues entertained any GEORGE III. 225 expectation of retaining their places, the limita- BOOK X5CJII tions would never have been heard of. The whole v^v-O of Mr. Pitt's conduct was governed by party con- siderations and the impulse of personal ambition. Whence could the idea of with-holding the pa- tronage of the royal household originate, but from the desire of erecting a fortress from which when he was out of office he might counteract the mea- sures of the existing administrative government? The pretext made use of by Mr. Pitt that the great officers of the household were domestic ser- vants of the king, was ridiculed by lord North, who affirmed them to be the political servants o the crown, inseparably annexed to it, in its highest or sovereign capacity, the supports of its dignity, and an undoubted source of its influence. And he represented the weight which this influence, placed in hands adverse to the executive govern- ment, might be expected to have in perplexing and embarrassing its measures, as a solecism in politics irreconcileable with the first principles of the con- stitution, and as establishing a most pernicious and dangerous precedent. Mr. Fox spoke in terms of indignation and ab- horrence of a plan most artfully framed on a per- fect knowledge of the weakness of human nature, to introduce discord and endanger affection be- tween persons most nearly connected by the ties of blood and in the bonds of duty. VOL. VII). Q^ 226 rilST'ORV OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Some very striking remarks on the general plan <^-v^L> of restrictions were also made in this stage of the 1 *7Rft business by colonel Fullarton. Mr. Pitt had through- out been anxious to shelter his proceedings under the sanction of precedents and the analogies of his- tory. But it was remarkable that he invariably contented himself with alleging the precedents themselves, remote as they were in point of time, and doubtful in point of authority simply and abstractedly without bestowing a single thought on their tendency or consequences. The division of power which took place under the sanction of parliament at the commencement of the reign of Henry VI. when the factions of Gloucester and Winchester strove for superiority, was most dis- astrous and fatal both to the king and kingdom. "Yet this was the grand precedent on which Mr. Pitt mainly relied ; and which avowedly served as the foundation of his proceedings. Colonel Fullarton, however, in this debate chal- lenged the minister to produce a single example from the history of England, France, Spain, or any other country, where the established legal powers of executive government were maimed, mutilated, and restrained, without producing in- efficiency, counter-action, and disgrace. The co- lonel, with peculiar happiness, adverted to the ex- ample of France as well as of England at the pre- cise period alluded to by Mr. Pitt. Charles VI. GEORGE III. 227 Who then filled the Gallic throne, was afflicted BOOK "Y" VTF T with an incurable mental malady. His queen was v^^vO Isabella of Bavaria, a princess attached only to her treasures ; and influenced by the chancellor, the prime minister, and other principal officers of the court, who were afraid that if the government should be entrusted to the heir apparent during the king's incapacity they would lose their situa- tions. Under this impression the desperate reso- lution was formed of insulting the heir apparent, and excluding from the administration of govern- ment that able and distinguished prince. The mi- nister at that time, who was the chief confident of Isabella, was Mervilliers, who commenced his ca- reer in the profession of the law, but quickly found a nearer opening to advancement by the more productive path of politics. The minister and his party trusting to his eloquence, his talents, his temerity, and his credit with a large portion of the public, undertook to obtain the co-operation of Isabella to the exclusion of her own son from the government; and to procure the thanks of the city of Paris in so doing for his disinterested and virtuous conduct. Under these circumstances the treaty of Arras had been concluded ; and by means of the chancellor and a fiction of the parliament of Paris, he affixed the great seal to acts which were the consequence of that treaty. And thus he de- . vised means for prostituting the royal assent at a 0.2 228 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK time when that assent could not possibly be given. XX1IL v^-v^ But what were the consequences of these transac- 1788 tions ? The kingdom was betrayed to its rivals, subjected to the mercy of a foreign enemy, and was not rescued from these disasters but by the injured and excluded prince, who possessed the most interesting qualities and the most fascinating manners, and who had attached to his cause the noblest spirits and the best abilities of his country. The propositions at length passed the commons by a large majority. But the contest in the house of lords was equally obstinate : and a protest was in the course of it entered (January 23) upon the journals of the house, signed by the dukes of York and Cumberland, and fifty-five other peers, ex-. pressive of their highest indignation at the restric- tions on the executive authority thus arbitrarily imposed. A committee appointed by the two houses then presented in form the resolutions to the prince, 'who in somewhat indignant though not unguarded terms, declared his acceptance of them. He declared himself sensible of the diffi- culties that must attend the execution of the trust proposed to him, in the peculiar circumstances in which it was committed to his charge, of which (said his royal highness) as I am acquainted with no former example, my hopes of a successful ad- ministration cannot be founded on any past expe- rience. And he expressed his confidence that the li- GEORGE III. 229 mitationson theexercise of theroyal authoritywere B K- intended by the two houses only as a temporary ^v-^-> measure, founded on the loyal hope in which he ardently participated that his majesty's disorder might not be of long duration. On the next day, being the 3ist January, lord Camden, with a view to restore, as his lordship expressed himself, " the efficacy of legislation," moved that the lord chancellor be directed, by au- thority of the two houses of parliament, to issue a commission in the name of the sovereign for open- ing the session, consisting of the princes of the blood and all the great officers of state. This finally passed both houses, not however without severe animadversion, as the unwarrantable crea-' tion of a pretended executive power, set up for the purpose of giving a false and deceitful sanction to measures the most unconstitutional : and the princes of the blood expressly refused to suffer their names to appear on this feigned commission. The session was accordingly opened in form by the lords commissioners upon the 3d February. The arguments on both sides being in the course of the former debates nearly exhausted, the intro- duction of the bill, founded on the propositions already agreed upon, did not excite any great or renewed attention. It passed the house of com- mons February 1 2, with some amendments and variations ; the peerage clause in particular being 230 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK limited to three years. In the course of the sue- XXIII. ^~Y^ ceeding week the bill had advanced, after encoun- 1788. , _ tenng much unavailing opposition, to the stage or commitment, amidst very just and general appre- hension as to the consequences. These extraordinary and unprecedented mea- sures were at length, happily for the public, arrest- ed in their progress by an official information from the lord chancellor that the king was declared by his physicians to be in a state of convalescence. An adjournment of all farther proceedings in the bill immediately took place ; and for near three weeks a total suspension of all parliamentary bu- siness ensued. This was followed by a declaration on the loth of March, that his majesty, being per- fectly recovered from his indisposition, had order- ed a commission to be issued for holding the par- liament in the usual manner. The tidings of the king's recovery diffused the most general and heartfelt satisfaction. A national thanksgiving was appointed, and the king himself went in so- lemn procession to the cathedral of St. Paul's, to offer up his grateful devotions on this event j which was celebrated throughout the kingdom by splen- did illuminations, and all the other accustomed de- monstrations of joy. wise con- The conduct of the Irish parliament in this bu-r duct of the imh pariia- siness formed a striking contrast to that of the mcnt re- . spectingthe Endish ; and was dictated by a policy the most jregency. GEORGE III. 231 simple, obvious, and rational. On the" ascertain- BOOK f i XXIII. ment or the fact respecting the incapacity of the v-^v-o sovereign, Mr. Conolly moved, February 1 1, 1789, *' That an address be presented to the prince of Wales, requesting him immediately to take upon himself the government of that kingdom as regent, during the continuance of the king's incapacity." This was carried WITHOUT A DIVISION. To this resolution the house of lords acceded. But the lord-lieutenant, the marquis of Buckingham (late Earl Temple), refusing, by a rash and hazardous exercise of discretion, to transmit this address to England, commissioners were appointed by both houses to present the address in person to his royal highness. The rapid and unexpected recovery of Perfect r- the king happily superseded the object of their the king, commission. But the prince in his reply declared, " that nothing could obliterate from his memory the sentiments of gratitude which he felt for their generous kindness.'* Among the innumerable evils attending the mode of procedure adopted by the British parlia- ment, one of the most formidable was the possible, and even probable, dissimilarity of the decisions of the two legislatures. Had the prince of Wales refused, under the degrading circumstances with which the offer of the regency was accompanied in England, to accept the government of the king- dom, there is good reason to believe that it would 232 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK have been conferred upon the queen, while the XXIII ^-v>J prince would have been constituted regent of Ire- land, with the usual powers of royalty. This would doubtless have given rise to a question of the most important, and at the same time of the most diffi- cult, nature, viz. Whether Ireland, agreeably to the political compact subsisting between the two countries, could constitutionally emancipate her- self from the executive government established in England, under whatever name, or by whatever persons, it might be exercised ? Of this perplexing and dangerous question, the prudence of the prince, in accepting of the regency under all the concomi- tant humiliating restrictions of parliament, fortu- nately precluded not only the investigation, but even the mention. In the speech delivered by the chancellor in the name of the king to the two houses, his majesty conveyed to them his warmest acknowledgments for the additional proofs they had given of their attachment to his person, and their concern for the honor and interest of his crown. It soon appear- ed that the late proceedings of the ministry were in the highest degree acceptable to the sovereign : and those persons holding posts under the govern- ment, who had concurred in the measures of the opposition, were unceremoniously dismissed from their offices ; amongst whom were the marquis of Lothian, the duke of Queensberry, lord Carteret, and lord Malmesbury. GEORGE III. 233 This was the first occasion on which the queen BOOK in the long course of twenty-eight years had at- ^v^ t 1788. tracted public notice as taking any part in political concerns; and she now exhibited herself in a mode by no means to her advantage. Eager to secure what share she could of the regal authority, and even, if circumstances favored, to grasp the whole, she scrupled not to set herself at the head of the opposition to her son, now of mature age for go- vernment, but who, if the plan of the minister had been carried into effect, would have been little more than a pageant of state. After the recovery, or partial recovery of the sovereign, it was thought that her majesty, who had now acquired a relish for power, entered deeply into political intrigue, and employed her whole influence in favor of the existing rriinister, without displaying any of the ta- lents or capacity for government which so remark- ably distinguished her illustrious predecessor, the late queen Caroline. It was rumored too by those who had access to the court, that in proportion as her prudence declined her pride increased, and that her original attention to economy had degenerated into the most sordid meanness and avarice.* * In allusion to a well known foible of this princess, the fol- lowing epigram was composed by a lady celebrated for her wit and talents : ', These are my jewels, wise Cornelia said, While round about her knees her children play'd. Viewing her jewels with admiring eyes, These are my children, wiser Charlotte cries. i , HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. Before the first auspicious moments of gratnla- tion had subsided, Mr. Fox renewed his popular 178S. sho Ta motion for the repeal of the Shop Tax, to which jyj r . pj^t did not, in the present circumstances, choose any longer to refuse his assent; though he declared he had heard nothing in the way of argu- ment which induced him to change his original opinion. He accordingly moved an omission of that part of the preamble to the bill of repeal, by which the tax was pronounced a partial and op- pressive imposition, militating against the just prin- ciples of taxation. Mr. Dempster at the same time moved for a re- and Fed- r Jars' act ex- peal of the Hawkers' and Pedlars' Tax, which was plained and ..... . , .. amended, originally imposed on the extraordinary ground of its operating as an indemnity to the shopkeeper ; thus sacrificing one set of men to the convenience and accommodation of another. A total repeal of this law nevertheless could not be obtained ; but a bill passed to explain and amend the act, by which the more onerous clauses were mitigated, and these friendless and injured people restored in some mea- sure to their civil and commercial rights. Mr. Beau- A motion of much greater importance was in- troduced soon after this (May 8) by Mr. Beaufoy, ot "the Test, being a renewal of the application two years ago submitted to the house, for the repeal of the Cor- poration and Test Acts ; " prompted (as he said) thereto by the unalterable confidence which the GEORGE III. dissenters reposed in the disposition of the house BOOK to do justice to the injured, and afford relief to V-^-Y*^ the oppressed. And they could not forget how frequently the legislature had granted the requests, which causeless alarms had at first induced them to refuse." This motion was supported by Mr. Fox with a force of argument which could not but make some degree of impression on the most cal- lous and prejudiced mind. This great statesman laid it down as a primary axiom of policy, " that no human government had jurisdiction over opi- nions as such, and more particularly over religious opinions. It had no right to presume that it knew them, and much less to act upon that pre- sumption. When opinions were productive of acts injurious to society, the law knew how and where to apply the remedy. If the reverse of this doctrine were adopted, if the actions of men were to be prejudged from their opinions, it would sow the seeds of everlasting jealousy and distrust ; it would give the most unlimited scope to the malig- nant passions ; it would incite each man to divine the opinions of his neighbour, to deduce mischiev- ous consequences from them, and then to prove that he ought to incur disabilities, to be fettered with restrictions, to be harassed with penalties. From this intolerant principle had flowed every species of party zeal, every system of political persecution, every extravagance of religious hate. 236 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xx?n K ^ was an i rreverent anc ^ impious opinion to main- ^^^ tain that the church must depend for support as an engine or ally of the state, and not on the evi- dence of its doctrines, and the excellency of their moral effects. Moderation and indulgence to other sects were equally conducive to the happiness of mankind and the safety of the church. Since the sera of the revolution the church had flou- rished, because her imaginary fears had been dis- sipated. She had improved in knowledge and candor, because, instead of being enabled to impose silenceon the dissenters by the strong hand of power, she had been obliged to hear their arguments ; and the community at large had found the happy effects, which a collision of opinions in open and liberal discussion, among men living under the same government, never fails to produce. There were many men not of the establishment, to whose services their country had a claim. Surely a ci- tizen of this description might be permitted with- out danger or absurdity to say, ' Though I dissent from the church, I am a friend to the constitu- tion ; and on religious subjects I am entitled to think and act as I please.' Ought the country to be deprived of the benefit she might derive from the talents of such men, and his majesty be pre- vented from dispensing the favors of the crown except to one description of his subjects ? Mr, Fox declared himself a friend to an establishment GEORGE III. 237 of religion in every country, framed agreeably to B 3 I t K the sentiments of the majority of its inhabitants. ^^TC^ * * 1 i So. But to invest that establishment with a monopoly of civil and religious privileges was palpably unjust, and remote from the purpose of an establishment, which was no otherwise connected with the state, than as it tended to promote morality and good order among the people. The Test and Corpora- tion Acts had subsisted, it was contended, for more than a century. True ! But how had they sub- sisted ? By repeated suspensions. For the Indem- nity Bills were, literally speaking, annual acts. Where then would be the impropriety of suspend- ing them for ever by an act of perpetual opera- tion ? Let not Great Britain be the last to avail herself of the general improvement of the human understanding. Indulgence to other sects, a can- did respect for their opinions, a desire to promote charity and good will, were the best proofs that any religion could give of its divine origin. To the church of England in particular he would say, * Tuque prior, tu parce genus qui duels Olympo.' " Such are the noble and exalted sentiments which have long elevated Mr. Fox to the rank of the first statesman of his age and nation. The motion of Mr. Bcaufoy was zealously op- posed by lord North, in a speech consisting, as it was justly described by a member of the house in 238 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN BOOK debate, of " a series of pompous nothings." -w-v-C Pitt also again appeared as its opponent, in an arti* flcial harangue decorated with a great external shew of candor and speciousness of language. On a division the numbers were, ayes 104, noes 124; so that this important question important indeed even beyond what the minister himself probably had at this period any conception of was lost by twenty voices only. This therefore might be regarded as a decided victory on the part of the dissenters, had they known how to improve their advantage. But their resentment against the court and the minister was not at all abated by the soft and soothing expressions by which Mr. Pitt attempted to disguise and palliate his refusal : and the ground they had gained, in despite of the courtly machinations against them, excited a de- gree of elation which led to gross and fatal indis- cretions. Lord Stan- About this period, a bill of a nature very men- hope's mo- . i i i i tion for re- torious was introduced into the house of peers by nmupoud lord Stanhope, for the repeal of a number of obso- lete and vexatious laws, inflicting penalties upon persons absenting themselves from the service of the church, speaking in derogation of the book of Common Prayer, &c. On the second reading, Dr. Moore, archbishop of Canterbury, a prelate of a disposition naturally mild and generous, roused by this alarming attack upon the CHURCH, rose to . GEORGE III. 1 opposition to the bill under their lordships' discussion, if permitted give his decided opposition to the measure. " The BOOK I 788 to pass, would serve as a cover (his grace affirmed) to every species of irreligion. If unrestrained speak- ing, writing, and publishing, on the subject of re- ligion were tolerated, there was scarcely any mis- chief to the church or to civil society that imagi- nation could frame which might not be effected. The very foundation of religion, as by law estab~ tithed, might be undermined and overthrown." Dr. Warren, bishop of Bangor, observed, " that it remained for these days of licentiousness to call in question the propriety and wisdom of those re- gulations which their lordships were now solicited to repeal. To compel men by penalties not to ab- sent themselves from the public places of worship did not militate against any sort of religious liber- ty, since the dissenters were allowed to resort to their own congregations : and he who would not communicate with either, might well be supposed to hold doctrines injurious to the state, and which ought not to be tolerated." Dr. Halifax, of St. Asaph, enforced this asser- tion, and reminded the house of the institution among the Locrians, which obliged every man that proposed a repeal of an existing law to come into the assembly with a rope about his neck. Dr. Horseley, of St. David's, expressed himself in terms still more indignant, and with still greater 240 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ardor of holy zeal. He said, " the bill in question XXIII ^-v-*-; was calculated to tear away the foundations of 1788 the church of England, and through her means to destroy the very being of the English constitu- tion. The act of Elizabeth, imposing a fine upon the non-attendants on divine worship, was a salu- tary law. It was a mistake to suppose the right df private judgment in religion unlimited. The magistrate had a right to punish atheism, as a crime against the welfare of society ; and, by the same rule, to punish a contempt for the revela- tion of God in the Christian religion. There was moreover always danger in disturbing ancient laws, for the existence of which, at a distant pe- riod, no good reason could be given. Their wis- dom, though not obvious at the period of the repeal, was generally proved by the mischief that ensued upon their annihilation. 1 ' Lord Stormont, enlightened and enraptured with these arguments, paid high compliments to the bench of bishops, declaring that they had that day done themselves infinite credit, and rendered their characters sacred in the public estimation. It is needless to say that the bill was rejected. On the approach of the summer recess, Mr. Dundas, agreeably to the tenor of the India Re- gulation Bill, made his annual statement of the finances of the Company, which he represented as in a most prosperous and flourishing condition; GEORGE IIL 241 concluding however, as usual, with a motion to BOOK . _ , P XXIII. empower the Company to raise the sum or one v^-v^ million, by way of increase of capital, to be sub- scribed by the present proprietors of East-India stock ; and the bill founded on this motion passed both houses with trivial opposition. The session was far advanced, when Mr. Wil-Mr.wii- berforce brought forward his long-expected mo- motion re- tion, relating to the abolition of the African slave- aboHtTo^ of trade, which was now become the theme of publi execration. Mr. Wilberforce divided his subject into three parts the nature of the trade as it af- fected Africa itself j the appearance it assumed in the transportation of the slaves j and the consi- derations suggested by their actual state in the West Indies. What must be the natural conse- quence of a slave-trade with Africa, with a country vast in its extent, not utterly barbarous, but civi- lized in a very small degree ? Was it not plain that she must suffer from it ? that her savage manners must be rendered still more ferocious, and that a slave-trade carried on round her coasts must ex- tend violence and desolation to her very centre ? Such were precisely the circumstances proved by the evidence before the privy-council. As to the mode in which the slaves were transported from Africa to the West Indies, he affirmed that so much misery condensed into so small a compass was more than human imagination had ever before VOL. via, R .' . ? ' <2V1 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK conceived. It was the constant practice to set sail 3CXIII s^-v-O in the night, that the slaves, wrung with distress * 788 ' at quitting for ever their native country, might not be sensible of the moment of departure. This dreadful event was marked with songs and tears of lamentation. It appeared in evidence, that a captain more susceptible than the rest had threat- ened a woman with the terrors of the lash, because her song was too painful for his feelings. The mortality on board the ships was prodigious ; and, including the subsequent seasoning it did not amount to less than 50 per cent. On their arrival in the West Indies, astringents and washes were employed to hide their wounds, and make them up for sale artifices at once frau- dulent and fatal. This infamous traffic was also known to be the grave of sailors employed in it. Of 3170 seamen who sailed from Liverpool in 1787, only 1428 had returned. Mr. Wilberforce said he felt the wickedness of the slave-trade to be so enormous, so dreadful, and irremediable, that he could stop at no alterna- tive short of its abolition. He acknowledged that his mind had indeed been harassed with the objec- tions of the West-India planters, who had asserted that the ruin of their property must be the conse- quence of this regulation. He could not, however, help distrusting their arguments. He could not believe that the Almighty Being, who forbade the GEORGE III. 243 practice of rapine and blood, had made rapine and BOOK XXIII. bloodshed necessary to any part of his creation. v-^-v-O . . . . 1788 Light soon broke in upon his mind. His suspi- cions were confirmed by daily information, and the evidence he had now to offer upon this point was decisive and complete. The principle upon which he founded the necessity of the act was not indeed policy but justice ; but though justice were the principle of the measure, he would pledge him- self to prove it reconcileable with our truest poli- tical interest. From an induction of authentic facts, he shewed that the number of slaves had ra- pidly increased by natural means on those planta- tions and many such he enumerated where they had been treated on a plan of lenity and hu- manity ; and that the enormous annual impor- tation from Africa was rendered necessary merely by the prevalence of that system of cruelty and oppression which the abolition of the slave-trade must eventually subvert. But it was urged, that the interest of the masters would induce them, in the usual course of things, to treat their slaves with kindness and humanity. Mr. Wilberforce appealed to universal experience for the fallacy of this argument. It was certainly the true and ultimate interest of the planters to adopt the system of lenity. But they consulted their appa- rent and immediate interest in imposing rigorous tasks, and in circumscribing within the narrowest R 2 214, HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK limits their miserable allotments of food, of cloth- XXIII or-y-O ing, and of repose. To assert that men will of 1 *7RR course act as their interest under the guidance of reason would dictate, is in effect to pronounce all men upright and virtuous ; for virtue is the path to genuine happiness. But are not mankind en- veloped in the mists of ignorance, of folly, and of passion ? Was it not the grand and perpetual ob- ject of religion, of morality, and of all just and beneficent legislation, to enlighten thehuman mind, and to assist men in discerning their true interest ; to warn them of the danger of departing from it, of being deceived by false and flattering sugges- tions, in a word, to incite them, though too oft in vain, to the practice of what is right, and to de- ter them from the commission of that which is wrong, by motives the most powerful, by sanctions the most sacred ?" Mr. Wilberforce concluded a long and excellent speech, equally addressed to the understanding and feelings of the house, and which produced a most sensible and powerful effect, by moving, not, as was generally expected, a general vote of censure and reprobation, which would have imposed an obligation on the house to have proceeded to strong and decisive measures, but an elaborate and tedious series of complex and somewhat dubious propositions, twelve in number, specifying the number of slaves imported from Africa into the British West Indies ; the different GEORGE Iir. 243 descriptions of persons included in this aporeffate BOOK XXIII number ; the injury sustained by the seamen em- w^-v ployed in the African trade ; the causes of the mortality of the negroes ; and the different items of calculation respecting the increase of population in Jamaica and Barbadoes; and they concluded with declaring coldly, that no considerable or permanent inconvenience would result from dis- continuing the farther importation. Upon these propositions, Mr. Wilberforce said he did not mean to urge the house to come to any immediate vote. This afforded ample scope on the part of the anti-abolitionists, lord Penryn, lord Maitland, &c. &c., and they eagerly embraced the opportunity to create new difficulty and delay. Mr. Wilberforce declaring that he relied on the evidence contained in the report of the privy- council, they insisted that the merchants and plan- ters interested in this business were entitled to be^ heard by counsel. Mr. Pitt observed with some degree of indigna- tion, and as a very 'extraordinary circumstance, that the report had lain many weeks on the table, and no argument against its sufficiency had been heard of, till the moment was arrived that the house was expected to come to an ultimate vote on the subject. At length, however, he conceded, with the too easy consent of Mr. Wilberforce, to the examination of witnesses on the part of the 246 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK slave-merchants and planters vainly and credu- XXIII v^v-O lously " trusting that unnecessary delays would 1788. not be introduced, as he could by no means submit to the ultimate procrastination of so important a business." Lord Penryn in the course of the de- bate asserting, that, to his knowledge, the planters were willing to assent to any regulation of the trade, short of its abolition, Mr. Fox, with glowing elo- quence, declared, " that he knew of no such thing as a regulation of robbery and restriction of mur- der. There was no medium ; the legislature must either abolish the trade, or plead guilty to all the iniquity with which it was attended. This was a traffic which no government could authorize, without participation in the infamy." Evidence being heard at the bar of the house for several suc- cessive weeks, it was at length, on the 23d of June, moved by Mr. Alderman Newnham, " that the farther consideration of the subject be deferred to the next session." One of the most able and zealous associates of Mr. Wilberforce in this business, from the com- mencement of it, was Mr. William Smith, mem. ber for Sudbury, whose character in respect of honor, probity, and understanding, had perhaps no superior within or without the walls of that house. Upon this occasion Mr. Smith expressed his anxiety, " that the question should be brought to a speedy issue, He had not heard any good GEORGE III. reason why the examination of witnesses might BOOK ; 5 xxiii. not be carried on for some weeks longer. It was ^^v-^- 1788. known that the hearing of evidence was at all times thinly attended. If therefore the few mem- bers that did attend were willing to give up their time a little longer, why should other members complain of an inconvenience, in the suffering of which they took no share ?" The question, how- ever, was carried without a division, and the tem- porary Regulation Act of sir William Dolben was renewed for another year. It is worthy of transient remark, that Mr. Wil- berforce, Mr. Smith, and sir William Dolben, all of whom had conspicuously distinguished them- selves in the progress of this business, were of re- ligious persuasions very dissimilar Mr. Wilber- force being a favorer of the doctrines of method- ism, Mr. Smith an avowed dissenter, and sir Wil- liam Dolben, an high-churchman. But on this great question, which involved in it the general interests of mankind, all subordinate differences vanished, and it sufficed to every valuable purpose, that they were all of the exalted and universal re- ligion Of HUMANITY. Never indeed was there a question like this cal- culated so powerfully to engage and interest every generous and benevolent emotion of the heart. Even the advocates of this horrid traffic are not so universally and completely brutalized as not to 218 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK feel at times some transient emotions of pity at XXIII. v-r-v-O the sufferings they wish to perpetuate. " Amidst the pauses (says a certain vindicator of the African slave-trade) which the delay of cares so constantly occasions, at the setting in of the rains, there is something extremely affecting in observing some poor afflicted mourner pouring out her complaints in sighs and tears, while the thoughts of her dis- tant country, her connections, and her friends, at once rush upon her mind. For amongst this class are many who have their feelings as exquisitely alive to the melting impressions of tenderness and sorrow as those who are distinguished by a better fortune. Despair has cut off more people in the West Indies than plagues or famine. Their prin- cipal festivals are at their burials : I never knew a negro who considered death as an evil, who either dreaded it by anticipation, or who was apprehen- sive when it was hovering near/'* * BECKFORD'S History of Jamaica. In the beautiful poetic epistle addressed to Mr. Wilberforce by the celebrated Mrs. Barbauld, on the subject of the Slave- Trade, are to be found the following picturesque and animat- ed lines, descriptive of the miseries entailed on the natives of Africa by this horrid traffic : Nor in their palmy walks and spicy groves The form benign of rural pleasure roves ; No milk-maid's song, or hum of village talk, Soothes the lone poet in his evening walk ; NoVilling arm the flail unwearied plies, Where the mix'd sounds of cheerful labor rise ; GEORGE III. 249 The trial of Mr. Hastings was resumed early in BOOK XXIII. the session, and the third ariicle, respecting pre- v-<-v~ sents illegally and corruptly received by Mr. Has- TrJa i' of tings, brought forward by Mr. Burke. In his Jjjj^ opening speech in support of this charge, in which sumei the fatal business of Nundcomar stood most con- spicuous, Mr. Burke made use of the following indiscre- T ' i -H/T tionof indiscreet expression: "that man Mr. Hastings Mr. Burke. MUP.DERED by the hands of sir Elijah Impey." This afforded a ground of petition from Mr. Has- tings, that this allegation should be prosecuted in specific articles, or that the house should grant him such redress as to them should seem meet.*' After a long debate, the house of commons resolv- ed, " that no authority had been given by the house for the purpose of making any criminal charge respecting the death of Nundcomar, and, that the words complained of ought not to have No blooming maids and frolic swains are seen To pay gay homage to their harvest queen. No heart-expanding scenes their eyes must prove, . Of thriving industry and faithful love : But shrieks and yells disturb the balmy air *\ Dum sullen looks of woe announce despair, >- And angry eyes thro' dusky features glare. / Friends of the friendless Hail, ye generous band ! Whose efforts yet arrest Heaven's lifted hand ; Around whose steady brows, in union bright, The Civic wreath and Christian's palm unite ; Your merit stands no greater and no less Without or with the varnish of success. 2SO HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK been spoken/' With this sort of reparation, v>-v^ though not absolutely amounting to an affirma- tion of innocence, Mr. Hastings was compelled to rest satisfied. By this time it began to be evident that the house of lords were very little disposed to give their countenance to the impeachment all questions of reference being invariably determined In favor of the delinquent. On the 2ist of May, 1789, the lord-chancellor informed the managers, that their lordships were of opinion that it was not competent for them to produce the examination of Nundcomar,taken by the majority of the council in the absence of Mr. Hastings, as evidence positive or presumptive in support of the charge of bribery and corruption. Mr. Fox, in reply, said, " that the examination of Nundcomar was offered by the managers as it afforded, when taken in connection with the demeanour of Mr. Hastings on that oc- casion, the strongest presumption of guilt. Mr. Hastings not only made no reply to the accusa- tion, but endeavoured by violent measures to pre- vent it. Mr. Hastings's absence had been volun- tary and contumacious. Shall he be protected from punishment, because he fled from evidence ? or shall Mr. Hastings be allowed to plead his own criminal omission as a legal defence of his own criminal commission ? If evidence such as was now offered should be rejected, it would be in effect to proclaim, as it were by sound of trumpet, that GEORGE III. 251 bribery and corruption were let loose in India ; BOOK and henceforth every delinquent, whatever degree <^^^if 1 7R8 of indignation his crimes might excite, might rest assured that no prosecution could possibly termi- nate in conviction. If Mr. Hastings was thus per- mitted to sacrifice his honor to his safety, he might look forward with confidence to an ultimate ac- quittal, accompanied with the contempt and de- testation of all good men. The managers did not however conceive that the proceedings of the high court of parliament were to be regulated by the practice of the inferior court, but by the ' lex et consuetude parliament!' the rules of substantial justice. It was the peculiar excellence of the law of England that it knew its own strength and its own weakness ; and therefore, when the common forms of law were too weak to bring a powerful delinquent to justice, the high inquisitorial power of parliament was resorted to : but if it should ap- pear that the common law, acknowledged inade- quate, was to be adopted by that high tribunal in all its technical forms, proof would inevitably fail, the honor of the nation would be sacrificed, the great end of government, the happiness of the community, would be abandoned, and the sword of public justice would be wielded in vain." Mr. Grenville, speaker of the house of corn-Mr. Ad- t . , . -clingtoa mons, being advanced, upon the resignation or chosen lord Sydney, to the office of secretary of state, and sp 252 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK in the sequel to a peerage, was succeeded, after sit- XXIII v^^v-O ting in the chair of the house scarcely six months, 1 *7ftft by Henry Addington, esq. The new speaker soon acquired great reputation for dignity, integrity, and impartiality, in the discharge of his office; and he is, by the united voice of contending factions, allowed to rank amongst the ablest of those who have occupied that high and difficult station. In providing the supplies of the year, Mr. Pitt was obliged to acknowledge the necessity of bor- rowing the sum of one million, contrary to his own prediction, that no loan would be wanted. This necessity, however, did not arise from the unproductiveness of the taxes, which rose even higher than the previous estimate of the minister, but from extraordinary and unforeseen causes, the principal of which were the sums voted for the liquidation of the arrear of the civil list, and of the debt of the prince of Wales, and the expence of the late armament : so that the general prospect of fu- ture and permanent prosperity remained wholly unimpaired ; and the minister acquired, from the present state of commerce and of the public funds and revenues, great and just increase of reputation. Tobacco An important operation of finance took place in excise bill. . * the course of the session, in exchange of the heavy duties on tobacco from the customs to the excise. This was effected with general approbation, and great advantage to the public. It is a circumstance GEORGE III. 251 well worthy of observation, as characteristic of the BOOK .. r i i_i- i XXIIL capnce and inconstancy or the public opinion, that v^-v^o this measure, which had nearly cost sir Robert Walpole his place, and even endangered his life and against which 200 members of the house of commons divided on the original motion of the minister, and which he was finally compelled to relinquish was now opposed on the third read- ing of the bill by 20 voices only, in a thin and de- serted house of 90 members. The session was terminated August n, 1789, by a speech from the lord-chancellor in the name of the sovereign; in which it was observed, " that although the good offices of the king and his allies had not been effectual for the restoration of the general tranquillity, the situation of affairs pro- mised to this country the uninterrupted enjoy- ment of the blessings of peace." This was an assurance highly and peculiarly grateful, in conse- quence of the recent events which had taken place in the different kingdoms of Europe. A war had been kindled, which gradually diffused itself from the Euxine to the Baltic from the arid wastes of Tartary to the snow- clad mountains of Norway ; and the foundations of a great and stupendous ' revolution had been laid, which, almost instantly expanding itself into gigantic growth, became the subject of terror, no less than of astonishment, to the surrounding nations. 25* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Never was Europe more deceived than in the XXIII v^>^-O idea she had originally formed of the character of the emperor Joseph II. upon whom, on his first rope; entrance into the grand scenes of public life, all of thTem- eyes were fixed, and under whose specious exte- aeph r ii.~ r i r tne credulous enthusiasm of hope had disco- vered all the qualities of a legislator and a hero : and he was confidently announced as the monarch destined to throw the splendid reputation of Fre- deric the Great into shade. Time however soon dispelled these false and flattering prepossessions ; and he was perceived to be equally destitute of the talents and the virtues necessary to the forma- tion of a great and illustrious character. Burning with an insatiable thirst for GLORY, that Moloch of princes, at whose bloody shrine millions of hu- man victims have been offered, his mind seemed eternally harassed and haunted with the enquiry, " What shall I do to be for ever known ?" While that justly celebrated statesman the prince de Kau- nitz retained his influence over the councils of the court of Vienna, a veil was cast over the vices and defects of the sovereign. But as he advanced in life, and began to act upon his own ideas, and in reliance upon his own judgment, his vanity, his versatility, his rapacity, his rashness, and his folly, became apparent to all. Disappointed in his recent and favorite schemes of ambition, his evil genius now suggested another project still more absurd and impracticable than the former. GEORGE III. 255 Since the famous Treaty of Westphalia, by BOOK V VTJT which the independency of Holland had been recog- ^>-O nized by Spain, that haughty power, sensible of the erroneous policy which had lost so valuable a possession, adopted, with relation to the provinces which yet remained, a mild and lenient system of government. On the transfer of the Low Coun- tries to the house of Austria by the Treaty of Utrecht, the same equitable treatment was observ- ed ; and that no less under the weak and oppres- sive reign of Charles VI. than the auspicious and benign government of his daughter, the celebrated Maria Theresa. During all the vicissitudes of politics and of power, the Austrian Netherlands continued to flourish under the protection of their own just laws, and the limitations of their free and happy constitution. Of the provinces subject to Austria, by far the most considerable and extensive is Brabant ; and although the forms of govern- ment established in the different states bear a close analogy to each other, the constitution of Brabant is regarded as the best defined and most perfect. Like the constitution of England, it is compound- ed of three estates ; and the executive authority is vested in the sovereign, who bears the title of Duke of Brabant. The legislative power, includ- ing the important prerogative of levying taxes, resides in the states of Brabant, which is in part an elective and representative assembly, though HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK not constructed on a very popular plan. The ju- w-v^ risdiction of civil and criminal causes is in the I "TOo cities consigned to the magistrates, under various equitable restrictions. In the villages it nominally appertains to the lords of the manors or baronies; but it is in fact exercised by respectable persons, chosen for the most part by the inhabitants them- selves, from whose decision an appeal lies to the baronial courts. The supreme tribunal of justice is established at Brussels, and it is distinguished by the appellation of the Council of Brabant. Its functions are not, however, merely judicial. It is also a council of state, and participates largely in the executive power for no act of the sovereign is valid till confirmed by the council under the great seal of Brabant. These and many other privileges were, after long and fierce contentions, guarantied for ever to the people of Brabant, by a charter granted by one of the antient dukes, and which, from the triumphal procession of the prince into his capital, on the original execution of it, is denominated the JOYEUSE ENTREE. The acuteness of philosophical and political theorists would no doubt detect with ease the gross defects of this rude and artless sketch of a free constitution. But its general and essential excellence is sufficiently demonstrated by the pros- perous state of the country, and the passionate at- tachment of the people to their established form of GEORGE III. 257 government. This free form of government Jo- B o o K seph the Second had, from deliberate malice, or, v^-vO more candidly speaking, from excess of presump- . tion and folly, determined to subvert and destroy, rannicaiin- ' novations On the first of January, 1787, two imperial edicts in Brabant. were issued^ formally suppressing the antient insti- tutions, and even the Great Council of Brabant ; establishing in their stead a new council of general government, assisted by tribunals erected on the severe and arbitrary model of those actually exist- ing under the proper Austrian government. As if this were not enough to rouse the spirit of re- sistance in the nation, the emperor, careful to .heighten the enthusiasm of civil liberty with the rage of religious bigotry, annihilated at the same time the charter of the university of Lou vain, and established a new general seminary for the study of theology the professors to be nominated by the sole authority of the emperor. A violent and universal commotion instantly took place; and the states of Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, assembling, forbade the people in express terms to pay any regard to the late edicts. All ranks of men enrolled themselves in military associations for their common defence. Deputies were dis- patched to Vienna to represent their grievances, and to remonstrate with the emperor in person against these atrocious and unprecedented viola- tions of their rights. Agreeably to the irresolute VOL. VIII, S 253 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK and inconsistent policy of the emperor, the deptt- vu^v^O ties, notwithstanding his previous menaces of ven- 1 "Tjjg, gejance, were most graciously received at the im- perial court. The sovereign professed himself well-disposed to restore their antient privileges as contained in the Joyeuse Entree, and intimated an intention of visiting the Netherlands, to take mea- sures with the states for the welfare of the people. In the mean time count Murray, the Austrian governor, published a proclamation, completely revoking the late proceedings, and re-establishing the antient government. Happily for the people of Flanders, the capricious politics of the emperor had by this time directed their views to a distant and opposite quarter. The advantages acquired by Russia, in consequence of the treaty of 1784, excited the chagrin and envy of that monarch ; and the Turkish empire at this period presenting an easy and inviting prospect of conquest, a ne- gotiation was set on foot with this view between the two imperial courts j and in the spring of 1787 a conference took place between the czarina and the emperor at the new capital of Cherson, whither the empress of the Russias had with great pomp and splendor repaired, in order to her inau- guration as sovereign of the Taurica. Scarcely did she deign to affect concealment of her hostile intentions ; and over one of the gates of the city she caused to be inscribed, " This is the gate which leads to BYZANTIUM." GEORGE III. 259 The Ottoman Porte, fully apprised of the BOOK XXIII. machinations of the imperial courts, took a hasty ^v-O resolution, notwithstanding her own extreme Warbe< ! unpreparedness for commencing offensive opera- s ^ e a e " d Rus " tions, to publish an immediate declaration of war Turke y- against Russia in the hope probably x>f being able to conciliate the emperor before his plan of hosti- lity was fully matured. This however was a vain expectation ; the emperor ordering, after a very short interval, a memorial to be delivered by his ambassador at Constantinople, stating, " that he was compelled by treaty to assist his ally the czarina with 80,000 men ; and if this should be consider- ed by the Porte as an act of hostility, he was pre- pared for every event." Not waiting the answer, he made, on the zd of December 1787, a most perfidious attempt to surprise the fortress of BeU grade. Being disappointed in this enterprise, he thought proper to offer an apology for his conduct, which only served by its futility to demonstrate the weakness of the government which conde- scended to accept it. The imperial manifesto, containing a formal war be- . p tween the declaration of war, at length appeared, February imperial no ^ i . . andOtto- 1780. Contrary to the antient barbarous practice, man courts. the ambassadors of both the imperial courts were suffered to depart from Constantinople without molestation. The answer to the Austrian decla- ration, in a calm and dignified manner, reproaches s 2 260 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the emperor with " wantonly violating a peace of <^v^ fifty years' continuance, without being able to allege injury or pretext. Numerous instances are ad- duced, in which, for the preservation of peace, the Sublime Porte had complied with unreasonable requisitions : and they justly observe, that they had never upon any occasion taken advantage of the embarrassments of the house of Austria, but had always acted with a liberality and good faith ill requited in the present instance." The operations of the Germans were in the commencement of the war far from successful. Little impression could be made upon the Turkish frontier; and no sooner had the grand-vizier taken the command of the army, than the Turks became the assailants; and the emperor, who commanded in person, after suffering repeated losses, was com- pelled to a precipitate and disgraceful retreat, leav- ing the Bannat and the Lower Hungary to the mercy of the enemy. On the western side, however, where the famous mareschal Laudohn command- ed, the towns of Dubitza and Novi were reduced, after a vigorous defence. On the eastern quarter, the city of Choczim surrendered, September 29th, to the united arms of Russia and Austria. And before the end of the year, the important fortress of Oczakow, after sustaining a siege of several months, was carried by storm ; the Russians marching to the assault over the frozen GEORGE IK. 261 with which the trenches were filled. A decisive BOOK XXIIL superiority in the Black Sea was also obtained by y^-v-^ the repeated victories gained on the part of the Russians by the prince of Nassau over the famous Turkish admiral Hassan Pacha. In the mean time the king of Sweden, actuated Troubles in by that spirit of unprincipled ambition, so usually the characteristic of princes as to be deemed scarce- between . Sweden and ly the object of censure, and prompted likewise by Russia. the king of Prussia, and the powers in alliance with the court of Berlin and inimical to Russia,* en- tered suddenly, at the head of a considerable army, * The politics of the court of London, at this juncture, are thus described by the Count de Segur, ambassador of France at the court of Berlin. " England, in concert with Prussia, inflaming the courage of the Turks, exciting the hopes of Poland, instigating the ambition of the court of Sweden, fo- menting the troubles of Brabant, deceiving the probity of Spain, and supporting the stadtholder's pretensions against the states of Holland, made all Europe in a short time an immense field of intrigues, of discord, and of carnage.'* In vain, as the same historian observes of the king of Sweden, had the great Frederic his uncle in complimenting him upon the revolution which had increased his authority, recommend- ed to him to be pacific, and warned him that since there were now four monarchies in Europe, each of which could assemble 400,000 soldiers, a king of Sweden with an army of 25,000 men ought no longer to entertain the hope of playing a great part in Europe. Gustavus had frequently said that a war was necessary in order to characterise a reign : and not contented with repose, he desired at all events to be a conqueror. Memoirs of Frederic William II. vol. L p. 62. 262 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. terr i toi y f Russian Finland, whence the idea of passing by a direct and rapid march to Peters- burgh seemed not wholly chimerical. But a sub- ject of bitter chagrin awaited him in the absolute and pertinacious refusal of his officers to engage in offensive war, on the patriotic ground, or per- haps the traitorous pretext, that the king had not, agreeably to the provisions of the constitution of 1772, obtained the previous consent of the states. The court of St. Petersburgh, on the first inti- mation of the attack from Sweden, had called for the aid and assistance of Denmark, conformably to the terms of the treaty of alliance subsisting be- tween the two courts. Denmark had been for some years past under the administration of the prince royal, whose knowledge and prudence, far exceeding the immaturity of his age, were the happy result of a good natural understanding, im- proved to the utmost by an excellent and admirable education. The prince regent, on his accession to power, had restored the former ministers of the Danish court, displaced by Struensee, to their of- fices, amongst whom was the count de Bernstorf, whose wisdom and firmness have in the course of events been rendered very conspicuous. On the present occasion, the court of Copenhagen entered entirely into the views of the czarina ; and in the month of September, 1 788, a large body of Danish troops, commanded by prince Charles of Hesse GEORGE III. 263 Cassel, accompanied by the prince of Denmark in person, passing over to Norway, were joined by a strong reinforcement of Norwegians a simple and generous people, maintaining amidst their rocks the purity of their antient manners, and the sa- credness of their antient rights, in no respect de- generating from the virtue or the valor which had rendered them famous in the times of Margaret of Waldemar. The combined forces suddenly and unexpectedly entered the Swedish province of Wermlandia, and advanced to the city of Gotten- burgh with trivial opposition. Alarmed at this formidable invasion, the king of .Sweden repaired in person, with expedition almost incredible, to the defence of this important place, which, being attacked thus unprepared, seemed very unable to resist the force of the Danes. But at this critical moment the courts of London and Berlin inter- posed their powerful mediation in favor of Swe- den. Early in October, Mr. Hugh Elliott, envoy at Copenhagen, addressed himself first by letter and afterwards personally to the prince regent, re- quiring him, in the name of the allied courts, to consent to an immediate cessation of hostilities. " War," said the ambassador, " is perhaps at this very moment declared with Denmark by Prussia and England. But if your highness will consent to what I propose, I will immediately dispatch cou- riers to stop, if possible, the invasion of a Prussian HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK army in Holstein, and the sailing of the British XXIH. wx-vO fleet." Under these circumstances the resolution of the prince was soon taken, and a suspension of arms signed on the part of Denmark, October 9, 1788, which, after an interval of delay, was con- verted into a treaty of neutrality. Death of The beginning of the following year, which was signer Ach- the I2o2d of the Heffira,* was signalized by the met IV. and J . accession of death of the a:rand-sie:nor, Achmet IV. a prince the sultan Selim III. * The flight of Mahommed from Mecca to Medina was eighteen years afterwards established by the caliph Omar, as an epoch to which the dates of all the transactions of the faithful should have reference. The year of the Mahommedans con- sists of 12 lunar months, each containing 29 days, 12 hours, and 792 scruples 1080 scruples making an hour. So that the year contains 354- days, 8 hours, and 864- scruples. In order to reduce this year to an integral number of days, a cycle of SO was chosen as the most convenient period, because 30 times 8 hours and 864 scruples precisely constitute 11 days ; and in this cycle there are consequently 19 years of 354 days, and 11 of 355. The intercalary days are added at the end of the 2d, 5th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 26th, and 29th years of the cycle. The commencement of each year of the Hegira can never fall on the same day of the month, as is the case in our calendar, but will anticipate about 1 1 days. The first year of the Hegira began Ann. Dom. 622, July 16. The 120 1st year of the Hegira, which is the first of the cycle, began Ann. Dom. 1787, October 24. The precision with which the Mahommedans in 622 fixed the lunar month is remarkable ; 29 days, 12 hours, 792 scruples, being, according to the most accurate modern observations, only 3" 2'" too little. Vide Philotoph. Trans. A. D. 1788. GEORGE III. 253 apparently of good understanding and of benefi- BOOK cent and upright intentions, but whose talents v^v^ were totally inadequate to the mighty task of re- storing the declining empire of the Ottomans to its pristine prosperity and greatness. He was suc- ceeded by his nephew, Selim III., son of the late emperor Mustapha, whose first act of authority consisted in the deposition and consequent death of the grand-vizier, Jussuph Pacha, who had con- ducted the operations of the last campaign with singular ability and personal success. The real crime of the vizier, for the accusations of his ene- mies were evidently calumnious, was his immense wealth, which, to the amount of a million sterling, was confiscated to the use of the sultan. Such was the barbarous and wretched policy of this young prince, who quickly and in every part of his con- duct shewed himself grossly deficient both in the virtues and talents which are requisite to the ar- duous task of government. The emperor, sinking under the pressure of dis- ease and disappointment, had retired to Vienna ; and the renowned mareschal Laudohn being ap- pointed to the chief command, the operations of the war were renewed with consummate skill and wonderful increase of vigor. After the reduction, of Gradisca, this veteran hero proceeded to form the siege of Belgrade; and on the 8th of October, 1789, that important city, the bulwark of the Ot- 266 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK toman empire, surrendered on terms of honorable ^v^L, capitulation. The remainder of the campaign pre- sented a series of the most rapid successes. Cla- dova, Semendria, Czernitz, &c. followed the ex- ample of Belgrade. Orsova only attempted a serious resistance, and it was not reduced till after a long investment and blockade. On the eastern side, the prince of Cobourg, general of the Aus- trian army in Walachia, after gaining a consider- able advantage in an action fought near Foczan, attacked, in conjunction with the Russian general Suwarrow, with a very inferior force, September 22, 1789, the army of the new grand-vizier, Has- san Pacha, a rash and ignorant commander, at Martinesti, and gained a complete victory. This was attended with the immediate capture of Bu- charest, the capital of Walachia, and the almost entire reduction of the country north of the Da- nube. In the mean time, Bielgorod on the Black Sea, and the city of Bender on the Tartarian fron- tier, surrendered to the arms of Russia, now con- ducted by prince Potemkin. During this campaign the war in the North was carried on little to the advantage of Sweden : for although the king of Sweden had entirely re-estab- lished his authority, and taken a severe vengeance on the individuals who by their audacious and in- flexible contumacy had arrested the progress of his arms, he could not so easily regain the advantages tJEORGE III. 267 he had lost by that unexpected and unseasonable BOOK XXIII opposition. The immense power of Russia was >^-v-O now fully exerted. Sweden was reduced to act upon the defensive in Finland ; and various naval encounters took place, in which the bravery and superior skill of the Swedes did by no means com- pensate for the Russian superiority of force. In the ensuing campaign of 1790, the triumphs Triumphs of the Russian arms over the Ottomans continued sian and without any considerable interruption. The pro-ams, gress of these barbarous conquerors had been throughout marked with blood and desolation ; but the capture, under general Suwarrow, of the city of Ismail, taken by storm December the 22d, 1790, exceeded in horror every action of the pre- sent war, and may vie with that of any preceding one. The garrison, consisting of the flower of the Turkish army, was massacred in cold blood, and the inhabitants indiscriminately given up to the worse than brutal licentiousness of an enraged sol- diery. The military successes of the Austrians, under the heroic Laudohn, served only to incite the faithless and perfidious Joseph to renew his attempts against his subjects of Flanders and Bra- bant. Count Murray, distinguished by his lenity of temper, was succeeded in the government by count Trautmansdorff; and the military placed under the command of general Dalton, an officer of approved skill, but of unrelenting and savage 268 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ferocity. The new system commenced with the XXIII. i r i r i v^v-^ revival or the former attempt against the univer- 1~89 sity of Louvain. This being resolutely resisted, the rector and professors were expelled by the point of the bayonet, August 1788, and many lives lost by the indiscriminate firing of the sol- diery. Similar outrages and excesses taking place at Antwerp, Mechlin, &c. in consequence of the orders issued by the government ; and military law, enforced by military execution, being in a manner proclaimed through the provinces; a pro- digious emigration of the principal inhabitants immediately succeeded. The emigrants being fa- vored and protected by the Dutch government, now under the influence of England and Prussia, assembled in numerous bodies on the frontier : at length, in the autumn of 1789, they entered Aus- trian Flanders in great force, and in a very short space of time over-ran the whole country, a few for- tresses excepted, the Austrians flying before them with the most disgraceful precipitation. The em- peror now once more offered, in the most flatter- ing and conciliatory language, to restore to them their antient constitution, and even to endow them with additional privileges ; but his overtures were rejected with scorn. The states of Brabant assem- bling at Brussels, December the 22d, 1789, in con- cert with the deputies of the other provinces, for- mally disclaimed allegiance to the emperor, and GEORGE III. 269 proceeded to the appointment of an administration. BOOK XXIII. General Vandermersch, distinguished for his pa- v-^-vO 1789 triotism and bravery, was nominated to the com- mand of the troops. M. Vandernoodt was declar- ed prime-minister, and M. Van-Eupen secretary of state. In the month of January, 1790, the plan of a federal constitution was formed by the BEL- GIC States such was the appellation they now assumed, nearly similar to that of the United Pro- vinces. Unfortunately, however, it soon appeared that the leaders of the revolt, either little under- standing or little regarding the essential rights of the people, had merely changed the imperial des- potism to an aristocratical tyranny. The Catholic religion was established in its most intolerant form, the power of arbitrary imprisonment was assumed, the liberty of the press disallowed, and the immunities of the privileged orders confirmed and even extended, In the midst of these transactions, and while Death of i , , . , r , . theemperor the insurgents were at the height or their successes, Joseph n. died, February 1790, the emperor Joseph. He was succeeded in his hereditary dominions by his brother Leopold, grand duke of Tuscany, and who now took upon him the style and title of king of Hungary. This prince, as the sovereign of a small state, had acquired the reputation of moderation, and even sagacity. But in propor- tion to the elevation of his situation his faults be- V . 270 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. came more conspicuous, while his excellences either wholly disappeared, or were henceforth very dimly Alarming Seen. STin" Interesting as the transactions now related ap- lce * peared in the view of Europe, they nevertheless yielded both in importance and singularity to the events which were at the same time taking place in the kingdom of France. In the west, in the bosom of an antient monarchy, at the foot of a ma- jestic throne, in the midst of an immense and cor- rupted city, was heard on a sudden the word LI- BERTY; and at the cry every noble, and every base passion was enflamed. The appointment of the archbishop of Toulouse, as successor to M. de Calonne, proved the source of equal disappoint- ment to the court and to the nation. On his eleva- tion to the post of minister, his patriotism seemed to vanish ; and, by losing the confidence of the people, he deprived himself of the power of being serviceable to the monarch. The project of the court to obtain the sanction of the Assembly of Notables to the measures in contemplation had proved wholly abortive; recourse must now again therefore be had to the Parliament of Paris; and on the i2th of June, 1787, an edict was sent to that body for enregistry, imposing a heavy duty on stamps. Instead of a loyal and dutiful com- pliance, the parliament demanded the communi- cation of such documents as should enable them to judge of the necessity of introducing new taxes. GEORGE III. That this vtes a just claim, they said, the very ex- BOO K yC.Alll* pression of 'verifying the royal edicts implied. The ^f^ refusal of this demand produced a refusal on their part to enregister the edict ; and after violent de- bates and repeated efforts of the patriotic party in parliament, it was at length voted that a national assembly would be necessary previous to the im- position of a new tax, and a resolution at the same time passed to supplicate the sovereign to assemble the STATES GENERAL of the kingdom. In the remonstrance presented on this occasion by parliament to the throne, the stamp duty is pro- nounced more dangerous than even the exploded gabelle ; and they remark " that after five years of peace, after an augmentation of the revenue during the present reign of five millions sterling, it was scarcely to have been expected that the name of TAX should have been pronounced by a bene- ficent sovereign, but for the purpose of alleviating the burdens of the people." The answer of the king was peremptory and haughty. Far from conceding to the wishes and prayers of the parlia- ment, he rose still higher in his demands. Re- serving to a future day the declaration of his in- tentions respecting the stamp-tax, he transmitted to them a new edict of far greater importance, for commuting the existing vingtiemes into a regular and equal land-tax, " which, from the zeal and loyalty of his parliament, (his majesty was pleased 272 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK to say) he expected them immediately to register." XXIII The parliament, assuming more intrepidity as the danger became more imminent, summoned the peers of France on the following day, as was usual in great emergencies, to assist in their deliberations ; and it was voted in full assembly, that the parlia- ment persisted in their resolution, and renewed their supplication to the sovereign to assemble the States General of the kingdom. Before the second address could be presented, a royal message was delivered, announcing the intention of the king to hold a bed of justice. The parliament, immediately re-assembling, came to several resolutions expressive of their deter- mined resistance. The bed of justice was never- theless held : and in defiance of the resolutions read by the first president, M. d'Aligre, the edicts were forcibly enregistered. These proceedings, contemptuously described as " the empty form of collecting by the keeper of the seals the opinions of the assembly, where no one could give a vote," were at the subsequent meeting of parliament de- clared null and void, and expunged from their records. This resolute opposition of the parlia- ment produced a wonderful effect on the already highly agitated state of the public mind. Such were the apprehensions entertained by the govern- ment of the general spirit which pervaded the mass of the people, that great numbers of the military GEORGE III. 273 were assembled at Paris, and the members of the BOOK courts of justice were obliged to pass to their sit- v^-v^ tings through armed ranks of soldiers with bay- onets fixed. The government of France plainly appeared at this moment to be a government resting merely on the precarious basis of military force, without possessing, as a collateral security, a single particle of the esteem, confidence, or affection, of the na- tion. On the i5th of August, 1787, kttres de cachet were issued against the parliament of Paris, trans- ferring their sittings to Troyes 3 in Champagne, one hundred miles from the capital. Previous to their exile they passed an animated resolve, " That the French monarchy would be reduced to a state of despotism, if ministers, abusing the authority of the king, might dispose of men's persons by lettres de cachet, of their property by beds of justice, of causes civil and criminal by annullings and evoca- tions, and suspend the course of justice by parti- cular exiles and arbitrary translations." All France seemed to interest itself in the disgrace of the par- liament. The flame of opposition and disaffection increased every moment. Almost all the public bodies in the kingdom joined in petitioning the throne, not in an humble and submissive, but in a bold and peremptory tone, for the recall of that assembly, and the convocation of the States Gene* ral. The parliament of Grenoble declared " the VOL. VIII. T V . 274 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK rights of property to be equally sacred, and secur- ed by the same laws, as the right of the king to the throne ;" and the parliament of Besan9on, in reprobating the emission of the lettres de cachet, scrupled not to affirm " that the Parisian magis- trates ought to have yielded no sort of obedience to them." France at this time was manifestly ripe for some extraordinary political convulsion. " Whilst the lower class (to adopt the emphatic language of M. Bouille) experienced the extreme of misery, the rich indulged themselves in the most unbounded luxury. The government was without energy, the court despised, and the great were sunk into a state of degradation. Irreligion and immorality were diffused amongst the first orders, restless- ness and discontent amongst all. The treasury was exhausted, public credit ruined, and all the ordinary resources at an end. Louis XVI. possess- ed all the virtues of private life, but none of the talents necessary for a man in a situation so dif- ficult."* Too truly might the noble writer, while con- templating this melancholy and alarming situation of things, exclaim, in the energetic language of the Roman historian " Ad haec tempora quibus nee vitia nostra, nee remedia pati, possumus, pcrven- turn est."f * Metnoires de M. Bouille. f Livv. GEORGE III. 275 The celebrated M.,Beaumarchais, in a lighter BOOK XXIII. strain, insinuates how dangerous it was in this v-*^v^> r i 1 r 1 1789 ' monstrous state of things even to speak or the existing abuses of this depraved and detested go- vernment. " I was told (says Figaro on the sub- ject of writing a book) if I took care to say nothing on politics, nothing of morals, of government, of the clergy, of persons in power, and then submit- ted my work to the inspection of the keeper of the seals and obtained an approbation and privilege, I might, after using these precautions, write with the most perfect freedom." The new minister, justly alarmed at the novelty of his situation, wavering, hesitating, and trem- bling for his safety, advised the monarch, in his answer to the address of the Court of Aids, Sep- tember 2, to signify his intention for the present to suspend the execution of the obnoxious edicts ; and on the 1 9th of that month letters of revoca- tion were issued, and the parliament was permitted to resume its functions. The first measure of the executive government subsequent to this event, a measure highly consonant to the predominant spi- rit of liberty in the nation, was the promulgation of an edict for the toleration of the non-catholics, nearly similar to the famous edict of Nantz, re- pealed in the last century. This popular law was registered by the parliament without difficulty ; but with respect to the financial projects of the T 2 276 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. ?cx?ii K government they continued as refractory as ever. ^"v^^ The plan now proposed by the minister was that of a series of loans, amounting in the aggregate to about eighteen millions sterling, for five successive years, at the end of which term he engaged the honor of the sovereign that the States General should be convoked. This offer was treated with contempt. To promise a convocation of the States General when the deficiency of the finances should be filled up was said to amount to a promise to call them together when they would no longer be wanted. The embarrassments of the minister hourly accumulated. The expedient of a bed of justice had been tried with very ill success. It \yas now, therefore, resolved to hold a seance roya/e, in which the measure should be debated in the king's presence, previous to the enregistry, as a milder and more equitable mode of proceeding. Upon this occasion M. Lamoignon, keeper of the seals, by the command of his majesty, stated to the par- liament, in an eloquent and instructive oration, the established and unalterable principles of the French monarchy. " To the king alone belonged the so- vereign power, and to, GOD only was he account- able for its exercise, ^o the king belonged the power of convoking the states ; he. alone could Judge of their utility and necessity, and he was the sole arbiter of the grievances and complaints of his subjects. He ventured to assert, that the wish now GEORGE III. generally entertained of calling together the States BOOK General had ORIGINATED with the king, whose v^vw 1789 zeal for the public good perpetually outran the de- sires of his people. He therefore rebuked the par- liamentfor the disrespectfulimportunity with which they had solicited this measure ; and he declared the establishment of provincial assemblies, on the plan devised by the late minister, to be fraught with more solid advantages to the community at large." The sitting continued seven hours. The debates of the parliament, notwithstanding the presence of the sovereign, were conducted not only with freedom, but with violence and asperity. It was affirmed by one member, Tabbe Sabatier, " that the only difference between a bed of justice and a seance royals was, that one had all the frank- ness of despotism, and the other all its hypocrisy." And M. Freteau, speaking f the recent accommo- dation between England and France on the sub- ject of Holland, said, " it was a proceeding at which Louis XIV. would have blushed." At length the king rose and declared, " that, having heard the sentiments of the assembly, he persisted in his opi- nion ; he therefore directed the edict of the succes- sive loans to be immediately registered." On this the duke of Orleans, first prince of the blood, who aspired to the distinction of head of the popular party, declared to the king, " that he regarded this measure as illegal." The king having retired in . - V . 279 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK anger, the duke formally recorded his dissent, and xxm. & ' sx-v^ the parliament passed a resolution abjuring every sort of concern in the enregistry that had then taken place. On the following day the duke of Orleans and Messrs. Sabatier and Freteau were sent into exile the former to his chateau in the country, the two latter to imprisonment in distant parts of the kingdom ; and by express command of the king, the resolution of parliament was eras- ed from their records. The famous remonstrance of the parliament on these violent proceedings, presented to the king March 1788, after several previous ineffectual ones, was fraught with the most glowing and energetic sentiments of liberty. They declare, " That the laws of nature and of the constitution shall never reproach them for preserving, in such a crisis, a shameful inactivity, or* a guilty silence Liberty is declared by them to be an imprescriptible right, and justice an universal duty, anterior to the laws, and equally obligatory on the monarch and the subject. The practice of lettres de cachet overturns this system Justice thereby becomes a mere illu- sion, and liberty an empty name. Where no per- sonal security exists, public safety is but an imagi- nary bliss ; and where the practice of lettres de ca- chet subsists, personal security cannot exist. Could your majesty but interrogate those victims of ar- bitrary power abandoned and forgotten in those GEORGE III. 279 impenetrable dungeons where silence and injustice BOOK XXIII, ever dwell, you would then know to what tor- \~s-v~ij 1789 ments is condemned the wretch for whom the sun rises without hope, and the night returns without repose. We have authority to believe that the duke of Orleans and Messrs. Sabatier and Freteau are not guilty : were they so, the right of judging them is reserved for the parliament, and the pre- rogative of pardoning to your majesty. Liberty is not a privilege, but a right ; and it is the duty of all governments to respect that right. It is not a prince of the blood, nor two magistrates, that the parliament claims now in the name of the laws and of reason ; it is three French individuals THREE MEN." To this remonstrance the king, with true monarchical apathy and pride, answer- ed, " that his parliament must with due respect and silence confide in his wisdom, and that he for- bade them to have or publish any farther delibera- tions on the subject." A project more rash and chimerical than any hitherto entertained by the minister was now dis- closed. This was no less than the establishment of a supreme court, by the name of the COUR PLENIERE, consisting of members to be nominated by the king, and to be vested with the power of enregistering the royal edicts thus superseding the existing parliaments in the highest and most appropriate branch of their authority. The par- 280 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Hament of Paris, apprised of the fatal stroke that XXHI. rr . v^-v^ was meditating, published, May 7, a declaration, copies of which were transmitted to all the other parliaments, expressive of their determined reso- lution to oppose to the utmost this arbitrary and unconstitutional innovation. " The system of complying with the king's absolute will, (say this assembly) as expressed in his different answers, proves the minister's destructive project of anni- hilating the principles of the national government, which parliament is bound to maintain, and from which it will never depart." The court, resolving to prosecute its nefarious designs, issued orders for the arresting Messrs* D'Espremenil and Monsambert, two celebrated counsellors and patriotic members of the parlia- ment ; and a party of the military, surrounding at midnight the seat of justice, demanded the im- mediate surrender of the two magistrates. A most animated remonstrance from the parliament was the result of this act of tyranny happy, had the sentiments it contained produced their just effect on the mind of the monarch ! " Your parliament is confirmed, SIRE, (say they) by every proceeding, of the entire innovation which is aimed at in the system of monarchy j but, SIRE, the French nation will never adopt the despotic measures to which yqii are advised : the fundamental laws of the king- dom MUST not be TRAMPLED on, and your authp- GEORGE III. 281 lity can only be esteemed so long as it is tempered with justice. We beseech your majesty not to suffer apparent or momentary advantages to divert your attention, as they may only produce unhappy consequences. Your majesty will sooner or later discover the justness of our representations." A Ijed of justice being in defiance of the warn- ings and threatenings of parliament held, and the edict for the establishment of the COUR PLENIERE forcibly enregistered, the most violent commo- tions ensued throughout the kingdom, which every where wore the appearance of hostility and war. The first president of the parliament, in the name of that assembly, informed the king, that the parliament would acknowledge no authority which infringed on the complete exercise of their prerogatives. The parliament of Rouen pro- nounced the edicts in question to be null and void, and all persons assisting in the execution of them to be traitors to the nation ; and for this daring act of patriotism lettres de cachet were im- mediately executed against them. The parlia- ments of Rennes, of Grenoble, and of Metz, dis- tinguished by their zeal in the same cause, were in like manner ordered into banishment. Great bodies of the military were in motion ; and every step taken on the part of the court indicated a re- solution to persevere in the plan of coercion, when, on the sudden, the courage of the king and his mi- '282 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK nisters once more totally failed them ; and an or- XXIII. v^vO der of council was published, August 8, fixing the ITS 9 convocation of the States to the first of May, 1789, and SUSPENDING during the interval the institution of the COUR PLENIERE. On the 1 6th of August a second arret of coun- cil was promulgated, avowing the inability pf the court to answer the ordinary demands upon the royal treasury; and directing the future payments to be made in the proportion of three-fifths in mo- ney, and two-fifths in notes bearing an interest of five per cent. This was regarded as a direct act of bankruptcy j and the clamor, confusion, and consternation, which ensued, were so great, that the archbishop of Toulouse, no longer able to re. sist the torrent, thought proper to resign his of- fice, after an administration of little more than a year, distinguished by its inconsistency, imbecility, and temerity. To console him in his disgrace, he was translated to the rich archiepiscopal see of Sens, and decorated with the Roman purple. The voice of France called aloud for the rein- statement of M. Necker, who was now a second time placed at the head of the finances. The repu- tation of the new minister operated as a sort of charm. By the adoption of wise measures adapt- ed to the present exigencies, the immediate embar- rassments of government were removed. All eyes were now turned to the approaching convocation GEORGE IIJ. 283 of the States General, previous to which a second BOOK XXIH. convention of the Notables was held (October 5, ^^^J 1789 1788) in order to determine several important questions that had arisen relative to the formation of the assembly of the States. It appeared to be nearly the unanimous opinion of the Notables, that it should be constructed on the model of the last assembly convened in 1614; and a doubt was even suggested whether any power short of that of the States General deliberating in the antient manner, by the established orders of nobles, clergy, and the tiers etat, could superinduce upon it any mate- rial alteration. The Notables were dissolved on the 1 2th of December, 1788. The final decision of the court was at length made known by a de- cree of council, dated 27th of December; by which it was determined, that the number of deputies to the ensuing States General should not fall short of one thousand ; that it should be apportioned with all practicable accuracy to the population and finan- cial contributions of the different baillages ; and that the representation of the tiers etat should be equal to the sum of the representations of the other two orders a concession eagerly desired by the nation, and attended with the most important consequences. At length, on the cth of May, 1780, a day ever States Gc - ' ' neral cpn- memorable in the annals of France, and of the vene dat 111 t i r i ^ i Versailles. world, the assembly of the States General met at 284 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Versailles, and the session was opened by a speech from the king, couched in terms of patriotic and paternal regard, such as princes well know upon occasion how to adopt. Although the excessive repugnance of the court to the adoption of this measure had been most notorious, his majesty con- gratulated the assembly on the arrival of the day which he had so long panted to see. " The public spirit (said the monarch) is in a ferment, but an assembly of the representatives of the nation will certainly hearken to no other counsels than those founded on justice and wisdom. Whatever may be expected from the most tender solicitude for the public good, whatever can be asked from a so- vereign the sincerest friend of his people, you may, you ought to hope from me." At this period, no doubt, the court was ready to submit to the ne- cessity, which it could not but recognise, of mak- ing great and permanent concessions for the satis- faction of the nation, and the restoration of the. public tranquillity. But to ascribe to the monarch the most distant idea of a voluntary departure from the antient and established prerogatives of sovereignty would be the extreme of weakness and credulity. The first object of the States was the " verifica-r tion of their powers." This ceremony the tiers etat insisted, to the astonishment of the superior orders, could only take place in a common assem-i GEORGE III. 285 bly, voting not by orders, but by poll. The admis- BOOK sion of this pretension involved in it no less than w^-v^> 1789. the absolute subversion of the antient constitution of the States ; and it was resisted in the strongest manner by the superior orders, as a flagrant usur- pation. On the other hand the tiers tat plainly perceived that the antient mode of voting by orders would reduce them, the real representatives of the people, to whom it peculiarly appertained to estab- lish freedom in France, to mere cyphers. By an ordonnance passed in the reign of Charles V. sur- named " the Wise," A. D. 1355, the unanimous consent of the three estates was indeed declared to be necessary to make a new law : so that had the people possessed any privileges, this provision might be regarded as the bulwark of the national liberty. But when the people were reduced to a state of bondage, and the object was to establish an equality of rights, it operated strongly and manifestly to their disadvantage. After six weeks of inaction, the tiers etat, at the suggestion of the abbe Sieyes (June 17), took the daring and deci- sive step of declaring itself the legislative body, by ~ Assun j^ the appellation of the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, and tionofNa - tionai As- proceeded to the verification of their powers. sembiy. On the 1 9th of June, the chamber of the clergy passed a resolution, importing their acquiescence in the decision. Alarmed in the highest degree at the situation of affairs, the monarch held on the 286 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK 2jd a royal session, in which he proposed a plait of government, liable indeed to many and great objections, but containing the first outlines of a free constitution. Agreeably to this plan, the dis- tinction of orders was preserved, allowing them nevertheless to debate in common on emergent occasions, with the royal approbation. In fine, the king declared, in virtue of his royal authority; the proceedings of the i7th null and void, and ordered the deputies immediately to separate. This was the decisive moment. An unreserved obedience to the order of the king would have rendered them contemptible in their own eyes and in those of the nation, which had received with unbounded acclamation the resolution reprobated by the monarch. The question to be determined was, whether they would be satisfied to accept frotti the royal benignity the imperfect and preca- rious boon now offered ? or whether, at the immi- nent risk of their lives and fortunes, they would make one grand effort to establish a constitution founded on the eternal and immutable principles of equal and perfect freedom ? Impelled by a glo- rious and resistless enthusiasm, they hesitated not for a moment which of these alternatives to em- brace. When the king retired, he was followed by all the nobles and a part of the clergy: the com- mons alone remained motionless on the benches. The marquis de Breze, grand master of the cere- GEORGE III. monies, addressing himself to the president, M. Bailli, said. " SIR, you know the orders of the ' . 1789. king :" to which the president with Roman dig- nity replied, " The people of France in their col- lective capacity have no orders to receive." And M. Mirabeau, a member highly distinguished in the sequel by his talents and eloquence in the assembly, starting up, added, " Go tell your master, that we are here by the power of the people, and that nothing shall expel us but the bayonet." A vast majority of the deputies made the hall resound with their acclamations, exclaim- ing as it were with one voice, " Nothing but force can drive us hence." Immediately a resolution passed, with the dissent of a very few voices, de- claring the person of each deputy to be inviolable. On their next meeting, the assembly were joined by the majority of the clergy, and forty-nine mem- bers of the nobility, with the duke of Orleans at their head; and on the 27th, at the express in- stance of the king, agreeably to his characteristic inconstancy, by the remaining members of the su- perior orders; though the duke of Luxemburg predicted, as it is said, to the monarch, " that from the day the States should vote by numbers only, from that moment he was at their mercy." The assent of the king was however false and hollow. An army of 35,000 men, collected from various parts, were stationed under the command of mar- 288 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK shal Broorlio in the vicinity of Versailles and Paris, xxni s^rv~O Camps were marked out for a still greater force, 89 * and lines of fortification drawn. A most spirited remonstrance was presented to the king by the Assembly, requesting, or rather insisting upon, the removal of the troops. This was peremptorily refused ; but his majesty declared his willingness to indulge the assembly by a removal of their sit- tings to Noyon or Soissons. " Certainly (said M. Mirabeau, when this answer was reported) there is no need to deliberate on the removal proposed ; - we will go neither to Noyon nor to Soissons. We have not demanded this permission ; nor will we, because we do not desire to place ourselves between the troops which invest Paris and those which might fall upon us from Flanders and Alsace. We have demanded the removal of the troops ; we have not asked permission to flee before them." On the 1 1 th of July M. Necker was suddenly dismissed, and ordered to depart the kingdom in twenty-four hours ; and with him his friend M. Montmorin, minister for foreign affairs. In the disgrace of M. Necker' the Assembly saw their own ruin determined : and they passed a resolve, that the late ministers carried with them the con- fidence and regret of the nation. But the popular enthusiasm having now reached its height, a most astonishing insurrection took place at Paris on the GEORGE III. 289 1 4th of July, in which the castle of the Bastille BOOK . . xxm. was carried by storm the soldiery refusing to ^-v^* obey the orders of their officers, and many joining the assailants. The monarch, astonished and intimidated at these proceedings, once more varied his policy; and, appearing in person the next day in the Na- tional Assembly, declared " that he had issued orders for the immediate removal of the troops." A burst of 'joy and acclamation succeeded ; and it was now at last hoped, that the monarch, sen- sible of the evil counsels by which he had been deceived and misled, would not henceforth de- viate from the path of political rectitude. M. Necker and count Montmorin were immediately reinstated in their offices. The count d'Artois, marshal Broglio, the prince of Conde, and other leaders of the court faction, were compelled to seek for safety in flight, and on the i yth of July the king made his triumphal entry into Paris. The Assembly now proceeded without interrup- tion in their labors; and in a short time several very important decrees, containing the first prin- ciples of the new constitution, importing the sub- ordination of the executive, the supremacy of the legislative, and the independency of the judicial powers, were presented for the royal acceptance. After a delay of many weeks, and an urgent re- application, the royal assent was most reluctantly VOL. VIII. U HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. given, with an express salvo for the antient essen- tial and constitutional prerogatives of the crown. All the former jealousies were now revived ; and it was universally rumored and believed, that pre- parations were in train to facilitate the retreat of the king to Metz in Lorraine, where the royal standard was to be raised in hostile opposition to the National Assembly.* Inflamed and enraged with this dreadful apprehension, another popular insurrection, of a nature not less extraordinary than the former, took place, October the 6th, in which a nocturnal attack was made on the palace of Versailles, the king, and the queen, by whose fatal counsels the monarch had been chiefly guided, made captives and conducted to Paris, where the * From the decisive testimony of M. deMoleville, we learn that marshal Broglio had, immediately after the storming- of the Bastille, proposed to escort the king to Metz, with the royal family. The archbishop of Arx at the same time advised that military force should be employed against the insurgents at Paris after which the States General might be dissolved : and the petitions and denunciations which this courtly prelate supposed would be sent from every quarter against thenv would render it unnecessary to assemble them again. [ Annales de Moleville, torn. i. p. 272.] But the king, weak, wavering, and irresolute, equally devoid of energy and penetration, terri- fied by the representations of the ducdeLiancourt, determined to throw himself upon the National Assembly for protection. Happy would it have been, unable as he was to govern, had he submitted passively henceforth to the national impulse, of which he was manifestly and wholly unequal to the control I. GEORGE III. 291 palace of the Tuilleries, secured by a strong mili- BOO- K tary guard, was assigned them for their future ^v-*^ residence. The effect of this violence on the per- son of the sovereign was an explicit and uncondi- tional acceptance, on his part, of the articles of the constitution, formerly presented; and the National Assembly removed their sittings to Paris, where they were henceforth deeply occupied in executing the Herculean task of regenerating the whole system of the national polity, laws, and govern- ment. Amongst the decrees which most excited the admiration or astonishment of the world were those which pronounced the annihilation of all feudal privileges ; the abolition of all distinction of orders ; the resumption of tithes and other ecclesiastical and monastic property ; the dissolu- tion of monastic institutions ; the allotment of the kingdom into a new territorial division, under the name of departments, eighty-three in number, nearly equal in population and extent ; finally, the extinction of the provincial parlia- ments, and the establishment of departmental assemblies, of courts of justice, and the trial by jury in each department. The general principles on which the government of the kingdom was modelled were comprehended in a Declaration of_p u bij s h a Rights, drawn up with great precision and ability, U 2 292 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. Rights of Man. BOOK and which may serve as a perpetual charter of v^-v^J liberty to mankind.* 1789. * This famous DECLARATION, which well deserves a place in die frontispiece of every national code of laws, is substan- tially as follows : I. Men were born, and always continue, free and equal with respect to their rights. Civil distinctions therefore can be founded only on public utility. II. The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. And these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to op- pression. III. The nation is essentially the source of all sovereignty. IV. Political liberty consists in the power of doing whatever does not injure another. V. The law ought only to prohibit actions hurtful to so- ciety. VI. The law is an expression of die will of the community. All being equal in its sight, are equally eligible to all honors* places, and employments, without any other distinction than that created by dieir talents and virtues. VII. No man shall be accused, arrested, or held in confine- ment, except in cases determined by the law, and according to the forms which it has prescribed. VIII. No one ought to be punished but in virtue of a law promulgated before die offence. IX. Every man is to be presumed innocent till conviction of guilt. X. No man ought to be molested on account of his opinions, not even hrs religious opinions ; provided his avowal of them does not disturb the public order. XI. Every man may speak, write, and publish freely being responsible for the abuses of this liberty in cases determined by law. GEORGE III. 293 It is no wonder that a revolution so extraordi- BOOK nary, and which, notwithstanding certain unhappy v^vO concomitant irregularities and excesses, afforded so fair a prospect of future and permanent happi- ness, should excite great exultation amongst the friends of liberty in England. The first public demonstration of this appeared on the occasion of an anniversary meeting of a Whig association in the metropolis, known by the name of the Revolution Society, on the 5th of November, to celebrate the memory of that great monarch by whose heroic interposition, at a crisis of imminent danger, the laws and liberties of Great Britain were, under the favoring auspices of Heaven, XII. A public force is necessary only to give security to the rights of men and citizens. XIII. Public contributions ought to be divided equally among the members of the community, according to their several abilities. XIV. Every citizen has a right, by himself or his repre- sentative, to a free voice in determining the necessity and ap- propriation of public contributions. XV. Every community has a right to demand of its agents an account of their conduct. XVI. Every community, in which the separation of powers is not determined, nor a security of rights provided for, wants a constitution. XVII. The right to property being inviolable and sacred, no one ought to be deprived of it, except in cases of evident public necessity legally ascertained, and upon condition of a previous and just indemnity. 294 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK settled on a solid and permanent basis. Previous XXIII v^-v^J to the assembling of the members at the usual 89 ' place of festive meeting, a sermon or discourse on " the Love of our Country" was preached to such as chose to hear, at a chapel belonging to the dis- senters at the Old Jewry, by the famous Dr. Price ; in which the primary principles of government were stated in a mode which the sanction of a cen- tury had rendered familiar in this country ; and the great doctrines of liberty inculcated with all , that emphasis and energy which characterized the pen of that distinguished and venerable patriot. " The improvement of the world depended," as the preacher affirmed, " on the attention given by men to this topic. Nor will mankind be ever as virtuous and happy as they are capable of being, till the attention to it becomes universal and effi- cacious. If we forget it, we shall be in danger of an idolatry as gross and stupid as that of the an- tient heathens, who, after fabricating blocks of wood or stone, fell down and worshipped them." At the conclusion of this discourse, in expatiating on the favorableness of the present time to all ex- ertions in the cause of liberty, he broke out into the following eloquent exclamation " What an eventful period is this ! I am thankful that I have lived to it : and I could almost say, LORD ! now lettest tbou tlry servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I have lived to see a diffu- GEORGE III. C 295. sion of knowledge which has undermined super- stition and error ; I have lived to see the rights of men better understood than ever, and nations panting for liberty which seemed to have lost the idea of it. I have lived to see thirty millions of people indignantly and resolutely spurning at slavery, and demanding liberty with an irresistible voice ; their king led in triumph, and an arbitrary monarch surrendering himself to his subjects. After sharing in the benefits of one revolution, I have been spared to be a witness to two other re- volutions, both glorious ; and now methinks I see the ardor for liberty catching and spreading, and a general amendment beginning in human affairs the dominion of kings changed for the dominion of laws, and the dominion of priests giving way to the dominion of reason and conscience. Be encouraged, all ye friends of freedom, and writers in its defence ! The times are auspicious. Your labors have not been in vain. Behold kingdoms, admonished by you, starting from sleep, breaking their fetters, and claiming justice from their op- pressors ! Behold the light you have struck out, after setting America free, reflected to France, and there kindled into a blaze, that lays despo* tism in ashes, and warms and illuminates Eu- ROPE !" Impressed with these noble and elevated senti- congra- ments, the society, whose numbers on this occa- d U rso?the 296 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK sibn far exceeded those of any former anniversary, XXIII. ^-^v-^ unanimously resolved, on the motion of Dr. Price, 1789 Revolution to ff er > m a formal address, " their congratula- soaety. ti ons to the National Assembly, on the event of the late glorious revolution in France." This being transmitted by the chairman lord Stanhope, to the duke de la Rochefoucault, and kid by that distinguished nobleman before the Assembly, was received with loud acclamations. " It belonged (said the duke de la Rochefoucault in his reply) to Dr. Price, the apostle of liberty, to propose a motion tending to pay to liberty the fairest homage that of national prejudices. In that address is seen the dawn of a glorious day, in which two adverse nations shall contract an intimate union, founded on the similarity of their opinions, and their common enthusiasm for liberty." Also the archbishop of Aix, president of the National As- sembly, transmitted to lord Stanhope, in a manner the most polite and flattering, the vote of the As- sembly, relative to the address, stating, " that the Assembly was deeply affected with this extraordi- nary proof of esteem, and directing the president to express to the Revolution Society the lively sensibility with which the National Assembly had received an address breathing those sentiments of humanity and universal benevolence that ought to unite together, in all countries of the world, the true friends of liberty and the happiness of mankind." GEORGE III. 297 general state of things, when the parliament of Great Britain was convened at Such was the general state of things, when the B op K 1790. Westminster, January 2ist, 1790* The king's Sess ; OH O f speech contained nothing remarkable. It slightly P arliament - and ambiguously glanced on the affairs of France, in declaring " the internal situation of the dif- ferent parts of Europe to have been productive of events which had engaged his majesty's most se- rious attention." But early indications appeared French - .,.,.,, . . volution re- of the light in which the recent transactions in probated . by Mr. that kingdom were viewed by the court. Lord Burke and Valletort, in moving the address, took occasion to friends. * contrast the tranquil and prosperous situation of England with the anarchy and licentiousness of France, and to stigmatize the revolution in that kingdom as an event the most disastrous, and pro- ductive of consequences the most fatal, which had ever taken place since the foundation of the mo- narchy. This language was highly applauded by the old prerogative phalanx, distinguished by the appellation of the King's Friends. But these senti- ments unfortunately were far from being confined to that inveterate and dangerous faction. Upon the debate which took place on February the Qth, relative to the army estimates, Mr. Burke argued in favor of a reduction of the peace estab- lishment, from that state of perfect security which the nation at present enjoyed professing that, on a review of all Europe, he " did not find that, 298 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK politically, we stood in the smallest degree of dan- t^r-vO ger from any one state or kingdom it contained j J ' 9a nor that any foreign powers, but our own allies, were likely to obtain a preponderance in the scale. France (said Mr. Burke) has hitherto been our first object in all considerations concerning the balance of power : but France is in a political light to be considered as EXPUNGED out of the SYSTEM of EUROPE. Whether she could EVER appear in it again, as a leading power, was not easy to deter- mine : but at present he considered France as not politically existing: and MOST ASSUREDLY, it would take MUCH TIME to restore her to her former AC- TIVE EXISTENCE. Gallos quoquc in bellh faruisse audivimtts, might possibly be the language of the rising generation. It was said, as she had speedily fallen, she might speedily rise again. He doubted this. The fall from an height was with an accele- rated velocity ; but to lift a weight up to that height again was difficult, and opposed by the laws of physical and political gravitation. In a political view, France was low indeed j she had lost every thing, even to her name : " Jacet ingens littore truncus, Avolsumque humeris caput, et sine nomine corpus. " He was astonished at it. He was alarmed at it. He trembled at the uncertainty of all human greatness. The French had shewn themselves the ablest architects of ruin that had hitherto appeared GEORGE III. 2 m the world. In one short summer they had BOOK XXIII. completely pulled down to the ground their mo- ^AX-< 1790 narchy, their church, their nobility, their law, their army, and their revenue. Were we absolute conquerors, and France to lie prostrate at our feet, we should blush to impose upon them terms so destructive to all their consequence, as a nation, as the durance they had imposed upon themselves. In the last age we were in danger of being entangled, by the example of France, in the net of a relentless despotism a despotism indeed proudly arrayed in manners, gallantry, splendor, magnificence, and even covered over with the imposing robes of science and literature. Our present danger, from the example of a people whose character knows no medium, is, with regard to government, a danger from licentious violence a danger of being led from admiration to imitation of the excesses of an unprincipled, plundering, fero- cious, bloody, and tyrannical democracy of a people whose government is anarchy, and whose religion is atheism. Mr. Burke pronounced the French nation very unwise. What they valued themselves upon was, in his opinion, a disgrace to them. They had gloried, and some people in England had thought fit to take share in that glory, in making a revolution. All the horrors and all the crimes of the anarchy which led to this revolution, which attend its progress, and 300 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK which may eventually result from its establish- xxni. u^-v-o ment, pass for nothing. The French have made their way through the destruction of their country to a bad constitution, when they were absolutely in possession of a good one. Instead of redressing grievances, and improving the fabric of their state, to which they were called by their monarch and sent by their country, they had rashly destroyed all the balances and counterpoises which serve to fix the state and to give it a steady direction. These they had melted down into one incongru- ous ill-connected mass ; and, with the most atro- cious perfidy and violation of all faith among men, laid the axe to the root of all property, and conse- quently of all national prosperity, by the principles they established, and the example they set in con- fixating all the possessions of the church. They had made and recorded a sort of institute and di- gest of anarchy, called ' A Declaration of the Rights of Man:' thus systematically destroying every hold of authority, by opinion, religious or civil, on the minds of the people. By this mad declaration they had subverted the state, and brought on such ca- lamities as no country, without a long war, had ever been known to suffer. Mr. Burke declared that he felt some concern that this strange thing called a Revolution in France should be compared with the glorious event commonly called the Re- volution in England. In truth, the circumstances GEORGE III; SOI of our Revolution, as it is called, and that of France, are just the reverse of each other in almost ^C*" every particular, and in the whole spirit of the transaction. What we did was in truth and sub- stance not a revolution made, but prevented. We took solid securities ; we settled doubtful ques- tions ; we corrected anomalies in our law. In the stable fundamental parts of our constitution we made no revolution ; no, nor any alteration at all. We did not impair the monarchy. The nation kept the same ranks, the same subordinations, the same franchises, the same order in the law, the re- venue, and the magistracy the same lords, the same commons, the same corporations, the same electors. The church was not impaired : Her estates, her majesty, her splendor, her orders and gradations, continued the same : she was preserv- ed in her full efficiency, and cleared only of that intolerance which was her weakness and disgrace. Was little done then, because a revolution was not made in the constitution ? No every thing was done ; because we commenced with reparation, not with ruin. Instead of lying in a sort of epi- leptic trance, exposed to the pity or derision of the world for her wild, ridiculous, convulsive move- ments, the state flourished ; Great Britain rose above the standard of her former self. All the energies of the country were awakened, and a new aera of prosperity commenced, which stiil continues, 302 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK not only unimpaired, but receiving growth and improvement under the wasting hand of time." Mr. Fox, notwithstanding his personal regard and friendship for Mr. Burke, thought it neces- fnendlfof sary ' n j ust i ce to the rectitude and dignity of his the people, own character, to declare " his total dissent from opinions so hostile to the general principles of li- berty; and which he was grieved to hear from the lips of a man whom he loved and revered by whose precepts he had been taught, by whose ex- ample he had been animated to engage in their defence. He vindicated the conduct of the French army, in refusing to act against their fellow-citi- zens, from the aspersions of Mr. Burke, who had charged them with abetting an abominable sedition by mutiny and desertion declaring that, if he could view a standing military force with less con- stitutional jealousy than before, it was owing to the noble spirit manifested by the French army, who, on becoming soldiers, had proved that they did not forfeit their character as citizens, and would not act as the mere instruments of a despot. The scenes of bloodshed and cruelty that had been acted in France, no man (said Mr. Fox) could hear of without lamenting. But when the grievous tyranny that the people had so long groaned un- der was considered, the excesses they had com- mitted in their efforts to shake oft* the yoke could not excite our astonishment so much as our regret. GEORGE III. 303 And as to the contrast which Mr. Burke had ex- BOOK JVrfxll*. hibited, respecting the mode in which the two re- >-^>-^> 1 1790. volutions in England and France were conducted, it must be remembered, that the situation of the two kingdoms was totally different. In France, a free constitution was to be created : in England, it wanted only to be secured. If the fabric of go- vernment in England suffered less alteration, it was because it required less alteration. If a general destruction of the antient constitution had taken place in France, it was because the whole system was radically hostile to liberty, and that every part of it breathed the direful spirit of despotism." Mr. Sheridan, with still less reserve and atten- tion to personal respect, reprobated the political sentiments which had been that night advanced by Mr. Burke. " The people of France, (said Mr. Sheridan) it is true, have committed acts of bar- barity and bloodshed which have justly excited indignation and abhorrence. That detestation and abhorrence however are still more justly due to the government of France prior to the revolution , the tyranny and oppression of which had deprived the people of the rights of men and of citizens, and driven them to that degree of desperation which could alone have incited those unexampled acts of cruelty and revenge which had been practised in the first agitation and violence of the effort to re- gain their freedom. Could it be expected, that 30t HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xxnf men * n tne i r situation should be capable of acting ^1^^ with the same moderation and the same attention * / yU to humanity and sensibility as characterised free- men ? Were the mad outrages of a mob an ade- quate ground for branding the National Assembly with the stigma of being a bloody, ferocious, and tyrannical democracy? It was a libel on that illus- trious body thus to describe them. A better con- stitution than that which actually existed it is al- lowed that France had a right to expect. From whom were they to receive it ? From the bounty of the monarch at the head of his courtiers ? or from the patriotism of marshal Broglio at the head of the army? From the faint and feeble cries emit- ted from the dark dungeons of the Bastille? or from the influence and energy of that spirit which had laid the Bastille in ashes ? The people, unhappily misguided as they doubtless were in particular in- stances, had however acted rightly in their great object. They had placed the supreme authority in those hands by whom alone it could be justly exercised, and had reduced their sovereign to the rank which properly belongs to kings that of ad- ministrator of the laws established by the free con- sent of the community." The house appeared, during a long and most interesting discussion, greatly agitated by this shock and conflict of opi- nions. But Mr. Pitt preserved a cautious and po- litic silence as to the merits of the revolution which GEORGE III. S05 had taken place: venturing; nevertheless to pro- BOOK XXIII. nounce that the present convulsions in France must *>-v~C i 1-1 t 179( >' sooner or later terminate m general harmony and regular order, and lavishly applauding Mr. Burke, for the zealous and seasonable attachment he had displayed to the principles of the British consti- tution. The spirit by which the court was now actuated still more evidently appeared in their conduct re- lative to the dissenters, who had signalized them- selves by the exuberance of their joy at the late events in France. Since the favorable decision of the late session relative to the repeal of the Test Laws, they had not ceased their efforts by every means in their power to increase the number of their friends in the house of commons. Provincial meetings were convened by them in every part of the kingdom; and resolutions, framed in terms for the most part harsh and revolting, passed, expressive of their sen- timents of the injustice and oppression under which they suffered. And in contemplation of the ap- proaching general election, they had even the gross indiscretion, in many of their public votes, to re- commend a marked preference in favor of those who had shewn themselves the friends and advo- cates of equal and universal liberty. In the stead Mr. FOX'S motion for of Mr. Beaufoy, a friend and partisan of the mi- a ^P 6 * 1 of nister, Mr. Fox |was now solicited to move the house 'a third time for the repeal of the acts in VOL. VIII. X 306 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK question; to which he gave a ready and generous \^^^L> assent. By appearing to consider the repeal of the Test Laws as a matter of great magnitude and im- portance, the nation at large, which had originally regarded the question with indiSerence, were led to believe it to be a matter of high and serious- import. Counter-meetings of the friends of the church were called, in which the repeal of the Test was deprecated as fatal to its security. The clergy revived with incredible success the obsolete and senseless clamor, that th CHURCH was in DANGER* All possible encouragement was given to these ar- tifices of faction and efforts f bigotry by the court j, so that when the period arrived at which the des- tined motion was to be made, the dissenters were: astonished to find the government, the church,, and the nation, combined in passionate opposition* to a claim which to them appeared founded on the? clearest principles of reason, policy, and justice. On the 2d of March, Mr. Fox brought forward His motion of repeal, which, unmindful of its pre- sent extreme unpopularity, and fixing his attention only on the essential and immutable rectitude ofi the measure, he supported with a wonderful dis- play of ability. He said, " that it was to him y matter f triumph, that the very people who had imputed to him designs hostile to liberty and sub- versive of the constitution had requested him to> plead their cause on that day. This was at once GEORGE III. 307 refutation and reparation of the WRONG they B 2 2 pressed with the usual acrimony and violence of theological polemics. From these testimonies Mr. Burke inferred the inveterate enmity of the dis- senters to the church ; and he adjured the house to suffer the fatal incidents which had taken place in France, and the sudden ruin of the Gallican church, to awaken their zeal for the preservation of our present happy and excellent establishment." On the division the numbers were, ayes 105,! 1, . .1 ,ed with rc- IlOeS 294 ; so that the majority against the repeal, had increased since the last session from 20 to 1 8 voices. In consequence of the unhappy manner 8 in which this question was treated, the spirit of religious bigotry, prejudice, and animosity, was revived throughout the kingdom in an extraordi- nary degree. The grand fabric of policy which it had been the labor of a century to rear, and the glory of the house of Hanover for two successive reigns to cherish, was now in a moment of rash- 812 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ness and resentment demolished and overthrown. XXIIL ,. .. . . \^-y~^ I. he dissenters on their part can by no means be acquitted of blame. Considering the great plau- sibility which may be given by eloquent and art- ful men to principles the most absurd and errone- ous, it is no wonder that many highly respectable persons, far removed from contempt as to know- ledge and understanding, should regard the repeal of the Test Laws as attended with a degree of risk and danger.* Till the PASSIONS of the public were * " The sufferings of men in their civil rights upon religious 'accounts (says bishop HOADLEY in his. memorable answer to bishop SHERLOCK) was the INFLAMING CONSIDERATION and what gave rise to those passions which in the last century pro- duced such fatal effects. The contrary conduct, therefore, would have the contrary effect. Let all hardships and all oppressions cease. Let there be no civil punishment, or civil suffering, or civil inconvenience, call it as you please, on ac- count of what is the dictate of men's private conscience, unless it immediately affect the civil government. If the former method has been tried, and has been seen to blow up disaffec- tion into violence, then the true cure for these evils is to pre- vent them by acting a contrary part, and trying that which never yet has had in any part of the world so fatal effects. To go on in the old way of continuing grievances and burdens is only to pave the way to the same evils whenever time and op- portunity shall offer ; and this as certainly as that the same human nature will be worked upon in the same manner by the same methods ; or as certainly as that the same causes, all things concurring, will ever produce the same effects. Those evils were begun by partiality and oppression, and therefore the true lasting effectual remedy would be for government to GEORGE III. - SIS awakened, it is however extremely evident that BOOK XXIII. the ara^iments of the dissenters, and of their ad- w^v^ , 1 C T J 179CL vocates, both in and out or parliament, made a sensible impression in their favor ; but when they proceeded to a rude and arrogant mode of urging their claim, the voice of reason was lost in the sub- sequent conflict. Had the dissenters conducted themselves with the respect and deference due to the government of a country even when in error, it is by no means improbable that at a future pe- riod the court might have suffered the repeal to pass j but by pressing the repeal with a boldness and precipitancy which allowed no salvo for the honor of government, they could expect no other than a decided and acrimonious opposition. It is nevertheless very remarkable in one view, that the measure in question should be opposed with such abolish all partiality as to civil rights, and all hardship where- ever there is equal affection to the civil government, properly so called. Admitting, for argument's sake, the disaffection of the dissenters to the government at former periods, if that disaffection to the civil constitution, testified by former ac- tions, were a just ground for making such exclusive acts, then certainly the truest affection to the present civil constitution, testified through a long series of years and in times the most critical and dangerous, is the justest reason in the world for putting an end to these acts." Such were the noble senti- ments, and such the generous and enlightened policy, with which the dissenters were not only uniformly treated, but publicly defended, by those men in whom the house of Bruns- wic once placed their trust and confidence. 314 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK pertinacity by the executive government, since ^y^ the very object of the repeal was merely to remove a restraint upon the exercise of its prerogative. And if the object of these successive applications had been attained in its utmost extent, it would still have depended upon the pleasure of the crown, whether a single dissenter should have been em- ployed in any office for which a compliance with the Test was previously necessary. The conduct of the dissenters, too eagerly solicitous to remove a stigma which they were conscious they did not deserve, must indeed be acknowledged unwise and indefensible. But when was wisdom supposed the characteristic of a promiscuous and countless mul- titude ? The conduct of government was also at least equally unwise. But from the government of a great nation we have a right to expect wis- dom ; and from the palpable want of it during the present reign, evils and mischiefs beyond all power of calculation have resulted. After the fatal experience of thirty years, that most important of all political truths remained to be discovered that mankind are with infinitely more ease and efficacy to be governed by mildness than severity.* * Of the apologues of antient and of modern times, there is none perhaps that conveys so beautiful a moral, and so exten- sively applicable, as that of the SUN and WIND. " A traveller (says the fabulist) was journeying with a large and thick cloak loosely cast upon his shoulders, when an eager contention GEORGE III. 315 Shortly after the decision of the house upon this BOOK XXIII business, Mr. Flood, so long celebrated as a patriot v^-v-O and orator in the Irish house of commons, and 111 i T i i Mr. Flood'* who had sat some years almost undistinguished in motion for the British parliament, brought forward a plan the British of parliamentary reform, in conformity to which pa an additional number of representatives, to the amount of one hundred, was to be admitted into the legislative body, in a proportional ratio to the population of each county, by the election of the resident householders only. This was a bold and happy effort at reform ; and it was supported by the mover in a very able and eloquent speech, in arose between the Sun and the Wind, which could with the greater facility cause him to throw it off. To ascertain this question, the Wind first began to blow with keenness, then with violence, rising by degrees into a dreadful tempest. But the traveller, far from casting away his cloak, only wrapped it round him the closer. The Sun then, smiling at the fierce and at the same time impotent efforts of his antagonist, began to shine, till at length, overpowered by the increasing splendor of his beams, the traveller threw off his cloak, not merely as a superfluous, but inconvenient and cumbrous burden. The Wind, now instructed by experience, ingenuously confessed the wretched inefiicacy of terror to influence the will, when compared with the generous glow of kindness, and the cheer- ing rays of beneficence." " Constraint (says a most discern- ing judge of mankind) is the most defective of all the springs of authority. In all affairs, without exception, coercive means are the most adapted to, produce in man an effect exactly op- posite to the intention." HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK which, adverting to the present state of things in XXIII ' v^v^O France, he declared " that it was the want of timely and temperate reforms that had made a re- volution necessary in that country. Those who opposed such reforms might be enemies to revolu- tion in their hearts, but they were friends to it by their folly." This motion was vehemently opposed by Mr. .Windham, member for Norwich, the obsequious and devoted admirer of Mr. Burke, who adopted in their full extent all his eccentricities and devia- tions from the rule of right, but who followed him in his superior lines of character, his genius, and his eloquence, with very unequal steps. At the close of the American war (Mr. Windham said) a deluge of opinions had been let loose, a clamor had been raised, and a parliamentary reform demanded as a remedy for the evils we felt from it. Happily those wild notions had long since subsided ; the danger, however, was now breaking out afresh ; and were he otherwise a friend to the proposition, he should have objected to it on account of the time at which it was introduced. Where was the man who would be mad enough to advise them to repair their house in the hurricane season ?** Mr. Pitt entirely coincided in these reasonings of Mr. Windham, and declared, " that, were the motion before them the precise proposition he himself had formerly offered, he should now vote GEORGE III. 517 against it from a conviction of its actual impro- BOOK XXIIL priety. But at a more seasonable opportunity he ^f^r^j would MOST CE'RTAINLY again submit his ideas upon the subject to the consideration of the house." Mr. Fox declared, " that he saw no reason why we should be struck with a panic on account of the situation of affairs in France : and in allusion to Mr. Windham's metaphorical argument, he affirmed, that no season could be more proper to begin a repair than when a hurricane was near and ready to burst forth." Mr. Flood, perceiving the general sentiments of the house, even of those members who had formerly favoured the idea of parliamentary reform, to be adverse to the mo- tion, at length assented to withdraw his propo- sition. The business relative to the abolition of the slave-trade went on slowly and heavily. Every artifice of procrastination was used on the part of the slave-merchants and planters, and the whole session passed over in the hearing of evidence and examination of witnesses. The trial of Mr. Hastings also proceeded with TriaiofMr. almost equal languor. On the 1 6th of February its disgrace- ... . . fulprocra*- (1790) the charge respecting presents was recapi-tinadou. tulated by Mr. Burke ; but in the entire course of the session the court sat only thirteen days. The enthusiasm of those who wished and expected to 518 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN*. BOOK have seen a great public delinquent brought to v*-v-O speedy and exemplary justice was fast changing to compassion for the man who seemed destined to live a life of impeachment, and to have become the object of a relentless persecution. The evi- dence on three articles only of the general charge out of twenty was as yet closed on the part of the commons, after which Mr. Hastings was to enter upon his defence, and the commons were to reply; so that in all probability the judges and the wit- nesses, the accusers and the accused, would be all swept away by the hand of Time before the trial could arrive at its legal termination. The com- mon sense of mankind revolted at this procedure. It appeared manifest to all, that this was not the mode in which human affairs could or ought to be conducted. The real merits of the cause were lost in the immensity of the detail. It was not to be expected or imagined that the public at large could pretend to form any judgment respecting it. This only without hesitation they inferred, that if Mr. Hastings was so criminal as he was re- presented, a short and simple statement of facts would suffice to prove his guilt. But Westmin- ster Hall was converted into a LYCEUM, a school of eloquence, and all was seen confused and mag- nified through the mist of rhetorical declamation- The house of commons had indeed originally pro- posed that the lords should decide separately upon GEORGE Ilf. 319 each article, which misjht doubtless have tended BOOK XXI IL considerably to shorten the proceedings ; but this v^-v-*l* 1 '"Oft the counsel for the defendant objected to, as an un- fair and partial mode of determining upon the merits of so complicated a case, and in which many of the articles of impeachment were so intimately connected. And the peers resolved to hear the WHOLE evidence in support of all the charges of impeachment, previous to the defendant's entering upon his defence. Towards the close of the session, a resolution passed the house of commons, on the motion of Mr. Burke, " that the house do autho- rize the managers to insist only upon such and so many of the charges as may appear to them condu- cive to the obtaining speedy and effectual justice;** and major Scott was, by the order of the house, reprimanded by the speaker in his place, for as* cribing, in a certain libellous publication, the pro- crastination of the trial to the systematical artifices of the managers. On the 3 ist of March, 1 790, Mr.Dundas brought forward his annual statement of the debts and revenues of the East- India Company, as required by the Regulation Act. He represented, according to annual custom, their situation as in the highest degree prosperous and flourishing ; and, what is very remarkable, he did not conclude his eulogium of the present year \yith asking a loan to enable them to avoid the horrors of insolvency. Through 520 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the wise and equitable administration of lord XXIII. ^-Y-^O Cornwallis, the revenues of Bengal had been ad- 179O vancing durinsr the last year, without the aid of tViseadmi- m . ' istradonofany new imposition, from one million eight- hun- waiiis in dred thousand pounds to two millions one hundred India. and fifty thousand pounds. The present gover- nor-general, on his accession to his high office, had stated the situation of the provinces as most wretched and deplorable. In his dispatch to the Court of Directors, dated August 2, 1789, he says, " Independent of all other considerations, it will be of the utmost importance for promoting the solid interest of the Company, that the PRIN- CIPAL LANDHOLDERS and TRADERS in the interior parts of the country should be restored to such cir- cumstances as to enable them to support their fa- milies with decency, according to the customs of their several castes and religions. I am sorry to be obliged to say, that agriculture and internal commerce have for many years been gradually de- clining ; and that at present, excepting the class of shroffs and banians, who reside almost entirely in great towns, the inhabitants of these provinces were advancing hastily to a general state of poverty and wretchedness. In this description I must even include almost every zemindar in the Company's territories." And in his council-minute of Sep- tember 18, 1 789, his lordship writes, " I can safely assert, that ONE THIRD of the Company's territory is now a jungle, inhabited by WILD BEASTS I" GEORGE III. v . 321 One of the primary measures, both in con- BOOK XXIII templation and importance, of the new governor- ^v^O general was, to lease the lands in perpetuity at an equitable valuation to the actual occupants ; in allusion to which momentous transaction, his lord- ship thus forcibly expresses himself to the Direc- tors : " The security of property, and the certainty which each individual will NOW feel of being al- lowed to enjoy the fruits of his labors, must ope- rate uniformly as incitements to labor and in- dustry." This could not but be construed as a bitter satire on the conduct of his predecessor ; and as amounting to a very explicit acknowledg- ment of the misery and oppression which the in- habitants had long suffered under his capricious, haughty, and tyrannical domination. VOL. VIII. 323 BOOK XXIV, Dispute with Spain relative to the Settlement at Nootka Sound. Reluctance of France to support the Claims of Spain. Convent- tion between Great Britain and Spain signed at the Escurial. Anniversary of the French Revolution celebrated. Mr. Burke publishes calumnious Reflections on the French Revolution. The ^pernicious and fatal Consequences of the Reflections, Refactions answered by Thomas Paine. Wonderful Effects of Paine' s Pamphlet. New Parliament Attempt of Mr. Pitt to seize the unclaimed Dividends at the Bank. Debate on the Pendency of Mr. Hastings'* Impeachment. Catholic Toleration Act passed. Mr. Fox's Motion for a Bill to ascertain the Rights of Juries, Mr. Willerforce's Motion for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade. Bill for establishing a Constitution in Canada. Alarming Dis- pute with Russia. Formidable Opposition in Parliament. Mr, Pitt compelled to disgraceful Retractations. State of Affairs in France. Church and King- Riots at Birmingham. Session of Parliament Flourishing State of the Nation. Mr. Whltbread's Motion of Censure respecting Russia. Mr. Wilberforce' s second Motion of Abolition. Insidious Conduct of the House of Lords. Mr. Fox's Motion for a Repeal of the Penal Lavs. Mr. Whit- bread's Motion of Enquiry into the Birmingham Riots. Mr. Fox's Libel Bill passed into a Law. Act for the Relief of the Scottish Episcopalians. Society of the Friends of the People in- stituted. Royal Proclamation for the Suppression of Sedition. State of Affairs in India. State of Affairs in France. Amicable Overtures of the French Court rejected. Deposition of the King of France. Injurious Decree of the Convention. Infamous / y2 324. HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. vaison of Poland by the Russians. Detestable Perfidy ofihe King of Prussia. King of Sweden assassinated. English Ambassador recalledfrom France. Unsolicited Offer of Assistance to the States General. Terrors of Innovation Associations formed. Royal Proclamation Militia embodied. Parliament convened 'A Plot in Disguise. Defection of the Alarmists. Mr. Fox's Motion for a Negotiation with France negatived. Mr. Dundas's rash and confident Prediction. Ineffectual Efforts of the Executive Council of France to avert the War. French Ambassador ordered to de- part the Kingdom. Insults and Injuries offered to France. Eng- lish Government at length proposes to negotiate. War declared Ly France against England and Holland* I- N the month of April Mr. Pitt presented, as XXIV. usual, his statement of the national revenue and expenditure ; and it was very consolatory to the with Spain public to be informed that the receipt of the Ex- relative to * * the settle- chequer had surpassed that of the year preceding Nootka in the sum of half a million ; and more so to be Sound. told that still greater accessions might reasonably be hoped from the uninterrupted enjoyment of the inestimable blessings of peace. It therefore ex. cited peculiar astonishment, when, in about a fort- night from this period, viz. May jth, 1790, a royal message was delivered by the minister, announcing a state of things which bore the. undisguised and menacing aspect of war. To elucidate this matter, it is necessary to men* tion that the celebrated circumnavigator COOK,* * It is impossible, on the incidental mention of a name so famous, not to pause for a moment, in order to pay to his me.- GEORGE III. 325 in his last voyage of discovery, touching at divers BOOK ports on the western coast of North America, pur- ^v > chased from the natives a number of valuable furs bearing a high price in the Chinese market. This branch of commerce proving very lucrative, a spot of ground was, in the year 1788, procured from the Indians, and a regular establishment, defended by a slight fortification, formed at a place called mory the passing tribute of applause. What the combined efforts of former ages had left doubtful was at length ascer- tained by the skill, courage, and perseverance, of COOK. Those grand geographical problems, the existence of a southern con- tinent, and the practicability of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are nowbecome geographical chimseras. The unfortunate event by which this great navigator, like his renowned predecessor Magellan, lost his life in an encounter with the savages of an island in the Indian ocean, has been celebrated in a most beautiful elegy, by one of the first poeti- cal geniuses of the age Miss Seward. The lines expressive of the anxious impatience of his widowed consort, as yet un- conscious of the loss she had sustained, for the return of him for whose safety she had preferred her daily and nightly vows, are peculiarly striking and emphatic : * But ah ! aloft on Albion's rocky steep, That frowns incumbent o'er the boiling deep, Solicitous and sad a softer form Eyes the lone flood, and deprecates the storm. Ill-fated matron ! for, alas ! in vain Thy eager glances wander o'er the main. 'Tis the vex'd billows that insurgent rave Their white foam silvers yonder distant wave ; 'Tis not his sails thy husband comes no more : His bones now whiten an accursed shore !' 326 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK Nootka Sound, situated about the 5oth degree v YTV" vJ^rO of north latitude. This being regarded by the Spaniardr. as a flagrant encroachment on their ex- clusive rights of sovereignty, the Princessa a Spa- nish man of war, dispatched for this purpose by the viceroy of Mexico, in the following spring, seized without ceremony upon the fort, and cap- tured such English vessels, the Iphigenia, Argonaut, &c. as were found trading on the coast. At the same time the Spanish commandant, hoisting the national standard, declared that the whole line of coast from Cape Horn to the 6oth degree of north latitude belonged to the king of Spain. After some delay, and much loss and vexation to the proprietors, the captured vessels were restored by order of the viceroy, on the supposition, as he de- clared, " that nothing but ignorance of the rights of Spain could have induced the merchants in question to attempt an establishment on that coast." Of these particulars' the court of London was informed by the Spanish ambassador so long since as the i oth of February ; and his excellency at the same time requested " that measures might be taken for preventing his Britannic majesty's sub- jects from frequenting those coasts, and from car- rying on their fisheries in the seas contiguous to the Spanish continent, as derogatory to the incon- testible rights of the crown of Spain." This was GEORGE III. 327 the exact counterpart of the memorable affair of BOOK 3CXIV Falkland Islands, which had so nearly involved v^-v-O Europe in a war twenty years before. The mi- nister of that day, had he continued in power, would doubtless have avoided striking a second time upon the same rock; but it has been observed, not without too much colour of plausibility, from facts like the present, that although individuals gain wisdom by experience, nations do not. The famous dispute between the courts of Madrid and London, relative to the Scottish settlement on the Isthmus of Darien, in the reign of king William, was of a nature exactly analogous to the more re- cent ones of Falkland Islands and Nootka Sound ; and, if it were possible for statesmen to profit by the errors of their predecessors, exhibited a most useful and instructive lesson. The claims of Spain, in relation to her rights of dominion and sovereignty in America, were doubt- less in the highest degree chimerical, and could per- haps be equalled in extravagance only by the claims of Great Britain. By the treaty of 1 763, the river Mississippi, flowing from north to south in a direct course of 1500 miles, was made the perpetual boundary of the two empires ; and the whole country to the west of that vast river belonged to his Catholic majesty, by just as valid a tenure as the country eastward of the river to the king of Eng- land. Exclusive of this recent and decisive line 328 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK of demarcation, by which the" relative and political XXIV. v^-v^J rights of both nations were clearly ascertained, the Spanish court referred to antient treaties, by which the rights of the crown of Spain were ac- knowledged in their full extent by Great Britain. Death of Charles III. king of Spain, died December 1788, Charles III. ... . , .. kimr of and his son Charles IV. the succeeding sovereign, cSn f C confiding in the justice of his claims, offered with ' dignified candor to submit the decision of this question to any one of the kings of Europe, leav- ing the choice wholly to his Britannic majesty. " It is sufficient (says the Spanish minister, count Flo- rida Blanca) for the Spanish monarch, that a crowned head, from full information of the facts, shall decide as he thinks just ; adding, that on a late application to the court of St. Petersburg, in relation to several encroachments on the part of the Russians, the empress had given the most positive orders that no settlement should be form- ed on that line of coast. As to the non-occupancy of the particular spot in question by the Spaniards, the court of Madrid justly observed, that such a plea, if admitted, would tend, by the incongruous intermixture of settlements, to the utter annihila- tion of all definite and permanent boundaries." The reply of the court of London to the me- morial of the Spanish ambassador was high and haughty. " The act of violence mentioned in the memorial necessarily suspended any discussion. GEORGE III. te atonement had . n proceeding so injurious to Great Britain. till an adequate atonement had been made for a BOOK XXIV. On the statement of these facts in the royal message, the house unanimously joined in an ad- dress to the king, assuring his majesty of the de- termination of his faithful commons to afford his majesty the most zealous and affectionate support in such measures as may become requisite for maintaining the dignity of his majesty's crown, and the essential interests of his dominions. A vote of credit passed the house for the sum of one million j and vigorous military and naval prepa- rations were made in both kingdoms, in the con- templation of an immediate declaration of war. It must be acknowledged that the hostile pro* cedure of Spain had reduced the English ministry to a difficult dilemma. The value of the settle- ment at Nootka, in- a commercial and national view, was beneath all calculation of insignificance ; and it argued culpable inattention in the British ministers, not to have been better and earlier ap- prised of the extent of the real or imaginary rights of Spain, whose jealousy at the slightest infringe- ment upon those rights was sufficiently notorious. This extreme irritability was the more pardonable, as Spain had ever with the strictest honor abstain- ed from all violations of the similar claims and pretensions of other countries. A moment's re- flection must have evinced, that a British settle- S30 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ment on the coast of California must be eventually XXIV. v>-v-O productive of a serious contention with the court of Madrid : and a slight degree of discretion would have sufficed to obviate this ground of national quarrel. But in consequence of the rash step taken by Spain, the NATIONAL HONOR was now at stake : and Mr. Grey, in moving for papers rela- tive to this transaction, justly observed, " that national honor was not, as some represented it, a visionary thing ; a nation without honor was a nation without power. In losing this inestimable attribute, it inevitably lost the genuine spring of its spirit, energy, and action. Every nation there- fore ought to be careful of its honor ; to be careful lest by one mean submission it encouraged an at- tack upon the dignity of its character that best security for the preservation of its peace." These high and elevated sentiments, suggested by the generous ardor of youth, Mr. Burke'slong and eventful experience seemed to regard as sus- ceptible nevertheless of some modification. " He hoped that the national honor would not be found incompatible with the means of amicable accom- modation. As we never ought to go to war for a profitable wrong, so we ought never to go to war for an unprofitable right. He therefore trusted that the intended armament would be considered not as a measure calculated to terminate the war happily, but to carry on the negotiation vigo- GEORGE III. SSI rously. He wished the war might be avoided. BOOK He had seen three wars, and we were gainers by v^-vO none of them. Our ability and resources were doubtless great ; but then did a country prove its magnanimity most clearly, when she manifested her moderation to be proportionate to her power. What indeed had we to contend for ? If all the distant territories of Spain were thrown into the scale of England, we should, like Spain, be only the weaker for our acquisitions." On the loth of June, 1 790, the king terminated the session, and in his speech signified the proba- bility of a speedy dissolution of the present parlia- ment ; assuring them in handsome terms of " the deep and grateful sense which he entertained of that affectionate and unshaken loyalty, that uni- form and zealous regard for the true principles of the constitution, that unremitted attention to the public happiness and prosperity, which had inva- riably directed all their proceedings :" and on the day following the parliament was dissolved by proclamation. Conscious of her inability to contend alone with the power of England, Spain had in an early stage of the negotiation applied to the court of France, to know how far she could depend, in present cir- cumstances, upon the fulfilment of the conditions of the family compact, in case of a rupture with Great Britain. 332 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK From the period of the kind's compulsive re- e XXIV. ^v-**~> moval to Paris, no symptoms of opposition to the will of the nation had appeared ; and by seeming cheerfully to acquiesce in the successive decrees of the Assembly, he had in some measure recovered, what of all things is most difficult to regain LOST CONFIDENCE. For this purpose, and like other measures of deep deceit, it for a time answered the purpose the king repaired, of his own spon- taneous motion, in solemn form to the Assembly, at the beginning of the month of February, 1790, in order to testify his inviolable attachment to the principles of the new constitution. " Every plan (said the monarch, in the speech delivered by him on this memorable occasion,) that may have a ten- dency to shake the principles of the constitution, every scheme designed to overturn them or to weaken their salutary influence, will have no other effect than to introduce the terrible evils of dis- cord ; and even supposing the success of such an attempt against my people and me, the result would deprive us, without furnishing a compensation, of the various advantages of which a new order of things exhibits the prospect. Let us give our- selves up with good faith to the hopes that we ought to conceive Continue your labors : let it be known that your monarch applauds them. I should have many losses to recount, but I find my happiness in that of the nation. From the bottom GEORGE III. 333 of my heart do I express this sentiment. I will BOOK XXIV maintain with my whole power the constitution, v^^-vO the principles of which have been sanctioned by the general will in concurrence with my order. May this day, in which your monarch comes to re-unite himself to you, effect in like manner the re-union of all. Let us all from this day profess but one opinion, one interest, one will, in our at- tachment to the new constitution, and an ardent desire for the peace, happiness, and prosperity of France.'* This speech was received with un- bounded acclamations of joy and gratitude. The king was hailed as the RESTORER of the GALLIC LIBERTY, and the hall of the Assembly resounded on his departure with applauses and benedictions. In the plan of the new constitution, though much was detracted from the prerogative of the mo- narch, much was retained : and the authority of the king of France was still amply sufficient for the real purposes of government. He was acknow- ledged as the sole depositary of the executive power as the supreme head of the general admi- nistration of the kingdom. In virtue of his sanc- tion, the acts of the legislative body acquired the force of law. He was constituted not the nominal merely, but efficient chief of the army and of the navy. The external safety of the state, and the conservation of its rights and privileges in relation to foreign powers, were confided to him. He dis- 334 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK posed at his pleasure of the great offices of state, xxtv. ^-^^ He appointed, recalled, and received ambassadors; and he was the grand medium of intercourse with foreign nations. He was addressed by the august titles of SIRE and MAJESTY ; and to maintain the dignity and splendor of the crown, he had a civil list revenue of one million two hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum.* Where then, after all the senseless clamors of the enemies of this revo- lution, was as yet the mighty injury the monarch had sustained ? That the constitution itself, like all other human things, was not free from imperfec- tion, may without difficulty be admitted; but the subsequent misfortunes of France originated from causes which bore no analogy to those defects : they were owing not to the constitution, whether well or ill constructed, but to the opposition made to its establishment. Reiuctnnc* The count de Montmorin having laid, by order to support of the king, the memorial of the Spanish court be-. the claims / i , , , . . . of Spain, tore the Assembly, this gave rise to a very mterest- * 'When the decree was pending (June 1790) relative to the civil list, the Assembly sent a deputation to the king to re- quest that -he would himself fix the amount of the sum to be appropriated to that purpose ; and they expressly charged the president of the Assembly, who was appointed head of the de- putation, to beseech his majesty to consult on this occasion less his spirit of oeconomy than the dignity of the French na-; tion, which required that the throne of the monarch should be supported with lustre.' Memoira de GEORGE III. 335 ing report from the Diplomatic Committee, pre- sented (August 1 790) to the Assembly by the count de Mirabeau. " If we take a survey (say the re- porters) of the object in dispute between the courts of London and Madrid, we can hardly suppose that the peace will be interrupted. The territory in question between the two powers, in fact, be- longs to neither : it is the property of the inhabi- tants whom nature originally placed there. This line of distinction appears a little more consonant to truth than that marked out by the pope : and these people, distant from us as they are, if they are oppressed, are they not our allies ? Shall we do so much injustice to the character of two en- lightened nations, as to suppose they would lavish their blood and treasure for the acquisition of so distant, so barren a spot of ground ?" With some hesitation, and many high compliments to the English nation, the report comes at length to the conclusion, " that it would not be just or honor- able to annul the solemn engagements subsisting between Spain and France, at an instant when Spain is threatened with the same dangers which she had repeatedly warded off from them." An ardent wish for the establishment of permanent peace and cordial amity with England is, notwith- standing, the predominant sentiment in this cele- brated report. " Perhaps (say they) the moment is approaching when LIBERTY, triumphant in both 336 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK hemispheres, shall accomplish the wish of philo- v^-vO sophy, by delivering the human species from the 179Q. necessity of war. What is it but an insidious system of politics that has hitherto represented as our rival a nation whose steps we have followed, whose brilliant example has been a light to direct us in the attainment of our liberties, and with whom so many new motives lead us to cultivate a good understanding? Let us not for a moment believe that England is disposed to take advan- tage of our transient commotions to prevent the development of the principles which she has taught us. In her the attempt would be sacrilege in us sacrilege to believe it." Notwithstanding the vote of the National As- sembly for an immediate augmentation of the naval force, the court of Madrid plainly saw the reluctance of the French nation to engage in a war with England, and, yielding to necessity, complied first with the harsh demand of previous restitution and indemnification ; and at length, on the ad of Convention October, I7QO, a convention was signed at the between Great Bri- Escurial, by which every point in dispute was con- Spain sign- ceded by Spain. The settlement at Nootka was restored ; the free navigation and right of fishery in the Southern Pacific were confirmed to Britain j a full liberty of trade and even of settlement was granted to all the north-west coasts of Ame- rica, beyond the most northerly of the Spanish GEORGE III. 337 settlements, unaccompanied, however, by any for- BOOK XXIV. mal renunciation of their right of sovereignty. v-*~r-O And the two powers were, on the other hand, equally restrained from attempting any settlement nearer to Cape Horn than the most southerly of the settlements actually formed by Spain. A very wise article was inserted likewise in this treaty : That in all future cases of complaint, or supposed infraction of the present convention, no act of vio- lence shall be committed, but an exact report shall be made of the affair to the respective courts, who will terminate such difference amicably. Thus ended a dispute frivolous in its origin, but which seemed in its progress to threaten very se- rious consequences, and which cost Great Britain the sum of three millions in warlike preparations ; though this expence might have been, with great advantage to the general interests of the parties concerned, avoided, by submitting the whole of the dispute, in the mode proposed by Spain, to amicable arbitration. And so insignificant was the object in contest, that no one either in or out of parliament has, so far as appears, thought it worth while to enquire whether restoration has really been made in the mode prescribed by the treaty or not,* * It is certain, nevertheless, from the most authentic subse- quent information, that the Spanish flag flying at the fort and settlement of Nootka was never struck, and that the whole VOL, vui. z HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BO CMC r rhe ANNIVERSARY of the REVOLUTION in ^^y^^ France, which was dated from the fall of the 1790. vorsa- Bastille (July 14), was celebrated throughout the - country, and more especially at Paris, with great ceiehrated. magnificence. The king assisted in person, and took a solemn oath to maintain the constitution. The National Assembly and the armed citizens re- peated it amidst the acclamations of innumerable spectators ; and the whole kingdom, with one voice, and almost at the same moment, swore to live free or die. In the genuine spirit of antient Greece, was raised on the site of the Bastille a su- perb column sacred to liberty : and in the Grecian spirit of citizenship and equality, a decree of the territory has been virtually relinquished by Great Britain a measure, however politically expedient, which involves in it a severe reflection upon the minister who could permit so invi- dious an encroachment upon the antient and acknowledged rights of the crown of Spain. The whole conduct of the Bri- tish court in this business appeared so arrogant and arbitrary, that the ablest politicians were deceived by it. The count de Segur, ambassador at Berlin, by a mistaken refinement, af- firms, " that England, profiting by the troubles by which France was exhausted, fitted out a numerous fleet, and under the flimsy pretext of reclaiming some contraband ships taken by the Spaniards on the west coast of North America, threat- ened and denounced war against Spain. But the cabinet of London (he asserts), intimidated by the energetic and unex- pected resolution of the National- Assembly to enforce the fa- mily compact, desisted from its ambitious projects." Histo-y of Frederic William II. vJ. 11. p. 13 171. 339 Assembly had recently passed, abolishing all arti- BOOK XXIV ficial distinctions of rank all the Gothic institu- ^->^O tions of chivalry and knighthood, ribbands, crosses, armorial bearings, and hereditary titles of honor.* In ENGLAND also, the French Revolution was com- memorated in the metropolis, and various other parts, with great festivity and the most cordial gratulation the characteristic generosity of the people of England displaying itself upon this occa- sion in a manner very conspicuous and pleasing. * After the reduction of the citadel of Syracuse by Timo- leon, that great manj as we are told, did not spare the place on account of its beauty and magnificence : but, on the con- trary, he invited the Syracusans by public proclamation to join in the destruction of the bulwark of despotism ; and, the building being levelled with the ground, he erected a COM- MON HALL there for the seat of judicature, at once to gratify the citizens and to shew that a popular government should be elevated on the ruins of tyranny. When, after thus gloriously re-establishing the liberty of Sicily, an envious and factious demagogue preferred a public accusation against him in the assembly of the people, who could not suppress the emotions of their indignation, he immediately stilled the tumult, by declaring, "that he had voluntarily undergone so many labors and dangers, that the meanest Syracusan might have recourse when he pleased to the laws :" adding " that he could not sufficiently express his gratitude to the GODS, in permitting him to see all the Syracusans enjoy the liberty of saying what they thought fit." Plutarch. Let the admirers of such dis- tinctions declare what TITLE could add dignity to the name of TIMOLEON. Z 2 840 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Soon after this transaction, Mr. Burke, who had xxiv. . . . > r - v^v^ m the last session uttered so furious an invective against the French revolution in the house of corn- Mr. Burke publishes mons, still more transported with rage and rancor calumnious .'.,, c . . . , reflections at the high degree or prosperity it had now attain- French re- ed, published a book entitled " Reflections on the French Revolution," written with a force of elo- quence and energy of declamation calculated to produce the most powerful effects. The object of this elaborate treatise was two-fold : i. To expose to the public resentment and indignation those persons who had in this country manifested their approbation of the revolution in France ; and 2. To place that revolution itself in an odious and abominable light, as an event to be deplored, de- tested, and deprecated. And, in an Appendix to this work, he with most atrocious and unex- ampled malignity invites and exhorts all Christian princes to make, what he styles, " a common cause with a just prince dethroned by rebels and trai- tors." The deluded people of France, to be rescued from the evils they had brought upon themselves, must, as he affirmed, be SUBDUED. And he inti- mates, that this war, or crusade, is to be conduct- ed on principles different from any former one. " The mode of civilized war (says he) will not be practised ; they must look for no modified hosti- lity j all which is not battle will be MILITARY EXE- GEORGE III. 311 CUTION." The members of the Revolution Society. BOOK XXIV and the other commemorators of the French revo- v-*-v^-> ..,.., . . r i 179 - lution, he inveighs against in terms or the most unqualified abuse ; and he charges Dr. Price in particular with having fulminated in his revolution sermon principles little short of treason and rebel- lion. " His doctrines (says Mr. Burke) affect our constitution in its vital parts. He affirms that his majesty is almost the only lawful king in the world, because the only one who owes his crown to the choice of his people. As to the kings of the world, all of whom, except ONE, this arch-pontiff of the rights of men, with all the plenitude and with more than the boldness of the papal deposing power in its meridian fervor of the twelfth cen- tury, puts into one sweeping clause of ban and anathema, and proclaims usurpers by circles of lon- gitude and latitude over the whole globe, it be- hoves them to consider how they admit into their territories these apostolic missionaries, who are to tell their subjects they are not lawful kings. No- thing can be more untrue, than that the crown of this realm is held by his majesty by the choice of the people. Whilst the legal conditions of the COMPACT of SOVEREIGNTY are performed, he holds his crown (as Mr. Burke virtually affirms) in COX- TEMPT of their choice :*" /. e. according to this * The words of Mr. Burke are, literally," the choice of the Revolution Society." But if his majesty reigns in contempt 1790. 342 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. novel and extraordinary mode of reasoning/ in conforming his conduct to the conditions of the national choice, he reigns in actual contempt of of the choice of one part of the people, he reigns, doubtless, by a parity of reason, in contempt of every part. As this ec- centric writer and politician has so grossly misrepresented the principles of antlent and genuine IVhiggism, it will not be impro- per to quote, from lord Molesworth's Prefatory Introduction to Hottoman'sFranco-Gallia, an extract comprising the ideas of that distinguished and celebrated nobleman of a true Whig. " My notions of a Whig, (says lord Molesworth) I mean of a real Whig FOR THE NOMINAL ARE WORSE THAN ANY SORT OF MEN is, that he is one who is exactly for keeping up to the strictness of the true old Gothic constitution under the three estates of king, lords, and commons ; the legislature being seated in all three together the executive entrusted with the first, BUT ACCOUNTABLE TOTHEWHOLE BODY OFTHEPEOPLE IN CASE OF MAL-ADMINISTRATION. A true Whig is not afraid of the name of a COMMON WEAL TH'S-M AN, because so many foolish people, who know not what it means, run it down. Queen Elizabeth, and many of our best princes, were not scru- pulous of calling our government a Commonwealth, even in their solemn speeches to parliament. It is certainly as much a TREASON and REBELLION against this constitution, and the known laws, in a PRINCE to endeavour to break through them, as it is in the people to rise against him whilst he keeps within their bounds, and does his DUTY. Our constitution is a go- vernment of LAWS, not of PERSONS. Allegiance and protec- tion are obligations that cannot subsist separately. When one fails, the other falls of course. The true etymology of the word loyalty is an entire obedience to the prince in all his com- mands according to LAW; that is, to the laws themselves, to which we owe both an active and a passive obedience. WHIG- GEORGE III. 34 their choice. Dr. Price having asserted the abs- BOOK 5C5CIV tract right of the people, as exemplified at the v^-v-O Revolution, to depose their governors for miscon- duct, and frame a government for themselves Mr. Burke says, " the people of England utterly GISM is not circumscribed and confined to any one or two of the religions now professed in the world, but diffuses itself among all. All penal acts of parliament for opinions purely religious, which have no influence on the state, are so many encroachments upon liberty. Why maynotallbe citizens of the world ? A right Whig looks upon frequent parliaments as such a fundamental part of the constitution, that even no 'parliament can part with this right. He thinks that a waste or a desert has no claim to be represented. High Whiggism is for annual parliaments, and low Whiggism for triennial with annual meetings. I leave it to every man's judgment which of these is least liable to corruption ! No man can be a sincere lover of liberty, that is not for increasing and com- municating that blessing to all people. And therefore the giving or restoring it, not only to our brethren of Scotland or Ireland, lut even to FRANCE itself, were it in our power, is one of the PRINCIPAL ARTICLES of WHIGGISM. A right Whig cannot satisfy himself with any ofihefidi h dl^tinctLtu trumped up of late years, but deals upon the square; and plainly owns that the exercise of an arbitrary illegal power would incapa- citate king James or king William, or ANY OTHKR KING, when- ever the public has power to hinder it. A Whig is against the raising or keeping up a standing army in time of peace. LASTLY, the supporting of parliamentary credit, employing the poor, suppressing idlers, maintaining the, liberty of the press, are all articles of my Whiggish belief; and if all these together amount to a COMMONWEALTH'S-MAN, I shall never be ashamed of the name." M HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK disclaim it ; they will resist the practical assertion v^v~^ of it with their lives and fortunes." But how the 1790. , . . . people can, in any given or possible circumstances, resist their own act, is a paradox which Mr. Burke attempts not to solve. Certain it is that Dr. Price advanced, in this famous discourse, no other prin- ciples than those which Mr. LOCKE had urged a hundred years before in defence of the title of king William and the validity of the Revolution government. Amongst innumerable passages to the same purpose, a single citation may well suffice in vindication of a doctrine resting on the immov- able foundation of common sense. " Though in a constituted commonwealth (says that immortal writer) standing upon its own basis, and acting according to its own nature, that is, acting for the preservation of the community, there can be but one supreme power, which is the legislative, to which all the rest are and must be subordinate ; yet, the legislative being only a FIDUCIARY POWER, to act for certain ends, there remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the le- gislative, when they find the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them. For all power given with trust for the attaining an end, being limited by that end whenever that end is manifestly ne- glected or opposed, the trust must necessarily be forfeited, and the power devolve into the hands of those that gave it, who may place it anew where GEORGE III. 345 they shall think best for their safety and security. And thus the community perpetually retains a supreme power of saving themselves from the at- tempts and designs even of their legislators, when* ever they shall be so foolish or so wicked as to lay and carry on designs against the liberties and pro- perties of the subject. If they who say this hypo- thesis lays a foundation for rebellion, mean that it may occasion civil wars or intestine broils to tell the people that they are absolved from obedience when illegal attempts are made upon their liberties and properties, they may as well say, upon the same ground, that honest men may not oppose robbers or pirates, because this may occasion dis- order or bloodshed. I desire it may be consider- ed what kind of peace there will be in the world, which is to be maintained only for the benefit of robbers and oppressors. Polyphemus's den gives us a perfect pattern of such a peace, such a govern- ment, wherein Ulysses and his companions had nothing to do but quietly to suffer themselves to be devoured. Are the people to be blamed if they have the sense of rational creatures, and can think of things no otherwise than as they find and feel them ? And is it not rather their fault who put things in such a posture, that they would not have them thought as they are ? But whether the mis- chief hath oftener begun in the people's wanton- V %. 346 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ness or in the rulers* insolence. I leave to impartial XXIV. o^v^-' history to determine."* 1790. * Undoubtedly the point which Mr. Burke, in his successive publications, has with most plausibility and force contested, is that which relates to the submission due from die minority to the will of the majority of the members of a civil commu- nity. Unless a nation be self-governed, neither civil nor politi- cal liberty can, in a clear or proper sense, be said to subsist. And this seems to imply, that all the members of a commu- nity have an equal inherent right of suffrage, as to all ques- tions which concern the body politic and that the opinions of the majority should invariably prevail. Theoretically speak- ing, this is indeed a just and noble principle, and exhibits the most perfect model of civil society : but then this principle is so ill adapted to the actual situation of things, and to the im- perfection, not to say the corruption and depravity, of human nature, that it can only be assented to, in practice, in a very qualified sense, and with numerous and important modifica- tions. Hence arise the capital difficulties which occur, in treating on the science of government. It would be the highest extravagance to maintain that the majority have a right to dispense with the eternal laws of equity or justice ; or that the few are bound, by any ties of political morality, to submit to the tyranny of the many. It would be also equally absurd to affirm, that all the members of a community, in every possible state of society, are qualified to exercise the right of suffrage. Government is founded on the basis of utility, and its powers must be limited by, and made commensurate with, its pur- poses. If the minority are in actual possession of the consti- tuted authorities of government, and if they have good ground to believe that they cannot be safely transferred to the majo- rity, they are perfectly justified in withholding them still GEORGE III. S4fr From the date of the fatal publication of Mr. BOOK XXIV Burke, who seemed ambitious to signalize himself ^~v^> i i i 179 - by setting not merely a palace or a temple, but , - . i i i Pernicious the world itself on fire, the nation was divided and fatal into two violent and openly hostile parties. The Tory faction, which had hitherto scarcely dared to whisper their dislike now, under the sanction of Mr. Burke's authority, became bold and clamo- rous in their vociferations. And the principles advanced by Mr. Burke, ever grateful to the ears of princes, at once obliterated all past offences, s. considering themselves as fiduciary trustees, who have no right to retain the monopoly whenever it becomes safe to surrender it. But who, it may be asked, is to be the judge when the minority may exercise exclusive power, or when, supposing their exclusion from power, they may justly refuse submission to the will of the majority ? To this, no other answer can be given, than that the minority themselves, and each individual included in it, must, in all the vicissitudes of situation, act according to the dictates of their own understandings. In such cases, it is in vain to search for any precise rule of judg- ment or of action. He who opposes the will of the majority of a community doubtless takes upon him to do that which very weighty and important reasons only can justify. He iacurs at the same time a great risk, and a great responsibility. But to deny the right, in an abstract or modified sense, because it is liable to abuse, would be preposterous, and must tend to confound all moral and political distinctions and limitations. Upon this principle the Huguenots of France would be cri- minal in having recourse to arms, after the massacre of St. Bartholomew ; and the Moriscoes of Spain would merit pu- nishment by resisting the horrible edict of expulsion. HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK and placed him in the foremost rank of favorites XXIV. , v^-v^/ and courtiers. This extraordinary production gave rise to Reflections numberless replies, of which by far the most me- answered by Thomas morablc was that written by Thomas Paine, the author of the famous pamphlet styled COMMON SENSE, which, by its almost magical effect on the minds of the people of America, at a most impor- tant crisis, paved the way for the declaration of independency. His present work, RIGHTS OF MAN, was written with no less power of intellect and force of language, and made a correspondent, perhaps an indelible impression upon the public mind. Not content with pointing out and ex- posing with the most sarcastic severity the absur- dities and misrepresentations of Mr. Burke not content with painting in just and striking colors the abuses and corruptions of the existing govern- ment he with daring and unhallowed hand at- tacked the principles of the constitution itself, describing it in terms the most indecent, as ra- dically vicious and tyrannical ; and reprobating the introduction of aristocracy or monarchy, under whatever modifications, into any form of government, as a flagrant usurpation and invasion of the unalienable rights of man. A few detached quotations from this famous publication may serve as specimens, to gratify curiosity, of the wonder-working power with GEORGE in. -which It cannot be denied to have been written. BOOK XXIV. " The countries of the Old World have been v^vO 1790. long harassed by the quarrels and intrigues of their governments. 'Age after age has rolled away for no other purpose than to behold their wretchedness. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretences for revenue and taxa- tion; it watches prosperity as its prey. All monarchical governments are military War is their trade, and plunder their object Wearied with human butchery, they sit down to rest, and call it peace. If we would delineate human na- ture with a baseness of heart and hypocrisy of countenance that reflection would shudder at and humanity disown, it is kings, courts, and cabinets, that must sit for the portrait. War is the pharo table of governments, and nations the dupes of the game. Government on the old system is an assumption of power for the aggrandizement of itself on the new, a delegation of power for the common benefit of society. Monarchy is the master-fraud which shelters all others. By ad- mitting a participation of the spoil, it makes itself friends ; and when it ceases to do this, it will cease to be the idol of courtiers. There is a morning of reason rising upon man, on the subject of govern- ment, that has not appeared before. The trade of courts is beginning to be understood ; and the af- fectation of mystery, with all the artificial sorcery V . 350 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. by which they imposed upon mankind, is on the decline. It has received its death-wound ; and though it may linger, it will expire. No question has arisen within the records of History, that presses with the importance of the present. It is not whether this or that party shall be in or out ; or Whig or Tory, or High or Low Church, shall prevail ; but whether man shall inherit his rights, and universal civilization shall take place. When it shall be said in any country in the world, ' My poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found amongst them my gaols are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive the rational world is my friend, because I am the friend of its happiness' when these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and go- vernment. When we survey (says this temerari- ous writer) the wretched condition of man under the monarchical and hereditary systems of govern- ment, dragged from his home by one power, or driven by another, and impoverished by taxes more than by enemies, it becomes evident that those systems are bad, and that a GENERAL REVO- LUTION in the principle and construction of go- vernments is necessary." Wonderful This pamphlet unfortunately appearing at a Paine's time when a large proportion of the community, pamphlet. and those the most zealously attached to liberty, GEORGE III. 33 were, from causes already specified, in a state of BOOK XXIV. oreat irritation and discontent ; and the book, v^^v^> . 1790. notwithstanding its absurd and mischievous po- litical positions, being written in a style and manner which " came home to men's business and bosoms," innumerable converts were made to its general system, and infinite pains were taken to circulate it amongst the body of the people. Political institutions were also instituted in every part of the kingdom, professing to have in view the reform of the constitution, but which with too much reason were suspected really to aim at its subversion. Such were the lamentable consequences resulting from the rashness and folly of Mr. Burke whose boasted panacea operated upon the body-politic as a most deadly poison ; and which served to prove that learning, parts, and eloquence, may subsist in the highest perfec- tion, without being accompanied with a single particle of wisdom.* * Long before the appearance of Mr. Burke 's publication, the sentiments of the monarch were well known to be hostile in the highest degree to the French revolution, Inthe secret repository of the unfortunate Louis was found a letter from M. de Calonne to the French king, dated April 1790, in which the writer warns his sovereign not to suffer himself to be deceived as to the real views and inclinations of the king of Great Britain. In order to satisfy the doubts of the king of France upon this subject, he states that he had applied personally to Mr. Pitt, leaving in the hands of the, minister, and by his desire, a note, which V v HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK That the stupendous effect produced by the XXIV *^vO " Rights of Man" was entirely owing to that 179O. X ... , 1*11 state or irritation and resentment which the wretched policy of the administration had recent-. ly excited, is apparent from the consideration that the same anti-monarchical principles were fourteen or fifteen years before inculcated with equal force and virulence in the pamphlet styled " Common Sense," without making in this country any visible impression j while in America, where the public mind was in a proper state to receive these doc- trines, it operated as a sort of intellectual gun- powder, causing an instantaneous explosion, which laid the whole fabric of monarchy in ruins. New par- The new parliament assembled on the 2 cth of li amen t assembled. November (1790). In his opening speech the was afterwards put into the hands of the king of Great Bri- tain. " J'etois bien sur (says M. de Calonne) que sa majeste Britannique, qui plus d'une fois tn'avoit temoigne le vif interet qu'elle prenoit a la position de votre majeste, s'empresseroit de detruireles doutes qu'on veut vous inspirer sur ses disposi- tions. Mon attente n'a pas etc trompee. George III. a charge M. Pitt non seulement de reitcrer de sa part les assurances deja donnees a ceux qui semblent ne les avoir pas transmises fort exactement, mais meme de m'ecrire a ce sujet une lettre conue dans des termes les plus precis, et dont je puisse faire usage pour detromper votre majeste. J'ai 1'honneur de vous envoyer, sire, une copie certifiee de cette lettre de M. Pitt. Votre majeste y verra ce qu'elle doit attendre d'un monarque penetre de cette verite que votre cause est la cause de tcus les souverains, et qui est profondement indigne des traitemens qu'on vous a fait." Memoires de Mokville. GEORGE III. 353 kin? signified " his satisfaction that the differences BOOK . f . . xxiv. with Spam were brought to an amicable termi- v^-v->- 1790. nation. He observed, that since the last session of parliament a foundation had been laid for a pacifi- cation between Austria and the Porte that a sepa- rate peace had actually taken place between Russia and Sweden ; but that the war between Russia and the Porte still continued. The principles on which I have hitherto acted/' said the monarch, " will make me always desirous of employing the weight and influence of this country in contribut- ing to the restoration of general tranquillity." The terms of the convention with Spain were approved and ratified in both houses by great majorities but not unanimously. For the pa- pers and documents relative to the negotiation being partially withheld, Mr. Grey moved an adjournment, declaring " that without them it was impossible to know whether the late disputes were owing to the restless ambition and unjust claims of Spain, or to the rashness, presumption, and ignorance, of his majesty's ministers." In the upper house the marquis of Lansdown expressed his " determination not to join in a vote of; appro- bation of the conduct of ministers who'had per- mitted a set of unknown adventurers to fit out ships with fine names ^ and, under Portuguese colors and papers, to break through a system regarding VOL. VIII. A A 354- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. Spanish America which had been sanctioned by the policy of Europe for more than 200 years.'* Attempt of To defray the expence of the armament Mr. *the Pitt, with the laudable resolution to suffer no permanent increase of debt, proposed various the bank. t em p Orarv taxes, which would discharge the in- cumbrance in four years with the assistance of five hundred thousand pounds, which he had it in contemplation to take from the unclaimed divi- dends lying in the Bank of England, the amount of which he estimated at six hundred and sixty thousand pounds. This latter proposition excited a just alarm in all the great chartered companies, and in the commercial and mercantile world in general. It was strongly and ably opposed in the house by Mr. Fox, Mr. Thornton a bank director, and Mr. Samuel Whitbread, recently returned as member for the borough of Bedford a young man of great personal and mental accomplishments, of a disposition open, noble and ingenuous ; and whose ardor of mind, bordering on the enthusiasm of public virtue, was happily regulated by an ex- cellent understanding and correct judgment. It was urged, " that, agreeably to the original con- tract between the government and the public cre- ditors, the directors of the Bank are constituted trustees for the public creditor. When the money is once paid into the Bank it ceases to be public GEORGE III. 355 money, and is instantly converted into private E f" property ; which must there remain a sacred de- ^-v^ posit till it is claimed by the private individuals to whom it appertains. And even in case of the expiration of the charter of the Bank of England, the directors still remain a corporation by law, for the express purpose of executing their delegated trust. What mischief may not result from the admission of a power in government, arbitrarily to depart from the conditions of the contract ac- tually made with the public ? Under the very term unclaimed dividends is indeed veiled a gross fallacy. Exclusive of the dividends of the last three years, which are not properly unclaimed but merely unreceived dividends, the balance amounts scarcely to a fifth part of the sum which the minis- ter proposes to seize. If the recent and fluctuating balances of the Bank are thus liable to seizure, the minister may one day order the money to be paid into the Bank, and the next he may without any violation of public faith command it to be paid into the Exchequer. But in fact this is no other than a measure of injustice and violence, calculated to compel the Bank to relinquish their trust when the original and express purposes of it are evidently unaccomplished." After much he- sitation and contest, the minister consented, by way of compromise, to accept of a loan of five hun- dred thousand pounds from the Bank, without A A 2 356 HISTORY OF GREAT ^BRITAIN. BOOK interest, so long as a floating balance to that amount v-^v-O should remain in the hands of -the cashier. Debate on ^ n tne ! 7 tn of December, Mr. Burke moved, the pen- that the house do resolve itself into a commit- dency of Mr. Has- tee, to take into consideration the state of the im- tings s im- peachmeut. peachmcnt of Warren Hastings, esq." This being done, he made a second motion, " That an im- peachment by this house, in the name of the com- mons of Great Britain, against Warren Hastings, esq. for high crimes and misdemeanors, is still pending." From this proposition, the entire corps of lawyers in the house, with scarcely an excep- tion, declared their total dissent : and Mr. Er- skine, whose talents at the bar were of the highest rank, and who had in the general tenor of his practice distinguished himself by his zealous at- tachmcnt to the principles of the constitution, in an elaborate speech endeavoured to shew that, in consequence of the dissolution of parliament, the impeachment had abated ; and on this ground he was supported by Mr. -Hardinge, Mr. Mitford, and sir John Scott. Upon this great question, in the decision of which the honor, the dignity, and the authority of the house were so deeply involved, the Speaker with great propriety rose to deliver his opinion. " If the maxim laid down by the lawyers were admitted as just, the consequence was obvious : the impeachment of a profligate or corrupt mi- GEORGE III. 357 nister midht, by the insidious intervention of the BOOK XX IV. prerogative, at any time be rendered nugatory v-*-v-O and abortive. In the view of the constitution, and even by the forms of parliament, the impeach- ment is preferred, not by the house of commons merely, but by all the commons of England ; and the house can be considered in relation to the prosecution as no more than the agents and attor- neys of the people at large. A second house of commons therefore, though certainly possessing a discretionary power of dropping the prosecution, if upon due consideration they are of opinion that it does not rest upon a just foundation, are as cer- tainly at full liberty to proceed in it, if in their judgment conducive to the safety or the interests of the state. In an impeachment of the nature of the present, it would scarcely be imagined, that twenty complex articles could by any mode of in- vestigation be decided upon in a single session. If then, agreeably to the genius of the antient constitution, parliaments themselves were to be made annual, the labor would be truly Sysiphean as such a trial never could arrive at a legal ter- mination. Such were the plain dictates of com- mon sense ; but in resorting to rules of law, and precedents of parliament, doubts and difficulties presented themselves. Upon those remote and . obscure precedents which occurred previous to the civil wars of the last century little stress was 358 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK laid : but during the reign of king Charles II. the \^-v*L> question had come repeatedly under the formal and regular discussion of both houses. (These precedents, and such as had since occurred, the Speaker had accurately examined, and, in his re- port of them upon this occasion, commented upon with great judgment and ability.) In the famous case of Lord Danby, A. D. 1679, the parliament was unquestionably dissolved for the purpose of screening the minister from the effects of the im- peachment then actually pending against him. But the next parliament understood their privi- leges too well to make the slightest concession on this important constitutional point : and, in com- pliance with the claims of the commons, the house of peers, March' igth, 1678-9, RESOLVED, 'that the dissolution of the last parliament doth not alter the state of the impeachments (viz. that of the earl of Danby, and the lords accused as parties in the Popish plot) brought up by the commons in that parliament. In conformity to this de- cision, the trial of the earl of Danby was continu- ed in no less than four successive parliaments, till, in February, 1683-4, no parliament being then sitting, or likely to sit, his lordship was bailed by authority of the court of King's Bench. On the 1 9th of May, 1685, the first and only parliament of king James II. was convened ; and the question coming immediately before them a respecting the GEORGE III. 359 validity of the proceedings on the late impeach- BOOK ment, it was almost unanimously determined, v^v-O 1 'TOT) that the resolution of March 1679* be reversed and annulled ; and lord Danby and the other lords were discharged from their recognizances. But it being evidently the province of the peers, in their judicial capacity, jus dicer e and not jus dare y the reversal of the declaratory resolution of 1679 was regarded by the commons as of no weight or authority whatever. In the second parliament convened after the Revolution, an order was made by the lords, April 1690, to take into considera- tion, whether impeachments continue from par- liament to parliament ; but the house adjourned the decision of this question from time to time till the parliament was prorogued. And on their next meeting, October 1690, the earls of Peter- borough and Salisbury, impeached by the preceding * In the conference between the two houses, which pre- ceded and gave rise to this famous resolution, serjeant May- nard, one of the managers of the impeachment said, " That which is most insisted upon is, that the charge now made against this lord was presented in another parliament. It rs true. But under favor, what is once upon record in parlia- ment may at any time afterwards be proceeded upon. I con- ceive it hath been done. However, in a case of this nature if there were not, I hope you would MAKE A PRECEDENT." In the case of lord Stafford, who urged in arrest of judgment that his impeachment was pending in three different parlia- ments, the house refused, as a point already determined, to hear the arguments of counsel upon it. V 860 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK parliament, were discharged from their bail ; but ^^v-O whether in virtue of the act of free and general pardon that had recently passed, or of the resolu- tion of May 1685, is not expressed. In 1695, earl of Danby, now duke of Leeds, was a second time impeached, on grounds totally distinct from the former : and this impeachment, notwithstand- ing the reversal of 1685, continued pending under several successive parliaments, though for the most part in an almost dormant state for no less than six years; till, on the 24th of June, 1701, the house of lords resolved, ' that articles having been exhibited against the duke of Leeds, to which he had answered, and the commons not prosecuting the impeachment and articles should be dismissed.' On the first of April, 1701, the earls of Portland and Orford and the lords Somers and Halifax were impeached : but the commons refusing to exhibit articles against them in the mode prescribed by the peers, these impeachments were on the last day of the session dismissed. The next parlia- ment, which met December 1701, it~is true, took no steps whatever to revive the impeachments ; not that they admitted the principle of abatement by dissolution, but that, being of a political com- plexion totally different from the preceding par- liament, they, with a great majority of the people of England, considered the public conduct of these great WHIG LORDS not only as innocent, but in GEORGE III. SGI the highest degree meritorious. In July 1715, the earl of Oxford was impeached. In June 1716, the parliament was prorogued ; and on their sub- sequent meeting, February 1717, the earl petition- ing that his imprisonment might not be indefinite, a committee was appointed by the house to search for and report such precedents as relate to the continuance of impeachments from session to ses- sion, and from parliament to parliament ; which report being read, it was moved to resolve, c That the impeachment of the commons against the earl of Oxford is determined by the intervening prorogation.' This was negatived on the division by 87 to 45 lords. But a protest ensued signed by ten lords, in which the general proposition is as- sumed, that a dissolution would determine the im- peachment ; and their lordships affirm, that there is no essential difference in law between a proroga- tion and dissolution. If so, the inference surely is, that the 8 7 lords would have decided similarly in the case of dissolution. It deserves specific notice, that lord chief-justice Holt, that great au- thority on all points of constitutional law, in the case of Peters and Benning, 1 3th William III. pub- licly delivered it as his opinion, notwithstanding the existing resolution of 1685, ^ at impeach- ments begun in one parliament might be prose- cuted in another. And this appears to have been at all times the prevailing opinion of the WHIGS. 362 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. E xxi\f Upon a general review of these facts and prece- v^-^v^ dents, the Speaker gave it as his deliberate and de- cided judgment, That the impeachment was still legally pending, and that the resolution of 1685, passed, as there was reason to believe, by the cor- rupt influence of the court, and in defiance of a solemn prior decision of both houses, and which in no instance since the Revolution had been for- mally and avowedly acted upon, was wholly in- valid and nugatory." In this opinion Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and the most eminent parliamentary authorities on both sides, concurred. The motion of Mr. Erskine for a search into precedents was negatived by a majority of 143 1030 voices j and the original motion of Mr. Burke triumphantly carried without a division. After a short interval, Mr. Burke, after stating the perpetual obstructions thrown in the way of this trial by the body of the law in every step of its progress, made a third motion, " that the ma- nagers be instructed to proceed to no other parts t)f the impeachment, excepting such as relate to contracts, pensions, and allowances ;" which was carried with trivial opposition. By the resolution of the 23d of December, 1790, the lords found themselves reduced to a dilemma not very pleasant. On a message from the commons, that they were ready to proceed in their evidence, a committee was appointed GEORGE III. S63 by their lordships to search into precedents, BOOK which occasioned a suspension of the business till v^v-*u> nearly the conclusion of the session. At length the report being made, lord Portchester moved, May 1 6, " that their lordships now proceed in the trial." This was opposed by the lord-chan- cellor, who recommended the appointment of a second committee to search for more precedents, and defended by lord Loughborough, now the oracle of Whiggism in the house, in a very able speech, in the course of which he warned their lordships " not to act incautiously with regard to the popular part of the constitution, Let them not deny that the people were any thing, lest they compelled them to think they were every thing. In commenting upon the precedents before the house, he pointed out the fallacies of sir GEORGE JEFFREYS, and other COURT SYCOPHANTS, and rest- ed his argument on the authority of the great con- stitutional lawyers, Hale, Holt, and Foster. His lordship said, he had it in charge from the lord- president, lord Camden, who was prevented from personal attendance, to state that nobleman's opi- nion as perfectly coincident with his own : and the lord-president had left with him an opinion of the famous Selden, that the new parliament convened in consequence of the duke of Buckr ingham's impeachment, 1628, were authorized to have called upon their lordships for judgment 364 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK asrainst the duke." The abatement of the im- xxiv. . . .... S^-Y^W peachment was on the other hand maintained by I7i>l . . lord Kenyon, lord Abingdon,&c. but on the divi- sion, the motion of lord Portchester was carried by a great and decisive majority. And their lord- ships, with the resolution of 1685 still standing in their journals, acquainted the house of commons, by message, that they were now ready to proceed in the trial. This great constitutional point being virtually conceded, Mr. St. Andrew St. John, on the. part of the commons, brought forward, in a speech well adapted to the occasion, the remaining" charge relative to contracts, agencies, and allow- ances. Under these various heads the aggregate sum lost to the Company by 'the gross negligence or corrupt partiality of Mr. Hastings, amounted to 584,3817. a sum more than sufficient to pay two years dividends on the Company's stock at that time. The evidence on this charge, which was very clear and explicit, being completed in a few days, Mr. Hastings opened his defence (June 2, 1791), in a speech occupying many hours, and consisting chiefly of an high panegyric upon his own administration, the merits and services com- prehended in which he thus, in the language of unheard-of arrogance and presumption, summed up : " To the commons of England, in whose name I am arraigned for desolating the provinces of their dominion in India, I dare to reply, that GEORGE III. 365 they are, and their representatives annually persist in telling them so, the most flourishing of all the states of India IT WAS I WHO MADE THEM so.* The valor of others acquired ; I enlarged, and gave shape and consistency to the dominion which you hold there. I preserved it : I sent forth its armies with an effectual but ceconomical hand through unknown and hostile regions, to the support of your other possessions : to the retrieval of one from degradation and dishonor ; and of the other from utter loss and subjection. I maintained the wars which were of your formation, or that of others, NOT of MINE. I won one member of the great Indian confederacy from it by an act of sea- sonable restitution : with another I maintained a secret intercourse, and converted him into a friend: a third I drew off by diversion and negotiation, and employed him as the instrument of peace. When you cried out for peace, and your cries were * It may be worth while to compare this declaration with the state of the province of Rohilcund, as described by colonel Champion ; of the vizierate of Oude, by the vi/ier ; of Fer- ruckabad, by the resident Mr. Willes ; of Bengal, by lord Cornwallis ; and of Benares, by Mr. Hastings himself. la reply to a succeeding observation of Mr. Hastings, it is proper to remark that the Rohilla war, the second Mahratta war, and the war of Benares, were most certainly and notoriously " wars of his own formation" the first of which may in barbarity* the second in impolicy, and- the third in injustice, vie with any wars recorded in the page of history. 556 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIK. BOOK heard by those who were the object of it, I resist- XXIV. <^>-v^ ecJ this and every other species of counter-action by rising in my demands ; and accomplished a peace, and I hope everlasting one, with one great state ; and I at least afforded the efficient means by which a peace, if not so durable more seasonable at least, was accomplished with another. I GAVE YOU ALL, and you have rewarded me with confis- cation, disgrace, and a life of impeachment." " There is no object upon earth so near my heart as that of an immediate determination of this te- dious prosecution. I am so confident of my own innocence, and have such perfect reliance upon the honor of your lordships, that I am not afraid to submit to judgment upon the evidence which has been adduced on the part of the prosecution." Cathoiicto- Soon after the recess of parliament (February 2 1 , ^ ^ ^ j^ Mitford, a lawyer of great eminence in the house, moved, with the previous sanction and approbation of government, for a bill to relieve the English Catholics from the legal penalties still existing and in force against them. The proposed Act of Toleration was however confined to such of the Catholics as should subscribe a certain decla- ration or protest against the assumed authority of the pope, &c. drawn up in terms to which it could scarcely be expected that the majority of Catholics could conscientiously assent. Mr. Fox rose to object to the bill, not for what GEORGE IIT. 367 it did, but for what it did not, contain. He en- BOOK treated that the bill migjht be made general. " Let . . the Statute Book," said this great statesman and advocate of toleration, " be revised, and strike out all those laws which attach penalties to mere opi- nions." And Mr. Burke joined in reprobating the absurdity and iniquity of those statutes which con- demn every man who worships GOD in his own way, as guilty of treason against the state. Mr. Pitt commended these sentiments, but thought it not prudent to act upon them ; and the bill passed in its present form : in consequence of which a most invidious and mischievous line of dis- tinction was drawn between the protesting and non-protesting Catholics, neither of whom were chargeable with, or suspected of, the slightest tinc- ture of disloyalty to the State. In the course of the session, Mr. Fox, ever ac- Mr. FOX'S . .\_ c 1*1 i r i "it motion fot live in the cause or liberty, moved for a bill to a bin to as. ascertain the rights of juries in the matter of libel. With respect to the pretended distinction between ]un law and fact, Mr. Fox observed, u that when a man was accused of murder, a crime consisting .of law and fact, the jury every day found a verdict of guilty : and this was also the case in felony and every other criminal indictment. Libels were the only exception, the single anomaly. He contend- ed, that if the jury had no jurisdiction over libels, the counsel who addressed them on either side as 368 HISTORY OF r GREAT BRITAIN. B o o K to the criminality of the publication were euiltv of xxiv. . ' t> j v^v^- a gross and insolent sarcasm. Mr. Fox put this 1791. . ... matter m a remarkably strong point or view, by adverting to the law of treason. It was admitted on all hands, that a writing might be an overt act of treason. In this case, if the court of King's Bench were to say to the jury, f Consider only whether the criminal published the paper do not consider the nature of it do not consider whether it correspond to the definition of treason or not* would Englishmen endure that death should be in- flicted without a jury having had an opportunity of delivering their sentiments, whether the indi- vidual was or was not guilty of the crime with which he was charged ? Mr. Fox wished to know, whether the modern doctrine of libels did or did not extend to high treason?" On its transmission to the house of lords, the bill was opposed on the second reading by the lord-cLancellor, on pretence of its being too late in the session to discuss amea- sure of such importance. The principle of the bill was most ably defended by the law lords Cam- den and Loughborough, with whom lord Gren- ville concurred ; but the bill was finally postponed. Mr. wit- The evidence on the slave-trade beinp; at lensrth berforce s motion for dosed, Mr. Wilberforce, on the 1 8th of April 1701, the aboli- tion of the brought forward his long expected motion of abo- slave-trade- f . . lition, which he introduced with a copious and masterly display of the arguments in favor of that GEORGE III. 369 measure. The crimes and villanies to which this BOOK XXIV horrid traffic had sjiven rise were detailed with a v^-v^ , . , , , , 1791. minuteness which placed not merely the persons actually concerned, but human nature itself, in a light the most degrading and detestable. And the mover remarked with all the eloquence of feeling and of truth, that the history of this commerce was written in characters of blood. " Let us (said he) turn our eyes for relief from this disgraceful scene to some ordinary wickedness.*' No such relief, however, was as yet to be obtained from the justice and humanity of the house; for, in conclu- sion, moving " for a bill to prevent the farther importation of African negroes into the British co- lonies," it was negatived by a majority of seventy- five voices. Mr. Fox made on this occasion a me- morable speech, in the course of which he declared " that those who were not convinced by the evi- dence before them of the necessity of an abolition of that wicked and infamous commerce had hard hearts or impenetrable heads, Gain (said this great and justly renowned statesman and orator) is not the first object of an enlightened legislature no, nor the second. Honor is greatly above gain, and justice greatly above honor." Had the same motion been made two years be- fore, while the feelings of the house were freshly awakened, there can scarcely exist a doubt but that it must have succeeded. Such is the importance VOL. VIII. B B 370 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK of seizing the fortunate and favorable moment of XXIV. v^-y-O action ! To qualify this refusal, a bill was intro- duced and passed, for chartering a company for the purpose of cultivating West Indian and other tropical products at Sierra Leona on the coast of Africa, by the use of free negroes an experiment which is likely to be productive, at no distant pe- riod, of very important effects. uWbWn"" ^ ^ ac l k een l n g a subject of complaint, that the a constitu- great and extensive province of Canada continued tion in Ca- . nada. under a government in the highest degree arbi- trary and despotic. This government was indeed acknowledged to be merely temporary; but excuses were not wanting to prolong the duration of it. At length Mr. Pitt, in pursuance of an intimation in the royal speech, moved for leave to bring in a bill to repeal certain parts of the act respecting the government of Canada passed in the 1 4th year of his majesty's reign, and to enact farther provisions for the better government thereof. By the pro- posed bill, the province was divided into, two dis- tinct governments, by the appellations of Upper and Lower Canada. Councils nominated by the sovereign, and houses of assembly chosen by the people, were established in each. The Habeas-^ Corpus Act was asserted as a fundamental law of their constitution : and by a very important and admirable clause the British parliament were re- strained from imposing any taxes whatever, but, GEORGE III. 371 such as might be necessary for the regulation of trade BOOK and commerce : and to aruard against the abuse of v-^v^ , . , , f. , 1791. this power, the produce or such taxes was to be at the disposal of the respective provincial legislatures. Upon the whole, this bill contained a noble charter of liberty, and did honor to the minister who pro- posed and to the assembly which adopted it. The clauses in the bill which militated against the ge- neral principle of it were opposed by Mr. Fox with extraordinary animation and ability. " The great object of all popular assemblies (Mr. Fox said) was, that the people should be fully and fairly repre- sented ; but when the assembly of one province was to consist of only sixteen, and the other of thirty persons, they deluded the people by a mockery of representation. They seemed to give them a free constitution, when in fact they with- held it : and he hoped it would never be said, that the constitution of Canada was modelled after that of England. That these representatives should be elected for the term of seven years, he reprobated as equally inconsistent with freedom. Even in England, where the frequent return of elections was attended with so much real inconvenience, the propriety of the Septennial Bill was justly a subject of doubt ; but in a country so differently circumstanced as Canada there could be no plau- sible objection to annual, or at most triennial, elections. Another strong ground of objection B B 2 372 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xx?v C W ^ ^ r * ^ ox was ' t ^ iat t ^ ie kgisktiv 6 councils ^v-w were unlimited as to numbers by any other re- 1791. * ' striction than the pleasure of the king, to whom a power was also reserved of annexing to certain honorary and titular distinctions an hereditary right of sitting in council. As to hereditary ho- nors, or hereditary powers, to say they were good or not, as a general proposition, was difficult but he saw nothing so good in them as to warrant their introduction into a country where they were not known. He did not think it wise to destroy them where they existed ; but to create them where they did not exist, he considered as exceed- ingly unwise. He could not account for it, unless it was that, Canada having been formerly a French colony, there might be an opportunity of reviving those titles of honor the extinction of which some gentlemen so much deplored, and to revive in the West that spirit of chivalry which had fallen into So much disgrace in a neighbouring country." These incidental expressions awakened the fierce resentment of Mr. Burke, who, on the re-commit- ment of the bill, May 6, rose, as he said, to speak to its general principle. He enlarged upon " the importance of the act which they were now about to perform. The first consideration was, the com- petency of the house to such an act. A body of rights commonly called the Rights of Man had been .lately imported from a neighbouring king- GEORGE III. 37$ iple of this new code was, that all men were by nature free and equal in respect dom. The principle of this new code was, that BOOK XXIV. 1791. of their rights. If this code therefore were ad- mitted, the power of the house could extend no farther than to call together the inhabitants of Canada to choose a constitution for themselves. The practical effects of this system might be seen in St. Domingo and the other French islands. They were flourishing and happy till they heard of the Rights of Man. As soon as this system arrived among them, Pandora's box, replete with every mortal evil, seemed to fly open, hell itself to yawn, and every daemon of mischief to overspread the face of the country." Mr. Burke continu- ing to launch out into the most violent invectives against the constitution and government of France, he was repeatedly and loudly called to order, and at length compelled to sit down. Mr. Fox, when the tumult had subsided, with firmness defended his former sentiments relative to the French revolution ; and repeated " that he thought it upon the whole one of the most glori- ous events in the history of mankind. In this as- sertion, however, he spoke of the revolution, not of the constitution, which still remained to be im- proved by experience, and accommodated to cir- cumstances. The Rights of Man, which his right honorable friend had ridiculed as visionary, were the basis of the British constitution. Our statute 374- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK book recognized ' the original inherent rights of ^-vO the people as men, which no prescription could su- persede, no accident remove or obliterate.' These had once been the principles of his right honorable friend, from whom he had learned them. His right honorable friend had said with equal energy and emphasis * that he knew not how to draw a bill of indictment against a whole people.' Having been taught by him that no revolt of a nation was caused without provocation, he could not help re- joicing at the success of a revolution resting upon the same basis with our own the immutable and unalienable Rights of Man. J|f Mr. Burke rose again, and in vehement terms insisted " that he was perfectly in order ; and that the discussion of the Quebec bill was a proper op- portunity to put the country on its guard against those dangerous doctrines which prevailed in France, and which had found so many advocates here. He observed, that he had differed on many occasions from Mr. Fox, but there had been no loss of friendship between them. But there was something in the ACCURSED French constitution that envenomed every thing." Mr. Fox, on hearing this, interrupted him, say- ing, " there was no loss of friendship." Mr. Burke replied, " THERE WAS he knew the price of his conduct ; he had done his duty, and their friend- ship WAS at an END." GEORGE III. S75 Mr. Fox, on whom the attention of the house BOOK XXIV. was now eagerly fixed, rose to reply, but his feel- v^-v-^w 1 791 ings were too powerful for utterance. All the ideas so long cherished, of gratitude, esteem, and affection, rushed upon his susceptible and generous mind, and involuntary tears were observed to steal down his cheek. A profound and expressive si- lence pervaded the house. At length Mr. Fox recovering himself, said, " that however events might have altered the mind of his right honorable friend, for such he must still call him, he could not so easily consent to relinquish and dissolve that intimate connection which had for twenty-five years subsisted between them. He hoped that Mr. Burke would think on past times ; and, what- ever expressions of his had caused the offence, that he would at least believe such was not his inten- tion." The concessions of Mr. Fox made no visible im- pression on the haughty and unbending temper of Mr. Burke ; and from this day a schism took place in the politics of the opposition party, productive of very important consequences. As the most luminous introduction to the prin- cipal remaining transaction of this session of par- liament, it will be proper now to advert to the actual situation of affairs on the continent. No sooner had Leopold king of Hungary assumed the Austrian sceptre, than he resolved on terminating 376 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the war with Turkey ; and under the powerful XXIV. v^-v-O mediation of England and Prussia a convention 1791 was concluded, Auarust 1790, at Reichenbach, Conven- . don of Rei- after a negociation of some months protracted m chenbach. ... - - . . . Reduction the unavailing hope or retaining possession of Bel- of Belgium. - r . r r grade, that important fortress which, fifty years before, England had exerted her utmost influence to secure to the house of Austria. But now, sway- ed by Prussian counsels, and eagerly solicitous to advance the interests of that upstart and insolent power, in contradistinction to those of Austria, the antient and genuine ally of Britain, she harshly and peremptorily insisted on its restitution, in common with all the other Austrian conquests Choczim alone being with difficulty excepted to the Otto- man Porte. In return, the Austrian Netherlands were guarantied to the house of Austria, and the possession of the Imperial crown eventually ensured to his Hungarian majesty. The Flemings refusing, notwithstanding their present state of a^andon- ment, to return to the Austrian dominion, a great military force was sent into that country in the autumn of 1790, under the command of mareschal Bender, which quickly effected their total reduc- tion, without granting the restitution of their an- tient privileges ; and on the ist of January, 1791, a solemn Te Deum was sung at Brussels in celebra- tion of that happy event. The States of Brabant, through the medium of M. Vandernoodt, had ear- GEORGE III. nestly requested the interposition of France in sup- port of their claims of emancipation. But the Na- tional Assembly, with a moderation approaching even to tameness, persisted for twelve months to remain tranquil and passive spectators, while the Imperial power complqted the re -conquest of the Low Countries. Sweden also, disappointed in her views and projects of ambition, thought proper to sign a separate peace with Russia, August 17 90, Peace sign- at Varela upon the Kymen, on the basis of theswedenand former treaties of Nystadt and Abo. The courts of London and Berlin, elated with Alarm ' n ff dispute the success of their mediation at Reichenbach, in high and arrogant language signified to the em- press of Russia their pleasure that peace should be restored between the Ottoman and Russian em- pires, on the terms of a general restitution of con- quests. The empress replied with equal haughti- ness, " that she would make peace and war with whom she pleased, without the intervention of any foreign power." Not however choosing too far to provoke the resentment of these formidable and self-created arbitrators, she secretly intimated her willingness to conclude a peace with Turkey, on the condition of retaining the country eastward of the Neister, as a reasonable indemnification for the expenses of the war. This was a waste and desert tract of territory, valuable only for the security it afforded to her former acquisitions, and for in- 378 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK eluding within its limits the strong and important ^-Y^-> fortress of Oczakow. This beina: peremptorily 1791 refused, the empress broke off the conference, and determined to prosecute the war. On the 28th of March, 1791, Mr. Pitt delivered a message to the house of commons from his ma- jesty, importing, " that the endeavours which he had used in conjunction with his allies to effect a pacification not having proved successful, his ma- jesty judged it requisite, in order to add weight to his representations, to make some further augmen- tation of his naval force." And this message being taken into consideration, Mr. Pitt enlarged much on the necessity of attending to the preservation of the balance of power in Europe. " The influ- ence of the Turkish empire (he said) was of great effect in the general scale. Its present situation was such as to afford just cause of apprehension to other powers : and to PRUSSIA in particular it must be highly injurious to suffer the Turkish empire to be diminished in force and consequence. He therefore moved an address, assuring his majesty that his faithful commons would make good such expenses as may be found necessary.'* This ad- dress was opposed with the whole "strength and energy of the opposition. Formidable- Mr. Fox said, " the right honorable mover of fnpar!ia- n the address had enveloped himself in mystery and t importance, but explained nothing. When the GEORGE III. 379 balance of power was mentioned as a reason for BOOK "XX! IV arming, it ought to be shewn how it was endan- 1791. gered. We had no quarrel with the empress of . . . retractation Russia: we had no alliance with Turkey. ButofMr.Pitu by the absurd pride of interfering in the affairs of every sovereign state, we involved ourselves in continual expense, and were exposed to the perpe- tual hazard of war. It was to second the ambi- tious policy of Prussia, and not for any interests of our own, that we were now called upon to arm. The czarina, it was well known, had offered to give up all her conquests but a barren district, un- profitable and worthless except for a single place contained in it, which place was Oczakow. But would any one seriously pretend that the balance of Europe depended upon the trivial circumstance, whether Oczakow should in future belong to the O empire of Russia or of Turkey ? That this was even with ministers themselves a novel idea was plain ; for Oczakow had been taken in 1788, and in 1789 his majesty had assured the parliament and the nation, that the situation of affairs was such as promised us a continuance of peace." The question was at length carried in favor of the address by 228 to 135 voices. The prospect of a war with Russia, on these frivolous grounds, gave more dissatisfaction to the public at large than any measure of Mr. Pitt's ' administration. And on the i2th of April Mr. Vv SSO HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Grey moved, and supported with a very extensivi ^v^~> display of knowledge and political ability, a series of resolutions expressive of the impolicy and inex- pediency of this measure. On the part of the ministry the importance of Oczakow was magni- fied to a most ridiculous excess. It was styled the key of Constantinople, whence it led to the ac- quisition of Alexandria and the Lower Egypt. The success of the ministry in former negotiations Was ostentatiously dwelt upon, and the confidence of the house challenged in terms unusually strong . and pointed. Mr. Sheridan with sarcastic keenness asked the minister, " on what basis this confidence was to rest? Did he recollect the different prospect to which we had been directed to turn our eyes in this year? Did he recollect that this was the pro- mised millennium, that halcyon year in which we had been flattered, instead of fresh burdens, with a reduction of expense, and a clear surplus for the extinction of the public debt ? The system we had adopted in concert with Prussia was (he said) a system of ambition, of vain glory, and of in- trigue, and it had fastened upon us a concern above all others pernicious that of English in- terference in German politics. As to the doctrine of confidence in ministers, he totally abjured it. The more constitutional doctrine was that of sus- piqion and watchfulness. The minister had in- GEORGE IIT. 381 deed risen wonderfully in his demands. Here- BOOK XXIV collected the time when he had contented himself v_^-vO 1791. with asking only for a guarded and rational con- fidence. He then advanced to the pitch of a firm and steady confidence : and it was at last grown to a blind and implicit confidence. And it appeared that the degree of confidence required rose in an exact ratio to the absurdity of the measure to be adopted." On the division, the effect of the ex- treme unpopularity of the war without doors, and the ability with which it was exposed and ridiculed within, strikingly appeared, the numbers being 179 ayes to 259 noes* To enter into a war in the face of such a minority was wholly impossible. The point in dispute was instantly and wisely- given up by the ministers ; Oczakow and its dis- trict remained with Russia; and in the course of the ensuing summer (August 1791) peace was concluded and signed at Calatz in the vicinity of Jassi, between the two empires. While that for- midable armament was fitting out in the English ports, which was designed to force the empress to a peace with the Turks, the prince of Nassau pre- sented to her a project said to be suggested by a frenchman, M. de St. Genie, for marching an army through Bocara to Cashmire, and thence to India, in order to expel the English from the con- tinent of Asia. This design, so consonant to the lofty genius and enterprising ambition of the em- Vv, 382 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN* BOOK press, was received by her with visible marks of XXIV \^-Y-^J approbation, but she contented herself with ob- serving, in reference to the hostile disposition dis- played by the British minister; " C'est un ministre de preparatifs, qui ne vient a bout de rien." When in danger of an attack from Sweden, incited by England and Prussia, while her armies were gaining victories on the Danube, she said scorn- fully to the English ambassador at her court : " Since the king your master is determined to drive me from Petersburgh, I hope he will permit me to retire to Constantinople."* The session of parliament terminated June 10, 1791, his ma- jesty expressing his perfect satisfaction at the zeal with which the two houses had applied themselves to the consideration of the different objects which he had recommended to their attention, state of af- The state of affairs in France, though passed France, over in total and discreet silence in the speech, was now become very critical. That once po- pular minister M. Necker, finding his measures thwarted and opposed by the more popular leaders of the Assembly, and equally destitute of the con- fidence of the court, had sent in his resignation September 1 790, and was suffered to retire without one expression of public regret such is the ca- price and inconstancy of the people! Previous * TOOKE'S Life of Catherine II. GEORGE III. 383 to his resignation, but certainly not by his advice, BOOK XXIV a decree had passed the Assembly, imposing an v^^v^O 1791 oath upon the whole body of the clergy " to main- tain to the utmost of their power the new consti- tution of France, and particularly the decrees re- lative to the civil constitution of the clergy." By the former decrees of the Assembly relative civic to the clergy, all connection with the See. ofposedupon Rome, spiritual and temporal, was virtually abo- l lished ; and the oath was upon other accounts so obnoxious, that it could not possibly be taken by the majority of the clergy ex ammo. It was, in fact, productive of the most pernicious conse- quences. The pope by a bull denounced the sen- tence of excommunication against those of the clergy who took the civic oath : it was refused by multitudes in the church ; and those who submit- ted to it became, in resentment of the outrage offered to their feelings, far more inimical to the constitution and dangerous to the state than be- fore. A most severe and unjust decree was sub- sequently promulgated, about the close of the year, by which the non-juring clergy were not only deprived of their benefices, but subjected to heavy penalties for non-compliance ; in consequence of which numerous emigrations of that unfortunate class of men took place, and the public animosities were inconceivably heightened. The decree itself was opposed in the Assembly by the principal 384 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK speakers of the cote droit with all the force of elo- XXIV v^r^ quence and argument. " I do not think (said M. Montlausier) that the bishops can be forced to quit their sees. If they are driven from their epis- copal palaces, they will retire to the huts of the cottagers who have fed upon their bounty. If golden crosses be denied them, they will find wooden-crosses it was a cross of wood which saved the world." " Would to Heaven (said M. Cazales) that these walls could expand and hold every individual of the nation assembled ! the people of France would hear and judge between us. I tell you that a schism is preparing. I tell you that the whole body of the bishops of France, and a great majority of the inferior clergy, believe that the principles of religion forbid them to obey your decree that this conviction grows stronger from contradiction, and that those principles are of an order superior to your laws that expelling the bishops from their sees, and the priests from their parishes, in order to overcome this resistance, is not the way to overcome it. You will be but at the commencement of the course of persecution that lies before you." Leopold On the 22d of January, 1791, the king of France communicated to the Assembly a letter from Leopold king of Hungary, now advanced to the dignity of emperor, containing strong protestations of amity towards France, but at the GEORGE III. 385 iting, that, to consolidate that friendship, the revocation of the decree of August same time intimating, that, to consolidate that BOOK xxiv. nyi. 4, 1790, will be necessary; that all innovations in virtue of that decree be abolished, and matters put upon their antient footing. This was the famous decree which annihilated all feudal and seignorial rights, and in the scope of which seve- ral of the petty princes of Germany, possessing fiefs in Lorraine and Alsace, were comprehended; and so far as the right of property was affected by the decree, compensations had been offered by the Assembly, and by the dukes of Wirtemberg and Deux-ponts, the princes of Lowenstein, Hohenloe, &c. actually accepted. Others however, incited by the court of Vienna, refused to listen to any inimical terms of accommodation. The conduct, never- theless, of the National Assembly in decreeing the suppression of the seignorial rights, appeared per- fectly regular, and in no respect derogatory to the articles of the treaty of Westphalia, by which Alsace was ceded to France with all the rights of sove- reignty appertaining thereto. " Ad coronam Gallic pertineant," such are the express words of this fa- mous treaty, " cum omnimodajurisdictione et superio- ritate supremoque dominio, absque ulla reservations ." This just and equitable decree, however, now serv- ed as a pretext and cover for the measures in con- templation of the court of Vienna, which had al- ready stationed cordons of troops on the Suabian, VOL. vm. c c 386 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK frontier, and northward from the circles of the ^T" v ytr v^-vO Rhine to the banks of the Meuse. The Assembly, 1791< on this occasion, voted a large augmentation of military force, regardless of the intimation of the king, that the emperor had, in this- instance, acted merely officially, in conformity to the decrees of the Diet. The king himself did not escape the suspicion of entertaining a private and dangerous correspondence with the imperial court ; and he was entreated by the Assembly, formally and ex- plicitly to announce the revolution which had taken place to the different courts of Europe. That monarch, who well knew how to assume the most specious and imposing air of sincerity, had derived great advantage from the solemn and voluntary declaration which he had, in the month of February last year (1790), made in person to the Assembly, of his perfect approbation of their proceedings, and of the cordiality with which he concurred with them in the arduous task of form- ing a constitution upon the most solid and exten- sivc basis of freedom. But this measure was well xyi. known by those in his confidence to be the result of the most profound dissimulation ; and it asto- nished and highly offended the more generous and virtuous of the royalists themselves. " For how (as M. Bouille, one of the most distinguished of them, indignantly asks) could he retract such a step thus voluntarily taken, without that degradation of cha- GEORGE III. 387 racter than which a kinff can incur no greater BOOK XXIV. misfortune ?" In the succeeding month of Octo- ^^r^> ber (1790), Louis communicated to M. Bouille the design he had formed, " of quitting Paris, and retiring to one of the frontier towns, where he meant to collect around him such of his troops and subjects as still retained their fidelity. And in case other means should fail, to call in the assist- ance of his allies, for the restoration of order and tranquillity in the kingdom. The king declared, that with respect to this plan he acted in perfect concert with the emperor, and his other allies, who insisted on his being at liberty before they took any steps in his favor." M. Bouille', a man of great talents and sagacity, declared himself totally adverse to the project, as fraught with danger, probably with ruin ; but he found he had nothing left but to obey. At the latter end of January, 1791, the king notified to M. Bouille, that he hoped to accomplish his departure from Paris in the month of March or April. But Suspicion has an hundred eyes, which no magic wand is of efli- cacy to close.* * In a letter written about this period, February 3, 1791, by the king to the famous abbe Maury, the monarch highly ap- plauds that bold and undisguised adversary of the newly estab- lished constitution, " as possessing the zeal of a true minister of the altar and the heart of a Frenchman of the old mo- narchy, entirely devoted to the cause of his king. But learn C C 2 Vv 338 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. The popular jealousies and discontents, far from being extinguished by an empty parade of words, were in a short time openly and rudely indicated. On the 1 8th of April, being on the point of setting out from Paris to the palace of St. Cloud, to pass the Easter, or under that pretext, the royal car- riage was stopped by an immense crowd of per- sons, not all of the lowest rank, under the appre- hension of an intended escape, and consequent counter-revolution. And notwithstanding the entreaties and protestations of M. de la Fayette, commandant of the national guard, who attended the king's person, and pledged himself for his se- curity, he was finally compelled to desist from his purpose, and return to the Tuilleries: and though, on a complaint of this insult to the Assembly, the president made a respectful apology to the king, it was not thought expedient to revive the design of visiting St. Cloud. Anxious to regain the ground he had lost, the king, in compliance with the request of the depart- (says he) to temporize. Your king conjures you to make use of that prudence which is now become necessary." Under this fatal notion of temporizing it is evident that the king indulged in a habit of boundless dissimulation, which ended in his ruin. And it has been well observed that the Abbe, to whom this advice was addressed, with all his daring, acted apart not only more honorable, but more " pruden?' and more fortunate. l r tac Correspondence of Louis XP'I. GEORGE III. merit of Paris, which upon this occasion presented BOOK a most energetic address to the monarch, dismissed ^^v^ o * ^^ from his person those men who were most noto- riously disaffected to the constitution. " Remove, sire, (say they) the enemies of the constitution from about you. Announce to foreign nations, that a glorious revolution has taken place in France ; that you have adopted it ; and that you are now the king of a free people." Such was the dangerous dissimulation of Louis, that M.de Mont- morin was commanded without delay to write, in the name of the monarch, a circular letter, ex- pressed in terms the most popular and captivating, to his ambassadors at the different courts of Eu- rope, " to the end (as it is expressed) that no doubt may remain with regard to his majesty's inten- tions, his acceptance of the free form of govern- ment, and his irrevocable oath to maintain it." In return, the president of the Assembly waited on his majesty (April 25) with an address of thanks and felicitation for the fresh proof he had given of hie regard for the constitution. " For the first time, sire, (said the president) those sacred max- . ims which announce the rights of man have made their appearance amidst the mysteries of diplo- matic correspondence. Strangers shall now learn from yourself, that it was by your aid the French constitution was regenerated, and that you are its guardian, its defender, and its avenger. Seated ou 390 . HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the first throne in Christendom, you have given ^v-O the first example of a great monarch proclaiming the liberties of his people to mankind. The pre- sent age will be grateful for your patriotism, and posterity will celebrate your triumph. A happy calm has now succeeded to the stormy hopes and fears between which the nation wavered in uncer- tainty. You have now imposed silence on the de- tractors of our new constitution. The hydra of faction had a hundred heads, and you have cut off the last of them." To this the king, with deep hypocrisy, replied : " I am charmed beyond expression at die warmth of esteem which the National Assembly is pleased to express towards me. If they could but read my heart, they would there see sentiments engraved on it that would well justify the confidence of the nation. All distrust would then be banished from their bosoms, and we should all be happy." This* however, was but a transient and fallacious calm ; nor was distrust, for a single moment, really ba- nished from their minds. Unhappily the event but too well justified their suspicions. Indeed all attempts to vindicate the sincerity of the king of France, or the reality of his attachment to the con- stitution, are an insult to common sense : he finally fell the victim of his own wretched dissi- mulation. At the very moment in which he was making these protestations, dark and secret iu- GEORGE III. 391 trigues were carrying on with the court of Vienna, for the re-establishment of the antient despotism. 1791. In a declaration, signed by the emperor at Mantua, May 2pth, and immediately transmitted to Paris, information is conveyed to the king and queen, " that the plan concerted for effecting a counter- revolution is in great forwardness, and that 100,000 troops, to be furnished by the several courts of Vienna, Madrid, and Turin, with the aid of the circles of the empire and the Swiss cantons, would be ready to enter France at the latter end of July, to act in conjunction with the regiments remaining loyal, the armed volunteers, and all the mal-con* tents of the provinces."* Such were the counsels to which this ill-fated and misguided monarch was persuaded to listen, and they terminated as might well be expected -in his destruction. On the night of the 2oth of June, the king, His night queen, dauphin, and princess Elizabeth, sister to. n the king, also the count and countess de Provence, suddenly disappeared. They had, as it was quickly discovered, made their escape, eluding the vigi- lance of the guard, from the palace of the Tuille- ries. Monsieur and Madame took the road to Mons ; the rest of the royal family that of Mont- medi. The king left behind him a paper, in which he formally revoked all his past oaths and solemn * Vide Memoircs cte Moleville. 392 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK declarations, as the effect of compulsory influence, XXIV. N^-V-O prohibiting the ministers from signing any order, 1*791, and enjoining the keeper of the seals to send them to him when required in his behalf. On the first emotions of resentment at the dis- covery of this event, the king's arms and effigies were taken down and broken by the populace of Paris. A proclamation of the Assembly, however, soon restored order. The royal authority was formally suspended by a decree of the Assembly, and a provisional executive council appointed. The national guard were instantly in arms ; and deputations from all the different public bodies appeared at the bar of the Assembly, with the strongest and firmest professions of patriotism and obedience. Scarcely had the first emotions of in- dignation subsided, when it was announced that the king and queen had been arrested in their pro- gress, at a place called Varennes,near the frontier. They were quickly brought back to Paris, and again quietly consigned to the palace of the Tuille- ries. Their entrance into the metropolis, and their slow and mournful procession through the princi- pal streets of the city, exposed to the scornful gaze; and bitter taunts of the multitude, formed a spec- tacle which has been pronounced more humiliat- ing to the pride of royalty than any exhibited to the world since the triumph of Paulus Emilius over Perseus king of Macedon. The queen, whose GEORGE Ifl. S93 morning and meridian way through life had been BOOK strewed with roses and myrtles r now appeared to v^v > feel the fatal reverse of her fortune with exquisite sensibility ; and, perhaps, with a dark and dreadful foreboding of future and still heavier calamities. On the 27th of June, commissioners from the Assembly waited upon the king, to receive his written declaration respecting the late event. His majesty asserted," that hehad no intention of leaving the kingdom, but meant merely to fix atMontmecli, till the vigor of government should be restored, and the constitution SETTLED." The respect due to majesty was still preserved, but confidence was for ever at an end. It was incontrovertibly proved, that the king had long carried on a secret corre- spondence with M. de Bouille, governor of Metz, and commandant of the forces on the German fron- tier, who had sent a detachment to escort the king to Montmedi a position to be maintained only by force, and whence, in case of necessity, he could easily retreat to the Austrian territory of Luxem- burg. The accidental arrest of the king entirely- disconcerted these measures ; and M. de Bouille made his escape into Germany, where he published a furious declaration against the Assembly, calcu- lated only to injure the cause he meant to serve.* * The emperor Leopold was at Padua when he received the unexpected and unwelcome intelligence of the arrest of Louis XVI. at Varennes. In consequence of this event, the follow- 394. HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK In consequence of the repeated perfidies of the o*-v-v^ king, it was proposed by some of the bolder, per- J791. . ing letter was instantly dispatched to all the different courts of Europe : CIRCULAR of PADUA, issued July 6, 1791. Before the king's acceptance of the constitution, France pre- sents to Europe the spectacle of a legitimate king compelled by atrocious violence to fly, solemnly protesting against the concessions which had been extorted from him, and soon after arrested and detained prisoner by the people. His imperial majesty therefore invites the powers of Europe to declare : " 1. That they all regard the cause of his Most Christian majesty as their own. " 2. They demand that the king and his family may be in- stantly set at liberty, and the inviolability and respect may be observed towards them which the rights of nature and the in- stitutions of man loudly call for frpm subjects towards their sovereigns. " 3. That they will unite for the purpose of inflicting dread- ful vengeance, in case of any future restraint being imposed f or any farther indignity offered to the king or the royal family, *< 4. That they will acknowledge no laws to be established in France, unless sanctioned by the voluntary consent of the king in a state of perfect and absolute freedom. " 5. If these proposals are not acceded to by France, that they will employ every means in their power to put an end to the existence of the evil in France, and to prevent its spreading into their own dominions." This CIRCULAR is noticed and acknowledged in the official letter of prince Kaunitz to M. Blumendorf, envoy at Paris, dated February 17> 1792, which also avows the convention agreed to between Austria and Prussia, at Pilnitz, August 1791. The manifesto of the duke of Brunswic has a specific and unequivocal mention likewise both of the circular letter and conventional treaty. GEORGE III. 395 haps the wiser, members of the Assembly, to de- B _ K ^ XJi.1V. clare an abdication, and to place the dauphin on <-^v^ the throne. On the question being agitated in the Assembly, it was asked, what could be done with . the king in case of a deposition ? to which one of the members replied, " Let him go and keep school at Corinth." But the milder and more moderate counsels prevailed, 'The king remained at the Tuilleries, vigilantly guarded, till the fabric of the constitution was completed. On the third of September, the CONSTITUTIONAL ACT was presented to the king, who signified his acceptance of it in writing, September 13; and on the following day he appeared at the Assembly, introduced by a grand deputation of sixty mem- bers, solemnly to consecrate the assent he had given ; concluding with an oath " to be faithful to the nation and to the law, and to employ the powers vested in him for the maintenance of the constitution." On the 3<3th of September (1791) the Const!- Dissolution tuent National Assembly, after an uninterrupted UonJ Con- session of two years and four months, terminated its existence by a spontaneous dissolution ; leav- ing behind it, notwithstanding some human er- rors and frailties, an illustrious and never-dying fame. Under whatever varying form freedom may subsist in France, the primary establishment of it must doubtless be ascribed to the heroic courage 396 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN 1 . BOOK and enlightened patriotism of this assembly : and XXIV. v^-vO in the emphatic words of the Roman orator it 1 7S1. may with propriety be asked, " Qua enim res un- quam, proh sancte "Jupiter ! in omnibus terris est gesta major, qua glorioslor^ qua commendatior hominum me- moria sempiterna ?" In England the anniversary of the revolution in France was again celebrated, not without a certain mixture of indiscretion, considering the lowering aspect of the political horizon in France, contrasted with the brilliant prospect of last year, and the odium it had incurred in consequence of the events which had since taken place in both kingdoms. Party spirit at this period raged through- out England in a more violent degree than had been known since the days of Sacheverel ; and in place more than in the great and opulent town -of Birmingham, distinguished by the residence of the celebrated PRIESTLEY, equally famous in the different capacities of philosopher and divine. As a theologian he had signalized himself as the grand restorer of the antient Unitarian system, as maintained at the sera of the Reformation by So- cinus and other learned men of the Polish or Cracovian school ; and which, refusing divine honors to the founder of the Christian Religion, acknowledged him merely in the character of a teacher and prophet sent from GOD, and demon* GEORGE III. 397 stratin? the authenticity of his mission by signs and BOOK XXIV. wonders, which GOD did by him.* >^-Y-^ 1791 The extraordinary and transcendant ability with which this simple but obnoxious system was vindicated by Dr. Priestley, as the genuine unadul- terated doctrine of primitive Christianity, had brought over to his opinions numerous converts, and had excited against him still more numerous enemies. Regarding civil establishments of Chris- tianity as the grand barrier to the propagation of the truth, he had in various publications argued against them with great force, inveighing against the corruptions to which they had given rise, though otherwise of a disposition mild and bene- ficent, with extreme bitterness and acrimony. He had on all occasions expressed himself on the subject of government as an intrepid and zealous defender of the civil and religious rights of man-* * The system of Unitarianism, previous to its revival by Priestley and his learned co-adjutors, Lindsey, Wakefield, and Jebb, names of distinguished eminence and respectability in the established church, was maintained in this country by NEWTON, LOCKE, and LARDNER the first the greatest of natural, the second of moral, philosophers ; and the last the most profound and illustrious theologian which modern ages have produced. If this were a question to be determined by authority, what authorities has Christendom to boast which merit higher reverence than these ? And how can that coun- try escape the imputation of BARBARISM, in which the opinions of such men are still the objects of legal persecution ? 398 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK kind; of this he had given a recent proof in a v^-vO most able and masterly reply to Mr. Burke's fa- mous book on the French Revolution. It is superfluous to say that he was, under these circumstances, the object of detestation to the bigoted, of wonder to the ignorant, and of dread to the interested and the artful. Every possible artifice having been put in practice to excite the passions of the populace against him, the day of the commemoration of Gallic liberty was deemed a fit occasion to carry the nefarious designs pre- viously concerted into execution. The friends of liberty, assembled for that purpose at an hotel in the town, were, during the dinner, insulted by a furious mob without, shouting, with the occasi- onal intermixture of horrid imprecations, CHURCH and KING ! which words, it may be observed, however innocent or venerable in their unconnect- ed state, are, when conjoined, the symbol of all mischief. At five o'clock the company dispersed; but the windows of the hotel were nevertheless broken by the mob, who seemed then inclined to separate. But this would have been a petty and common revenge. Incited and inflamed anew by their leaders, they bent their course to the chapel where Dr. Priestley usually officiated ; this they set on fire, and afterwards proceeded to the Old Meeting, which they demolished in the same manner. At G O R C E lit. . 399 ten o'clock the mob, now mad with rage and in- BOOK XXIV. toxicated with liquor, took the route of Fair-hill, ^r-^it 1791. the residence of Dr. Priestley, about a mile dis- tant from the town. Happily the family had notice just sufficient to effect their escape ; but the house, furniture, library, and philosophical apparatus, were set on fire, and consumed in their more than Vandalian rage of destruction.* The four follow- ing days were employed in the demolition of the elegant houses and villas in the town and its vici- nity, belonging to those persons who had chiefly distinguished themselves as advocates in the cause of Gallic liberty, or by their attachment to the re- ligious principles of the great heresiarch, Dr. Priestley. During this time the magistrates of the place, who were suspected of conniving at the first be- ginning of this tremendous riot, and who had not read or attempted to read the Riot Act, were struck with terror and consternation ; nor was any effectual effort made to check these infamous and disgraceful proceedings far worse indeed than any disorders that had as yet occurred in the progress of the French Revolution till the arrival, on the Sunday evening, of three troops of dragoons from Nottingham ; in a short time after which, reinforcements daily arriving, order and tranquil- * " Excidat ilia dies acvo, nee postera credant Sscula!'* STATIUS. 400 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK lity were perfectly restored. Many of the rioters <^-r-O were taken into custody and brought to trial, but three only were capitally punished. Such was the superior lenity of the government on this occasion, contrasted with the rigors of the special commis- sion issued for the trial of the London rioters in 1780, on which occasion thirteen persons were, under the sanction of the lord- president Lough- borough, included in the same indictment ! The latter months of the year passed over in session of gloomy silence. The parliament was not con- Vened till the 315! of January. 1792. The king the announced in his speech " the ' marriage of his son the duke of York with the princess Frederica, daughter of his good brother the king of Prussia. He informed the two houses that a treaty had been concluded, under his mediation and that of his allies, between the emperor and the Ottoman Porte, and preliminaries agreed upon between the latter of those powers and Russia. The general state of affairs in Europe promised a continuance of peace ; and he was induced to hope for an- im- mediate reduction of the naval and military estat> lishments." The address of thanks and approbation moved by Mr. Charles Yorke, and seconded by sir James Murray, excited some severe animadversions from Mr. Fox, who, in allusion to the cession of Ocza- kow to Russia, observed, " that it required no GEORGE III. 401 moderate share of. assurance for ministers to say BOOK XXIV to gentlemen who had supported their measures v-^-v-O as wise and necessary, ' That which you last ses- sion contended for as of the utmost importance, we have now abandoned as of none. Will you have the goodness to move an address approving what we have done ?' Mr. Fox thought it extra- ordinary that, ia mentioning the inestimable bless- ings of peace and order, no notice was taken, of the violent interruption of order which had oc- curred in the course of the summer. At the close of the eighteenth century we had seen the revival of the spirit and practice of the darkest ages. It would have been well if his majesty had spoken of those riots in the terms they merited. They were not riots for breadthey were not riots in the cause of liberty, which, however highly to be re- probated, had yet some excuse in their principle ; they were riots of men neither aggrieved nor complaining of men who had set on foot an in- discriminate persecution of an entire description of their fellow-citizens, including persons as eminent for their ability, as blameless in their conduct, and as faithful in their allegiance, as this or any country could boast.'* Mr. Pitt deprecated with warmth the invidious revival of a subject so unpleasant and unprofitable, and wished rather to call the attention of the house to the flourishing condition of the com- VOL. VIII, D D v - V 02 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK merce and finances of the nation, of which in ar xxiv. f S-X-N ' snort time he proposed submitting to the house a correct statement. Accordingly, on the iyth of February, the minister, in the course of a most eloquent and animated speech, delineated a pic- ture of national prosperity, more flattering than even the most glowing imagination had ventured to suggest. " The amount of the permanent revenue, with the land and malt duties annexed, from January 1791 to January 1792, he estimated at 16,730,0007. being 300,0 oo/. more than the aggregate of the preceding year. The permanent expenditure, including the interest of the debt, the annual million applied towards its extinction, the civil list, and the military and naval establish- ments, he calculated at 1 5, SiOjOoo/. leaving a clear surplus of more than 900,0007. In this state of things he thought himself authorized to propose the repeal of a part of the more burdensome taxes, to the amount of about 2oo,ooo/. per annum ; and at the same time to apply the sum of 4OO,oco/. to the reduction of the national debt, in aid of the annual million appropriated by parliament. This would still fall far short of his estimate of the na- tional ability, and there was good ground to believe that we had not reached by many degrees the summit of our prosperity. When the debentures- to the American loyalists should be discharged, which would happen in about four years, an adds- GEORGE III. 403 tion of near ^oo,ooo/. would accrue to the revenue. BOOK XXIV. In consequence of the general improvement of v^^-vO credit, the three-per-cents, would soon rise so high as to enable the parliament to effect a reduction of the four, and, as soon as by law redeemable, of the five-per-cents. which would add the sum of 7oo,ooo/. or little less, to the sinking fund. The indefinite additions which might be expected from the increasing produce of the existing taxes, the result of our rapidly increasing commerce, must mock all calculation. Our exports had risen one- third in value since the year 1783, i. e. from 14,741,0007. to 2o,i2o,ooo/. and our internal trade had increased in at least an equal propor- tion. Thus shall we be enabled to make a swiftly accelerated progress in the essential work of liqui- dating the national debt, and in a very short space of time to reach a point which perhaps not long since was thought too distant for calculation. On the continuance of our present prosperity it is indeed impossible to count with certainty; but UNQUESTIONABLY there never was a time when, from the situation of Europe, we might more reasonably expect a durable peace than at the present moment." After developing with much ability and sagacity the hidden but operative springs of the returning prosperity of the country, the minister concluded with the following memor- able words : " From the result of the whole I D D 2 40* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK trust I am entitled to infer, that the scene which XXIV. ^v-O we are now contemplating is not the transient effect of accident, not the short-lived prosperity of a day, but the genuine and natural result of regular and permanent causes. The season of our severe trial is at an end ; and we are at length re- lieved, not only from the dejection and gloom which a few years since hung over the country, but from the doubt and uncertainty which, even for a considerable time after our prospect had begun to brighten, still mingled with the hopes and expectations of the public. We may yet in- deed be subject to those fluctuations which often happen in the affairs of a great nation, and which it is impossible to calculate or foresee ; but as far as there can be reliance on human speculations, we have the best ground from the experience of the past to look with satisfaction to the present, and with confidence to the future. Nunc demum redit animus, cum non spem modo ac votum securitas publica^ sed Ipslus voti jiduciam ct robur assumpserit" Such were the brilliant hopes which the nation was at this moment of exultation taught to indulge, and with such dazzling splendor rose the morn of a year destined to set in darkness, calamity, and blood ! The papers relative to the Russian armament being laid on the table, Mr. Grey noticed several material omissions, and an entire chasm in the cor- GEORGE III. 405 respondcnce from October 31, 1790, to May 26, BOOK XXIV i 791, and moved " that the papers thus \vithheld v^-^O be laid before the house." Mr. Pitt affirmed, that the papers called for by Mr. Grey were highly im- proper ;to be produced. He did not think it con- sistent with good policy to disclose circumstances which might endanger the situation of our public alliances ; and again urged the necessity of confi- dence in the executive government. Mr. Fox in- dignantly replied, " that the confidence of the na- tion was placed in their representatives ; and if those to whom -they had given their confidence should transfer that confidence to the minister, they were betrayed not represented. As to this pretended necessity of confidence, there need be nothing secret where there was nothing wrong ; yet pending the negotiation with Russia they were kept in the dark, and, by a climax in confi- dence, when the negotiation was terminated, they were still denied information." In the course of the debate it was forcibly observed, in allusion to the projected war with Russia, " that it would require more eloquence even than that which had been lately employed in describing the prosperity of this country, to justify a measure which put its prosperity so much to the hazarcL" On the evidence of the papers actually produced, ^ r ;^ hlt " afid the facts publicly ascertained, Mr. Whitbread tionof cen- ' sure re- on the 27th of February (1702) moved a resolu- s P ectili i? ' i \ fJ <* Russia. *06 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK tion of censure on the ministers, importing " that v^v-O Oczakow was not an object of sufficient import- 1792 tance to justify the armed interference of this country." Mr. Whitbread said, " it was the most self-evident of all propositions, that no arrangement affecting Oczakow could in any way affect the political or commercial interests of Great Britain, We exported nothing thither, we imported no- thing from it : the ostensible cause of the dispute, therefore, could not be the real cause. There was ground to believe the existence of a secret negotiation, by which Prussia flattered herself with the hope of obtaining Dantzic and Thorn as a com- pensation for permitting the empress of Russia to retain possession of Oczakow. It appeared that the empress had, so early as December 1789, re- quested the interference of Great Britain to effect a peace, upon the terms of extending her frontier to the Niester, and erecting the provinces of Mol- davia, Bessarabia, and Wallachia, into an indepen- dent principality under a Christian prince. These terms were refused by the court of London, and the empress was told that no attention would be paid to any terms not resting upon the basis of a status quo. At length after blustering, threatening, and arming, came the humiliating memorial of the 29th of June, 1791, which at once conceded all that we had negotiated, threatened, and armed, to obtain." GEORGE III. 407 The motion was ably supported by Mr. Grey, BOOK XX f V wlio remarked, " that since the affair of Holland ^^,-~^ the minister had become intoxicated with power, and fancied he could parcel out kingdoms and provinces at his pleasure. He seemed as much de- lighted with this idea as Don Quixote with books of chivalry, and amused himself with curvetting in this court, prancing in that, menacing here, vaunt- ing there in a word, out-Heroding Herod." Mr. .Fox took a comprehensive view of the ques- tion, and dwelt with much energy and effect on the folly of making Oczakow a primary object of ne- gotiation, and the inconsistency and disgrace of its subsequent abandonment. " Oczakow (said he) was every tiding by itself; but when minister added to Oczakow the honor of England, it be- came nothing. Oczakow and honor weighed nothing in the scale. Honor is, in the political arithmetic of ministers, a minus quantity to be subtracted from {he value of Oczakow. Against the vain theories of men who project fundamental alterations upon grounds of mere speculative ob- , jection, the constitution may be easily defended ; but when they recur to facts, and shew me how we may be doomed to all the horrors of war by the caprice of an individual, who will not even condescend to explain his reasons, I can only fly to this house, and exhort you to rouse from your lethargy of confidence, into the active mistrust 408 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". xx?v K anc ^ v ^ ant control which are your duty and your *^v-^w office." On the division there appeared for the 1792. rr question 1 1 6, against it 244. A motion similar to that of Mr. Whitbread was nearly at the same time made by earl Fitz- william in the Upper House. It was opposed by the lords Grenville and Hawkesbury, the latter of whom threw much light on the real motives of the late interference, by expatiating largely on the ingratitude of Russia, and the injurious conduct of that power during the late war ; and it evidently appeared, by the language of this secret adviser of public measures, that the ARMED NEUTRALITY of the empress, although twelve years had passed since the date of it, was not yet forgotten or for- given. And lord Carlisle did not therefore ex- press himself with perfect accuracy, when, in re- viewing the political objects of the armament, his lordship said, " he believed they might ALL be re- solved into the endeavour to obtain for Prussia Dantzlc and Thorn" Lord Rawdon declared the conduct of ministers to be extremely culpable. " Prying into every cabinet of Europe, where they found amity they sowed discord ; and where the spark of contention existed they had blown it into a flame. Of all the wretched policy of petty states- t, men, (said his lordship) the most contemptible is that which threatened all and performed nothing.'* Lord Loughborough observed, " that it was a GEORGE III. 409 matter of the most serious consideration, by what fatality it was that year after year we were thus to be involved in dispute with every power in every quarter of the world. The horrid spirit of inso- lence and ambition which had sprung up in his majesty's councils, hurried them into excesses which must terminate in the ruin of the empire. The magnanimous declaration of the National As- sembly of France, that they would for ever avoid wars of aggrandisement or conquest, ought to have suggested to us a more wise and elevated system than that which we had lately pursued." The motion was negatived by a majority of 82 to 19 voices. On a general review of the whole subject, no ex- isting ground either of immediate or remote inte- rest is perceivable, on which to rest a rational vin- dication of the British ministry in the conduct of this business. It can never be the interest of Eng- land to exalt the house of Brandenburg in contra- distinction to the house of Austria ; for it is the clearest of all political axioms, that the Imperial power only can oppose a firm and permanent barrier on the continent against the aspiring views of France, whether acting under a free or despotic form of government And the policy of Mr. Pitt in 1790 was diametrically opposite to that of sir Robert Walpole in 1740, when mediating the peace of Belgrade, Also supposing the empress of Russia 410 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. to ^ ave succee ded ' m tne ultimate object of her ambition the subversion of the Ottoman throne m Europe, and the re-establishment of the Byzan- tine empire in the person of her grandson prince Constantine it is impossible to discern how the interests of the British empire, or of the world at large, could be injured by such a revolution. A prodigious majority of the inhabitants of Euro- pean, and even of many extensive provinces of Asiatic Turkey, are Christians of the Greek com- munion, who still remain a people as distinct from their barbarous conquerors as in the times of the Solymans and the Amuraths. However at present on the wane, little more than a century has elapsed since the Turkish moons were displayed before the walls of Vienna ; and all Christendom seemed in danger of falling a prey to the resistless rage of those relentless invaders. No event in modern ages gave so great an alarm as the capture of Con- stantinople by Mahomed II. ; and the prospect of wresting from the oppression of these barbarous infidels the beautiful regions which have so long groaned under the Ottoman yoke must, in an abs- tracted view, be regarded as matter of triumph, not of apprehension or regret. The memorial presented by the Greek deputies to the empress Catharine exhibits a striking and affecting picture of their situation. " Deign, (say they) O great empress ! glory of the Greek faith ! GEORGE III. 411 deign to read our memorial. Heaven has reserved BOOK XXIV. our deliverance for the glorious reign of your im- \^v^> perial majesty. It is under your auspices that we hope to rescue from the hands of barbarous Ma- hommedans our empire which they have usurped, and our patriarchal and holy religion which they have insulted to free the descendants of Athens and Lacedaemon from the tyrannic yoke of igno- rant savages, under which groans a nation whose genius is not extinguished, a nation which glows with the love of liberty, which the iron yoke of barbarism has not vilified, which has constantly before its eyes the images of its antient heroes, and whose example animates its warriors even to this day. Our superb ruins speak to our eyes, and tell us of our antient grandeur. Our innumerable ports, our beautiful country, the heavens which smile upon us all the year, the ardor of our youth, and even of our decrepid elders, tell us that nature is not less propitious to us than it was to our fore- , fathers. Give us for our sovereign your grandson Constantine it is the wish of our nation ; the fa- mily of our emperors is extinct ; and we shall be- come what our ancestors were." "When one nation (says a well-informed eastern traveller) conquers another, and they become in- corporated by having the same rights, the same religion, the same language, and by being blended together by intermarriages, a long series of years 412 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK renders them one people. Who can in England dis- xxiv. . . . r r a v-^v-x^ tinguish the aborigines from the Romans, Saxons. J7S)2. Danes, Normans, and other foreigners ? They are all Englishmen. The Greeks were conquered by the Turks ; but they were attacked, like all other nations they conquered, without provocation. It was not a war for injury or insult, for jealousy of power or the support of an ally it was a war hav- ing for its end conquest, and for its principle a right to the dominion of the whole earth. The conquered were never admitted by the Turks to the rights of citizens or fellow subjects, unless they abjured their religion and their country. They became slaves ; and as, according to their law, the Turks have a right at all times to put to death their prisoners, the conquered and their posterity for ever are obliged annually to redeem their heads by paying the price set on them. They are ex- cluded from all offices in the state. It is death for a conquered Greek to marry a Turkish woman. They are in every respect treated as enemies. They are still called and distinguished by the name of their nation ; and a Turk is never called a Greek, though his family should have been settled for ge- nerations in that country. The testimony of a Greek is not valid in a court of judicature when contrasted with that of a Turk. They are distin- guished by a different dress. It is death to wear the same apparel as a Turk. Even their houses GEORGE III. 413 arc painted of a different colour. In fine, .they are BOOK XXiV. in the same situation they were the day they were < conquered ^totally distinct as a nation ; and they have therefore the same right now as they had then to free themselves from the barbarous usurp- ers of their country, whose conduct to all the na- tions they have conquered merits the eternal exe- cration of mankind."* The intention of the empress of Russia respect- ing her grandson prince Constantine is scarcely to be doubted. At his birth he was put into the hands of Greek nurses fetched on purpose from the Isle of Naxos. He was always dressed in the fashion of the Greeks, and surrounded by chil- dren of that nation, that he might acquire the Greek language, which he soon spoke with great facility. It was also in regard to him that the cadet corps of two hundred Grecian youths was established.! Although it appeared by the event of the mo- tion of Mr. Wilberforce in the preceding session, that the enthusiasm of parliament on the subject of the slave-trade had greatly subsided, that of the public at large was nevertheless increasing, and it had now attained its highest pitch. The table of the house of commons was covered with petitions from all parts of the kingdom, imploring in ear- * ETON'S " Survey of the Turkish Empire." t " Life of Catharine II." by TOQKE. 414 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK nest language the abolition of that iniquitous and o^vO inhuman traffic. On the 2d of April (1702) the house resolved Mr. Wil- \ir y berforce's itself into a committee on the slave-trade, at the second mo- tion of abo- instance of Mr. Wilberforce, who moved, at the Htion. close of a very able speech, a second time the ques- tion of abolition. Mr. Wilberforce declared, " that from his exertions in this cause he had found hap- piness, though not hitherto success. It enlivened his waking and soothed his evening hours, and he could not recollect without singular satisfaction that he haddemanded justicefor millions who could not ask it for themselves AFRICA ! AFRICA ! (he exclaimed with passionate emotion) your suffer- ings have been the theme that has arrested and engages my heart. Your sufferings no tongue can' express, nor no language impart/* Mr. Wilber- force was powerfully supported by many of the most respectable members of the house ; amongst whom Mr. Whitbread particularly distinguished himself by the energy and animation of his re- marks. " It was the necessary quality of despotism (he said) to corrupt and vitiate the heart : and the moral evils of this system were still more to be dreaded than the political. But no mildness in practice could make that to be right which was fundamentally wrong. Nothing could make him give his assent to the original sin of delivering man, over to the despotism of man It was too degrad- GEORGE III. ing to see, not the produce of human labor, but man himself, made the object of trade." J . 1792. In consequence of the ardor displayed by the nation at large in this business, it was at length determined partially to concede what it was now become difficult, perhaps dangerous, wholly to withhold. Mr. Dundas, advanced to the dignity of secretary of state by the resignation of the duke. ^ of Leeds and the organ of the interior cabinet ia the house of commons now therefore, after a plausible speech recommending to the house the adoption of a middle and moderate plan, such as would reconcile the interests of the West-India islands with the eventual abolition of the trade, thought proper to move that the word " gradual" might be inserted before " abolition." Mr. Pitt, who had invariably supported the mea- sure of abolition, not as a minister merely, but, to appearance at least, as a man feeling for all man- kind, declared his decided disapprobation of the amendment proposed by his right honorable friend; and, in a speech fraught with argument and elo- quence, conjured the house not to postpone even for an hour the great and necessary w r ork of abo- lition. " Reflect (said Mr. Pitt) on the 80,000 persons annually torn from their native land ! on the connections which are broken ! on the friend- ships, attachments, and relationships, that are burst 416 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK asunder! There is something in the horror of it YVTir that surpasses all the bounds of imagination. How shall we repair the mischiefs we have brought upon that continent ? If, knowing the miseries we have caused, we refuse even now to put a stop to them, Jiow greatly aggravated will be the guilt of 'Bri- tain! Shall we not rather count the days and hours that are suffered to intervene and to delay the ac- complishment of such a work ? I trust we shall not think ourselves too liberal if we give to Africa the common chance of civilization with the rest of the world. If we listen , to the voice of reason and duty, and pursue this night the line of con- duct which they prescribe, some of us may live to see a reverse of that picture from which we now turn our eyes with shame and regret* We may live to behold the natives of Africa engaged in the calm occupations of industry, in the pursuits of a just and legitimate commerce. We may behold the beams of science and philosophy breaking in upon their land, which, at some happy period in still later times, may blaze with full lustre ; and, joining their influence to that of pure religion, may illuminate and invigorate the most distant extremities of that immense continent. Then may we hope, that even Africa, though last of all the quarters of the globe, shall enjoy at length in the evening of her days those blessings which have GEORGE III. 417 descended so plentifully upon us in a much earlier BOOK period of the world V^-Y^J 1792. Nos primus equis oriens afflavit anhelis ; Illic sera rubens accendit lumina vesper. ** In this view, as an atonement for our long and cruel injustice towards Africa, the measure now before the house most forcibly recommends itself to my mind. The great and happy change to be expected in the state of her inhabitants is, of all the various and important benefits of the aboli- tion, in my estimation incomparably the most ex- tensive and important." Thus nobly could Mr. Pitt at times redeem his errors and deviations from rectitude, and appear still anxious to pre- serve a place in the esteem of the wise, and affec- tion of the good. The amendment of Mr. Dundas was nevertheless carried on the division by a ma- jority of 68 voices. On which he subsequently moved, " that the importation of negroes into the British colonies should cease on the ist of January 1 800." This, on the motion of lord Mornington, was, after great difficulty and debate, altered to January i, 1796. A series of resolutions founded on this basis were then agreed to, and sent up for the concurrence of the lords. But these resolutions were fated to meet with insidious .. ... . jr conduct of a very cold reception in the upper house, and rrom t he house a large proportion of their lordships a most deter- mined opposition. As this was a favorite measure VOL. VIII. E lS HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK with the nation, and had indeed been supported XXIV. ^^v-O in a peculiar manner by the 'voice of the people, they 92r were highly and justly offended to see the duke of Clarence, third son of the king, commence his career of public life with a violent declamation- against the abolition, and invective against its ad- vocates, whom he falsely and foolishly represented as actuated by the spirit of political and religious fanaticism. With a view to protract, and, if pos- sible, to dismiss the business, the lord chancellor moved, " that evidence be heard, not before a se- lect committee, according to the proposition of lord Grenville, but at the bar of the house." This was seconded by lord Hawkesbury,the well-known, and inveterate enemy of the abolition ; of whom it has been affirmed with the utmost bitterness of sarcasm, " that, in despite of the habitual fraud and falsehood of his character, he is earnest and sincere in his contempt of virtue and hatred of freedom." The motion being carried, the house slept over the business during the remainder of the session. The majority of the peers were with indignation perceived by the zealous friends of the abolition, to be decidedly hostile to the mea- sure. It afforded indeed a reflection shocking to humanity, to see men upon whom providence had lavished its choicest favours, who possessed all that the earth traversed from pole to pole could furnish to render existence delightful, eager to GEORGE III. 419 Compel millions of their fellow-creatures, wretches B o OK XXIV whose souls were lacerated with anguish, to drink v^^v-O the cup of misery to the dregs, and to prevent the infusion of a single drop of the balm of consola- tion ! Mr. Pitt having, in his speech on the motion Mr. FOX'* 1-1 motion for for the repeal of the Test, avowed, in the most a repeal of unequivocal and unguarded terms, the right of the laws, dissenters to a full and complete toleration, Mr. Fox embraced the opportunity of bringing for- ward in the course of this session a motion for the repeal of those penal statutes, which, notwith- standing the existence of the Toleration Act, were still in force against those who in any manner im- pugned the doctrine of the TRINITY. He shewed, from a specification of authentic facts, that these laws were far from being a mere dead letter ; not to mention the hatred and opprobrium which they were the means of creating. Such was the wretched bigotry fostered and cherished by these laws, that a bishop of the church (Dr. HORSELEY) *had not scrupled in a recent publication to declare " that, Unitarianism being heresy r , even the moral good of the Unitarians was sin." Mr. Fox ex- pressed his ardent wish to extirpate heresy by fire not indeed in the old mode of burning heretics, but by burning all those statutes which formed the code of persecution. Mr. Pitt appeared on this occasion somewhat embarrassed, and rested 2 420 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK his opposition chiefly on the disuse and oblivion XXIV. <*~s-^> into which the acts in question had fallen, and the 1792. dangerous alarm which might be excited by the repeal disclaiming in warm terms the principles and character of a persecutor. Mr. Fox, in reply, remarked, that he knew not how to distinguish between a persecutor and an advocate for penal laws in matters of religion, which was the precise definition of the term. As to the general alarm, of which Mr. Pitt was apprehensive, it was the bitterest satire upon the spirit of his own admini- stration, to suppose the temper of the public so fatally changed as not to endure the* repeal of laws so execrable, and, till a recent period, so generally the subject of execration. Mr. Fox's motion was rejected by a majority of 79 voices.* * Those who recollected the noble enthusiasm displayed by the father of the present minister in the cause of religious liberty, viewed the conduct of Mr. Pitt on this occasion with mingled emotions of grief and indignation. In a letter ad- dressed, January 1773, to the celebrated Dr. Price, that ve- nerable patriot thus expresses himself: " In writing to you it is impossible the mind should not go of itself to that most interesting of all subjects to fallible man, TOLERATION. Be assured, that on this sacred and unalienable right of nature and bulwark of truth, my warm wishes will always keep pace with your own. Happy if the times had allowed us to add hopet to our wishes !" Here we see the sentiments of the most virtuous of philosophers corroborated by those of the most il- lustrious of statesmen. GEORGE III. 421 Advanced to the highest dignity of the state at BOOK XXIV the premature age of twenty-three, Mr. Pitt had v^-y^J . . i ' . 1792. never, auspicious as were the circumstances of his Mr p . , birth, education, and entrance into public life., t . ot ? lder f 'notion of deeply imbibed the genuine principles of Whiggism. Favoured by fortune, from the very commence- ment of his political career, in a manner the most extraordinary and unprecedented, he attributed too much to himself, and too little to foreign and fortuitous circumstances. He contracted there- fore a dangerous contempt for mankind ; and, depending with vain confidence upon his superior ability to vanquish those difficulties which might eventually arise, he appears never to have attained to a just comprehension of those grand moral and intellectual axioms upon the diligent observance of which the welfare and prosperity of nations de- pend. On the 2ist of May Mr. Whitbread brought Mr - whit bread's mo- forward a motion of enquiry on the subject of the tio p f en- . quiry into Birmingham riots. He introduced this motion the Bir- , ,, f . . . minghani by an excellent speech, containing a copious state- Hots. ment of the facts and circumstances which led to a suspicion that the magistrates had been most culpably remiss in their duty on this occasion ; and even that ministers had been negligent in their exertions for the suppression oT those disorders. Mr. Whitbread referred the house to the proceed- ings of a former house of commons, who, on a 422 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK similar occasion. A. D. 1716, had addressed the XXIV ' K-^Y-S^ king (Geo.'I.) in terms expressive of the utmost indignation and abhorrence of the spirit which had incited those atrocious outrages ; and requesting that full compensation might be made to the suf- ferers. Mr. Whitbread insisted on the disgrace which England would incur in the view of Europe, if a man, who had done so much honor to his country by his philosophical and literary talents, as Dr. Priestley, should fail to obtain a signal repa- ration for the injuries he had sustained. " Should he (said this animated speaker) by the spirit of persecution, be compelled to abandon his native soil, there is no nation which would not be ready and eager to afford him an asylum. He can go to no country where his fame has not gone before him." Mr. Whitbread said, " he knew that tole- ration was the language in fashion ; but it was very easy for men to have toleration on their lips, , and persecution in their hearts." Mr. Secretary Dundas, in reply, vindicated the government very satisfactorily from the suspicion of not having ex- erted themselves to the utmost in quelling riots. He said, " that government did not prosecute the magistrates who were charged with neglect of duty, because the attorney-general was of opinion that there was no probability of conviction, and an ineffectual prosecution might be attended with very disagreeable consequences.'* Mr. Whit- GEORGE III. 423 "bread's motion was ablv supported by Mr. Smith BOOK XXIV and Mr. Windham, but more particularly by Mr. v-A-O Grey, in an admirable speech, well deserving deep and permanent attention. In answer to some harsh reflections of Mr. Dun- das on the recent conduct of the dissenters, Mr. Grey thus nobly and eloquently expressed himself: " I do not, sir, stand here as the professed advocate of the dissenters ; but while we exclaim against the rash and intemperate language of some amongst the dissenters, let us impartially and seriously ask ourselves, if no just cause has been given to them of discontent or of resentment ? It is well known, that the dissenters Juave ever distinguished them- selves as the zealous advocates of the glorious Re- volutionthat they have been always numbered amongst the most firm and steady adherents of the Protestant succession and of the illustrious house i . of Hanover, when that succession was supposed with reason to be in danger, and at a- time when the reigning family did not depend upon the CHURCH as its chief bulwark and support. Con- scious of their fidelity and attachment to the go- vernment under which they lived-^-an attachment which the circumstances of the times afforded them frequent and decisive occasions to demonstrate exercising under the express sanction of the state their inherent right of private judgment in reli- gion they at length applied to the legislature to 24 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK be restored to the privileges of citizens, of XXIV. v^-vO which they had been so long unjustly divested. 1 792. When this claim was refused with every circum- stance of indignity and insult when they were branded as the implacable enemies of the state when they were reproached, notwithstanding their uniformly peaceable demeanour, as seditious and factious hypocrites when the ridiculous and ob- solete Tory clamor was revived, that the CHURCH was in DANGER when we were told ' that the extent of their loyalty might be measured by the blood of a king* can we wonder that they should discover the passions and feelings of men ? that anger should beget anger ? that in the collision of zeal against zeal the voice of reason should be overborne and lost ? Are we really desirous of establishing universal and permanent content and satisfaction ? The experience of all ages shews that the only effectual mode is to annihilate all legal op- pression. While the spirit of intolerance predo- minates in the councils of any country, there will necessarily be discontent, resentment, and anger. And it is in vain to expect to obviate the evil con- sequences of such a system, or to re-establish the general tranquillity, by adding contumely to op- pression, or by an attempt to defend injustice by falsehood. We are ourselves zealously attached to the constitution, because we enjoy in their full extent the privileges and immunities derived from GEORGE III. 425 it. But what risjht have we to expect the same BOOK XXIV. attachment from those who are excluded from v^v^O these privileges ? Though to us the constitution is the object of affection and reverence, to them whom it injures and oppresses it is an odious and tyrannic constitution. Wherever political partialities pre- vail, and political distinctions are injuriously ad- mitted, there political animosities will be excited. Such is the nature of man : and of this we may rest assured, that equity is the only safe and per- manent basis of policy ; and, till we determine to regulate our conduct by this principle, discontents and' animosities must and will prevail. And the disorders and tommotions which we now lament are the genuine offspring of that policy, to which, unhappily for our peace and security, we are still resolved to adhere." The motion was finally ne- gatived by a great and decisive majority. The Libel Bill introduced in the last session by Mr. FOX* Mr. Fox, and which was lost in the house of lords, ceitaining was this session triumphantly carried through of jurLrU both houses, and passed into a law notwithstand-p^sedinto ing the pertinacious opposition of the law lords, alaw - Thurlow, Kenyon, and Bathurst. The marquis of Lansdown sarcastically observed in the debate, " that he did not blame lawyers for making a stand against the present bill. It was well worth a struggle on the part of the profession. It was a proud ambitious profession, desirous of obtaining 426 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK power over all. And if the noble lord at the head XXIV. <^ /-O of the King's Bench could overthrow it, as his lordship had studied politics as well as law, he would reign lord-paramount of England." The law lords joined in a protest against the bill, which will remain as a perpetual monument of the tri- umph of common sense over legal and professional subtilty. Lord Camden, whose genius rose on all occasions superior to the prejudices and artifices of his profession, particularly distinguished himself in the debate by the animation and ability which, in no respect diminished by the winter of age, he displayed in the vindication and final establish- ment, in times dark and inauspicious to liberty, of a doctrine he had early and zealously espoused ; and this may be regarded as the concluding effort of a long life rendered illustrious by the practice of every public and private virtue.* More than twenty years previous to this event, that able and upright senator and patriot Mr. Dowdeswell had introduced a bill into the house of commons for ascertaining the rights of juries, substantially the same with the present bill of Mr. Fox. It was, on a division, thrown out by a prodigious majority. But the friends of liberty never lost sight of this great and interesting question, and by the most unwearied and meritorious perseverance they at length happily attained their object. * Lord Camden died April 18, 1794. - * GEORGE III. 427 Another point was also gained during this ses- BOOK sion in favor of the o-eneral system of freedom, by ^<-^^ *- ' 1792. a bill introduced into the house of peers by lord Act for the Elgin, for the relief of the Scottish episcopalians who. had long been subject to heavy penalties o the original ground of notorious disaffection to the Revolution establishment. But, like other high-flying and Jacobitical Tories, they were now become most conspicuous^for loyalty amongst the loyal. An objection however was started by the lord-chancellor, whether, according to a clause in the present bill, specifying the description of per- sons to be relieved, the state could with propriety recognize the validity of ordination by the bishops exercising their functions independent of the state. And, in his profound knowledge of ecclesiastical antiquity, his lordship ventured even to intimate his doubts, whether bishops could exist in any Christian country not authorised by the state. But his lordship being assured by the bishop of St. David's, who spoke in favour of this " afflict- ed part of the Church of Christ," that Christian bishops existed three hundred years before the hap- py alliance between church and state took place under the auspices of the emperor Constantine the Great, his lordship was pleased to declare him- self satisfied ; and the bill passed without any farther opposition. 428 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK In consequence of the spirit of discontent, XXI even of disaffection, by which a considerable pro- 179 , portion of the community seemed at this period Society of J the Friends to be animated, and which had given rise to vari- of the people in- ous political associations of an alarming nature, muted. , \ ,. , ., c f b and in which ideas or government reform were carried to a visionary and dangerous extreme, it was thought proper by many of the most distin- guished advocates of constitutional liberty, about this period, to institute a society under the name of the " Friends of the People," for the sole pur- pose of effecting a reform in parliament, on the principles so often stated and so ably enforced by Mr. Pitt and other judicious patrons of reform, presuming that all other necessary and beneficial reforms would follow in safe and regular gradation. About thirty members of parliament entered their Barnes as members of this association, which also comprehended many of the most eminent charac- ters in the kingdom, whether in respect of political or literary ability. It is remarkable, that this most useful and laudable association, this broad and lofty mound thrown up for the defence of the con- stitution against the rage of republican innovation, seemed to excite more the alarm of the govern- ment than all the other associations united. And when Mr. Grey, himself a member of the new society, gave notice of his intention to move, in GEORGE III. 429 the course, of the ensuing session, for an enquiry into the state of the representation, Mr. Pitt rose with unusual vehemence to declare " his total . disapprobation of introducing, at a period so critical and dangerous as the present, a discussion of such difficulty and importance. This he af- firmed was not a time for experiments ; and if he was called upon either to risk this, or for ever to abandon all hopes of reform, he would say he had no hesitation in preferring the latter alternative. He saw with concern the gentlemen to whom he alluded virtually united with others who professed the reform of abuses, and meant the subversion s of government." The expediency and policy of timely and temperate reform were on the other hand powerfully argued by the friends of the pro- jected motion. " As to the obnoxious allies of the late associators, (Mr. Fox said) the objection might be completely retorted, by asking the mi- nister ' Whom have you for your allies ?' On the one part there are infuriated republicans, on the other the slaves of despotism. The first are the rash zealots of liberty, the latter its inveterate and determined foes." The consternation of the mi- nisters evidently appeared by a ROYAL pRocLAMA-Royaipro- . clamation TION almost immediately issued against the public j. . c -I-, ,. . . . . pressionof dispersion of all seditious writings, and against illegal correspondences -exhorting the magistrates to vigilance, and the people to submission and obe- dience, 430 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK This proclamation beins: laid before the hous XXIV. v^-v-^ 1 (May 25), and an address moved of approbation and support, it was opposed by Mr. Grey with much warmth, and the proclamation itself con- demned in severe terms as a measure insidious and pernicious. The " diligent enquiry enjoined by the proclamation after the authors and distributors of 'wicked and seditious writings could only tend to establish an odious and arbitrary system of ESPIO- KAGE. This was the system which had made the old government of France so much the object of general detestation, and it was a system unworthy of the sovereign of a free people to recommend. Mr. Grey strongly intimated his belief, that the real object of the proclamation was merely to dis- credit the late association in the view of the public." This Mr. Pitt disclaimed in very explicit terms, and expressed his high respect for many of the members of the association in question, declaring " that he differed from them only in regard to the time and mode which they had adopted for the attainment of their object. The association in question (he said) did not come within the scope and purview of the proclamation, which was le- velled against the daring and seditious principles which had been so assiduously propagated amongst the people, under the plausible and delusive appel- lation of the Rights of Man." The address was GEORGE III. 43t finally carried without a division, and, receiving BOOK XXIV. the concurrence of the upper house, was presented v^-v^O in form to the king. It was followed by addresses from all parts of the kingdom : and the ministry, Prosecu- 1 . ' tions for finding their strength, commenced prosecutions sedition, against a prodigious number of offenders, amongst whom Thomas Paine stood most conspicuous. Notwithstanding the professional ability of Mr. Erskine, whom he had engaged as his advocate, he was found guilty of the charge ; but foreseeing the probability of this event, he had previously absconded to France. Among various other remarkable trials, those Trials** of Daniel Holt and William Winterbotham seem peculiarly to challenge the specific notice of history. tham * The former, a young man and printer at Notting- ham, was convicted of the crime of republishing, verbatim^ a political tract written ten years before by major Cartwright, and then circulated with great applause by the society for constitutional in- formation. This prosecution was followed by im- prisonment, ruin, and premature death. The latter, a dissenting teacher at Plymouth, of virtuous and highly respectable character, was convicted of se- dition, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment in the gaol of Newgate, for two sermons preached in commemoration of the Revolution of i688i The indictment charges him with affirming " that his majesty was placed upon the throne upon coft- 432 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK dition of keeping certain laws and rules and if he does not observe them, he has no more right to the crown than the Stuarts had." All the Whigs of the kingdom might doubtless have been com- prehended in the same indictment. And if the doctrine thus affirmed be denied, the monstrous reverse of the proposition follows, that the king is bound by no conditions or laws ; and that, though resistance to the tyranny of the Stuarts might be justifiable, resistance in the same circum- stances to the house of Brunswic is not. This trial, for the circumstances of cruelty and infamy attending it, has been justly compared to that so celebrated of Rosewell, in the latter years of Charles II. to which the present times exhibit in various respects a most striking and alarming pa- rallel. Certain it is, and it would be disingenuous and deceitful to deny or disguise the fact, that the perpetual misconduct of government during the present reign, the misfortunes and miseries by which it has been characterised, its follies, its vices, and its crimes, have given occasion to a new and very serious investigation of the principles of the British constitution ; and amongst men of philo- sophic reflection may be discerned a great abate- ment of that enthusiastic ardor with which they once were in the habit of speaking and thinking of a form of government which has been found, by fatal experience, not incompatible for a long series GEORGE III. V 433 of years with the grossest neglect or perversion of BOOK. those ends for which government is alone insti- v^-vO 1792. tuted. And a strong speculative predilection has ^ unquestionably arisen in the minds of many for a republican form of government, in preference to any form of monarchy. But, before any inference is drawn to the prejudice of the British constitu- tion, that constitution ought to be restored to its genuine and original principles : and then there is good ground to believe, that by far the greater part of the evils now experienced, and which are so justly the subject of complaint, would instantly vanish. Among the most palpable and pernicious of the existing abuses must undoubtedly be reck- oned the enormous and overwhelming influence of the crown the inequality of the national re- presentation the long duration of parliaments the rapid and monstrous increase of the national debt and taxes, and of the civil and military estab- lishments the oppression, absurdity, and iniquity connected with the present ecclesiastical system the municipal tyranny exercised over the poor, under cover of the poor laws, originally intended and calculated for their relief and protection the amazing multiplicity of superfluous places, pen- sions, sinecures, and lucrative appointments, by which individuals are aggrandized and enriched at the expense and to the impoverishment of the pub- lic. When these evils are remedied, the constitu- VOL. VIII. F B 434 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK tion of Great Britain will have a fair trial ; and the XXIV. _ ^-^v-O beneficial effects it has in itself a tendency to pro- 1792. duce will be fully ascertained. But, till this happy period arrives, all reflections on monarchical go- vernment in reference to England can be appli- cable, not to the genuine and unadulterated con- stitution of the country, but to the present de- formed and destructive system of administrative government. state of. The attention of parliament towards the con- affkirs in f \ . / India* elusion of the session was forcibly drawn to the situation of India for some time past involved in a general war, the origin and progress of which it may be proper concisely to explain. From the sera of the peace of Mangalore, concluded by the Company with Tippoo Saib in 1784, the power of that prince had been regarded as very formidable. He was avowedly and devotedly attached to the interests of France, to which country he had soon after that event sent a splendid embassy, and estab- lished an intimate friendship and alliance. The period however at length arrived, when, France being occupied with other and greater objects, a severe vengeance might be safely taken on the TYRANT of MYSORE for all his real or pretended perfidies and oppressions. The Dutch East-India Company had in the last century conquered from the Portuguese two forts serving as a sort of ad- vanced post^to their favorite settlement of Cochin, GEORGE III. 435 and situated within the territory of Mysore, called BOOK XXIV. Cranganore and Acottah, to which Hyder Ally v^-yO 1792 had formerly advanced pretensions. These they had recently disposed of by purchase to the rajah of Travancore, an ally of the English Company. Tippoo Saib resenting the conduct of the Dutch, who had refused to listen to proposals from him, and affirming that the rajah had no right to make any such purchase within the limits of his terri- tory without his consent as sovereign of Mysore, marched a considerable military force, in the sum- mer of 1789, against Cranganore, with a professed intent to reduce it to his dominion. The conduct of the rajah in making the purchase in question, on so precarious and invidious a title, was severely censured by the government of Madras ; and Mr. Holland, the president, warned him to desist from his ambitious designs. On the farther advance of Tippoo and his army at the close of the year into the territory of Tra- vancore, he received, however, a strong remon- strance from the British presidency ; and, in con- sequence of the powerful mediation thus inter* posed, Tippoo withdrew his troops, still, however, asserting his claim 1 to the feudal sovereignty of the forts, and offering to submit his pretensions to any impartial arbitration. But on the first of May, 1790, the rajah, relying, as it afterwards ap- peared, on the support of the superior presidency F F 2 436 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK of Bengal, made an offensive attack on the army v^-v^L; of Tippoo Sultan ; and the war having thus com- 1792 menced, the English government was bound in honor and justice to defend their ally. This the Company were the better enabled to do, not merely from their knowledge of the state of France, but from the treaties they had actually formed with the nizam of the Decan and the Mahratta states, for the express purpose of humbling the power of Mysore. The grand Carnatic army immediately assem- ^ under the command of general Meadows, marched through the southern or Coimbetore country, and, penetrating the Ghauts, -or passes of the mountains, advanced towards the city of Se- ringapatam, the capital of Mysore. On the western side, the Bombay army, under general Abercrom- bie, after reducing Cannanore and several other places on the coast, entered the kingdom of Mysore, which notwithstanding the pretended oppression of the government, exhibited every-where the marks of the highest cultivation and prosperity. " When a person," says a writer of reputation, who himself served in the army of lord Cornwallis, " travelling through a strange country, finds it well cultivated, populous, with industrious inha- bitants, cities newly founded, commerce extend- ing, towns increasing, and every thing flourishing so as to indicate happiness, he will naturally GEORGE III. 437 elude it to be under a form of government conge- BOOK nial to the minds of the people. This is a picture .^-v-O of Tippoo's country. No complaints or murmur- ings were heard, although no time could have been more favorable for their utterance. Nor did they by any means seem to regard their conquerors with complacency, as relieving them from an op- pressive yoke ; but, on the contrary, they disco- vered a strong attachment and loyalty to their native sovereign."* To the same purpose, upon another equally respectable authority, we are told " thatTippoo's country was found every -where full of inhabitants, and apparently cultivated to the utmost extent of which the soil was capable. His government, though strict and arbitrary, was the despotism of a politic and able sovereign, who nourishes, not oppresses, the subjects who are to . be the means of his future aggrandizement."! It appears, therefore, probable, that this war was not undertaken solely from the generous and bene- ficent motive of rescuing the inhabitants of Canara and Mysore from the oppression and tyranny of their sovereign. The sultan defending himself with great resolu- tion, and no mean display of military skill, ge- neral Meadows found himself under the necessity of retreating to the vicinity of Madras j where, * MOORE'S Narrative of Military Operations in India, f Major Di ROM'S Account of the War in Mysore. 438 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK in the month of December (1790), lord Corn- *^-v-^ wallis assumed the command of the army in 1792. person. The plan of the war was now entirely changed, and a grand effort resolved on to force a passage to Seringapatam through the country lying di- rectly westward of Madras. On the 2ist of March, 1791, the important town of Bangalore was taken by storm, with little loss on the part of the British, but with a dreadful carnage of the unresisting garrison. On the i3th of May, the army, by extraordinary exertions, arrived in sight of the superb capital of Mysore, defended by the sultan in person ; and on the next day an action took place, in which Tippoo was said to be defeat- ed, though he does not appear to have sustained any very considerable loss : and the swelling of the Cavery (in an island formed by the branches of which Seringapatam is situated), together with the want of provisions, compelled lord Corn wallis to begin his retreat to Bangalore, almost before his victory could be announced. General Abercrombie, who had advanced through the Ghauts on the opposite side, with a view to form a junction with lord Cornwallis, was now also obliged to lead back his army, fatigued, harassed, and disappointed, over the mountains they had lately with such difficulty passed. Dur- ing these transactions the troops of the nizam GEORGE III. 43 and the Mahrattas kept discreetly aloof, leaving B K the burden of the war almost entirely to the ^-x-v>-> . . , nya. British. But the next campaign, for which lord Corn- wallis made unremitted preparations, opened un- der more favorable auspices. Early in February, 1792, the eastern and western armies, resuming their former plan of operations, effected, before the end of the month, a junction under the walls of Seringapatam ; the forces of the peishwa and of the nizam encamping also at a small distance, and furnishing to the British army a plentiful supply of stores and provisions. On the /th of v February a general attack was made by moon- light, the troops marching in grand and awful silence to their respective posts, on the lines of the sultan, which was attended with very im- portant effects Tippoo being compelled to relin- quish his former advantageous position, which covered his capital; and Seringapatam was in consequence of this defeat closely and completely invested. The situation of Tippoo Saib being now in the highest degree alarming, and almost hopeless, he thought proper to send a vakeel to the camp of lord Cornwallis to sue for peace ; which the British general granted on the severe terms, l. Of his ceding one half of his dominions to the allied powers. 2. Of paying three crores and HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B Y O , r K thirty lacks of rupees, as an indemnification for the 'expenses of the war. 3. The release of all -xxiv. f~ w*^-^ v . w~-v *** j ii^, x ^>AVC*|JW VJL *A* 1792. prisoners; and, 4. The delivery of two of his sons as hostages for the due peformance of the treaty. On the 26th of February the princes, each mounted on an elephant magnificently caparison- ed, proceeded to the British camp, where they were received by lord Cornwallis with all possible demonstrations of kindness and affection. The eldest, Abdul-Kalic, was about ten ; the younger, Mirzaud-Deen, about eight years of age. The princes were attired in white muslin robes, with red turbans richly adorned with pearls, and they conducted themselves with a politeness and pro- priety which astonished the spectators. On the i pth of March, the definitive treaty, signed by the sultan, was delivered by the young princes, with great solemnity, into the hands of lord Cornwallis; but the sums specified in the second article not being actually paid, the princes still remained un- der the safeguard and custody of his lordship. Though the entire knowledge of these transac- tions had not reached England when the affairs of India came under the discussion of the house of commons, (June 5th) Mr. Dundas stated the ge- neral situation of the Company to be in the highest degree flourishing ; and, by an intricate deduction of figures, he shewed the surplus of the Bengal revenue for the preceding year to be no less than . GEORGE III t 441 eleven hundred thousand pounds. " The flou- B _o o ic A. -A.1 V rishinar state of the revenue was however remark- <-^-v~-*> 1792. ed by Mr. Francis to be not precisely the same thing with the flourishing state of the country, which might be ill able to bear the weight of these impositions. The seizures for non-payment of the land revenue were (he said) most alarmingly noto- rious ; and he held in his hand, at that moment, two Bengal advertisements, the one announcing the sale of seventeen, the other of forty-two vil- lages." The trial of Mr. Hastings occupied twenty-two days of the present session. Although that great delinquent had not scrupled in the speech deliver- ed by him at the close of the last session to declare himself " above all things desirous of an imme- diate decision upon the evidence before their lord- ships," this must be understood as a mere bravado ; for it was not possible for a moment seriously to imagine that the house of peers would descend to a compliance so derogatory to the dignity and jus- tice of their proceedings. And during the pre- sent year his counsel, far from displaying any eagerness to bring matters to a short issue," went into speeches and details of such immoderate length, that their reply to the first charge only, viz. that of Benares, was completed within the term prescribed. But in the view of the public t large no light whatever was thrown upon the 442 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, BOOK main question by all the rhetorical harangues, the xxiv. . , . t . j <^-v^u examinations, the re-examinations, and cross-exa- 92 ' minations which took place in the investigation of this intricate business. To the common sense of mankind this alone appeared, that flagrant and enormous guilt could not need so many words for the purpose either of proving or of disproving it. state of On'the i cth June (1702) the session closed with Europe. a speech from the throne, in which his majesty expressed to the two houses " his great concern at the actual commencement of hostilities in different parts of Europe, assuring them that his principal care would be to preserve to his people the unin- terrupted blessings of PEACE." Second Na- The second National Assembly of France met tional As- r .'.,.. sembiyof October i, 1791. By an actor patriotic disinte- ven!ed? COn restedness, very indiscreet in its nature, and per- nicious in its consequences, the late Assembly had decreed that no person should be eligible to two successive legislatures. The present Assembly, therefore, was necessarily destitute of the experi- ence, and, according to the general opinion, of the talents likewise, of the former. And being chosen at the precise period when the national resentment was at the highest pitch, they were of a much more anti-monarchical complexion. The opening speech of the king was received nevertheless with great applause : and the president replied in terms of confidence and respect, expressing the united wish GEO RGE III. 44-3 of the Assembly to comply with the benevolent BOOK and patriotic views of the king. " Such, sire," ^^^ said he, " is our duty, such are our hopes, and the gratitude and blessings of the people will be our reward." The prospect, however, was quickly overcast. By the king's express desire, on his ac- ceptance of the Constitutional Act, a decree of indemnity had passed respecting the emigrants, without any exception whatever, on the condition of their returning to their country within a limit- ed time. But the agent deputed on this commis- sion to the refugee princes at Coblentz, in the electorate of Treves, was not only treated with contempt and insult, but actually imprisoned, on pretence of his want of passport. In consequence of this outrage, and of the con- tinuance of the hostile preparations of the emi- grants, a decree passed the Assembly early in No- vember (1791) declaring prince Louis Stanislaus Xavier to have forfeited, in case he do not return to the kingdom in two months, his eventual claim to the regency : and, by a subsequent decree, the Assembly pronounced the French hostilely assem- bled on the frontier guilty of a conspiracy against their country, in case they did not return before the ist of January 1792; incurring thereby the forfeiture of their estates during their lives, but without prejudice to their children. On the i8th of November a severe decree passed the Assembly 444 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. B xx?v K a S amst tne nonjuring clergy, who were accused, v^-v^> with too much reason, of seditious and incivic 1792. practices. ,..-. jealousies To both these decrees the kins:, insensible or of the king. careless of consequences, opposed his royal veto. " The king," says a writer of equal ability and in- telligence, the count de Segur, " made at this time an experiment of his constitutional authority, and refused to sanction these decrees. The violent of the most opposite parties were equally discontent- ed at this resistance of the monarch ; the dema- gogues, because they regarded it as the effect of a counter-revolutionary intention j and the aristo- crates, because they wished that the king should not do any acts which might induce a supposition of his being at liberty. In the mean time the dis- order and effervescence were continually increas- ing. The emigrants armed at Coblentz and their friends in France did not disguise their hopes. The weakness of the court became conspicuous in proportion to its perils, and a political crisis evi- dently approached." The Assembly, astonished at the conduct of the king, addressed him to take effectual measures to prevent the dangers which menaced the country. The king, in reply, assured the Assembly, that the emperor had done all that could be expected from a faithful ally r , by forbidding and dispersing all assemblages of emigrants within his states. And he had acquainted the elector of GEORGE III. ** Treves, that if he did not, before the i cth of Ja- BOOK . ... XXIV. nuary, put a stop to all hostile dispositions, he should be obliged to consider him as the enemy of France. The Assembly, however, were not lulled to se- curity by these empty professions. Whatever was done in favor of the emigrants by. the German princes, was plainly done under the* sanction of the emperor ; and it was now publicly ascertained that the emperor had, in concert with the king of Prussia, concluded a convention or agreement in the highest degree inimical to France, although no intimation had been given of this transaction from the executive power to the Assembly. On the 24th of August, 1791, the emperor Leo- pold, the king of Prussia, arid the elector of Saxony, met at the castle of Pilnitz, in Lusatia, belonging to the elector, where they remained till the 28th. The precise articles of the treaty con- cluded there, if any treaty was indeed concluded, have never been authentically divulged ; but pro- bably the engagements were only verbal. It suf- fices to know that on the 27th of August the em- peror delivered the following DECLARATION to the count d'Artois, who assisted at the conferences, and who had, in the month of May preceding, been already admitted to a personal interview with the emperor at Mantua. " His majesty the emperor, and his majesty the king of Prussia, hav- 446 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK ing heard the desires and representations of Mon- ^^-O sieur and of his royal highness the count d'Artois, declare jointly that they regard the situation in which his majesty the king of France actually is as an object of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe. They hope that- this concern cannot fail to be acknowledged by the powers whose assistance is claimed ; and that in consequence they will not refuse to employ jointly with their said majesties the most efficacious means, in pro- portion to their forces, to place the king of France in a state to settle in the most perfect liberty the foundations of a monarchical government, equally suitable to the rights of sovereigns and the welfare of the French. Then and in that case their said majesties are decided to act quickly and with one accord with the forces necessary to obtain the common end proposed. In the mean time they will give suitable orders to their troops, that they may be ready to put themselves in motion." This paper was signed by the emperor and king. The project of Leopold, as we are informed from the high and indisputable evidence of M. Bouille, was to form a league between all the powers of Europe, to surround France on every side with their armies ; and then to publish a manifesto requiring the French government to restore the king and royal family to their liberty, to re-instate his majesty in his dignity, and to GEORGE III. 447 re-establish the monarchy on a solid basis and upon BOOK XXIV. reasonable principles. Threats of an invasion and N^-vO an attack upon all points were to be held out, and to be executed in case of refusal. The emperor declared to M. Bouille " that the sanction extort- ed from the king of France to the new constitu- tion was of no validity, and would permit his ma- jesty to retract all he had done." That nobleman was requested to bring with him to Pilnitz a plan for the disposition and operation of the foreign armies upon the different parts of the French fron- tier ; which, having completed, he submitted to the previous inspection of the council of princes at Coblentz, by whom it was approved. The king of Sweden, ever restless and eager of distinction, had some time before opened to M. Bouille the design concerted by him with the empress of Russia for invading France with an army of 36,000 Muscovites and Swedes, to be landed as near as possible to Paris, while the combined forces of Austria and Prussia should penetrate to that capital in a different direction. This chivaleresque and perilous enterprise, as M. Bouille informs us, was openly treated in Sweden as " a mad attempt, calculated to swallow up all the resources of the kingdom." The kings of Spain and Sardinia had also engaged to co-operate by an invasion of the southern provinces, and his Catholic majesty agreed to advance fifteen millions of livres tour- 448 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK- nois towards the expense of the Swedish expedi- xxiv. v^v-v^ tion.* 1792. r , P , In consequence or the acceptance of the consti- tutional act by the French monarch, he had indeed written a circular letter to the powers whom he had invited to confederate, proposing to suspend the effects of the league; and it was agreed between the courts of Vienna and Berlin, according as cir- cumstances should determine, either to make the claims of the German princes in Alsace a subject of negociation or a pretext for war.f But the hostile designs of the two courts, if ever really sus- pended, were almost immediately revived, and the prospect of peace was removed to an incal- culable distance. In the excitation of all the pas- sions reason was no longer heard. The short-lived popularity of the king of France was now vanished never to return. Addresses were presented to the Assembly from every quar- ter of the kingdom, indicating their dissatisfac- tion with the court, and their confidence in the firmness and patriotism of the Assembly. M. de Montmorin, justly suspected of being accessary to the designs of the court, now resigned' his office, * Vide " Memoirs of the French Revolution, by M. de BOUILLE'." t History of Frederic William II. by count de SEGUR, vol. II. p. 187. GEORGE III. 449 unable to withstand the torrent of national odium, BOOK and M. de Lessart succeeded. ^^x-v-O The republican party, in consequence of the P . , . . Discontcnu incessant tergiversations of the monarch, gained increase, great strength ; and forming themselves into a club or society assembling at the convent of the Jacobine Friars, recently dissolved, they acquired the popular and since famous appellation of JA- COBINS. The friends of monarchy, on the other hand, had, from a similarity of circumstances, ob- tained the name of Feuillants. The designs of Leopold gradually unfolded. Menaces of ^ i r T> cr i the court of On the 2 1 st or December omcial notice was given Vienna. to the French ambassador at the court of Vienna, (that the emperor, understanding the elector of Treves to be under apprehensions from France, had been constrained to order mareschal Bender to march to his relief and protection. The king, in communicating this intelligence to the Assem- bly, affected great surprize at the resolution of the emperor. " He could not persuade himself that the good dispositions of the emperor were changed, and wished to believe that his Imperial majesty had been deceived as to the state of facts, and been made to suppose that the elector had indeed fulfilled all the duties of good neighbourhood." About this period M. Louvet, at the head of a grand deputation of the citizens of Paris, address- ed the Assembly in an eloquent speech, urging the VOL. vni. Q o HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK legislative body to the adoption of vigorous and wv^ decisive measures, " Men (said this impassioned 179 and patriotic orator) who assume the name of ^Frenchmen are meditating the ruin of France. They harass us from within they menace us from without but soon, we trust, will the na- tional vengeance, under your direction, display the banners of our armies on the banks of the Rhine. The constitution is guarantied by the oaths of the nation which can exist only in France. Deign, gentlemen, to announce this truth to the crusaders of Treves. Tell them that France will never regard as an independent power, or as con- stituting any part of the French nation, the assem- blage of rebels and vagabonds who have armed themselves against their country. Is it not known to the whole world that, aided by a foreign force, they have attempted sacrilegiously to destroy the infant liberties of France ? Escaping by an igno- minious flight from the rage of the people, they have traversed Europe in order to raise up ene- mies to France ! In return, we issue declarations of pardon we invite them back into the bosom of their country. They have exerted every effort to reduce us to the condition of slaves} we decree to them the rank and revenue of princes. In fine, after insulting in every possible mode the majesty of the people, they arc at this moment bidding de- fiance to their power 1 We demand then the denun* GEORGE III. 451 elation of WAR. Let France rise in arms! Let the BOOK XXIV myriads of our citizen soldiers precipitate them- v-^v^ selves upon the demesnes of feudality. Let them encircle palaces with their bayonets, and deposit in cottages the declaration of the rights of man that in every clime man, instructed and delivered, may resume the sentiment of his original dignity. Then shall nations be blended into one, and the grand fraternity of mankind shall, upon the altar of Equality, Liberty, and Philosophy, swear UNIVERSAL PEACE." Such were the grand and swelling ideas which now possessed the minds of a vast majority of the people of France. At- tached to the liberty they had by means so won- derful acquired, with even a romantic enthusiasm the nation was, not in profession merely but in seriousness and reality, prepared and determined to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in its defence. But the court, unable to discern the signs of the times, impelled by the blind and fatal impulse of pride and passion, persisted in its frantic career of folly and ruin. Preparations were now at last made for war ; but the designs of the emperor not being as yet ripe for execution, the elector of Treves thought fit on a sudden to change his tone, and to engage that within eight days the hostile assemblages within his dominions should be en* tirely dispersed. " The rapid fall of the royal, noble, and sacerdotal power in France," says a G G 2 452 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK most able politician and writer, the Count dc XXIV. A^-v-O Segur,* " had struck with terror the monarchs of Europe and their favorites ; they forgot the , difference between their situation and that of Lewis XVI. The ministers entrusted to ask for peace were represented as missionaries chosen for the purpose of propagating the scourge of revolu- tion. None were at that time looked on as attach- ed to social order and to honor, but those French- men who had quitted their country, and who hoped to re-establish the antient order in it by force of foreign arms. All those who thought this project humiliating to France, dangerous to the king, and likely to exasperate a proud and warlike nation, were confounded with the jaco- bins, whose excesses they endeavoured to pre- vent." The public discontents and clamors against the king rising very high, and being charged almost openly with treachery to the nation, his majesty was pleased to write (February 17, 1792) a letter to the Assembly, contradicting in very haughty terms " these injurious reports, propagated by evil-minded people to alarm the public and calum- niate his intentions. Nothing (he adds) keeps him at Paris but his will, and whenever he has reasons to'leave it he will not disguise them." Unless the monarch imagined that all recollection of his de- History of Frederic William II. vol. ii. p. 209. GEORGE III. 453 ceitful conduct in relation to the famous expedition B JJ * ^S-A.IV to Varennes during the preceding summer was ^^7^ lost, this indignant language was strangely mis- applied. The correspondence between the courts of Paris and Vienna being laid before the Assembly on the ad of March, it appeared that the Imperial troops in the Netherlands would shortly amount to 90,000 men. And the dispatch of prince Kaunitz (February 17) openly avowed the con- cert formed with other powers for preserving unim- paired the monarchy of France ; and was through- out expressed in terms of menace and hostility, which left no doubt as to the ultimate determina- tion of the Imperial court. The Assembly, in- flamed with this intelligence, rashly and precipi- tately, without any previous or regular investiga- tion of facts, impeached M. de Lessart for criminal concealment and unconstitutional practices, of which nevertheless he appears from subsequent evidence most assuredly guilty.* Hewas succeeded by the celebrated M. Dumouriez. This able minister, who was firmly attached to the new order of things, tells us in his Memoirs, " that, on the return of the king and court to Paris, after the expedition to Varennes, he hoped they would 'reflect on their situation, and the impos- sibility of any longer opposing the constitution j * Vide " Memoirs of BERTKANO de MOLEVILLE." HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK that they would remember the safety of the king XXIV s^vO depended on his regaining the confidence of the 792 ' nation; that they would contemplate the cer- tainty of his ruin and that of his august house, of the monarchy, and of all France, if he relapsed into his former conduct. He was persuaded that the terrible fault committed by Louis, after having twice perjured himself, would serve as a lesson to him ; and that his heart would be melted with the generosity of the French nation, who had re- stored to him a crown which he had forfeited by the letter and spirit of that constitution which he had sworn to obey. But soon the court resumed its former habits, its secret correspondence in foreign countries, and its corruptions, which only faifl it at the mercy of the traitors thus corrupted. It recommenced its intrigues, its petty conspiracies at Paris and in the provinces, its useless com- plaints, its satirical attacks upon the Assembly and their labors, which produced incendiary re- plications on the part of the Jacobins." Being on a certain day, after his appointment as minister, ordered to wait upon the queen an hour before the council met, he found her alone, walking backwards and forwards with hasty steps. Advancing towards him at length with an irritated and majestic air she spoke as follows : " Sir, you are all powerful at this moment, but it is through the favor of the people, who soon GEORGE HI. 455 demolish their idols. Your situation depends BOOK , , T . , i xxiv. upon your conduct. It is said that you possess ^~v~^> great talents. You ought to know that neither the king nor myself will suffer either these -novel- ties or the constitution. I declare it frankly to you. Choose therefore the part you are to act." M. Dumouriez representing the necessity of a cordial concurrence on the part of the king, in establishing the constitution solidly and quietly,the queen rejoined in a louder and more passionate tone of voice: " It will not last; therefore take care of yourself." Thus blindly and precipitately did this devoted woman press forward in the path to destruction. On the ist of March, 1792, died suddenly, of a Deat hof theempercfr malignant fever, the emperor Leopold II. a prince Leopold H. 11 i it i- i rr i Accession whose passions had never wholly shaken oft the of the em- r t TT i i < i peror Fran- reStramtS or prudence. He was succeeded by hisdsii. son Francis II. under the title of King of Hungary; but he was, after a short interval, elected emperor of the Romans. This event made not the least change, except by a fresh infusion of violence in the system of Austrian policy. Scarcely was the new monarch seated on his throne when he com- municated to the court of Berlin his determination strictly and literally to adhere to the terms of the treaty or convention of Pilnitz. At this period the king of France, naturally void of constancy and resolution, weak and 456 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK wavering in his temper, was induced to obey the ^x-v->J voice of the public, by nominating, (March 23) after various unpopular dismissions and appoint- ments, M. Roland to the interior department, M. Claviere to that of finance, and, soon after, M. Ser- van to be minister of war men who deservedly possessed the general esteem and confidence. But no real advantage resulted from .this change. " All the trouble (says M. Dumouriez) taken by the ministers to recover the love and confidence of the nation was rendered ineffectual by the activity of intrigues. It was Penelope's web the court undid during the night all the labors of the day." The negotiation between the two powers of France and Austria, notwithstanding the efforts of the new ministry, proceeded slowly and heavily. " Peace or war," says M. Dumouriez in his dis- patch, March 1 9th, to M. Noailles, ambassador at the Imperial court, " depends entirely on the ca- binet of Vienna." " What can be the motives of such a war ? The claims upon Alsace and Lor- raine ? These may be adjusted by negotiation. The cause of the emigrants ? They are acting in open disobedience to his majesty, and are traitors to their country. Our armament ? It was pro- voked by the treaty of Pilnitz, and by the asylum granted to the emigrants on the frontiers." The ambassador, M. Noailles, was at length or- dered to require from the Imperial court a distinct GEORGE III. 457 specification of its ultimate objects. The reply of that court to this categorical demand was contain- & 1792. ed in a short note from M. Cobentzel. The con- _H; S arro- ditions were the re-establishment of the monarchy Sds?" on the basis of the royal session of Louis XVI. held June 23, 1789 consequently the re-establishment of the nobility and clergy as orders : the restitu- tion of the property of the clergy, and of the lands in Alsace to the German princes, with all the rights of sovereignty and feudality ; and also of Avignon and the Venaissin. In truth, says M. Dumouriez, if the court of Vienna had been asleep during the whole of the thirty-three months which had elapsed since the royal session, and at its awakening from itsslumbers had dictated this note, it could not have proposed any conditions more inconsistent with the spirit of the revolution."* All hope of reconciliation being now apparently at an end, the new administration, notwithstand- ing their sincere desire of peace, deemed it neces- sary to yield to the loud and angry clamors of the Conventional Assembly ; and WAR was, in conse- w ar be- quence of a message from the king, on the 2oth of tria and April, formally declared against Austria. At this crisis a very remarkable letter was Overtures written by the king of France to the king England, doubtless by advice of his present p * Memoirs of Dumouriez," vol. II. p. 227. 458 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK pular ministers, expressing in the most flattering xxiv. J ...,.? h V-^-Y-^ terms his obligations to his Britannic majesty for his impartial conduct, and making the most eager advances to the formation of a treaty of amity and alliance. " Between our two countries (says the French monarch) new connections ought to take place. I think I see the remains of that rivalship which has done so much mischief to both daily wearing away. It becomes two kings who have distinguished their reigns by a constant desire to promote the happiness of their people to connect themselves by such ties as will appear to be dura- ble in proportion as the two nations shall have clearer views of their own interests. I consider the success of the alliance, in which I wish you to concur with as much zeal as I do, as of the highest importance ; I consider it as necessary to the stability of the respective constitutions, and the internal tranquillity of our two kingdoms ; and I will add, that our union ought to COMMAND PEACE to EUROPE. ' It was indeed evident that at this period Eng* land might have commanded peace upon her own terms. Never did this country appear in a higher and more exalted point of view than at this mo- ment ; but, from that fatality which has governed almost invariably the counsels of the present reign, she suffered the glorious golden opportunity to pass by unnoticed and unimproved. The letter GEORGE III. 459 in question producing no sensible effect, in a few BOOK weeks a formal application was made by M. Chau- v^^v^^ 1792. velin, on the part of the French monarch, to the king of England, " to interpose, and, by his wis- dom and influence, to avert, while it is still time, the progress of the confederacy formed against France, and which threatened the peace, the liber- ty, and the happiness of Europe." A distant and evasive answer was returned (July 8) after an in- terval of twenty days. " In the existing circum- stances of the war now begun, his Britannic ma- jesty affirmed, that the intervention of his counsels er of his good offices could not be of use unless they should be desired by all the parties interest- ed"* not recollecting certainly the late spontane- ous interference in behalf of Sweden, or the still * When ALL the parties in a war agree to desire the inter- position of a neutral power, no friendly offices are wanted to bring them back to a pacific temper. Peace is almost as good as made when ALL the contending parties are disposed to de- sire it. The obvious duty of a common friend, the true po- licy of a generous or even a prudent government is to employ its good offices, and to exert its influence with those powers which may be less inclined to views of moderation, to encou- rage and promote a pacific disposition to favor that party which seems the readiest to listen to reasonable overtures, and to make concessions for the benefit of general accommoda- ',',< lion. Such were the wise and honorable duties of England when his majesty's mediation was solicited and refused. Vide QUESTION STATED, by P. FRANCIS, ESQ.. 460 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK more recent armed mediation in favor of the Ot- xxiv -^v^ toman Porte. *"9-- T-, i . r -^ ^ ' rrom this moment the patriots of France saw clearly that the utmost they had to expect from the policy of the English government was a cold and suspicious neutrality. The inimical disposition of the court of England with respect to the French revolution, from the very commencement of it, was indeed perfectly well understood in France, but it was considered as restrained and counteract- ed by the caution of the minister and the favorable disposition of the nation. Nothing is more difficult to disguise than a rooted sentiment of affection or hatred. The most artful have their unguarded moments, but in this case scarcely did the English court condescend to affect concealment. Notwith- standing, however, as M. Dumouriez remarks, the extreme repugnance of the king of England to the new order of things in France, the English government conducted itself upon the whole at this period with moderation and sagacity. But soon, too soon, that system was destined to undergo a fatal and dreadful reverse. On the commence- ment of hostilities, M. Rochambeau was consti- tuted commander-in-chief of the French armies, a separate command being conferred on M. de la Military Fayette. The war beffan with an unsuccessful at- perations in the i-ow tack upon the cities of Tournay and Mons. M. Countries. GEORGE III. 4G1 Rochambeau conceiving disgust at the conduct of BOOK XXIV the war minister, resigned his command to M. ^-v^ Luckner, a veteran officer, by birth a foreigner, and who had acquired great reputation in the Ger- man war of 1756, being then in the service of Hanover. The new general did not disappoint the expectations of the public. On the i8th of June the important town of Courtray surrendered to the arms of France ; and the example of Cour- tray was soon followed by Menin, Ypres, and St. Ghislain. But on a sudden, to the astonishment of the world, these conquests were evacuated, and the French armies retreated to their former sta- tions in France. Mareschal Luckner subsequently declared that in this business he acted in strict conformity to the positive orders received from the king, who by this time had again adopted vio- lent and dangerous counsels. Into this perpetual fluctuation of system there enters, without doubt, at least as much of imbecility as of treachery. Having no clear discernment of his own interest, and placing no reliance upon his own judgment, he was willing, in a situation of unparalleled diffi- culty, to make trial of any plan that came recom- mended to him from any quarter. It was truly said of him " La derniere venue avoit presque toujours raison avec mi." At the present crisis his characteristic weakness seemed to approach the limits of absolute infatuation. 462 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK On the 6th of June a decree passed the Assenv XXIV. s^v-O bly, on the suggestion of the Military Committee, ** for forming: a camp of twenty thousand men in Astonish- ing infatua- the vicinity of Paris. To this the kins: refused his tion of the French mo- sanction. The decree against the refractory clergy, which with some variations had a second time passed the Assembly, was also rendered ineffectual by the royal veto ; and, to crown all, the king on the 1 2th of June announced in person to the As- sembly the dismission of the popular ministers, Roland, Servan, and Claviere : and in a short time M. Dumouriez also resigned his office. Previous to this event M. Roland addressed that celebrated letter to the king, which, had it not been written otherwise in the fatal book of destiny, might have saved the monarch and the monarchy. " The fermentation is extreme (says this firm and vir- tuous patriot) in the various parts of the empire ; it will burst upon us with a DREADFUL EXPLOSION, unless it be calmed by a well-founded confidence in your majesty's intentions : but this confidence will not be established by mere promises and pro- testations it can rest upon facts only. The French nation know their constitution can sustain itself j that government will have all necessary aid when- ever your majesty, wishing well to the constitu- tion, shall support the legislative body by causing their decrees to be executed, and remove every pre- text for popular dissatisfaction, and every hope of GEORGE lit. 463 the malcontents. The revolution is established in B V K .A../>.i V the public mind; it will be completed by the eftu- ^f^ sion of blood, if wisdom do not guard against evils which can YET be prevented. If force were re- curred to, all France would rise with indignation; and, distracted by the horrors of a civil war, she would display that gloomy energy, the parent of virtues and of crimes, ever fatal to those who pro- voke it. Public safety and your majesty's indivi- dual happiness are closely linked no power can divide them. Distresses and certain misfortune will gather round your throne, if it do not rest, through yourself, on the basis of the constitution. Good Heaven! (exclaims this too prophetic mo- nitor, impressed no doubt with the mournful idea that this warning voice would be uttered in vain) are the powers of the earth stricken with blind- ness, and will they never attend to any counsels but such as lead them on to ruin? I am aware how unwelcome is the language of truth in courts; but, as a minister honored with your majesty's confi- dence, or invested with functions that imply it, no motive can prevent me from fulfilling a duty which I feel to be incumbent upon me." After this fatal step, a succession of ministers, or phan- toms of ministers, passed rapidly over the stage j the general situation of things verged towards anarchy, the pillars of the state seemed to bow, and the fabric of government tottered to its fall. 46* HISTORY Of GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK On the 2oth of June an immense crowd assem- V^-Y^ bled in the gardens of the Tuilleries, and, the gates 32 ' of the palace being thrown open, the populace en- tered into the apartment of the king. One of their leaders, more daring than the rest, produc- ing a red cap, the symbol of liberty, desired the king to put it on. He complied ; and, in answer to the incessant and clamorous demands of the mob, he repeatedly declared, " that it was his firm intention to preserve the constitution inviolate." Though the insults which the unfortunate mo- narch was compelled to endure were grievous, no further injury was sustained, and at the approach of night the people were persuaded to disperse. The king made a formal complaint of this outrage to the Assembly ; but, in the present situation of things, they could as easily calm the storms of the ocean as the tumults of the people. At this crisis M. de Fayette, that hero of ro- mance, quitting his army without leave or pro- priety, presented himself unexpectedly at the bar of the Assembly, beseeching, or rather demanding, of them " to save their country from ruin, by dis- solving the factious clubs, and inflicting exemplary punishment on the late disturbers of the public peace." By this most imprudent and unwarrant- able step that general entirely lost the confidence of the nation, and incurred for this dangerous and unconstitutional interference the severe cen GEORGE III, 465 sure of the Assembly ; and he returned in a short BOOK XXIV time full of resentment and chagrin to his post in v^-v^/ . 1792. the army. On the ist of July it was proclaimed by the Assembly, " that the country was in danger." " Your constitution, citizens," say they, " restores the principles of eternal justice ; a league of kings is formed to destroy it their battalions are ad- s vancing." The political horizon in France exhi- bited the deepest gloom. On the I4th of July, the third anniversary of the revolution was cele- brated ; but instead of the animating shout of Vive le Roi ! nothing was heard but the clamorous vociferations of Vivent les jacobins ! A has le VETO. It was in a short time after this ceremony an- nounced, that the combined armies of Austria and Prussia had entered France under the duke of Brunswic, accompanied by the Prussian monarch in person, and on the 25th of July was issued, un- der the sanction of the two courts, a proclamation which seemed purposely calculated to complete the ruin of the king. In this famous manifesto the most dreadful vengeance is denounced against the French nation. Such of them as are found in arms against the troops of the allied powers are threatened to be punished as REBELS to their king, and destroyers of the public tranquillity j and the city of Paris, in case the king, queen, and royal family, are not immediately set at liberty, is me- VOL.. VIII. H H 46G HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK naced with the horrors of military execution, with XXIV ^-v-C avenging punishments and total destruction. In one passage the first National Assembly is called a " criminal assembly."" In another place it is said " the monarchy was overturned by a mad and tumultuous assembly." Speaking of the arrest at Varennes, the manifesto declares, " that the king was obliged to return to Paris, there to be sus- pended from his authority by a decree of the usurping assembly as if any power on earth had the right of passing so infamous and odious a sen- tence. To regain his power, the king signed an acceptance of the constitution : but his hand was in chains, and the act which he performed was- invalid. All powers, filkd with indignation at this horrid spectacle, had already concerted mea- sures for avenging the honor of the diadem. His kte imperial majesty, Leopold II. by his CIRCULAR LETTER written from Padua, invited all the powers of Europe to form a confederation for this pur- pose. The CONVENTION of PILNITZ determined those circumstances which made their Imperial ' " ^ and Prussian majesties have recourse to arms." This savage manifesto filled up the measure of the popular fury : it was not doubted that the king had authorized the use thus made of his name, and matters were almost immediately brought to a crisis. A letter addressed to the Assembly, in the usual style of the royal declarations, contain- GEORGE III. 467 ing the strongest protestations of attachment to BOOK XXIV the constitution, and an absolute disavowal of the ^^^^ sentiments contained in the manifesto, was treated by the legislative body with the utmost contempt. A motion for sending it to the 83 departments was negatived. It was styled in debate, without reserve, a mass of falsehood and insincerity ; and it was affirmed, that in the present moment of danger, far from confiding in the king, his dupli- city and treachery ought to be made known to the whole nation. On the 3d of August, M. Petion, at the head of the sections of Paris, appeared at the bar of the National Assembly, to demand the DECHEANCE or dethronement of the king. A pe- tition of the same tenor was presented by a count- less multitude on the 6th, and the Assembly had appointed the i oth of August to decide upon this grand question ;- but the discussion was dreadfully anticipated. Early on the morning of the i oth the palace of the Tuilleries was attacked by the Parisian populace; and, being resolutely defended by the Swiss guards, whose first volley covered the Place de Carousel with dead bodies, a most bloody con* flict took place, which terminated in the total de- feat and destruction of the guards, and the com- plete triumph of the Parisians. The king at the commencement of the engagement had certainly not in the spirit of Henry IV. made a precipitate retreat across the gardens of the Tuilleries, with H H a 68 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK the queen, to the hall of the Assembly, who conti- ^-v^l; nued their sitting in the midst of this unexampled scene of terror and confusion, and the incessant noise of musquetry and cannon.* All freedom And his O f deliberation was now at an end. A decree pass- consequent deposition. e d without debate, declaring the executive power suspended, and summoning a national convention to meet on the 2oth of September. The king and queen meanwhile were committed close prisoners to the Temple. A most spirited justificatory de- claration of the measure of suspension was publish- ed by the Assembly, concluding with these words: * The king made dispositions to defend the palace. The old mareschal Mailly, drawing his sword, threw himself at the feet of the king and exclaimed, " Sire, your faithful nobility are emulous to establish you firmly on the throne of your an- cestors, or die with you. Will you second their efforts?" " I will second them," replied the monarch. The king de- parted for the Assembly through an incensed crowd of people, who vociferated the strongest imprecations against him. Ar- rived at the right hand of the president, he said, " I am come here to prevent a great crime : I shall ever think myself as well as my family safe under your protection.'* Vergniaud, the president, answered in slight and evasive terms ; when another deputy observed that the Assembly could not debate in the presence of the monarch. Louis therefore descended for the last time from tl*e tottering throne he had divided with the democrats since the year 1789, and retired into the humble logographic box, where he found himselfa prisoner, and within hearing of the report of cannon destroying his palace. Soulavie's Mfmcirt, vol. J r l. f. 362. GEORGE III. 469 " We have discharged our duty in seizing with B K courage on the only means of preserving liberty ^7'"^ that occurred to our consideration ; we shall be spared remorse at least ; nor shall we have to re- proach ourselves with having seen a means of sav- ing our country and not having embraced it." On the following day a new provisional execu- tive council was appointed, consisting of the popu- lar ministers, Roland, Servan, and Claviere, dis- jff missed by the king ; to whom was added M. le Brun, as minister of foreign affairs. M. Luckner, M. Dumouriez, now acting in the capacity of ge- neral in the army, and the other commanders, submitted with readiness to the authority of the Assembly. The conduct of M. Fayette had for some time past been such as to excite the strongest suspicions of treachery, and in the present crisis he alone had the presumption to attempt resist- ance ; but finding himself wholly unsupported by ,his troops, he was obliged to make a precipitate escape. Being intercepted in his flight, and deli- vered up to the Prussians, he was committed close prisoner to the fortress of Magdeburg, and treated with a severity not to be wholly ascribed to the part taken by him in the French revolution.* * After a short interval M. Fayette was delivered up by Prussia to Austria, and confined for several years in the dun- geons of Olmutz. " The consequences of tjie shocking injus- tice done to M. la Fayette," as M de Segur observes, " were a 470 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK The combined armies of Austria and Prussia in xxiv. . V^-Y-^ the mean time made a rapid and alarming progress. progress of The town of Longwy surrendered on the 2ist Wn&Tarl August, and in a few days afterwards that of Ver- dun, M. Fayette having previously drawn back his army to Sedan on their approach, and now the country was by a formal decree pronounced to be in danger ; yet even in these circumstances the National Assembly had the magnanimity to de- clare war against the king of Sardinia, who had given repeated and flagrant proofs of his hostile disposition towards France. Massacres Since the deposition of the king the prisons had been filled with persons accused or suspected of disaffection to the existing government ; and a sort of phrensy seizing the populace on the un- expected approach of the duke, the prisons were forced open on the night of the 2d of September, and a most inhuman and infamous massacre of the prisoners took place. It is said that, application being made on this occasion to M. Dan ton, minis- ter of JUSTICE, to interpose his authority in order to put a stop to these destestable enormities, he easy to be foreseen. Impressing all minds with the violence of the passions which actuated the coalesced sovereigns, it announced what vengeance was to be expected should a coun- ter-revolution be accomplished ; and confirmed the people in the dread which had been inspired by the projects of the French emigrants." Hitto'y of Frederic William IL. W. //./. 262. ' A GEORGE III. 471 replied, " When the people have done their part, BOOK v -y [\ r I will perform mine." A considerable number of v^v-^ persons, confined at Orleans for various state of- fences, being brought to Versailles, by order of the Assembly, for trial, were met by the same band of assassins at their arrival, (Sept. 8.) and put indis- criminately to the sword the military escort re- garding the bloody scene as passive spectators, while the inhabitants of Versailles stood stupified with horror. Amongst these victims of madness and anarchy were the ex-ministers Montmorin and De Lessart, and M. de Brissac,-commandant of the king's life-guards. On the 2oth of September the National Con- vention met at Paris, and a decree immediately passed by acclamation for the eternal abolition of royalty in France. Such had been the insidious negligence of the court, that the country was wholly unprepared for its defence ; and M. Du- mouriez, to whom the destiny of France was now entrusted, could scarcely oppose thirty thousand men to the army of the duke of Brunswic, con- sisting of eighty thousand. The unanimous opinion of a council of war, convened by general Dumouriez on the progress of the Prussian army, as the general himself in- forms us, was to retire behind the Marne. Of this, on the breaking up of the council, he declar- ed to his friend general Thouvenot his decided 4-72 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK disapprobation; then, pointing to the forest of <^vO Argonne, in the map, " Behold," said he, " the 1 792 Thermopylae of France !" The forest of Argonne, extending in length thirteen leagues from Sedan east to St. Menehould west, separates the bishop- rics, i. e. Metz, Toul, and Verdun, a very rich and fertile country, from Champagne Pouilleuse, the most frightful desert in all France. Of the five passes of the forest, those of Croix-aux-Bois and Chene Populeux to the eastward, were, after many ineffectual attempts, at length forced by general Clairfait ; on which general Dumouriez abandoned the important defile of Grand-Pre, to avoid being inclosed, and after a series of admirable manoeuvres retreated without loss to the strong camp of St. Menehould. The passes of Chalade and Islettes, on the great road from Verdun, commanded by the heights of Bienne, were heroically defended by general Dillon. On the i6th of September the Prussians entered Grand-Pre, and took post on the heights of La-Lune, between the enemy and Cha- lons. A fierce cannonading, followed by a severe but partial conflict, or succession of conflicts, took place. But the position of the French army being adjudged, after much deliberation, impregnable, and the attempt to proceed to Paris, defended by her myriads of soldier-citizens, leaving a force now increased to 60,000 men in the rear, appear- ing to the Prussian general in the highest degree GEORGE III. 473 rash and romantic, no alternative remained. BOOK .XXIV The French army receiving continual reinforce- v--^v^- , , ' . ... . 179ii. ments, and the Prussians beginning to experience the evils of sickness and famine, in addition to the ordinary sufferings of war, the duke of Brunswick was reduced to the humiliating necessity of com- mencing his retreat on the ist of October, and by the 1 8th the Austrian and Prussian armies had completely evacuated France. Thus the coalition of kings seemed to approach the French throne only to hear the crash of its fall. Never was there a more sudden or extraordinary change of for- tune, " Instead of parading before the camp of St. Menehould, the duke of Brunswic would have exhibited," says M. Dumouriez, " a decisive stroke of genius, had he advanced with his whole army by a rapid march to Chalons, where the French had established their magazines. M. Du- mouriez must, in that case, have relinquished the strong camp of St. Menehould, and, crossing the Marne, have endeavoured by great celerity of movement to gain the banks of the Seine." The duke of Brunswic is charged, by his ardent and active opponent, with being " too slow and me- thodical." Verdun surrendered on the second of September. " Had I," says the French general, " been opposed to Frederic the Great, I should on the third have been driven back as far as Cha- *7* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK Ions."* These details cannot be uninteresting to XXIV ^-v-O those whose bosoms glow with the sacred flame of liberty, and who reflect that on the issue of this ever-memorable campaign depended the fate of France, of Europe, and of the whole civilized world.f Triumphs By this time the French arms were triumphant of the . ' i . r ' . French in every quarter. General Montesquieu, entering Savoy on the 2oth of September, was received with joyful acclamation at Chamber ri, the capital, and the whole country submitted almost without re- sistance. On the other side, the fortress of * Memoirs of Dumouriez Letter to general Biron. f The noble ode of Buchanan, on the retreat of the Emperor Charles V. from Metz, addressed to Henry II. king of France, is admirably applicable to the retreat of Brunswic, and the triumph of Dumouriez. " Tu bellicosx dux bone Gallise Sperare promptam cuncta superbiam Compescuisti ; tu dedisti Jndomito laqueos furori. Quis vultus illi ? qui dolor intimis Arsit medullis ? spiritus impotens Cum claustra spectaret Mosellas Et juvenum intrepidam coronam. Sic unda rupes saevit in obvias ; Clausus caminis ignis inasstuat : Hyrcana sic tigris cruento Dente suas furit in catenas." GEORGE lit. 475 Montalban and the entire county of Nice were BOOK XXIV conquered by general Anselm. On the banks of ^-x-v-O the Rhine general Custine distinguished himself by the most brilliant successes reducing successively the cities of Worms, Spire, Mentz, and Frank- fort. On the 2oth of October, a decree passed the national Convention, declaring that the re- public was saved, and the country no longer in danger. Early in November general Dumouriez entered the Austrian Netherlands ; and on the 5th of November, a day sacred to liberty, attacked the Austrian entrenchments at Gemappe near Mons. He gained a most complete and signal victory, the consequences of which were decisive as to the fate of the Netherlands. Mons instantly surrendered. Tournay, Ostend, Ghent, and Antwerp, soon fol- lowed ; and on the i4th the French general made his triumphal entry into Brussels ; the archduchess Christina, governess of the Low Countries, quit- ting that place with the utmost precipitation, a few days previous to this event vainly offering in this emergency to restore to the people, of Bra- bant their antient charter of liberty, the Joyeuse Entree, hitherto withheld by the tyrannical injus- tice of the court of Vienna. Before the ejid of the year the whole of the Austrian Low Countries, Luxemburg only excepted, together with the city arid territory of Liege, were subjected by the vie- 476 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. torious arms of France. Such were the astonish- injr effects of that glorious enthusiasm, which can m t only be inspired by the GENIUS of FREEDOM !* In the midst of the exultation occasioned by this unexampled series of triumphs, a decree was passed by acclamation in the Assembly, November 19, 1792, in the following terms: " The National Convention declare, in the name of the French nation, they will grant fraternity and assistance to all those people who wish to procure liberty. And they charge the executive power to send orders to the generals to give assistance to such people j and to defend citizens who have suffered, * " Long had the giant-form on Gallia's plains Inglorious slept, unconscious of his chains ; Round his large limbs were wound a thousand strings, By the weak hands of confessors and kings ; O'er his clos'd eyes a triple veil was hound, And steely rivets locked him to the ground : While stern Bastille with iron cage inthralls His folded limbs, and hems in marble walls. Touch'd by the patriot flame, he rent, amaz'd, The flimsy bonds, and round and round him gaz'd j Starts up from earth, above the admiring throng Lifts his Colossal form, and towers along : High o'er his foes his 'hundred arms he rears, Ploughshares his swords, and pruning hooks his spears ; Calls to the good and brave, with voice that rolls x Like Heaven's own thunder round the echoing poles j Gives to the winds his banner broad unfurl'd, And gathers in its shade the living WORLD." DARWIN'S Botanic Garden. GEORGE III. 477 and are now suffering in the cause of liberty." BOOK XXIV. This famous decree, which deserved to be consi- ^^v^-* dered in no other light than as a magnificent and empty vaunt, was productive of very strange and serious consequences. Two other decrees of the Assembly also demand a specific notice: the one passed November 27, erecting the duchy of Savoy into an 84th department of the French re- public, contrary to a fundamental article of the constitution, by which she renounced all foreign conquest : the other, on the capture of Antwerp, declaratory of the freedom of navigation on the river Scheld. Before we revert to the affairs of Great Britain, it may be proper transiently to, notice the situa- tion of the different powers of Europe not actually engaged in the crusade against France. Great pains had been taken by the courts of^ e ! utu ? a J in Poland. Vienna arid St. Petersburg to engage the republic of Poland in the last war against Turkey ; and the king of Poland had been personally present at the memorable interview of jCherson. But the servile dependency on Russia, in which the re- public had been held since the accession of Sta- nislaus, was odious to the Poles ; and a new in- terest, that of PRUSSIA, had lately gained the ascendency in the Diet, under the favorable au- spices of which Poland seemed for a time to re- cover some share of importance in the European 47S HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK scale of power. The proposition of war was re- ^> ' jected; and a treaty of amity and defensive alliance concluded with Prussia, February 1 790. By the 6th article of this treaty his Prussian majesty ex- pressly stipulated, " that if any foreign power should assume the right of interfering in the in- ternal affairs of the republic, he would first employ in its behalf his most efficacious good offices, and if these should fail of effect, and hostilities against Poland be the consequence, he would assist the republic with his forces, in the form and manner specified in tne treaty." The misfortunes and consequent partition of Poland had convinced all the enlightened persons of that country of the defects of their anarchical government, the danger of an elective monarchy, and the necessity of reforming abuses, which, not- withstanding the valour of the Polish nation, ren- dered it at once the prey and the sport of its neigh- bours. At length was convened at "Warsaw the famous and truly patriotic Diet of 1 79 1 , when that nation, worthy of a better fate, abandoned itself with enthusiasm to the hope that was presented to it. Never was there seen more concord in the wishes, more unanimity in the deliberations, more devotedness in the sacrifices of any public assem- bly. As the ultimate result of their labours was announced and promulgated (May 3), a new con- stitutional code, which, benefiting by the lights GEORGE III. 479 of philosophy, without neglecting the calculations of policy, promised to ensure the glory andhappi- ness of posterity, without shedding either the blood or the tears of the existing generation. By the new formula the crown of Poland was declared to be hereditary after the decease of the present sovereign in the electoral house of Saxony, and the executive power vested solely in the mo- narch. The privileges of the aristocracy were circumscribed within narrower bounds, and the blessings of liberty in a considerable degree ex- tended to the mass of the people. All the governments of Europe, Russia except- ed, offered their felicitations on this extraordinary revolution. The king of Prussia in particular, by his ambassador at Warsaw, formally congratulated the king and republic of Poland on this happy event. " After the lively interest (says this mo- narch in his letter to the count de Goltz) which I have always taken in the happiness of the republic, and the confirmation of her new constitution, I perfectly applaud the decisive step which the na- tion has just taken, and which I regard as infi- nitely suited to the consolidation of her happiness. I charge you to testify, in the most expressive manner, my most sincere felicitations to the king and marshals of the Diet, and to all those who have contributed to this great work.*' The only opposition which the new constitution experi* 480 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK enced was from some of the antient nobles* who, XXIV ^-^'-O enraged to find themselves deprived of their proud pretensions to royalty, were resolved to sacrifice their country to their vanity. These were Felix Potocki, the two brothers Kossawouski, Braniski great general, and a few others who became dis- gracefully celebrated under the appellation of the confederates of Targovitz. An opposition so weak and wicked could not have been dangerous, had it not been secretly supported by Russia; against the power of which the credulous Poles deemed them- selves however sufficiently secure, in consequence of the recent and strict alliance with Prussia, invasion of In the month of May 1792, the court of Berlin Poland by . i i i i i the RIW- being then deeply involved in the projects against France, the empress Catherine, having no longer any thing to dread from Frederic William, march- ed a formidable army into Poland. On the intel- ligence of this atrocious invasion, all the antient military ardor of the Polish nation seemed to re- vive, and that ardor was invigorated by the most determined and inveterate animosity against the Russians. All flew to arms ; but amidst the ge- neral display of heroism the KING alone appeared cold and inert. Swayed by his inherent pusillani- mity, and habitual dread of the power of Russia, he answered those who counselled him to vigorous measures, " that it was not against Poland that the empress was irritated, but against the king of GEORGE III. 481 Prussia, whose destruction she had sworn; that BOOK she would renounce the war against the Poles as J^O soon as she saw the nation disposed to come to an amicable understanding with her ; that it was, in fine, better to carry on the war with the pen than the sword." With these plausible assurances he arrested the impetuosity of the nation, and retarded the march of his troops, notwithstanding the urgent intrea- = ties of his nephew Joseph Poniatowski, their gene- ral, and paralized the efforts of those who had already with success repulsed the attacks of the Russians. Favored therefore by this sudden tor- por, the troops of the empress advanced almost without resistance to the gates of Warsaw. Ca- therine now began to throw off the mask ; and wrote to Stanislaus that she required from him his immediate accession to the confederacy of Targo- vitz on this condition only offering a suspension of arms. The wretched monarch, who chose ra- ther to lead a life of reproach and ignominy, than to die in the bed of honor, having acceded to the confederacy, and accepted of the armistice, merit- ed the misfortunes by which he was soon after overwhelmed. The emperor was too much en- gaged by his war against France to oppose the designs of Russia, although he had : agreed at Pil- nitz with the king of Prussia to guarantee the in- tegrality of Poland. But Catherine, who had not VOL. VIII. I I 482 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK acceded to this treaty, readily found means to XXIV v^vO render its effect nugatory, by proposing to Frede- 92 ' ric William a partition as easy as it was beneficial. She had hitherto opposed the views of this prince on Dantzic and Thome. She now recognized his claims, and the Prussian monarch saw the means pointed out of indemnifying himself for his expen- sive and unsuccessful expedition into Champagne. second j n these circumstances, far from interposing in partition treaty. favor of the Polish nation as a friend, and much less arming in their defence as an ally, that perfi- dious monarch, eagerly embracing the opportunity which offered itself of profiting by their distress, concluded with the empress a second partition treaty, by which the provinces of Volhinia, Po- dolia, and the Ukraine, with the half of Lithuania which remained to Poland on the former division, were assigned to Russia : and nearly the whole of Great Poland, with the cities of Dantzic and Thorne, was allotted to the king of Prussia, from whom this new acquisition of territory received the name of South Prussia. The court of Vienna could not see without dissatisfaction this unex- pected aggrandisement of Prussia ; but it was in- formed that Frederic William would quit the coa- lition if he was not enabled to continue the war by the acquirement of these new possessions.* * Count de Segur's " History of Frederic William II." Tol. III. p. 12& 146. GEORGE III. 483 The manifesto of the court of Berlin published BOOK XXIV. on this occasion (January 1793)* and in vindica- >^-vO tion of these proceedings, affirmed, with effrontery unparalleled, " that the Poles, misled by designing men, had established a government subversive of all order in society, and destructive of all happi- ness amongst individuals." And in a subsequent declaration, dated March 25 (1793), on the en- trance of his troops into Great Poland, he re- proached the Poles " with their resistance to his counsel, and the beneficent views of the empress : he regretted the miseries of a country abandoned to the disorders of anarchy; and pretended to feel the greatest alarm for the safety of his own domi- nions by the dissemination of French principles in Poland. These motives obliged him to adopt sa- lutary precautions, and provisionally to take pos- session of Thorne, Dantzic, and a part of Great Poland, in order to insure its tranquillity, and protect the well-disposed Poles." Dantzic and Thorne were in fact within a short time compelled to submission; and the inhabitants of Great Poland, wholly unprepared for this ag- gression, could oppose no resistance to these new enemies. The confederates of Targovitz, extremely sur- prised at this invasion, and awaking from their dreams of national security, vainly endeavoured to atone f to protect them. Lastly, they accused them ex- pressly of holding an understanding with the French revolutionists, who had already formed in Poland clubs affiliated to that of Paris, and by their intrigues rendered the fermentation general. In this state of disturbance, so alarming for the neigh- bouring powers, Catherine II. and Frederic Wil- liam perceived no other means of extinguishing so dangerous a volcano, than to confine Poland within more narrow limits, and reduce her to the proportions suitable to a power of the second rank. Such were the motives which determined them .to take possession of the provinces contiguous to their dominions ; they declared their immutable resolution in this respect, and invited the confe- deracy immediately to convoke a Diet in order to co-operate towards this arrangement, as the sole means of procuring Poland a stable government and a permanent peace." A Diet was accordingly convoked by the king, under the coercion of the two powers and those nobles who adhered to or acquiesced in the con- federacy of Targovitz, at the city of Grodno, in the month of July, where and when all the out- rages and usurpations which have been enumerated were ultimately ratified. The members of the Diet, although the utmost care had been taken to prq- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. ven t the election of the avowed patriots, were still vS^-X. I V ^v**-' Poles, and resisted the demands of the two ambas- 1792. sadors with fruitless pertinacity. At length the count de Sievres was obliged to invest the castle with troops and artillery. Even in this situation not one member spoke to sanction the disgrace and ruin of their country. Several were, on the contrary, put under arrest for protesting against this violence. Thus reduced to the lowest state of national humiliation, Bialinsky, marshal of the Diet, inter- preting the profound and melancholy silence which prevailed into an unanimous consent, signed, at a deputation appointed for the purpose, the treaty which deprived Poland of her rank, and left her. scarcely a name amongst nations. The declaration (September 1793) of the king and Diet of Poland on this mournful occasion, containing at once the act of cession required by the courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin, and the protest of the assembly against the validity of their own act, is singularly interesting and affecting. " Threatened (as the language of the declaration expresses it) with universal desolation and destruc- tion, with insults heaped upon their heads, sur- rounded by foreign troops, their personal freedom violated by the arrest of their members dragged ignominiously from the midst of them" thus they at length conclude " I therefore the king GEORGE III. 487 of Poland, enervated by age, and sinking: under BOOK XXIV. the accumulated weight of so many vexations and v-^-r-O such multiplied oppressions and we also, the members of the Diet, declare, that being unable even by the sacrifice of our lives to relieve our country from the yoke of its oppressors, we con- sign it to posterity, trusting that means may then be found to rescue it from oppression and slavery. Such means are unhappily not in our power. Other countries neglect us. While they repro- bate the violations which one country is alleged to have committed against liberty, they can see not only with apathy but with approbation the outrages which have been committed against Poland. We have done. We accede, for the reasons above- mentioned, to the treaty laid before us, though it is contrary to our wishes, our sentiments, and our rights." The conduct of the Polish monarch throughout the whole of this transaction, or series of transac- tions, however it may be palliated or softened by the circumstances which he himself enumerates, was no doubt totally incompatible with every idea of personal and regal dignity, even abstracted from the feelings of the hero or the patriot. The gene- rous nuncio Kamar said to him publicly, on first perceiving him to waver, " What, Sir, are you no longer the same who said to us on signing the con- stitution of the 3d of May, may my hand perish 488 HISTORY OF GREAT BR1TAIK. rather than subscribe any thing contrary to this! 1 * The political sagacity which had long characteriz- ed the elector of Saxony now conspicuously ap- peared in his declining, at the period of the estab- lishment of the new constitution, to accept the dangerous offer of the reversion of the crown of Poland, which the Diet purposed to make heredi- tary in his house. On contemplating the whole of this atrocious procedure, it is difficult to restrain within the dig- nified limits of historic decorum the sympathetic feelings of involuntary indignation. If, on the one hand, the wild licentiousness of democracy never displayed itself in a form so dreadful as at the present period ; on the other, the pride and perfidy, the tyranny and treachery, of courts and kings have never appeared in a light so destruc- tive and detestable ; and certain it is, that the tide of political and philosophical opinion, such as is the usual precursor of great changes, has set strongly and alarmingly against them. The affairs of Sweden, since the termination of the war with Russia, remained in a perplexed and critical situation. The king of Sweden summon- ed, in the beginning of 1792, a Diet to meet at Gefle, a solitary and obscure place on the borders of the Bothnic Gulf, seventy miles from Stockholm. During the sitting of the Diet 3 the town was filled with troops. Notwithstanding these precautions, GEORGE III. 489 the demands and expectations of the kin sc were BOOK xxiv. by no means answered j and the Diet was finally v-x-vO dissolved in answer. On his return to Stockholm Kmgf of he was assassinated at a masquerade by an officer Sweden as- sassinated. of the name of Engerstrom, actuated by the en- thusiasm of public, and the rancor of personal, revenge. He was succeeded by his son Gustavus IV. a youth of fourteen years of age : and the re- * gency was vested in the hands of the duke of Su- dermania, brother to the late king, who conduct- ed himself in his high office with singular prudence and propriety. It was perfectly understood that Gustavus III. had acceded to the CONSPIRACY of SOVEREIGNS against France, and had even proposed to take the command of the combined armies in person. This monarch had been frequently ac- customed to declare, " that a war was necessary to characterize a reign," but the regent his brother, with a just abhorrence of this infamous maxim, maintained a strict and scrupulous neutrality. The same wise plan was also steadily pursued by wise cm- Denmark, under the excellent and admirable ad- Danish go- ministration of count Bernstorf, the invariable ve friend of peace, ceconomy, aud reform. The Italian and Helvetic republics adopted the same safe and salutary system. Spain alone appeared wa- vering and indecisive, agitated by the alternate fluctuations of policy and passion. 490 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK In consequence of the transactions of the I oth XXIV. v^-v-O August, and the virtual deposition of the French 1792 Engiish~am- monarcn 5 l r< l GowcTj the English ambassador at ' IS 9 received orders from the court of London to from q u j t t h e kingdom on the slight and frivolous pre- text, that, the functions of royalty being suspend- ed, his mission was at an end. This recall was considered by the leading men in France as a cer- tain and very ominous indication of the enmity of the British court : nevertheless, as a demonstra- tion of their moderation and solicitude for peace, M. Chauvelin, the French ambassador, still re^ inained in London, though from this period unac- knowledged in any public or authorised capacity, The recall of the English ambassador at this critical moment, on the ground stated by the English court, seemed to imply that appointments of this nature are a mere matter of form and compliment between sovereigns. But if ambassadors are con- sidered in a higher and juster light, as the necessary means of intercourse between nation and nation, never could the recall of an ambassador take place at a period when his presence and services were more indispensable.* * The government of France at this period will scarcely be pronounced worse than it was during the reign of Charles IX. under the guidance of Catherine de Medicis,and subsequent to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. But in those circumstances GEORGE III. On the success of the French arms in Flanders the court of London g-ave a still farther proof of 1792. its inimical disposition, by making, seven days i mp oHti c only after the battle of Gemappe, an eager, offi- Jj^" cious, and unsolicited offer of assistance to the f onduct States General, in case of need. But their High' Mightinesses declared themselves under no appre* hension of attack. They even affirmed that there is not the least reason to attribute to any of the belligerent powers hostile intentions against the republic. The causes of the deposition of the French monarch, and the nature of the provocations and injuries which preceded and produced that event, not being sufficiently understood in England, it did queen Elizabeth refuse to maintain any farther political correspondence with that infamous government ? No ; she received Fenelon, the French ambassador, in such a manner as denoted indeed her indignation and horror at their proceed- ings, but without supposing his function* suspended by these enormities. Nay, as there existed strong and weighty reasons of state for not breaking with France, she appointed one of the first noblemen in the kingdom, the earl of Worcester, as her ambassador at that court, with an express commission to renew the negotiations which had been previously depending ; and, as Mr. Hume justly observes, " cautiously avoided com- ing to extremities with Charles, though she had sufficient ground to regard him in the light of a most dangerous ene- my." Is it possible that any one can imagine or will affirm the spirit of Burleigh and Walsingham to have actuated the British cabinet at this crisis ? 492 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK made an impression very unfavorable upon the XXIV <^r**~> minds of the generality of the people, already bi- 1792 assed and perverted by the inflammatory decla- mations of Mr. Burke and his partizans. And the horrid massacres of September, perpetrated when France was shaken to her centre with civil and political convulsions, and no regular or* efficient authority, such as might restrain the rage of ven- geance or awe the audacity of guilt, existed in the country, completely alienated their minds from the revolution ; although these detestable enormi- ties could not in any rational sense be said to ori- ginate in the revolution, but merely and solely in Terrors of j^e opposition made to its establishment.* The innovation. nation was on a sudden struck with terror at the idea of any political innovation of any kind; and the very name of .REFORM became the subject of violent and indiscriminate reprobation, * " Comment a pu tre fait (says M.Garat) cette grande plaie a 1'humanite au milieu d'un peuple ou toute lumiere et toute pitie n'etoient pas eteintes ? Par quoi, par qui etoient reduits a cette desastreuse impuissance, tant de representans de la puissance nationale, tant d'organes des loix, tant de de- positaires de la force publique? Comment 1'expliquer autre- ment que par Vinntrrecfion qui, en frappant une autorite perfide et coupable, s'etoit mise au-dessus des atitorites les plus pure etles plus fidelles ? Comment 1'expliquer qu'en avouant que les legislateurs, les ministres, et les magistrals, de la nation, n'avoient pu reprendre encore les renes destinees de la'.France, et que I' insurrection seule commandoit encore aux evenemens ?" Memotres de la Revolution de la France. GEORGE III. 493 Under the impression of this prevailing pre- BOOK possession, an association, openly countenanced by s^-vO government, was formed in London for the pro- . . . Loyal asso- tection of liberty and property against republicans ciations. and levellers ; and an innumerable multitude of pamphlets, in the popular form of letters, dia- logues, and narratives, were circulated by this means throughout the country, inculcating an unreserved submission to government on the old exploded principles of Toryism and High-church- ism. In one of the most notorious of these tracts it was urged in favor of monarchy, " that the king is in Scripture called the LORD'S ANOINTED ; but who (say these profound politico-logicians) ever heard of an ANOINTED REPUBLIC ?" The rage of associating spread rapidly through the kingdom ; and in every county, and almost every town, resolutions were subscribed strongly expressive of loyalty and attachment to the king and constitution, of their dread of innovation, and abhorrence of all levelling and republican doc- trines. The populace entering with violence into these sentiments, and their passions being, by the methods now put in practice, dangerously excited, the cry of CHURCH and KING was vociferated with tremendous clamors from the Tamar to the Tweed from the white cliffs of Dover to the verdant hills of Cheviot. In this paroxysm of the public mind all power of discrimination and ratiocination 49* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK was suspended, and. as usually happens in such XXIV ^vO cases, from the just fear of one extreme, men eagerly sought refuge in another. " INNOVATION (says lord Bacon, with his ac* customed sagacity) is not more turbulent than a froward retention of custom. Surely every me- dicine is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils : for TJME is the greatest innovator j and if Time of course alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end ?" " There is (as Helvetius observes) a description of men with hearts incapable of vir- tuous emotion, furiously enraged against every one who wishes to convulse the empire of impos- ture who aim against him the passions themselves despise, and terrify weak minds by incessant ha- rangues on the dangers of novelty or innovation. As if truth must necessarily banish virtue out of the world j as if every thing partaking of its na- ture was so productive of vice, that no one can be virtuous who is not unenlightened ; as if the very essential qualities of morality demonstrated this idea, and, consequently, that the study of this science was prejudicial fco society, they wish to make the people venerate received and established prejudices, in the same manner as the Egyptians of old were kept prostrate before the sacred crocodile of Memphis," GEORGE lit. 495 Previous to this extraordinary display of loy- BOOK alty it had not been unusual for the violent zealots v^v^l* 1792 of liberty in England to transmit addresses to the Convention, declaratory in high-flown terms of their applause and admiration. The most re- markable of these, entitled " An Address from several Patriotic Societies in England," was pre- sented, November 7th, at the bar of the Conven- tion, containing, in addition to the accustomed complimentary expressions, the most indecent and indefensible reflections upon the government and constitution of their own country. " Whilst foreign plunderers ravage your territories, (say these addresses) an oppressed part of mankind, forgetting their own evils, are sensible only of yours, and address their fervent prayers to the GOD of the Universe, that he may be favorable to your cause, with which theirs is so intimately connected. Degraded by an oppressive system of inquisition, the insensible, but continual, encroach- ments of which quickly deprived this nation of its boasted liberty, and reduced it almost to that ab- ject state of slavery from which you have so glo- riously emancipated yourselves, five thousand English citizens, fired with indignation, have the courage to step forward to rescue their country from that opprobrium which has been thrown on it by the base conduct of those who are invested with power. We see with concern that the elec- 496 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. ^ o o K tor of Hanover unites his troops to those of traitors XXIV t v^-v-O and robbers; but the kinsr' of England will do 1792. well to remember that England is not Hanover. Should HE forget this, WE will not forget it.' J The president of the Convention, in his answer to this daring and insolent address, had the extreme in- discretion to use expressions full of respect and complacency. " The sentiments of five thousand Britons, (said he) devoted openly to the cause of mankind, exist, without doubt, in the hearts of all the freemen in England." And, what is still more extraordinary, copies of the address were ordered to be sent to all the armies and departments of the republic. Also, on the 28th of November, a deputation from the " Society for Constitutional Informa- tion'* presenting an address at the bar of the Con- vention, congratulated that assembly " on the glo- rious triumph of liberty on the i oth of August," and declaring, " that, notwithstanding the hireling pens which may be employed by the power of go- vernment to contradict them, they speak the sen- timents of a majority of the English nation." In the prefatory speech of the deputies, citizens John Frost and Joel Barlow, are to be found expressions yet more seditious and offensive than in the ad- dress. They take upon them to predict, " that, after the example given by France, revolutions will become easy. Reason (say these inspired GEORGE III. ; 497 patriots) is about to make a rapid progress ; and BOOK it would not be extraordinary, if, in a much less v-^-v^ 1792 space of time than can be imagined, the French should send addresses of congratulation to a NA- TIONAL CONVENTION of ENGLAND." The presi- dent, M. Gregoire, in reply, paid the highest com- pliments to the English nation, as having afforded illustrious examplesto the universe. "Theshades," said he, " of Hampden and of Sydney hover over your heads ; and the moment, 'without doubt, approaches, in which the French will bring con- gratulations to the national convention of Great Britain, Generous republicans ! your appearance among us prepares a subject of history." The speech, the address, and the answer of the presi- dent, were ordered to be printed, and sent to the. eighty-three departmeats, and translated into all languages. On the same auspicious day a deputation from the British and Irish resident at Paris appeared at the bar, and, amidst loud and reiterated plaudits, they declared their belief, amongst other strange and extravagant imaginations, " that the disgraceful memory of those pretended governments, the off- spring of the combined fraud of priests and ty- rants, will in a short time alone remain. Our wishes, citizen legislators, render us impatient to behold the happy moment of this great change, in the hope that, on its arrival, we shall see an inti- VOL. vm, K K '498 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK mate union formed between the French republic, XXIV. v^-v > and the English, Irish, and Scottish nations. Nor 1792. are we alone animated by these sentiments : we doubt not that they would be equally conspicuous in the great majority of our fellow countrymen, if the public opinion were to be consulted there, as it ought, in a NATIONAL CONVENTION." The president answered in a high-flown strain of rhetoric. " Principles are waging war against tyranny, which will fall under the blows of phi- losophy. Royalty in Europe is either destroyed, or on the point of perishing on the ruins of feu- dality ; and the declaration of rights, placed by the side of thrones, is a devouring fire which shall consume them. Worthy republicans ! congratu- late yourselves on thinking that the festival which you have made in honor of the French revolution is the prelude to the festival of nations." The true key to this most impolitic, rash, and insulting conduct of the Convention, so far as the acts of a tumultuous democratic assembly, too oft proceeding from the impulse of the moment, can be traced to system, is, that in consequence of the number of ostentatious, but really insignificant, addresses presented at their bar, they were most egregiously deceived with respect to the senti- ments of the people of England at this period : and they fancied that, by gratifying their resent- ment against the court, whose enmity they knew .urr .J'-.-' GEORGE III. 499 and contemned, and whom they vainly hoped by BOOK these means to intimidate, they should at the same \-s-v^* 1792. time recommend themselves to the nation at large, with whom it was certain they ardently wished to cultivate a good understanding.* *" * " During the whole of our journey, (says an intelligent traveller, December 1792) we remarked that the apprehen- sion of a war with England was peculiarly painful to the French. Though flushed with their late successes, and con- fident against a world in arms, it was evident there was no- thing they dreaded more than such an event : not merely on account of the mischief that might ensue, but because it would force them to regard as enemies the only nation in Europe they considered as their friends. All along the road they anxiously asked us what we thought would be the conse- quence of the armament in England ? We frankly told them, we presumed it would be war and generally observed a mo- ment of silence and dejection follow the delivery of our opi- nion. The imminence of hostilities, however, in no degree diminished the respect they shewed us as Englishmen ; and not only we did not meet with any thing like an insult in the whole of our tour, but on the contrary we experienced every- where particular kindness and attention. They seemed eager to court our good opinion, and frequently begged us not to ascribe to a whole nation the faults of individuals, and not to charge their government with disorders its present state of vacillation rendered it incompetent to repress. I confess I should never have suspected that I was travelling among a nation of savages, madmen, and assassins I should rather have wished, with SHAKSPEARE, " that these contending kingdoms, England and France, whose very shores look pale With envy of each other's happiness, May lose their hatred." Vide ' 7W hrough the Theatre of War? A. D. 1792, K K 2 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK The decree passed on the i gth of November had' XXIV v^-v^O already left little to fill up of the measure of their iniquity, in the view of the court of London ; and, in combination with the obnoxious addresses, it jvas regarded as nothing less than an act of open aggression. Certainly the English government had just cause of resentment, and an undoubted right to adequate reparation. Unhappily the court of London, inflamed with indignation, sought not reparation merely, but revenge. Her measures being now determined .on, a royal proclamation was issued December i, 1792, announcing the alarming intelligence, " that, notwithstanding the late proclamation of the 2ist of May, the utmost industry was still employed by evil-disposed per- sons within the kingdom, acting in concert with persons in foreign parts, with a view to subvert the laws and constitution ; and that a spirit of tumult and disorder, thereby excited^ had lately shown itself in acts of riot and INSURRECTION And that, these causes moving him thereto, his majesty had resolved forthwith to embody part of the militia of the kingdom." On the same day another proclamation was issued for convening the parliament (which stood prorogued to the 3d of January, 1793) on the 1 3th of December ; the law requiring, that if the militia be drawn out during the recess of parlia- ment, and this it can only be in case of invasion GEORGE III. 501 or actual insurrection, parliament shall be assembled BOOK XXIV. .within the space of fourteen days. v-^v-O The public alarm caused by these proceedings J t r A plot in was inexpressible. Sullen suspicion and anxious disguise, dread sat on every countenance. All were con- vinced of the existence of a PLOT ; which was so much the more terrible, from its being invisible and incomprehensible. The minister did not dis- dain to heighten the general consternation by the palpable artifices of marching troops to the metro- polis, of doubling the guard at the Bank, and of repairing the fortifications of the Tower. On the meeting of parliament on the day ap- p a riiamnt pointed, the expressions of the first proclamation c were repeated in his majesty's speech; towards the conclusion of which the real views of the court . became sufficiently manifest. " I have," said his majesty, " carefully observed a strict neutrality in the present war on the continent, and have uni- formly abstained from any interference with re- spect to the internal government of France : but it is impossible for me to see without the most se- rious uneasiness the strong and increasing indica- tions which have appeared there of an intention to excite disturbances in other countries, to disregard the rights of neutral nations, and pursue views of conquest and aggrandizement, as well as to adopt towards my allies the States General measures which were neither conformable to the law of 502 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK nations nor to the positive stipulations of existing V VTTT v>-v-O treaties. Under these circumstances his majesty 92 ' thought it right to have recourse to those means of prevention and internal defence with which he was entrusted by law, and to make some augmen- tation of his naval and military force." On moving the address in answer to the speech, a memorable debate arose. Never did thestrength and superiority of Mr. Fox's genius appear perhaps so conspicuous as in this moment of national infatua- tion. "This," said Mr. Fox, "is the most momentous crisis, not only that I have ever known, but that I have read of in the history of this country a crisis not merely interesting to ourselves, but to all nations; and on the conduct of parliament depends the fate of the British constitution perhaps the future happiness of mankind. His majesty's speech contains a variety of assertions of the most extra- ordinary nature. We are told there exists at this mo- ment an insurrection in this kingdom. An INSUR- RECTION ! Where is it ? Where has it reared its head? Although this insurrection has existed four- teen days, ministers have given us no light what- ever, no clue, no information where to find it. There have been, as I understand, and as every one must have heard, some slight riots in different parts; but I ask, Were the various pretexts of these different tumults false, and used only to cover an attempt to destroy our happy constitution? I have GEORGE III. 503 heard of a tumult at Shields, of another at Leith, B K xxiv. of something of the same nature at Yarmouth and < ^>^-' 179^. Dundee. But were the sailors who demanded an increase of their wages actuated by a design of overthrowing the constitution ? Is there a man in England who is credulous enough to believe it ? The address now moved says modestly, ' We are sorry to hear there is an insurrection.' Of the tumults in the sea-ports we had some previous knowledge, but the insurrection we learn from his majesty's speech. It has been alleged, as a proof of disaffection., that the countenances of many wore the face of joy when the intelligence arrived of the duke of Brunswic's retreat. What! is it a sufficient demonstration of republicanism, that men should rejoice in the discomfiture of the armies of despotism combating against liberty ? Could any man who loves the constitution of this country wish success to the duke of Brunswic, after reading a manifesto which violated every principle of justice, humanity, freedom, and true government ? Who will dare to defend that sys- tem of tyranny and coercion which insists that Englishmen shall not indulge any genuine feelings of their own which tells them that they must not , ,. think but by permission that they must rejoice and grieve as it suits the caprice or the pleasure of the ministers ? Are we to arraign a man for his secret and supposed designs, and arrogate to our 50* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK selves at once the province and the power of the XXIV <**~v^-> Deity ? What innocence can be safe from this more than inquisitorial oppression ? Doubtless there are speculative persons in this country who disapprove of the system of our government : and there must be such men as long as the land is free, for it is of the very essence of freedom for men to differ upon speculative points. From the instant that opinion shall be held dependent upon the will of the minister or the magistrate, I date the extinc- tion of our liberties as a people.'* In passing to that part of the king's speech which related to France, Mr. Fox asserted " tj}at there never was a period when this country had so much reason to wish for peace. Never was there a period less favorable to a system of hosti- lity. How frequently have wars been prevented by negotiation ! Why then disdain to negotiate now ? Because we had no minister at Paris. And why have we no minister ? Because France is a republic unanointed. For this punctilio then it is that the blood and treasure of the kingdom are to be expended! Oh! why were not some drops of the sacred oil from the holy phial at Rheims pour- ed on the heads of the Executive Council, that the pride of kings might not have feared the contami- nation of their acquaintance ? As to the free na- vigation of the Scheld, I will not believe that a war can in reality be undertaken for an object so GEORGE III. 505 trivial, or that Holland itself would desire or ap- prove it. What was the conduct of France under 1792. her former depraved government, when the em. peror menaced the opening of the Scheld in 1786? Was war declared in order to prevent it ? No ; they opened a negotiation, and carried the point by amicable interposition. Is not the ultimate ob- ject of republicans and levellers aided by plunging the nation in a war without due and previous en- quiry ? I conjure parliament to avoid involving the people in so dreadful a calamity, without coolly reflecting on its necessity. Let us not, as heretofore, fall into the disgrace of being obliged to retract every syllable of what we are now called upon to say." Mr. Fox concluded with moving an amend- ment, simply pledging the house that enquiry should be made into the facts stated in his ma- jesty's speech. After a debate of many hours, the house divided, for the amendment 50, against it 290! In the house of lords the address was carried without a division ; but not without a powerful opposition from the duke of Norfolk, and the lords Lansdown, Rawdon, and Stanhope. In consequence of the late alarms, the opposi Defection tion, or Whig party, had, as it now appeared alarmists. suffered a great and melancholy defection. At the head of the seceders in the upper house were the prince of Wales, the duke of Portland, and 506 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK lords Fitzwilliam, Spencer, and LOUGHBOROUGH, XXIV. ^v^ who, on the resignation of lord Thurlow* at this 1792. * The real cause of the reluctant resignation, oflord Thur- low was the irreconcileable discord subsisting between him and the minister Mr. Pitt declaring, it is said, the chan- cellor to be a man who opposed every thing and proposed no- thing and that he neither could nor would act with him any longer." It is notorious, that in various instances the mea- sures of the minister, far from being supported in the upper house, were vehemently and virulently attacked by the chan- cellor and in particular a very favorite and indeed very excel- lent bill, introduced by Mr. Pitt during the last session, in aid of the Sinking Fund Bill, providing, with great political pru- dence, that in all future cases of public loans, exclusive of the interest, a surplusage of one per cent, should be appropriated by parliament for the eventual extinction of the capital. This the chancellor, whose ignorance of financial topics was ex- tremely gross, and of whose great talents it was the fate to be almost invariably misapplied, most perversely reprehended as " an arrogant and insolent encroachment on the prerogative and independency of future parliaments ; and he scrupled not to pronounce the folly of the measure to be unequalled, except by the vanity of making the attempt." The great seal was in commission from June 1792 to January 1793; lord chief-baron Eyre being first commissioner. The king, who felt inex- pressible regret at the loss of so loyal and faithful a. servant, as a. mark of his peculiar esteem and regard, conferred upon him a new patent of peerage with remainder to his nephews, Edward and Thomas Thurlow, sons to the late bishop of Durham. The temporary difficulty to which the court was reduced as to the disposal of the chancellorship, recalls to recollection the anecdote related of king James I. who, on receiving the great seal from lord Bacon, was overheard to say, " Now, by my soul ! I am pained to the heart where to bestow this, for as to my LAWYERS they be all KNAVES." GEORGE III. SO? need to the chancellorship ; and in the lower house, Mr. Burke, Mr. Windham, sir period, was advanced to the chancellorship; and BOOK 17 S& Gilbert Elliot, Mr. Anstruther, &c. who acquired by this means the popular appellation of ALARM- ISTS. On the bringing up the report, on the succeeding day, the debate was resumed with fresh vehemence. Mr. Fox most severely censured the ministers for not having interposed the mediation of Great Britain, in order to preserve the peace of Europe. Had we protested against the project concerted at Pilnitz, and armed to prevent the execution of it, England must have acquired such an ascendency in the councils of France as would have completely obviated all the subsequent causes of dissatisfaction. "If," said Mr. Fox, " there exists a discontented or disaffected party in the kingdom, what can so much add to their numbers, or their influence, as a war, which, by increasing the public burdens till they become intolerable, will give proportionable weight to their complaints? He wished therefore that war should be avoided, if possible that negotiation should precede hos- tility. He was fully aware of the arrogant no* tions of ministers, who perhaps would not con- descend to receive a minister from the French re- public. If this were the case, let ministers fairly avow it that the people of England might know how far the essential interests of the nation were sacrificed to a punctilio. Was not the republic of HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK this country acknowledged by all Europe in the v^-v^L/ case of Cromwell? Gentlemen should recollect 1792 that it was once fashionable to talk of a 4 vagrant Congress,' of c one Hancock* and ' one Adams' and ' their crew/ But surely the folly of this language has been sufficiently proved. Could it be forgotten that Dr. Franklin, after suffering the grossest abuse, was the very person with whom we were compelled to negotiate ? sooner or later we must acknowledge the republic of France, Where then is the difficulty of acknowledging it now ?" He then moved an amendment, " beseech, ing his majesty to employ every means of negotia- tion consistent with the honor and safety of this country, to avert the calamities of war." The mo- tion was opposed by Mr. Burke in a frantic speech, in which he affirmed " that to send an ambassador to France would be the prelude to the murder of our sovereign. The republic of France he pro- nounced to be sm generis, bearing no analogy to any other that ever existed in the world, and this was a reason why we should not acknowledge it. With the Rights of Man in one hand, like Maho- met with his Koran, and a sword in the other, it knew no medium between proselytism and mur- der." In conclusion, Mr. Burke hazarded the extraordinary opinion, " that it was superfluous to discuss the justice or the policy of maintaining peace with France, for that the two nations were GEORGE III. 50 actually in a state of war, and the question in dis- BOOK XXIV pute was already decided." Mr. Pitt was not at v^r-vO this time a member of the house, having vacated his seat by the acceptance of the lucrative sinecure of the Cinque Ports, void by the death of the earl of Guildford, once so famous under the title of lord North. In the absence of the minister, Mr. Secretary Dundas entered into a long and elaborate vindi- cation of the measures of administration ; and he concluded with a confident prediction, that " if we were forced into a war, it MUST prove SUCCESS- FUL and GLORIOUS." This declaration would no doubt have amazed so shallow a politician as the cardinal Richelieu, who formed a very different judgment of the immense strength and resources of the Gallic empire, when he affirmed, as the abbe Brotier informs us, " that France was able to raise 600,000 foot, and 1 50,000 horse, and to go to war with them in a fortnight." And mareschal Lasci, a military authority equal at least to Mr. Dundas, repeatedly declared to M. Bouille his opi- nion, that a war was not to be entered hastily into with France j the resources of which country, he observed, were immense, and their frontier impe-^ . netrable. The amendment was negatived without a division. Not discouraged at the ill success of these at- interesting tempts, Mr. Fox, on the ifth of December, moved, 510 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN*. BOOK at the close of a speech, which only served to xxiv. . . . \^~v~+~> demonstrate how incompetent are the utmost efforts of human wisdom to work conviction in motion for aneeotia- minds distempered by prejudice and passion, France. " that a minister be sent to Paris to treat with those persons who exercise provisionally the exe- cutive government of France.* This (he said) * Human nature, as exhibited in the writings of the cele- brated historians of antiquity, presents to us an exact and faithful picture of what it now is, and ever shall be, world without end. Immediately previous to the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, so famous and so fatal in the annals of Greece, it was debated, as Thucydides informs us, in the Spartan councils, whether measures of conciliation and pacifi- cation should not first be tried in respect to the Athenians, who had by their restless ambition and arrogance given just and general cause of offence to the neighbouring states. Archi- damus king of Sparta, who united long experience to pro- found wisdom, made use on this occasion of arguments strik- ingly analogous to those urged in the British parliament by Mr. Fox, to dissuade the Lacedaemonians from precipitately involving themselves in a quarrel so desperate and dreadful. ** People of Lacedaemon, (said he) I have been witness of many wars, as have also several amongst you ; and am for that very reason but the more disposed to fear for the event of that you are about to undertake. You are going to attack a country formidable from the number of its soldiers and its ships, and rich in its productions and resources. What is to inspire you with this confidence ? Is it the project of ravag- ing the plains of Attica, and of terminating this mighty quar- rel in one campaign? .Alas! how much do I dread that we shall be compelled to leave this war as a wretched inheritance to our children ! The hostilities of cities and individuals are GEORGE III. 511 Implied neither approbation nor disapprobation of BOOK XX. I V the conduct of the existing French government. ^^^ transient ; but when war is once enkindled between two pow- erful states, it is as difficult to foresee the consequences as to extricate ourselves with honor. I am not of opinion that we should abandon our allies to oppression: 1 only say, that, pre- vious to our taking arms, we should send ambassadors to the Athenians and open a negotiation. They have just proposed to us this mode, and it were injustice to refuse it. The slow- ness imputed to the Lacedaemonians has always constituted our security. Never have praises or reproaches excited us to rash enterprises. We have not the ability by eloquent harangues to depreciate the power of our enemies. To enable us to con- quer, we must guard against their prudence as well as their valor, and reckon less upon their errors than oft the wisdom of our own precautions. We maintain the equality of men, and that he only can be regarded as superior who on critical exigencies conducts himself with the most prudence and wis- dom. Let us not now deviate from the maxims we have re- ceived from our fathers, and which have hitherto preserved this state. Deliberate at leisure. Let not a single moment de- cide on your properties, your glory, the blood of so many citi- zens, and the destiny of so many nations." This speech pro- duced,aswe are told, a sensible effect uporr the assembly; when one of the ephori, byname Sthenelaidas the BURKE, we may presume, of his age and nation immediately rose and pro- nounced a vehement rhapsody in favor of an instant declara- tion of war. Disdainfully rejecting all advances to negotia- tion, he declared, " that the question was not concerning speeches and discussions; for (said he) it is not by words that our allies have been injured. The most speedy vengeance alone can now befit the dignity of Sparta. And let it not be said that we should deliberate after receiving an INSULT : our enemies should have deliberated before they insulted us. Give 512 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". BOOK It was the policy and the practice of every nation xxiv. ..... v^v^> to treat with the existing government or every other nation with which it had relative interests, without enquiring how that government was con- stituted, or by what means it acquired possession of power. Was the existing government of Morocco more respectable than that of France ? Yet we had more than once sent embassies thither, to men reeking from the blood through which they had waded to their thrones. We had ministers at the German courts, at the time of the infamous partition of Poland. We had a minister at Ver- sailles when Corsica was bought and enslaved. But in none of these instances was any sanction given directly or indirectly by Great Britain to these nefarious transactions." Mr. Fox acknow- ledged, that it would have been better if what he now proposed had been done sooner ; and far better yet had lord Gower never been recalled from Paris. The present measure was, however, your voices then for WAR, Oh Lacedaemonians ! and at length prescribe some limits to the injustice and ambition of the Athe- nians. Let us march, secure of the protection of the GODS, against these invaders of liberty !" The opinion of the king was supported by a minority of the assembly, but the plura* lity of voices decided peremptorily for war. And thus it is that in all ages and in all countries the dictates of wisdom and moderation are overborne, and the peace and happiness of nations sacrificed to the suggestions of passion or caprice, the fumes of enthusiasm, or the artifices of ambition. GEORGE III. 513 the best which remained, and this was the earliest BOOK XXIV opportunity afforded him of bringing it forward. v^v-O 1 792 Mr. Fox insisted, " that the people had a right to be informed what was the real object of the war, which no one seemed at present able to ascertain. Whenever we treated, and at some time or other we must treat, it must be with the existing power, though it were republican Why then hesitate to do so now, when such important ends might be answered by it ? He spoke (as he affirmed solemn- ly) from a sense of duty, for he knew that his opposition to the war was extremely unpopular ; but he should at all times give that advice in par- liament which he conceived to be conducive to the real interests of the nation, even at the risk of incurring the public odium and resentment." Mr. Francis, in a very excellent speech, remon- strated and protested against the manner in which the debate had been conducted on the part of the ministerialists. " How (said he) has this awful question been agitated ? By appeals to our under- standing ? No ; by exciting our passions, by agitating our feelings, by presenting perpetually to our imagination scenes of horror. Thus do the house in fact deprive themselves of all capacity to debate of all power to judge. They listen with rapture to invectives, and echo them back in shouts and clamors. Is this a British house of commons? Or am I suddenly transplanted by some enchant- VOJL. viu. t L 51* HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK ment into that convention, against which the pef- V^-Y-^ petual theme of reproach is, that they deliberate in passion and resolve by acclamation. In answer to the absurd and puerile objection, that, if we agree to a negotiation, we should not know with whom to negotiate, Mr. Whitbread asked with energetic animation, " If we knew with whom we were going to make war? If there was no difficulty in deciding upon that point, how could we pretend to be at a loss to. know with whom we were to make peace ? Doubtless with that Assembly, truly described by his majesty, as exercising the powers of government in France." Mr. Courtenay animadverted with poignant se- venty upon the rhapsodical extravagances which had fallen from Mr. Burke ; and he read to the house a passage from the famous pamphlet pub- lished by him, which he said he considered as the prelude to the duke of Brunswic's disgraceful manifesto. Mr. Courtenay said, that " Mr. Burke was the dupe of his imagination. His imagination was a magic-lantern, presenting a rapid and exhaustless succession of phantasms. There were chivalry the duke of Brunswic Petion faction National Convention king of Armenia senate of Rome Marat assassinations Corinthian capitals Tom Paine and many other things, making a complete raree-show, for the entertainment of the admirers of that gentle- GEORGE III. 515 man. Mr. Courtenay acknowledged that he had B ? K ./v.icvlV never felt so much pleasure as when the Prussians, ^^ * 1792. who had entered France not as soldiers but as ruf- fians, had been driven back in shame and confu- sion. He had participated in the triumph when M. Dumouriez made his joyeuse entree into Bra- bant." Mr. Windham had laid it down as an axiom of policy, " that, to be justified in negotiating with France it should be a matter of necessity, not of choice." " Happy, dignified opportunity to treat ! (ex- claimed Mr. Sheridan) when necessity, a neces- sity arising from defeat and discomfiture, from shame and disgrace, shall compel us to negotiate on terms which would leave us completely at their mercy ! How consolatory, to be able to boast that we are at the same time JUSTIFIED and UNDONE ! But we are told, (continued Mr. Sheridan) that to treat with France would give offence to the allied powers, with whom we are eventually to co- operate. Are we then prepared to make a com- mon cause on the principles and for the purposes for which those despots have associated ? Are the freemen of England ready to subscribe to the ma- nifesto of the duke of Brunswic ? that detestable outrage on the rights and feelings of human na- ture ! that impotent and wretched tissue of pride, folly, and cruelty, which had steeled the heart and L L 2 516 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK maddened the brain of all France ! The question XXIV. v_^-vO is not merely whether we should go to war or not ? but, on what principle should it be conduct- ed, and to what end directed ? To restore the an- tient despotism of France? Impossible! Disputes and causes of complaint existing, how were they to be terminated but by some sort of negotiation ? But we were told, that the dignity of the nation forbade a public and avowed communication with the present ruling powers in France. Was the dignity of the nation better consulted by the mean subterfuge of an indirect and underhand inter- course ? Was it sacrificed by a magnanimous frankness, and sustained only by dark and insidi- ous disguise ? Far from recalling the ambassador of England from Paris at the late perilous crisis, a statesman-like administration would have regarded the post of minister at Paris as the situation which demanded the first and ablest talents of the coun- try. It was a situation which afforded scope and interest for the noblest mind that ever warmed a human bosom. The French had been uniformly partial, and even prejudiced, in favor of the Eng- fish. What manly sense and generous feeling, and, above all, what fair truth and plain dealing might have effected, it was difficult to calculate. But the policy which discarded these, and which sub- stituted in their stead a hollow neutrality, was an error fatal in its consequences, and for ever to be GEORGE III. SlY lamented." The motion was opposed with a mix- BOOK XXIV. ture of passion and disdain. For the efficient go- ^^>r>^ i i. r t m2 - vernment existing under the monarchy or the Bourbons, all was now said to be anarchy and confusion : and France without treasure, without commerce, without revenue, without allies, with- out any resource whatever, must soon inevitably sink under the contest. Our success in the event of a war was declared to be certain ; and the mo- tion was in the end negatived without a division. Mr. Grey, Mr. Erskine, and Mr. Adam, distin- guished themselves in the course of these debates by very able and eloquent speeches on the part of the opposition. And the desertion of their friends, far from dispiriting the faithful few who remain- ed, seemed to animate them to still higher and more ardent exertions of patriotic zeal. The po- pular odium incurred by the leaders of opposition, and in particular by Mr. Fox, in consequence of their generous endeavours to rescue their country from the gulf of ruin into which it was, with such blind and rash precipitancy, about to plunge, will appear to posterity scarcely credible. Neither pro- fessing a contempt for the public judgment, nor, on the other hand, yielding for a moment to the tide of popular opinion, Mr. Fox published at this period a very animated and dignified address to his constituents, the electors of Westminster, stating, with admirable force and perspicuity of 518 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BO OK argument, his reasons for his late parliamentary .X../V1 V ^v^ conduct. 1792. Speaking with just disdain of the artifices which had been practised by ministers to excite the alarm now prevalent, and to heighten that alarm to con- sternation and terror, this great statesman thus expresses Himself: " To these systems of crooked policy and pious fraud ^ have always entertained a kind of instinctive and invincible repugnance. Of this feeling I cannot divest myself. But are there in truth no evils in a false alarm besides the disgrace attending those who are concerned in propagating it ? Is it nothing to destroy peace, harmony, and confidence, among all ranks of ci- tizens? Is it nothing to give a general credit and countenance to suspicions which every man may point as his worst passions incline him ? In such a state all political animosities are inflamed. We confound the mistaken speculatist with the despe- rate incendiary. Those who differ from us in their ideas of the constitution we consider as confede- rated to destroy it. Forbearance and toleration have no place in our minds. The motives which urged me to make my third motion, which, if I am rightly informed, is that which has been most generally disapproved, were the same desire of peace which actuated me in the former, if it could be preserved on honorable terms ; and, if this were impossible, an anxious wish that the GEORGE III. 519 grounds of war might be just, clear, and intelli- BOOK LI XXIV. giDle. v^x-vv 1792 " If we, or our ally, have suffered injury or in- sult, or if the independence of Europe be menaced by inordinate and successful ambition, I know no means of preserving peace but by obtaining repa- ration for the injury, satisfaction for the insult, or security against the design which we apprehend. And I know no means of obtaining any of these objects but by addressing ourselves to the power of whom we complain. " If the exclusive navigation of the Scheld, or any other right belonging to the States General, has been invaded, the French executive council are the invaders, and of them we must ask redress. If the rights of neutral nations have been attacked by the decree of the 1 9th of November, the Na- tional Convention of France have attacked them ; and from that convention, through the organ by which they speak to foreign courts and nations, their minister for foreign affairs, we must demand explanation, disavowal, or such other satisfaction as the case may require. If the manner in which the same convention have received and answered some of our countrymen who have ad- dressed them be thought worthy notice, precisely of the same persons and in the same manner must we demand satisfaction upon that head also. I knew indeed that there were some persons whose 520 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK notions of dignity were far different from mine, XXIV. ^vO and who, in that point of view, would have pre- 1792. r . . . . f . . ferred a clandestine to an avowed negotiation ; but I confess I thought this mode of negotiation neither honorable nor safe. " Having ascertained the precise cause of war, we should learn the true road to peace ; and, if the cause so ascertained appeared adequate, then we should look for peace through war by vigo- rous exertions and liberal supplies. If inadequate, the constitution would furnish us abundance of means, as well through our representatives as by our undoubted right to petition king and parlia- ment, of impressing his majesty's ministers with sentiments similar to our own, and of engaging them to compromise, or, if necessary, to relinquish, an object in which we did not feel interest sufii* cient to compensate us for the calamities and hazard of a war. " To these reasonings it appeared to me, that they only could object with consistency who' would go to war with France on account of her internal concerns, and who would consider the re-establish, ment of the old, or at least some other form of go- vernment, as the fair object of the contest. Such persons might reasonably enough argue, that with those whom they are determined to destroy it is useless to treat. But if the objections of the vio- lent party appeared to me extravagant, those of GEORGE III. 521 the more moderate seemed wholly unintelligible. BOOK XXIV. Would they make and continue war till they can v^-v-O force France to a counter-revolution ? No/this they disclaim. What then is to be the termination of the war to which they would excite us? I an. swer confidently, that it can be no other than a negotiation upon the same principles, and with the same men, as that which I recommend ; for I cannot suppose that they who disclaim making war for a change would yet think it right to con- tinue it till a change j or, in other words, that the blood and treasure of this country should be ex- pended in a hope that not our efforts, but time and chance, may produce a new government in France, with which it would be more agreeable to our ministers to negotiate than with the present. If recognition be really a sacrifice on our part, consider whether the ministry have not already made that sacrifice by. continuing to act upon the commercial treaty as a treaty still in force. Every contract must be at an end when the contracting parties have no longer any existence either in their own persons or by their representatives. After the loth of August the political existence of Louis XVI. who was the contracting party in the treaty of commerce, was completely annihilated. The only question therefore is, whether the executive council of France did or did not represent the po- litical power so annihilated ? If we say they did 522 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK not, the contracting party has no longer any poli- tical existence, either in his person or by represen- ta^on, and the treaty becomes null and void. If we say they did, then "we have actually acknowv ledged them as representatives for the time at least of what was the executive government of France, In this character alone do they claim to be acknow- ledged, since their very style describes them as a provisional executive council, and nothing else. If we would preserve our treaty we could not dq less; by sending a minister we should not do more. " If my argument is satisfactory, I have proved that we have recognized the executive council, and it is notorious that through the medium of M. Chauvelin we have negotiated with them. But, although we have both negotiated and recognized, it would be dishonorable, it seems, to negotiate in such a manner as to imply recognition. How nice are the points upon which great businesses turn ! how remote from vulgar apprehension !" The conclusion .of this justly celebrated address is pecu- liarly striking. " Let us not (says this great states- man) attempt to deceive ourselves. Whatever possibility, or even probability, there may be of a counter-revolution from internal agitation and discord, the means of producing such an event by jexternal force can be no other than the conquest of France. The CONQUEST of FRANCE! O calum- GEORGE III, 523 niated crusaders, how rational and moderate were BOOK XXIV your objects ! O much injured Louis XIV. upon ^r-v-O what slight grounds have you been accused of rest- less and immoderate ambition ! O tame and feeble Cervantes, with what a timid pencil and faint on lors have you painted the portrait of a disordered imagination !" There are situations in which minds of strong penetration are privileged to foresee and foretell, with almost prophetic certainty, events which will result from the causes actually existing situations in which the tendencies of things are perceived to be irresistible, and the catastrophe, morally speak- ing, to be inevitable. Such were the predictions of a Chatham and a Franklin respecting the con- test with America and such the anticipations of a Fox, in relation to the issue of the MAD CRUSADE, now in the same spirit of delusion, pride, passion, and revenge, projecting against France. The war thus determined upon was not orily almost univer- sally applauded as just and necessary, conformably to the language of the court, but consecrated as HOLY. It was represented as a war against French IMPIETY and ATHEISM. Religion, so long discoun- tenanced and neglected, not to say ridiculed and de- spised, was again taken into PLAY. It was strange, to the truly sober and serious part of mankind, to hear persons conspicuous for their profaneness, and hardened in their vices, declare themselves alarmed HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN". at the progress of irreligion and infidelity ; and invoke, with ill-assumed devotion, the protection and blessing of Providence in the prosecution of a cause which was asserted to be the cause of GOD and Heaven. That vain and presumptuous confi- dence in the Divine favor expressed in the succes- sive speeches from the throne during the American war, notwithstanding the final confusion of those arrogant hopes, was now revived in all the osten- tation of humility. But kings have long claimed the lofty prerogatives appertaining to the vice- gerents of Heaven.* * Three centuries ago, Edward IV. having in contempla- tion a war with France, and alleging, as a ground of hostility, the violation of engagements on the part of his adversary Louis XI. in the same spirit of princely pride and pious zeal thus addressed his parliament : " This contumely- 1 am re- solved to punish, and I cannot doubt success: Almighty God still strengthens his arm who undertakes a war for justice. Besides all that right which led Edward III. our glorious an- cestor, and Henry V. our glorious predecessor, we seem to have a deputyship from Heaven to execute the office of the, supreme judge in chastising the impious." " How long shall it be thus ? say, Reason, say, >7hen shall thy long minority expire^? When shall thy dilatory kingdom come ? Haste, royal infant, to thy manhood spring, Almighty, when mature, to rule mankind ! Thine is the majesty, the victory thine. For thee reserv'd 'Tis thine To end the tall and Titan crimes, that lift GEORGE IIL 525 Although the determination of the English court was from the first sufficiently manifest, the govern- ment of France left no means unessayed to ac- ineffectual complish an accommodation. On the 2/th of De- t e h e r cember a memorial was presented by M. ChauveUn to lord Grenville, in which he informs his lord- ship, " that the executive council of the French republic, thinking it a duty which they owe to the French nation not to leave it in the state of sus- pense into which it has been thrown by the late measures of the British government, have authoriz- ed him to demand with openness, whether France ought to consider England as a neutral or hostile power? at the same time being solicitous that not the smallest doubt should exist respecting the dis- position of France towards England, and of its de- sire to remain in peace." In allusion to the decree of the i pth of November, M. Chauvelin says, " that the French nation absolutely reject the idea of that false interpretation by which it might be supposed that the French republic should favor insurrec- tions, or excite disturbance, in any neutral or friendly country whatever. In particular, they declare in the most solemn manner, that France will not attack Holland so long as that power ad- Their heads to Heaven, and laugh at laws. To thee All might belongs. Haste, reach thy ripen'd years, Mount thine immortal throne, and sway the world !'* FAWCET, 52(5 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK heres to the principles of her neutrality." As td XXIV ^v^i; the navigation of the Scheld, M. Chauvelin affirms 1792 . it " to be a question of too little importance to be made the sole cause of a war ; and that it could only be used as a pretext for a premeditated ag- gression. On this fatal supposition (he says) the French nation will accept war ; but SUCH a war would be the war not of the British nation, but of the British ministry, against the French republic ; and of this he conjures them well to consider the Indiscre- TERRIBLE RESPONSIBILITY/* To this tion and rashness of tion lord Grenvillc returned a most arrogant and " provoking answer. His lordship acknowledged the receipt of a note from M. Chauvelin, styling him- self Minister Plenipotentiary of France. He re- minds him that the king, since the unhappy events of the loth of August, had -suspended all official communication with France ; and informs him, that he cannot be treated with in the quality and under the form stated in his note. Nevertheless, *' under a form neither regular nor official," his lordship condescended to r^ply but in a mode which could only tend to inflame the differences subsisting between the two nations ; and which, far from accepting the concessions and explana- tions made by France, sought only to discover new pretences of cavil and quarrel. In a tone of the most decided and lofty superiority, his lordship says " If France is really desirous of maintaining GEORGE III. 527 friendship and peace with England, she must shew BOOK herself disposed to renounce her views of aggres- v-^-vO sion and aggrandizement, and to confine herself 'within her own territory, without insulting other governments, without disturbing their tranquil- lity, without violating their rights." The relin- quishment of her recent conquests being thus haughtily demanded of France as a preliminary of peace, it might well be supposed that negotia- tion was at an end. But the government of France, in the midst of their triumphs, discovered a degree of temper and moderation in their inter- course with England as surprising as it was laud- able. In answer to the letter of lord Grenville, a memorial was transmitted from M. Le Brun, mi- nister of foreign affairs, in the name of the exe- cutive council, dated January 4, 1793, framed in terms of singular wisdom and ability, and form- ing a striking contrast to the pride, petulance, and folly, displayed in the communications of the Eng- lish minister. 1/hey begin with repeating " the assurances of their sincere desire to maintain peace and harmony between France and England. It is with great reluctance (say they) that the republic would see itself forced to a rupture much more contrary to its inclination than its interest/' In reference to lord Grenville's refusal to ac- knowledge M. Chauvelin in his diplomatic capa- city, the council remark, " that in the negotiations 528 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK now carrying on at Madrid, the principal minister <^v-O of his Catholic majesty did not hesitate to address M. Bpurgoign, the ambassador of the republic at that court, by the title of Minister Plenipotentiary of France. But that a defect in point of form might not impede a negotiation, on the success of which depended the tranquillity of two great na- tions, they had sent credential letters to M. Chau- velin, to enable him to treat according to the seve- rity of diplomatic forms.'* The council repeat, " that the decree of the i pth of November had been misunderstood ; and that it was far from being intended to favor sedition being merely applicable to the single case where the general will of a nation, clearly and unequivocally express- ed, should call for the assistance and fraternity of the French nation. Sedition can never exist in an expression of the general will. The Dutch were certainly not seditious when they formed the generous resolution of throwing off the Spanish yoke; nor was it accounted as a crime to Henry IV. or to queen Elizabeth that they listened to their solicitations of assistance." As to the right of navigation on the Scheld, the council affirm, " that it is a question of absolute indifference to England, little interesting even to Holland, but of great importance to the Belgians, who were not parties to the treaty of Westphalia, by which they were divested of that right : but when that GEORGE III. 529 tself in full possession of its liber- ty, and, from any motive whatever^ shall consent to nation shall find itself in full possession of its liber- B , A XI V , deprive themselves of the navigation of the Scheld, France will not oppose It. With respect to the charge of aggrandisement, France (they say) has renounced, and still renounces, all conquest ; and its occupying the Netherlands will CONTINUE NO LONGER THAN THE WAR. If these explanations appear insufficient, after having done every thing in our power to maintain peace, we will prepare for war. We shall combat with regret the Eng- lish, whom we esteem ; but we shall combat them without fear." The reply of lord Grenville to this memorial (dated January 18) was couched in terms still more extraordinary and irritating than the first. His lordship declares " that he finds nothing satis- factory in the result of it. Instead of reparation and retractation, his lordship complains that no- thing more is offered than an illusory negotiation ;" as if England had a right to expect that France should give up every point in dispute previous to any negotiation ; or, as if the offer of evacuating the Netherlands at the termination of the war, and of leaving the Belgians to settle the question re- lative to the Scheld, together with the renunciation of all conquest, and the positive disavowal of the offensive meaning ascribed to the decree of No- vember 1 9, did not form a proper and sufficient VOL. VIII. M M ISO. HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK basis of negotiation. In fact, by these erreat con- xxiv. . . ' 5 . o-v-^ cessions, every rational object or negotiation was 1793 accomplished before the negotiation itself had for- mally commenced. "Under this form of extra- official communication, nevertheless, (lord Gren- ville goes on to say) that these explanations are not considered sufficient, and that ALL the MOTIVES which gave rise to the preparations STILL CONTI- NUE. If, however, under the same extra-official form, you have any farther explanations (says his lordship) to give, I shall willingly attend to them." -f-In a separate note (January 20) his lordship in- forms M. Chauvelin, that his majesty will not re- (Jeive his new letters of credence from the French republic. M. Chauvelin then requested a personal interview with his lordship, which was also re- fused. At length this extraordinary business was brought to a crisis by a letter from lord Gren- ville, dated January 24, 1793, in which his lord- ship says, "lam charged to notify to you, sir, that the character 'with which you had been in- vested at this court, and the functions of which have been so long suspended, being now entirely terminated by the fatal death of his Most Chris- French am- tian majesty, you have no longer any public cha- ordered to racter here : and his majesty has thought fit to deoartthe r ' kingdom, order that you should retire from this kingdom within the term of eight days.'/ At this very time M. Maret,' a confidential agent of M. Le GEORGE III. 531 Brun, was on his way to England with fresh dis- BOOK Y Y"! V patches from the executive council, and, as there is v-^-v-O good ground to believe, fresh concessions of the highest importance. But on his arrival in Lon- don, being informed of the compulsive dismission of M. Chauvelin, he did not think himself autho- rized to open his commission. He therefore merely announced his arrival to lord Grenville, but no advances were made to him on the part of the English court.* Throughout the whole of this delicate and difficult negotiation it was most clear and manifest that the English minister, in respect both to talents and temper, was utterly unequal to the conduct of it* * A political writer in the confidence of government, (Mr. Miles) who has attempted the arduous task of vindicating th proceedings of administration, in the whole of this momentous transaction, says : " The propositions which the executive council had authorized M. Maret to offer, and which would have been offered if M. Chauvelin had not left London, but which I am not at liberty to reveal, were so different from the imperious language which M. Le Brun had lately assumed, and the concessions were so much greater than it was reason- able to suppose would have been made after what had passed, that I doubted the sincerity of them at the time." Thus, while general overtures only of amicable negotiation were made, they were stigmatized as vague and illusory ; when followed by specific offers of reparation and redress, they were branded as deceitful and insincere. The events which have resulted from this most impolitic and dangerous contest might well draw repentant tears from its authors ; but, alas ! according to the Arabian proverb, " Repentance comes too late, when the city of Basra lies in ashes." M M 2 532 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK The sagacious Walpole, placed half a century be- ^~^L> fore him in nearly similar circumstances, far from 93 ' urging the country by his violence, or inveigling it by his artifices, into a war, opposed the frantic eagerness of the nation to involve themselves in a calamity so dreadful by every possible means. Most unhappily for mankind, in all ages, the wisdom of a Walpole has been compelled to veil to the folly of a Grenville. The death of the French monarch was in every view a disastrous and mournful event. It is well known that the executive council and a great majority of the conventional assembly were eagerly desirous to have averted this fatal catastrophe ; but the violence of the Jacobin faction, and the savage rage of the populace, rendered it impossible. " We may (said M. Le Brun to a confidential friend) sacrifice ourselves without being able to save the life of the king/' It was not that the moderate party entertained any doubt of the ve* racity of the leading charges brought against the king, or, in other words, of his being deeply en- gaged in the conspiracy against that constitution which he had sworn to defend-^for on this point there was never any difference of opinion in France; but they discerned innumerable circum- stances of palliation which formed an irresistible claim to compassion and mercy. In England no one attempted to justify the deed ; nor, says an animated writer of that time, " is it the season for GEORGE III. 533 extenuation, now that the stream of prejudice flows BOOK .JCJvl V strong,and the phantasm of a murdered king stalks ^~v^ before our affrighted imagination." The last eventful years of this unfortunate mo- character narch brought his character into full and perfect XVL view. It was conspicuously marked by imbecility and duplicity by inconstancy, with strange alter- nations of obstinacy by temerity suddenly sub- siding into fear by a perpetual distrust of his own judgment, and a transient and limited confi- dence in that of others. So strongly was the idea impressed upon the public mind of the want of genius, and even of common understanding, in the king, that a general emotion of surprise was created by the calmness and propriety of the answers given by him to the interrogatories of the convention during his trial ; and they have been unavailingly urged as proofs of capacity which the whole tenor of his conduct demonstrates that he did not possess. Good-nature bordering upon weakness, humanity allied to indolence, piety tinctured with superstition, and a desire feeble and inefficient to diffuse happiness, were the vir- tues which must be opposed to his moral and men- tal defects ; and had not the unexampled malignity of his destiny forbidden, they would unquestion- ably have sufficed to have carried him through life with the reputation of a beneficent and virtuous monarch. His last moments were ennobled by the calmness of resignation, and an unaffected dis- 534 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK play of firmness and fortitude. We are told of XXIV v>^v-O him, that he was highly offended at the freedom f ^Q<1 s , with which the famous work of the abbe Raynal was written. The republic of Geneva was solicit- ed to prohibit the publication ; the parliament of Paris received an injunction to fulminate their judicial, and the Sorbonne their theological, cen- sures against it. Ray n air's work nevertheless still exists to inform and enlighten the world ; but the Genevan republic, the parliament, the Sorbonne, and Louis XVI. are no more ! As, by an express provision of the treaty of 1786, the dismission of an ambassador was in fu- ture to be regarded as a virtual declaration of war, it is almost superfluous to mention the inferior causes of offence given to France immediately prior to that event : i . By the Alien Bill, empowering the king, in contravention of the treaty of 1786, which stipulates the peaceful and undisturbed resi- dence of the subjects of each power in the domi- nions of the other, to order, at his discretion, all foreigners to depart the kingdom: 2. By the bill prohibiting the circulation of assignats or other paper securities, issued under the authority of the French government : 3. By a bill of a more serious nature, restraining the exportation of naval stores, arms, and ammunition, including, by a specific mention, the article of saltpetre, of which it was well known that the French were in great need : 4. Also, in direct and palpable violation of the com- GEORGE III. 535 mercial treaty, an act passed at the same time pro- BOOK TY( V hibiting the exportation to France, and to France v^-v-O exclusively, of corn imported from the continent a grievous scarcity of all sorts of grain at this period prevailing in France. This M. Chauvelin, in a memorial presented to lord Grenville expressly on the subject, scrupled not to style an act of per- fidy : and it recalled to the recollection of many the detestable measures formerly adopted to starvg America into submission. Immediately on the departure of M. Chauvelin a memorial was presented by lord Auckland, am- bassador at the Hague, to the States-General, in which his lordship affirms to their high mighti- nesses,^ language which sets all ideas of decorum at defiance, "that not four years ago some WRETCHES, assuming the title of philosophers, had the pre- sumption to think themselves capable of establish- ing a new system of civil society. In order to realize that dream of their vanity, they found it necessary to overthrow and destroy all received notions of subordination, manners, and religion, which have hitherto formed all the security, happiness, and consolation, of the human race. Their destructive projects have but too well succeeded. But the effects of the new system which they endeavoured to introduce served only to shew the imbecility and villany of its authors. The events which so rapidly folio wed each other since that epoch, surpass " in atrocity all which have ever polluted the pages 536 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK of history. Property, liberty, security, even life it- ^-y-^^ self, have been deemed play-things in the hands of 1 793. infamous men, who are the slaves of the most licen- tious passions of rapine, enmity, and ambition." Such were the terms in which the wisdom of the English court thought it becoming to speak of the existing government of France ! If any thing could add to the astonishment excited by this con- duct, it would be that a commission was at the same time, or immediately afterwards, sent over to the same ambassador, to set on foot a negotiation with M. Dumouriez, commander of the armies of the government thus publicly vilified, in order to effect an accommodation of differences. Whether this overture was really serious, or whether, ac-. cording to the declared opinion of M. Dumouriez himself, it was merely amusive and insidious, such a prelude must be equally the subject of admiration. In either case it came too late to answer the purpose. The convention, on being apprised of the rude and hostile dismission of their ambassador, had taken War de- their ultimate resolution ; and on the first of Fe- France -bruary, 1793, a decree unanimously passed that assembly, declaring the REPUBLIC of FRANCE at WAR with the KING of GRE STADTHOLDER of HOLLAND. land. WAR with the KING of GREAT BRITAIN and the END OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME. T. Gillet, Printer, Salisbury-square. APPENDIX: CONTAINING PAPERS AND AUTHORITIES, TO THE EIGHTH VOLUME, LETTER FROM THE EMPRESS OF ALL THE RUSSIAS TO HIS PRUSSIAN MAJESTY. A. D. 1784. "JV/TY advantageous sentiments respecting the house of Prussia sentiments of which I have given efficaci- ous proofs permit me to hope for the same on their part. I expect it the morcj as I have ever been convinced of their reciprocal affection . The warifvhich is preparing between the emperor of the Romans and the Hollanders, excites the immediate attention ef the cabinet of Berlin, of which the Dutch endeavour by all sorts of intrigues to secitre the accession. Your wisdom acknowledges that the pretensions of the emperor are equally just and moderate. Nature herself hath granted to the Austrian low countries, the use and Advantage of the river in dispute : Austria alone, by virtue of the law of nature and of nations, is entitled to an exclusive right to the use of the river in question. So that the equity and disinterestedness of Joseph II. only can impart this right td other people, it belonging exclu- sively to his states. The sentiments of Austria merit esteem and attention ; but the avidity of the Dutch, and APPEND. VOL. VIII. 2N 538 APPENDIX. the judgment which they permit themselves to assume on account of the treaty of Monster, over the house of Au- stria, are notorious and bliimeuble in every respect. No- thing can be urged with foundation in favour of Holland, therefore she merits not the assistance of any foreign power. The consequences which these republicans are drawing upon themselves by their obstinacy, must be submitted to the moderation of the emperor alone. 1 am firmly resolved to assist his pretensions with all my land and sea forces, with as much efficacy, as if the welfare of my own em- pire was in agitation. 1 hope that this declaration of my sentiments will meet with the success which our reciprocal friendship deserves, and which hath never been inter- rupted*. CATHERINE. DECLARATION OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA TO THE COURT OF LONDON, RESPECTING BAVARIA. A. D. 17S5. THE king believed he had every reason to expect that the court of Vienna had given up all thoughts of an ex- change of Bavaria, or an acquisition thereof in any other manner, after such an acquisition had been proved to the said court to be inadmissible in the conferences held at * Strongly as the empress of Russia was no doubt at this period, inclined to cultivate a. good correspondence with the emperor of Germany, of which the preceding declaration is a striking proof, she was far from discovering any degree of zeal in promoting his views upon Bavaria, an object of incom- parably greater consequence than the free navigation of the Scheld. She did indeed write to the duke of Deux-ponts, to propose to him in the name of thq emperor, and to recommend to him in her own name, the invidious ex- change of that territory for the Austrian Netherlands ; but upon the peremp- tory refusal of that prince to acquiesce in the project, and on receiving a strong remonstrance from the court of Berlin against it, site protested that she had no intention to enforce the execution of the design; and that she had dropped all fai ther concern in the business. fit di Catherine II. vol. ifi. p. 1 65. VOLUME VIIL Iraunati, in the month of September, 1778 ; after the said court had renounced all its pretensions on Bavaria, by i he peace of Teschen, and had become itself, together with the other contracting and mediating powers of that peace, guarantee of the covenants of the house Palatine, whereby that house is not allowed any alienation, or as it is expressed, " any exchange of its possessions.'* His ma- jesty, however, having been apprized in the month of Ja- nuary of the present year, by the duke of Deux-ponts, that the court of Vienna had, notwithstanding these im- portant considerations, proposed to that prince an ex- change of the whole of Bavaria, together with the upper county Palatine, and the duchies of Neuburg and Sulz- bach, for a part of the Austrian Netherlands ; his majesty was anxious to communicate his uneasiness on that ac- count to the empress of Russia, as guarantee of the peace of Teschen. The answer which her Imperial majesty gave to the king, through her minister, prince Dolgoroucki, *' that after the refusal of the duke of Deux-ponts, there was no more thought about such am^exchange," might have been a sufficient assurance to the king, if his majesty could have been equally secure with respect to the inten- tions of the court of Vienna. But that eourt has too evidently shewn by the steps taken in the course of the present year, as well as by the system it has at all times pursued, that it cannot bring itself to an entire renuncia- tion of the project of making sooner or later an acquisition of Bavaria. The said court, after having in its fir-st circular declara- tion, disseminated the existence of this project, assures indeed in the latter, an intimation of the declaration of the court of Russia, that it never entertained, nor ever: should entertain, the least thought of a violent or forced exchange of Bavaria. But this distinction between forced and voluntary, shews evidently that the court of Vienna still entertains an idea of the possibility of a barter of Ba- 540 APPENDIX. varia. This Conjecture, already (strong en ough in itsetf, is too well confirmed by the assertion of the court of Vienna, " that by virtue of the peace of Baden, the house Palatine has full liberty to exchange its possessions." It is true, the eighteenth article of the peace of Baden says, " that in case the house of Bavaria finds it conveni- ent to make some exchange of its possessions in return for others, his most Christian majesty promises not to oppose the same." It follows clearly, however, from this very article, that the contracting parties did not mean thereby to allow to the house of Bavaria any thing farther than a partial exchange of some district or piece of country suitable to its interest : but it certainly was not, nor could it be understood at that time, to allow a total exchange of a large electorate and fief of. the empire (which being under the disposition of the golden bull, was not at all liable to an alteration of this nature), which would have too nearly affected and overturned the essential constitution of the electoral college, and even the integrity of the whole confederate system of the empire. Admitting even, that by tke peace of Baden, the house of Bavaria was allowed to make a partial exchange suitable to its interest, of some part of its possessions, this power has since been abrogated by the eighth article of the peace of Teschen, arid by the separate act concluded at the same time be- tween the elector Palatine and the cluke of Deux-ponts ; because the covenants of the liouse Palatine, of the years 1766, 1771, and 1774, are therein renewed, whereby all the possessions of the house of Bavaria Palatine, are charged with a perpetual and inalienable fideicomis. The ancient pragmatic sanction of that house, concluded at Pa via in the year 1329, is likewise referred to therein, whereby that whole illustrious house has bound itself never to exchange, nor otherwise alienate, the least part of its possessions. Now as the peace of Teschen, together mth all its separate acts, is under ihe guarantee of the king and VOLUME VIII. 54 i the elector of Saxony, as principal coh'racting parlies of that peace ; likewise under the guarantee of the two me- diating powers, the courts of Russia and France, and the whole empire ; it follows therefore, that no exchange of Bavaria whatever can any more take place, without the consent and concurrence of the powers just mentioned; and especially not without the intervention of the king and all his co-estates of the empire, whose essential interest it is, that this great and important duchy of Bavaria should remain with the house Palatine : because it must be strik- ing to every body, that independent of the geographical and political disproportion between the Austrian Nether- lands and the whole of Bavaria, the transferring of so large and t fine a country to the house of Austria, and thereby rounding, as it were, the Austrian monarchy, which already preponderates too much, would take away all balance of power in Germany ; and the security as well as the liberty of all the states of the empire, would only de- pend upon the discretion of the house of Austria. It seems that this great and powerful house ought to be con- tented with its vast monarchy, and not to think any more of an acquisition so alarming not only to Germany, but likewise to all Europe, It should likewise remember, that in the barrier treaty of 1715, it has promised to the maritime powers, never to alienate any part of the Netherlands to any prince, but of its own house ; a stipulation which cannot be set aside without the consent of the contracting parties. The king cannot therefore but be persuaded by all that has been advanced, that the court of Vienna will not very soon, or perhaps never, give up the project of making sooner or later an acquisition of Bavaria by some means or other ; and that according to the principles manifested still in its latter circular declaration, it reserves to itself yet the pos- sibility and power thereof. II is majesty thought he could not in this case do less for his own security, as well as for 2x3 542 APPENDIX. that of the whole empire, than to propose to his co-estates to enter into an association, conformable to all the funda- mental constitutions of the empire, viz. the peace of Westphalia, and the capitulations of the emperors ; and founded upon the example of all centuries, tending only to preserve the present and legal constitution of the empire, to maintain every member thereof in the free and tranquil en- joyment of his rights, states, and possessions, and to oppose every arbitrary and illegal enterprise, contrary to the sys- tem of the empire. His majesty having met with the same sentiments in the most serene electors of Saxony, and of Brunswick Lunenburg, has just now concluded and signed a treaty of union with them ; which treaty is not offensive against any person, nor any way derogatory to the dignity, rights, and prerogatives of his majesty the emperor of the Romans, and which has absolutely nothing for its object, but to maintain the constitutional system of the empire, and the objects just mentioned : and which therefore cannot give the least uneasiness to the court of Vienna, if that court has the same views and intention for the preservation of the said system, as there i$ reason to expect, and as is indeed expected, from the greatness of soul and loyalty of the head of the empire, It cannot be dpubted, that the king as an elector and prince of the em- pire, and as one of the contracting parties, and guarantee of the peace of Westphalia and Tcschen, has an incon- testible right to conclude with his co-estates of the empire such a constitutional and inoffensive treaty. The king having engaged in a war to prevent the ex- change of all farther dismemberment of Bavaria, which war was put an end to by the peace of Teschen, his majesy has hereby acquired a right, and a particular and perma- nent interest, to oppose any exchange of Bavaria, present and future; and in doing this by such measures as are conformable to the laws of nations, and to those of the Geiman empire, his majesty only fulfils his obligations VOLUME VIII. 543 and rights, -without provoking the dissatisfaction or re- proach of the court of Vienna, and without giving any just cause to attribute to him any offensive views or steps against that court. The king could not therefore but be in some measure affected and surprise , when informed that the court of Vienna exclaimed against this union, in its declarations publicly addressed to all the courts of Europe and of the empire, endeavouring even to give to the said treaty an odious colour. His majesty believes not to have given the least cause for such a proceeding ; but rather to have merited more justice for his open, patriotic, and disinterested conduct, as well before as after the peace of Tcschcn, in what regards Bava- ria and the house Palatine. His majesty will not imitate the manner adopted in the said declaration. He will take special care not to recriminate. He will satisfy himself with appealing to the testimony of the electors and princes of the empire, who will attest, that without any suggestion or accusation whatever, he has confined himself to evince to them the inadmissibility and danger of any exchange of Bavaria, and to propose to them to enter into such a con- stitutional treaty as may be laid before the whole world. To remove every doubt about the purity of the inten- tions of the king, and the justice of the steps he has taken, his majesty thinks it his duly to make tire conclusion of this treaty, and the motives which occasioned it, known to the principal powers of Europe, who arc any ways con- cerned about the welfare of the German empire, and the preservation of its system. The king has clone this by the present declaration, which he would not fail to communi- cate likewise to his Britannic majesty, as a mark of his confidence and attention, and of his desire to secure him- self the suffrage of his Britannic majesty, though he, as elector of Brunswick Lunenburg, has himself already concurred in the conclusion of the treaty, and has thereby given indubitable proof how much his sentiments coincide 344 APPENDIX. with those of the king, about the necessity of the said treaty, and the objects which gave occasion to it. The king is particularly happy to have added these new ties to the friendship and intimacy which has al- ready for so long a time subsisted between the two royal houses, and to entertain with his Britannic majesty the same sentiments for the welfare of the German empire, as their common country, and for the support of a system which has an essential influence upon the happiness of the rest of Europe. Berlin, Aug. 23, 1785. ANSWER DELIVERED BY THE MARQUIS OF CAR- MARTHEN TO COUNT LUSI, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE PRECEDING COMMUNICATION. THE king has received with pleasure th.e communi- cation which count Lusi has made by order of his Prus- sian majesty to lord Carmarthen, of the seutiments of his said majesty, respecting the treaty signed at Berlin the 23d July, in the concluding of which the king himself, in his electoral capacity, was pleased to concur. The lively interest which his Prussian majesty never ceases to take for the maintenance of the Germanic consti- tution, and the preservation of the rights of every member of the empire, cannot but deserve the greatest praise from those powers who are true friends to the prosperity and, well-being of that respectable confederation. And at the same time that the court of London is eager to render this justice tp the patriotic views of his Prussian majesty, it flatters itself that the measures of precaution which the three electoral courts have thought proper to take, may never become necessary by any attack either direct or indi- rect upon the acknowledged rights of the Germajiic body ; VOLUME VITI. 545 but that for the future the most solid harmony may be re, established, and the most sincere confidence for ever sub-r sist, between the august chief and the illustrious members of the empire. jf. James's, Sept. 9/A, 1785. The above declaration or memorial of the king of Prus- sia is very masterly, jjind exhibits a frankness and candour rarely to be found in documents of state. The argu* ments of the monarch, as applied to the balance of power in Germany, are indeed irrefragable ; but what interest could England have to prevent the house of Austria from acquiring that political ascendancy in the empire which the accession of Bavaria would so much facilitate ? A just policy may undoubtedly be carried to extravagant lengths, or may be prosecuted by absurd methods : but as the power of France alone can be formidable to England, it is evidently right and proper to embrace all fair and feasi- ble means of effecting a diminution of it ; or, when that cannot be done, of maintaining and supporting the rival- ship of the house of Austria, as the only power of the continent which can sustain a permanent competition with France. It follows, that Great Britain, in fostering the growth and greatness of Prussia, and raising up a dan* gerous enemy to the Imperial family in the bosom of the empire, has been chargeable with a fundamental error in politics. And in the present instance, had the court of London, in conjunction with that of Petersburg, counte- nanced the Tiews of the court of Vienna, in almost the only rational plan formed by the emperor Joseph II., Bar varia might probably have been for ever annexed to the Austrian monarchy. The low countries in the hands of the elector Palatine would have been, in case of future war, a neutral possession, not affording any plausible pretext of 546 APPENDIX*. attack from France; and England would consequently have one powerful motive less to interfere in the compli- cated quarrels of the continent. MEMORIAL RELATIVE TO THE ALLIANCE CON- CLUDED BETWEEN FRANCE AND HOLAND, NOVEMBER 8, 1785. SUCH was tlje complete alienation from Britain which the conduct of the court of London produced in Holland, that on the conclusion of the war, little difficulty was found by the court of Versailles in adjusting the parti- culars of an alliance of amity and mutual defence with their high mightinesses the States-general, by which they agreed not only to furnish each other with powerful suc- cours in case of attack, but, to use the words of the treaty, " by virtue of the contracted alliance, both parties shall as much as possible further their mutual prosperity and advantage, by rendering each other every assistance upon all occasions, and not to agree to any treaties or nego- tiations which may lie detrimental to each other, but shall give notice of any such negotiations, &c. as soon as they a re proposed." Entirely to forfeit the friendship and confidence of the Dutch republic, and to sec that friendship and confidence transferred to the ancient and for mid able enemy of Britain, were subjects of chagrin reserved for the unfortunate reign pf George III. ; and they appear to have been keenly felt by the ministers now at the helm of afiairs. In the anxious apprehension of such an event, sir James Harris, who had succeeded sir Joseph Yorke as ambassador at the Hague, delivered into the hands of the hebdaniadary president of the States-general, the following meniorialj though the VOLUME VIII. 547 intelligence of the ambassador was so deficient, that lie was not aware the treaty in question had been actually signed several days before. HIGH AND MIGUTY LORDS, THE king cannot but express Hie most sincere wish that the means pursued by your high mightinesses to con- ciliate the differences with the emperor, may secure a peace upon a lasting and permanent basis between the two powers. His majesty takes with pleasure this opportunity, amidst the public tranquillity, to renew to your high mighti- nesses the strongest assurances of those sentiments of friendship and good-will towards the republic, whichever animated his majesty, as well as the British nation. Such sentiments are equally founded on the remembrance of the essential assistance which the two countries have formerly mutually afforded to each other, in order to secure their liberty, independence, and religious worship, as on the natural and permanent interest which ought at all times to incline both nations to the most perfect friendship. In fact, whether we attend to the evils which from the local situation of the two countries must unavoidably, and in a very peculiar manner, affect them during a war, to the great prejudice of their dearest concerns both in political and commercial matters in the different parts of the world, or whether due attention be paid to the soli- dity which a good understanding between the two powers might give to their respective settlements, to trade, and to the preservation of a general peace, it will clearly ap- pear that prudence and sound policy must invite to a closer union. Yet if your high mightinesses are of opinion, that on account of the civil dissentions which for some time have 649 APPENDIX. unfortunately prevailed within the republic to his ma- jesty's great concern, the present time is ill-suited to the settling of the mutual interests of both nations, an object ever present to his majesty, it is hoped at least that your high mightinesses, after such assurances from the king, and all his majesty's friendly dispositions towards the re-, public, will think it suitable to your wonted wisdom, not to be drawn in to accept of any engagements which might at any time betray you into # system contrary to that rectitude which hath ever guided his majesty; or, by making you swerve from the solid basis of an in- dependent neutrality, raise insuperable obstacles to the renewal of an alliance between the two powers, when time and circumstances may present it to your high mighti- nesses as a matter of necessity and mutual conveniency. It is by the express command of his majesty, that the underwritten has the honour of suggesting to your high mightinesses these reflections, so salutary in their object s trusting that you will pay to them that attention which the importance of the matter requires. Signed, JAJIES IIAIIRJS, It is extremely to be regretted, that the political sentii tnents contained in this memorial sentiments proper at all times to be cherished by a British ministry should be brought forward in circumstances so unfortunate, that the avowal of them could only excite the derision of Holland, and the triumph of France. The language also of the memo- rial, was by no means such as might seem best calculated to conciliate au offended friend, converted into an inveterate foe by the recollection of rccentand unatoned injuries. For the ambassador of Great Britain to declare publicly to the Dutch government and nation, that the British monarch liad in every point adhered to that perfect system of rec-s VOLUME vnt. titude from which the States-general, whom lie previously and awkwardly compliments upon their wisdom, were in extreme danger of being betrayed by the artifices of ano- ther power to s&erve, would naturally tend to revive those feelings of resentment and detestation which time only could extinguish. The whole exhibits a striking picture of that species of repentance which laments the unavoidable consequences of those errors, which there exists not, if perceived , the least disposition to acknowledge. CONVENTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. A. D. 1787. OF the celebrated convention of the North American states, convoked at the city of New York, A. D. 1787, for the purpose of forming, and which did in fact form and establish the existing federal constitution of America, the debates were secret. No copies were permitted to be taken of their resolutions, no publication appeared of their journals. The only memorials of the proceedings of this assembly, previous to their ultimate decisions, are con- tained in the notes privately preserved by some of the members. To one of these we are indebted for the tran- script of the speech delivered by the venerable Franklin, on the grand question of the adoption of the proposed constitution by the convention a speech of singular value, as it shews in a striking point of view, how much sense and wisdom may be comprised in a narrow compass. A single house of legislature, and an executive government extremely limited in its power, with frequent popular elec- tions of the persons exercising public functions, formed, in the opinion of Dr. Franklin, the most perfect model of a 530 APPENDIX. constitution. The unrivalled happiness and prosperity of the stale of Connecticut, governed altogether upon this - niodel, gave great countenance to this opinion. The illus- trious philosopher, politician, and patriot, who was the advocate of it, did not perhaps sufficiently advert to the peculiar circumstances which in that province, as well as in the other democratic states of the American union, re- strained the turbulent and dangerous spirit of democracy within just and reasonable limits circumstances which by no means applied with equal force to the federal or general power. But that great man had too much prac- tical wisdom to lay any undue stress on his own abstract speculations. SIB. I am very ready to acknowledge, that I do not at this moment entirely approve of the constitution now offered to us ; but I am not the less ready to own, that I- do not feel msyelf sure of continuing in my present sentiments. In the long career I hare already run, I hove more thin once been compelled by subsequent reflection, to abandon opinions I had openly maintained, and which I thought well-founded, from the deep consideration I had given them. As I grow older I am more and more disposed to question my own judgment, and to pay respect to that of others. There are some men, as well as some reli- gious sects, who imagine that reason is entirely on their side, and that their opponents plunge deeper into error, in proportion as they depart from their opinions. Struck with these examples, winch are bat too common, I accept of this constitution with all its faults ; for I am persuaded that a general government is necessary for our safety, and that no form of government that is well administered, is incapable of producing the happines of the people. And I think there is reason to believe that this constitution will be well administered for a number of years, and that it VOLUME VIII. 5J1 will not end as too many other governments have done, in despotism, unless the American people shall reach that degree of corruption in which, at once incapable of being directed by a free constitution, and unworthy of its bless- ings, despotism becomes necessary to their existence. I therefore give my vote for this constitution, both because in the present circumstances of this nation I cannot hope to see one more perfect, and because I am not sure this is not as perfect as any it can have. I make a sacrifice of the opinions I have expressed of its defects, to the pub- lic happiness. I have never uttered my objections out of this house. Here they had their birth, and here 1 wish them for ever to be buried. If every one of us who have opposed the constitution, when we return to our constituents, were to unfold the motives of our opposition, and endeavour to gain partisans to our side, perhaps Ave might prevent the unanimous adoption of the constitution. But by this we should only lose the advantage which the appearance of unanimity will give us with foreign nations, and indeed with our own people. The general good opinion of a na- tion respecting its government, is as necessary as the wis- dom and integrity of its administration to the happiness of its people. I trust therefore, both for our own safety as members of the community, and for the sake of our posterity, that we shall be of one mind in recommending this constitution wherever our influence reaches, and that afterwards our whole thoughts will be bent to its happy administration. I cannot forbear to form the wish, that such of us as still entertain objections to this constitution, will follow my ex- ample, and doubt alittle of their infallibility, and sign this constitutional act, that no question may be left of our una- nimity. APPENDIX, - DECLARATION ON THE PART OF GREAT BRITAI&, RELATIVE TO THE AFFAIRS OF HOLLAND, OCTOBER 27, 1787. THE events which have taken place in the republic of the United Provinces, appearing no longer to leave any subject of discussion^ and still less of contest, between the two courts, the undersigned are authorized to ask, whether it is the intention of his most Christian majesty to carry into effect the notification made on the 16th September lastj by his most Christian majesty's minister plenipotentiary, which, by announcing that succours would be given in Holland, has occasioned the naval armaments on the part of his majesty, which armaments have become reci- procal. If the court of Versailles is disposed to explain itself upon this subject, and upon the conduct to be adopted towards the republic, in a manner conformable to the de- sire which has' been expressed on both sides to preserve the good understanding between the two courts ; and it be- ing also understood at the same time, that there is no view of hostility towards any quarter in consequence of what has passed ; his majesty, always anxious to concur in the friendly sentiments of his most Christian majesty, would agree with him that the armaments, arid in general all warlike preparations, should be discontinued on each side, and that the navies of the two nations should be again placed upon the footing of the peace establishment, as It stood on the first of January of the present year. Versailles, theZlth October, 1787, DORSET. W. EDElf. VOLUME VIII. 533 COUNTER DECLARATION ON THE PART OF FRANCE, THE intention of his majesty not being, and never having been, to interfere by force in the affairs of the re- public of the United Provinces, the communication made to the court of London, on the 16th of the last month, by monsieur Barthelerny, having had no other object than to announce to that court an intention, flie motives of which no longer exist, especially since the king of Prussia has imparted his resolution, his majesty makes no difficulty to declare, that he will not give any effect to the declaration above-mentioned, and that he retains no hostile view to- wards any quarter relative to what has passed in Holland. His majesty, therefore, being desirous to concur with the sentiments of his Britannic majesty, for the preservation of the good harmony between the two courts, agrees with pleasure with his Britannic majesty $ that the armaments, and in general all warlike preparations, shall be disconti- nued on each side, and that the navies of the two nations shall be again placed upon the footing of the peace esta- blishment, as it stood on the first of January of the pre- sent year. Versailles, the 27th October, 1787. THE COUNT DEMONTMORIN. An explanation of a similar nature at the same time took place between the courts of Versailles and Berlin ; and the kings of Great Britain and Prussia had thus the satisfaction of accomplishing their views in Holland, in favour of the house of Orange, with extraordinary and unexpected facility. A few historic remarks on the origin and progress of the civil dissentions whieh at this period seemed almost to menace the existence of the Dutch re- public, may not lie wholly unacceptable or superfluous. APPEND. VOL. vni. 2o 5/54 APPENDIX. At the conclusion of the war with England (A. D. 1783), it is certain that the party opposed to the Stadthol- der was beyond comparison the most powerful in all the provinces, excepting Utretcht and Guelderland. Had this party exercised their newly acquired superiority with temper and moderation, they might probably long have retained their influence in the state, and the political con- nexion actually formed with France, would have given such an addition of weight to their authority, that it would have been extremely difficult for the house of Orange to have emerged from its state of degradation . O O \ But the leaders of this faction soon shewed that they were actuated by very deep views of ambition ; that they aimed not merely to counteract the policy, but effect the subversion of that ancient and illustrious house, and to extinguish for ever the name and office of Stadtholder. There were undoubtedly very many persons in the seven provinces, and those for the most of a description highly respectable, who greatly disapproving the weak and par- tial, not to say treacherous, conduct of the prince of Orange, were yet extremely averse to the abolition of the Stadtholderate, the power and influence attached to which, seemed necessary to the strength and stability of the state. The name of Nassau was still popular amongst the lower classes of the people ; and the sailors in particular, toge- ther with a great majority of the naval officers, were sup- posed to be strongly in the prince's interest. The two great powers of England and Prussia, had clearly inti- mated that they would not remain the indifferent spectators of his ruin, and it was upon the whole sufficiently evident to every considerate person, that the views of the Anti- Stadtholderian faction, could not be accomplished, but by exciting some great political convulsion in the state. This, however, did not deter them from proceeding step by step to the attainment of their purpose. In Sep- tember 1785, the states of Holland, which took the lead VOLUME VIIL 65$ in this dangerous opposition, went so far as to deprive the prince of the command of the garrison at the Hague, in consequence of which affront he left that placei> and retired to his palace at Loo. The king of Prussia, Frederic III. was at this period deeply engaged in opposing the favourite project of the emperor Joseph II. for the exchange of Ba- Varia. Nevertheless, in the course of that month, he addressed a letter to the States-general, expressing in very decided language, his dislike and disapprobation of the late proceedings, and requesting the interposition of their high mightinesses in favour of the house of Orange ; " and that you will address," as the letter goes on to say, " with zeal both the" lords states of Holland and West Friezland ? and the states of the other provinces, where necessary, in order that the lord hereditary Stadtholder may peaceably enjoy the rights belonging to him hereditarily : that those taken from him may be restored, and that a perfect har- mony may be re-established." The party in opposition to the Stadtholderj or the patriots^ &s they were generally styled;, elated by the French alliance, knowing the king of Prussia, exclusive of the inaction which usually accompanies old agej to be much more nearly interested in the affairs of Bavaria than those of Holland, and depending on the supposed pacific dispo- sition of the new minister of England-, Mr. Pitt, paid very little attention to the remonstrances and representations of the courts of Berlin and London, and continued without intermission their attacks upon the constitutional authority and functions of the prince. At the commencement of the new year (1786), it was determined that the arms of the house of Orange should be taken out of the colours of the troops in the service of the province of Hottan'd : and the Swiss guard attendant on the person of the prince was soon after ordered to be disbanded. On the 17th August, 1786, in the midst of the distrac 556 APPENDIX. tions winch shook the republic to its foundations, died Frederic the Great, king of Prussia, ;m event extremely un- propitious to the popular party, as there was good reason to believe that his nephew and successor, Frederic Wil- liam, would support the prerogatives and pretensions of Stadtholder, by means much more efficacious than bare memorials and remonstrances. These, however, were iirst to be tried, and so early as the 18th September fol- lowing, the count de Goertz, envoy extraordinary from his Prussian majesty, delivered to the States-general a letter from the king his master, expressing the desire he felt to perpetuate the friendship and harmony which had subsisted for centuries between the two powers. " And also," to use the precise words of the letter, " to demon- strate the warm part we take in the unhappy disscntions which have so long divided some of the provinces; " and requesting " that the affairs of the prince Stadtholder may be re-established as soon as possible, upon their former footing, conformable to the constitution." Far from com- plying with this regal request, the ant i-Stadtholderian in- fluence prevailed so far, that in four days only after the presentation of the letter, the states of Holland came to on almost unanimous resolution, suspending the prince from the exercise of his functions as captain-general of that province. Conscious of the advantage he now pos- sessed, and the strength he derived from the potent co- operation of the court of Berlin, the Stadiholder on the 26th September, addressed to the states of Holland, an answer to their notification of his suspension, couched in bold and energetic terms ; questioning the right of revo- cation altogether, and expressly denying by a singular pretension, that the right, if admitted, could not in the present case be exercised, unless the resolution had passed like the former, by which the oflice had been conferred, ncmine. contradiccnte, and finally ascribing the measures recently taken, to the misrepresentations of persons, whose VOLUME VIII. 557 sole aim it was to bring about a total alteration in the law- ful and established c stitution of the republic. As it was still presumed by the court of Berlin, that France would not tamely suffer any coercive interference in favour of the Siadtholder, an attempt which appears very sincere, was set on foot by the Prussian monarch, to settle all differences in the course of the ensuing winter, by a joint mediation with France ; M. Gerard dc Rayneval being commissioned by the court of Versailles for this purpose, to repair to Nimeguen, where the prince of Orange had now established his residence. The ne- gotiation nevertheless failed of success ; the prince, en- couraged doubtless by Prussia, and probably by England, insisting upon the entire rest itut ion of his privileges and prerogatives, which would after all have left the efficient power of the state in the hands of the patriots ; and on the other hand, the tinti-Stiidtliolderians in the provincial assembly of Holland, refusing to restore him to his office of captain-general, but on conditions which would have reduced him to a mere cypher. The count de Goertz, and M. de Rayneval, departed to their respective courts in the month of January 1787, from which time it was apparent, that unless prevented by foreign interposition, the republic would quickly be in- volved in the horrors of a civil war ; and hostilities in the province of Utrecht had actually commenced, with some advantage on the part of the prince, whose partisans in- creased in consequence of the violence of his adversaries ; and whose influence at this period appeared to predominate in the assemblies of all the provinces, Holland, Overyssel, and Groningen excepted ; and proportionally in that of the States-general. In reply to an overture of mediation from the ministers of Great Britain and Prussia, the states of Holland voted that they would accept of no mediator but the king of France. At this period, Prussia was assembling troops with great diligence at Cleve, on the So 3 559 APPENDIX. frontier of the republic, and France slowly, at the remote station of Givet. Matters were at length brought to a crisis, by the arrest of the princess of Orange, on the 28ih of June, between Schoonhoven and Gouda, on her progress to the Hague. Early in September, the duke of Brunswick entered the Dutch territory, and in the space of a single month, made himself master of the whole country ; France, upon whose powerful protection the patriots of Holland fondly relied, being at this time in a state of extreme internal disquiet, and exhibiting uri'-ler the weak administration of the arch- bishop of Toulouse, no symptoms of spirit or vigour. The king of France had indeed, previous to the march of the Prussians, notified to the court of London by his am-, bassador, the resolution he had formed to resist all forcigu interference in the affairs of Holland ; but from this de- claration that monarch, as the preceding documents dc- monstrate, subsequently receded with unexpected but laud- able inconsistency. LETTER FROM THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM PJTT TO THE PRINCE OF WALES. A.D. 1788. SIR, THE proceedings in parliament being now brought to a point which will render it necessary to propose to the house of commons, the particular measures to be taken for supplying the defect of the personal exercise of the royal authority during the present interval ; and your royal highness having some time since signified your plea* sure that any communication on this subject should be in writing, I take the liberty of respocl fully entreating your royal highuess's permission, to submit to yeur con- sideration, the outlines of the plan which his majesty's confidential servants humbly conceive, according to the VOLUME VIII. 05$ best judgment which they are able to form, to be proper to be proposed in the present circumstances. It is their h umble opin ion , that your royal highness should be empowered to exercise the royal authority in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, during his majesty's ill- ness, and to do all acts which might legally be done by his majesty ; with provisions, nevertheless, that the care of his majesty's royal person, and the management of his ma- jesty's household, and the direction and appointment of the officers and servants therein, should be in the queen, under sucli regulations as may be thought necessary. That the power to be exercised by your royal highness should not extend to the granting the real or personal property of the king (except as far as relates to the re- newal of leases) ; to the granting any office in reversion ; or to the granting for any other term than during his ma- jesty's pleasure, any pension, or any office whatever, ex- cept such as must by law be granted for life, or during good behaviour ; nor to the granting any rank or dignity of the peerage of this realm to any person, except his ma- jesty's issue who shall have attained the age twenty-one years. These are the chief points which have occurred to hi& majesty's servants. I beg leave to add, that their ideas are formed on the supposition that his majesty's illness is only temporary, and may be of no long duration. It may be difficult to fix before-hand, the precise period for which these provisions ought to last ; but if unfortunately his majesty's recovery should be protracted to a more dis- tant period than there is reason at present to imagine, it will be open hereafter to the wisdom of parliament to re* consider these provisions, whenever the circumstances ap- pear to call for it. If your royal highness should be pleased to require any farther explanation on the subject, and should condescend to signify your orders that I should have the honour of APPENDIX. attending: your royal highness for that purpose, or to inti mate any other mode in which your royil highness may wish to receive such explanation, 1 shall respectfully wait yonr royal highness's commands. I have the honour to be, Avith the utmost deference and submission, sin, your royal highness's most dutiful and devoted servant, WILLIAM PITT. Dovning-street, Tuesday night, Dec. 30, 1788. DECLARATION OF THE PRINCE Of WALES, IN ANSWER TO THE LETTER OF MR. PITT. -.: ' ' , . . ..* A. D. 1789. THE prince of Wales learns from Mr. Pitt's letter, that the proceed ings in parliament are now in a train which en- ables Mr. Pitt, according to the intimation in his former letter, to communicate to the prince, the outlines of the plan which his majesty's confidential servants conceive to be proper to be proposed in the present circumstances. Concerning the steps already taken by Mr. Pitt, the prince is silent. Nothing done by the two houses of par- liament can be a proper subject of his animadversion ; but when, previously to any discussion in parliament, the outlines of a scheme of government arc sent for his con- sideration, in which it is proposed that he shall be per- sonally and principally concerned, and by which the royal authority and the public welfare may be deeply affected, the prince would be unjustifiable, were he to withhold an explicit declaration of his sentiments. His silence might be construed into a previous approbation of a plan, the ac- complishment of which every motive of duty to his father VOLUME VIII. S6l and sovereign, as well as of regard for the public interest, obliges him to consider as injurious to both. In the state of deep distress in which the prince and the whole royal family were involved by the heavy cala- mity which' has fallen upon the king, and at a moment when government, deprived of its chief energy and sup-, port, seemed peculiarly to need the cordial and united aid of all descriptions of good subjects, it was -not expected by the prince, that a plan should be offered to his consi- deration, by which government was to be rendered difficult, if not impracticable, in the hands of any person intended to represent the king, much less in the hands of his eldest son, the heir apparent of his kingdoms, and the person most bound to the maintenance of his majesty's just prerogatives and authority, as well as most interested in the happiness, the prosperity, and the glory of the people. The prince forbears to remark on the several parts of the sketch of the plan laid before him. He apprehends it must have been formed with sufficient deliberation, to preclude the probability of any argument of his producing an altera- tion of sentiment in the projectors of it. But he trusts with confidence to the wisdom and justice of parliament, when the whole of this subject, and the circumstances connected with it, shall come under their deliberation. He observes, therefore, only generally on the heads communicated by Mr. Pitt ; and it is with deep regret the prince makes the observation, that he sees in the con* tents of that paper, a project for producing weakness, disorder, and insecurity, in every branch of the. admini- stration of affairs a project for dividing the Toyal family from each other for separating the court from the state ; and, therefore, by disjoining government from its natural and accustomed support, a scheme for disconnecting the authority to command service from the power of animat* ing it by reward and for allotting to the prince all: the 5C2 APPENDIX. Invidious duties of government, without the means of softening them to the public by any one act of grace, fa- vour, or benignity. The prince's feelings, on contemplating this plan, are also rendered still more painful to him, by observing that it is not founded on any general principle, but. is calcu- lated to infuse jealousies and suspicions, wholly ground- less he trusts, in that quarter whose confidence it will ever be the first pride of his life to merit and obtain. With regard to the motive and object of the limitations and restrictions proposed, the prince can have but little to observe. No light or information is offered him by his majesty's ministers on these points. They have informed him what the powers are which they mean to refuse him, not why they are withheld. The prince, however, holding as he does, that it is an undoubted and fundamental principle of this constitution, that the powers and prerogatives of the crown are vested there as a trust for the benefit of the people, and that they are sacred ouly as they are necessary to the preservation of that poise and balance of the constitution, which ex- perience has proved to be the true security of the liberty of the subject, must be allowed to observe, that the plea of public utility ought to be strong, manifest, and urgent, which calls for the extinction or suspension of any one of those essential rights in the supreme power or its repre- sentative ; or which can justify the prince in consenting, that in his person an experiment shall be made to ascertain with how small a portion of the kingly power the execu- tive government of this country may be carried on. The prince has only to add, that if security for his ma- jesty's re-possessing his rightful government, whenever it shall please Providence, in bounty to the country, to re- rnovc the calamity with which he is afflicted, be any part of the object of this plan, the prince has only to be con- vinced that any measure is necessary, or even conducive to VOLUME VIII. 56i that end, to be the first to urge it, as the preliminary and paramount consideration of any settlement in which he would consent to share. If attention to what is presumed might be his majesty's feelings and wishes on the happy day of his recovery, be the object, it is with the truest sincerity the prince ex- presses his firm conviction, that no event would be more repugnant to the feelings of his royal father, than the knowledge, that the government of his son and repre- sentative had exhibited the sovereign power in a state of degradation, of curtailed authority, and diminished energy a state hurtful in practice, to the prosperity and good government of his people, and injurious, in its pre- cedent, to the security of the monarch, and the rights of liis family. Upon that part of the plan which regards the king's real and personal property, the prince feels himself com- pelled to remark, that it was not necessary for Mr. Pitt, nor proper to suggest to the prince, the restraint he pro- poses against the prince's granting away the king's real and personal property. The prince docs not conceive, that during the king's life he is by law entitled to make any such grant; and he is sure that he has never shewn the smallest inclination to possess any such power. But it remains with Mr. Pitt to consider the eventual interests of the royal family, and to provide a proper and na- tural security against the mismanagement of them by- others. The prince has discharged an indispensable duty, in, thus giving his free opinion on the plan submitted to his consideration. His conviction of the evils which may arise to the king's interests, to the peace and happiness of the royal family, and to the safety and welfare of the nation, from the government of the country remaining longer in its present maimed and debilitated state, outweighs, in the prince's mind, every other consideration, and will determine APPENDIX. him to undertake the painful trust imposed upon him by the present melancholy necessity, which, of all the king's subjects, he deplores the most, in full confidence that the affection and loyalty to the king, the experienced attach- ment to the house of Brunswick, and the generosity which lias always distinguished this nation, will carry him through the many difficulties inseparable from this most critical situation, with comfort to himself, with honour to the king, and with advantage to the public. (Signed) GEORGE P. Carlton House, January 2