THE LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 
 
 VOLUME III. 
 
 VOL. irr.
 
 TUE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF- 
 
 CIIAFtLES JAMES FOX. 
 
 BY 
 
 EAEL RUSSELL. 
 
 V 
 
 VOLUME in. 
 
 ' Et vitam impendcrc vero. 
 
 LONDON: 
 TJirilAi;]) liENTLEY, NEW JiUJiLlNGTON STREET, 
 
 publisbtr in «5rbin;inj lo fttt Jflajfslg. 
 
 18(50. 
 \_Tht AuVior rciervet tlie rx'jhl of Trantt-itionj
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE THIRD VOLUME. 
 
 Seve.v years have elapsed since the appearance of the second 
 volume of the " Life of Fox ;" but the interest of the subject 
 has by no means decreased, and while I regret that I have 
 not been able to treat it as it deserves, the importance of the 
 period, from 1793 to 1806, appears to me to be such, that, 
 among the materials for a future historian, a ^^'hig view of 
 Mr. Fox's career during that time ought to find a place. 
 
 Lord Stanhope has given to the world a very interesting 
 " Life of Pitt," and has placed before us all that can be said 
 in favour of the ])olicy of that statesman, in no unfair or 
 uncandid spirit towards his ujjponents. 
 
 Among other materials for history and l)iogn\i)hy, the 
 following works may be mentioned : — 
 
 " ^[<,'moires tires des Papiers trun Ilonnne d'Ktit," I'A 
 v(jlumes. This work is chiefly by Armand Francois d'Allon- 
 ville, Count d'Allonville. He was, however, greatly assisted 
 by ^L Bcauchainp and ^L Schubert, who ;irc s.iid to liavi' 
 compiled, jointly or separately, volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10, 
 of the series. It is also said that Bcauchamp first thought of
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 the work. There can be no doubt, I believe, of the authen- 
 ticity of the documents contained in these volumes. The 
 statesman from whose collections these papers have been 
 drawn, is supposed to be Prince Hardenberg. 
 
 " The Life and Opinions of Charles, second Earl Grey," 
 in one volume, by Lieut.-Gen. Grey, is a work which con- 
 tains many letters of Lord Grey, the intimate friend of 
 Mr. Fox, his successor as the leader of the Whig party, and 
 the great minister of the Reform Bill. 
 
 The " Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George IIL," 
 by the Duke of Buckingham, contain the valuable letters of 
 Lord Grenville and Mr. Thomas Grenville, the one the able 
 colleague of Pitt, the other the early and attached friend of 
 Fox. 
 
 The " Diaries and Correspondence of the Earl of Malmes- 
 bury " give very fully the opinions of that masterly diplo- 
 matist. Lord Holland's "Memoirs of the Whig Party;" 
 the " Journal and Correspondence of Lord Auckland ;" 
 the " Diary of the Right Hon. W. Windham ;" the " Diaries 
 and Correspondence of the Right Hon. George Rose ;" 
 " The Great War with France," by Lieut.-Gen, Sir Henry 
 Bunbury ; " Meinoir of Sir Ralph Abercromby," by Lord 
 Dunfermline ; " Life of Sheridan," by Thomas Moore ; 
 " Life of Lord Sidmouth," by the Dean of Norwich ; these 
 and many other works throw a light upon the transactions 
 in which so many men of the highest abilities, statesmen, 
 orators, generals, and admirals, were engaged. All these 
 volumes deserve to be studied by those who wish to form an 
 opinion on the conduct of the English Government, and the
 
 PUEFACE. Vll 
 
 English Opposition, during the moracntous wars of the 
 French Revolution. 
 
 I have not mentioned the histories of Thiers, of Alison, 
 and of Adolphus : they are well known. A work which has 
 recently appeared, called " La Revolution," by Edgar Quinet, 
 is well worthy of study. M. Quinet appears to me to have 
 traced the succession of events, hitherto almost inexplicable, 
 which occurred during the French Revolution, with great 
 originality, and, in most cases, with very sound judgment. 
 
 R. 
 
 Pkmbkokk Lodge, 
 
 October 8th, 1866.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHArTE?. XXXVII. 
 
 PAOR 
 
 I'OSITinX OF PITT, AND CONDUCT OF THE WAR 1 
 
 CIIAPTEU XXXVI II. 
 
 rosiTION OF FOX. — HOPELESSNESS OF OPPOSITION 6 
 
 CHArTER XXXIX. 
 
 (ONDUCT OF THE WAR, 1794 21 
 
 CHArTEP. XL. 
 
 PRUSSIAN DEFECTION. — BRITISH SUBSIDIES 29 
 
 CHAPTER XLT. 
 
 MISSION OF LORD SPENCER AND MR. GRENVILLE TO VIENNA, 1794. 42 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 r.RITISH MILITARY AND NAVAL OPERATIONS, 1793-4 49 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 FIMANCIAL UKASURES OF PITT r)4 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 r(iX> LETTERS TO HIS NEPHEW. — HIS HAPPINESS IN PRIVATB 
 
 LIKE. — HI8 MAURIAtiF. .09 
 
 CII.MTKR XLV. 
 
 TRUI3 rOK IIKin TBEA&ON. — TUEAbON AND SEDITION UILLS . . RO
 
 X CONTEISTTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NEGOTIATIOKS, 1795-6 y7 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 SESSION OF PARLIAMENT, 1796 95 
 
 CHAPTER XLVni. 
 
 EXPEDITION OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE INTO ITALY. — HIS VICTORIES. 
 
 — TREATY OF LEOBEN. — PEACE OP CAMPO FORMIO, 1796-7 . . 100 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 NEGOTIATION AT LILLE, 1797 104 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE FLEET 108 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 PERSONAL FEELINGS OF POX. — MR. GREY's MOTION ON REFORM OF 
 
 PARLIAMENT. — SECESSION OF FOX AND HIS FRIENDS . . . .112 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 o 
 
 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF BURKE, 1797 12 
 
 CHAPTER LHI. 
 IRELAND, 1798 127 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 fox's MODE OF LIFE DURING THE SECESSION, 1797-1800 . . . 142 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 fox's SPEECH AT THE WHIG CLUB. — HIS NAME STRUCK OUT OF 
 
 THE PRIVY COUNCIL Igg
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHArTER LYI. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 fox's mode of life DURIXG the secession. — CONTES'UED . . . 171 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 WAR ON THE CONTINENT. — NAPOLEON's OVERTURE. — DEBATE . . 193 
 
 CHAPTER LVIIL 
 
 RESIGNATION OF PITT. — UIS CIIARACTEB AS A MINISTER .... 201 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 ADDINGTON ADMINISTRATION. — MR. GREY's MOTION ON THE STATE 
 
 OF THE NATION 
 
 209 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 CONT)UCT AND CORRESPONDENCE OF FOX FROM MR. GREY's MOTION 
 
 TO THE PEACE OF AMIENS, 1801. — PEACE OF AMIENS . . . 220 
 
 CHAPTER LXr. 
 
 DEATH OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD 240 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 UNEASY PERIOD BETWEEN THE CONCLUSION AND THE RUPTURE OF 
 THE PKACE OF AMIENS. — CORRESPONDENCE OF PITT AND LOUD 
 CHATHAM, FOX AND GREY. — THE KING'b MESSAGE .... 2G4 
 
 CHAPTER LXII I. 
 
 RENEWAL OF Till; WAlt WITH FP.ANCE. — GIIK.VT DEBATE. — 1803 . 282 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 
 MR. potter's MOTION. — FOX AT ST. ASNK's HILL 305 
 
 CHAPTER EXV. 
 
 nTATK OF PARTIES. — DISSOLUTION OF Mil. ADDINOTON'S MINISTRY. 
 
 — WTT FORMS A MINISTRY ON A NARROW BASIS 307
 
 XU CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LXYI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WAR. — PLANS OF NAPOLEON. — VICTORY OF TRAFALGAR . . . .337 
 
 CHAPTER LXVII. 
 
 Pitt's renewed policy of coalitions. — treaty of Peters- 
 burg. — ULM, VIENNA, AUSTERLITZ. — TREATY OF PRESBURG . 342 
 
 CHAPTER LXVIII. 
 
 domestic politics of ENGLAND, — DECAY AND DEATH OF PITT . 347 
 
 CHAPTER LXIX. 
 fox's conduct in Pitt's last illness. — new ministry. — the 
 
 ILLNESS and death OF FOX 368 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 character OF FOX. — SKETCH OF HISTORY OF EUROPE TILL 1814. 383
 
 THE LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 POSITION OF PITT, AND CONDICT OF THE WAR. 
 
 The commencement of the year 1794 found Great Britain, 
 in conjunction with Austria, Prussia, Germany, Spain, and 
 Sardinia, at war with France. Holland had been forced 
 from her neutrality, and constrained to join the Alliance by 
 the menaces of England. Similar threats were applied to 
 Switzerland ; but, safe in her mountain bulwarks, she re- 
 sisted them. The Empress of Russia shared nominally in 
 the alliance against France, and uttered the loudest anti- 
 Jacobin protestiitions ; but, in reality, she directed all her 
 energies to the conquest, subjugation, and partition of 
 Poland. 
 
 Pitt having declined the office of u mediator, which 
 he might have assumed with great credit and possibly with 
 success, had indul'^cd the animosities of the Tories of Encr- 
 land, and of the (Jirondin party in France, by rushing impe- 
 tuously into the war. 
 
 It la now to be s<?en how he conducted that great contest ; 
 with how much judgment he estimated the means and re- 
 sources of the French Republic, with wjiat foresight he 
 
 VOL. III. B 
 
 /r
 
 2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 relied on the alliance of the Continental Powers, with what 
 precision he pointed out the objects of the war, and with 
 what vigour he directed the energies of the mighty empire 
 whose resources he administered, to their attainment. In 
 this task he was aided by the unbounded confidence of 
 the Crown, and the steady support of the House of Commons. 
 The King looked with horror on the Jacobins of France, 
 and was ready to imitate the conduct of the Whigs of Queen 
 Anne's time against the ancient rivals of England. In the 
 House of Commons, Pitt could always call three hundred 
 members to his standard, while Fox could scarcely muster 
 fifty or sixty votes. The splendid genius of Burke, which 
 had so often checked the pride of the INlinister, now applauded 
 his exertions, and inflamed the warlike temper of the nation. 
 Pitt's foresight had been signally deficient in the view 
 which he took of the war of the German Powers, in 
 1792. He had considered the invasion of France as an 
 enterprise in which England had no concern, and in his 
 elaborate financial speech of that year, he had confidently 
 predicted fifteen years of unbroken peace. He had been 
 utterly blind to the obvious truth that, if the Allies should 
 fail in their projected invasion, France would in her turn roll 
 back the tide of conquest upon Belgium, and probably upon 
 Holland and Germany. Neither had Pitt the sagacity 
 to perceive that if the watchwords of Law and Order were 
 powerful to move the sovereigns and nobles of Europe, the 
 spells of Political Liberty and Social Equality would enchant 
 the multitude with still greater effect. He was ignorant or 
 heedless of the profound remark of Machiavel, that a nation 
 invading another for the purpose of taking advantage of its 
 internal disorders will, in all probability, be repelled with 
 defeat and shame. Counting on the ordinary resources of a
 
 ciiart.es ja:mks fox. ;j 
 
 rec'ular finance and a well-disciplined army, he liad no con- 
 ception of the power ot" enthusiasm, or of the military talents 
 which are brought into action in a nation forced to fight for 
 its existence. 
 
 Let us now pass to consider the modes in which the war 
 might have been conducted. The first was the favourite plan, 
 or rather, j)crhaps, the favourite dream, of Burke. It was 
 to found our great enterprise upon horror of the execution 
 of Louis X\ I., and to espouse the cause of the Bourbons 
 till one of the two nations should be conquered or exhausted. 
 Li the eyes of Burke, the Duke of I^runswick was fight- 
 ing the cause of the Crown of England in Champagne as 
 much as the Duke of Cumberland had been at CuUoden ; 
 it was, in his eyes, as much our interest to restore the 
 Bourbons as it had formerly been not to restore the 
 Stuarts. The first objection to this scheme was that, 
 in principle, no nation has, according to international 
 law. a right to prescribe the form of government of 
 another. If, indeed, a civil war is in existence in any 
 country, a foreign State may, if it chooses, adopt the 
 Ciiuse either of the Government or of the insurgents. But, 
 in France, no considerable party raised its head to con- 
 tend with the R('])ublican chiefs. The nobility of France, 
 instead of fighting at Soissons or at Lyons, as the brave old 
 cavaliers of England would have done, had swarmed off to 
 Cobleutz, and had become mendicants for foreign assistance. 
 When there, they were treated with the neglect and contempt 
 v/liich are the natural and ])roj)er rewards of men who had 
 allowed their sovereign to be put to death, and their friends 
 to Ik; nmrdered, and were now seeking the protection ol" a 
 foreign invader. But was it necessary, as the British 
 CJovernment affirmed, to make war againtt the Republic of 
 
 Ji 2
 
 4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 France, because it was so violent and unjust a form of 
 government that no relations of amity could be maintained 
 with it? This ground likewise was of shifting sand. The 
 monarchy had fallen in a domestic strife, and any attempt 
 to restore it by foreign arms was sm'e to excite a wild 
 and fanatical enthusiasm in favour of the Republic, and 
 form the nation into a compact body of patriot defenders of 
 their country. Prussia, Spain, and Tuscany soon made 
 peace with the French Republic, and found it fully capable 
 of maintaining the relations of amity. 
 
 A second method would have been to make war on France 
 as an ambitious Power, with a view to diminish her territory, 
 and give to her rivals an extended and more secure frontier. 
 This is the plan against which Burke so vehemently and 
 so justly protested.* It was sure, as he said, to combine every 
 element of resistance in France ; to rouse to the highest pitch 
 the military spirit of -a great nation; to make the present 
 war exceedingly costly, and every future peace exceedingly 
 precarious. 
 
 A third mode would have been to increase our navy, 
 defend our coasts, attack the enemy's fleets, and deprive him 
 of his resources, without sharing in any way the designs or 
 the dangers of the Continental Powers. This was the true 
 ])olicy for Great Britain to pursue : she could not join in 
 the attempt to impose a Government upon France without 
 danger and disfrrace : she could not send her armies into 
 the field ag-ainst the infuriated hordes of France without 
 imminent risk of being overpowered by numbers, and driven 
 to re-embark, discomfited and disheartened ; but she might 
 safely and wisely improve her armaments, defend herself 
 against invasion, and await the progress of events. If the 
 
 * See vol. ii. of this work, c. 36. p. 370.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 5 
 
 rulers of France should pursue their career of anarchy and 
 massacre, it was obvious there would come an ebb-tide of 
 opinion — a shrinking with disgust from the orgies of Jaco- 
 binism ; and some chief of party or military commander 
 would, in all })robability, arise, antl take advantage of 
 returning sense and prevailing weariness to restore in- 
 ternal order and external peace. But if the vigour 
 of the French nation should have led them to con- 
 quests over their neighbours, then, again, a remedy would 
 be found in the alarm of independent nations, and a call 
 for assistance would arise, which would ffive strength as 
 a moral support, and a cause for sympathy or alliance on 
 the part of other nations. This would have been a wise, an 
 economical, and, in the end, probably a successful policy. 
 
 Pitt adopted none of these courses systematically ; but 
 by taking sometimes one and sometimes another, by favouring 
 the adherents of the Bourbons at one time and fostering the 
 ambition of Austria at another ; by lavishing subsidies on 
 unfaithful allies, and exciting hopes in the French Emigrants 
 which it was out of his power to realize, he made it equally 
 impossible to carry on successful war, and to obtain a safe 
 and honourable peace. Thus, the policy of Pitt combined 
 the disadvantages of every plan, l^y favouring Royalist 
 exj)ectations, he inflamed the fury of the French Republicans ; 
 by promoting plans of Austrian ambition, he disgusted 
 Prussia and alarmed the patriotism of French Royalists ; by 
 cajituring sliij)s at 'J^tulon for the I'jiglish navy, he gave 
 Spain an excuse for saying that the objects of England were 
 entirely selfish, and that the war had no common ])urj)()se for 
 which Sj)ain was boinid by interest or honour to contend. 
 
 liut w(! shall see more fully the effects of Pitt's policy 
 as we proceed.
 
 g THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 POSITION OP FOX. — HOPELESSNESS OF OPPOSITION. 
 
 Fox had been, since the day of his unfortunate coahtion 
 with Lord North, engaged in a series of ill-judged measures. 
 His conduct on the India Bill, and his attempts to prevent 
 the free exercise of the prerogative of dissolving Parlia- 
 ment had injured his political character, and broken up his 
 party. His opposition to the French Commercial Treaty, 
 and his violence on the question of the Eegency, had tended 
 still further to indispose the wise, and to alarm the suspicious. 
 But the time had now come when these errors were to be 
 redeemed. The voice which had been so eloquent against 
 the American ^^ ar was raised again to oppose and to con- 
 demn a war still more unwise, and far more costly. Yet, in 
 opposing this war of panic and of passion, Fox had to 
 bear all the pain of separation from friends he dearly loved, 
 and to become a mark for the arrows of bitter and fierce 
 opponents. As Fox was of a character kind and ami- 
 able to the highest degree — "a man made to be loved," 
 as Burke said of him at this very time — it was pain- 
 ful to him to separate from friends, and to be con- 
 stantly subject to unjust attacks. Yet, while he felt this 
 enmity deeply, he bore it patiently, and his glory shone all
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 7 
 
 the brighter for the martyrdom. Thus deserted, he was for 
 a tune disposed to abandon politics altogether. 
 
 Tiie two following letters to Mr. Adair show the state of 
 his mind upon foreign and domestic politics : 
 
 TO R013EUT AUAIH, ESQ. 
 
 " Xovi'iiilier -Jlith, 179i. 
 
 " De.ui Adair, — Notwithstanding the apparent good 
 spirits you saw me in, the truth is, that what I saw and heard 
 in London has made a most deep and painful impression on 
 my mind ; and I grow very doubtful about the possibility of 
 preserving those connections which T love and esteem as 
 much as ever, and without which I do not feel that I can 
 ever act in political matters with any satisfaction to myself 
 
 " 3[y reason for writing to yon upon tiiis now is, that I 
 have overheard you say to Sheridan that there was much 
 disposition in what is called the aristocratic part of the party 
 to concede and conciliate : and, though T confess this is 
 totally contrary to my own observation, I cannot help catcl> 
 ing at anything that gives me the least glimpse of hope. 
 Perhaps you only said this to Sheridan in order to inspire 
 him and others with similar dispositions to those wiiich you 
 described on the other side, and this I fear to be the case, 
 for I must repeat that not one symptom of the kind has ap- 
 peared to me. If any such disposition existed, I cannot help 
 thinkiiiir that on the other side I should have weight cnou<jh 
 to j)r(niuce a correspondent disposition, if it did not exist with- 
 out my interposition. I am sure that Lauderdale, Grey, and 
 Sheridan, an; all manageable men ; and the rascals of the 
 democratic party H'ov there are such on all sides) have not 
 set their wita to pervert tht-in in the way that those; on 
 the aristocratic side have to pervert the l)uk(! of Portland,
 
 8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Fitzwilliam, Windham, &c. Just as I was leaving town 
 yesterday, I heard a report that Lord Loughborough had 
 accepted the Great Seal, but I have reason to fear that it is 
 not true. That event would open many eyes, and I should 
 be full of hopes that the destruction of the Whigs was not 
 irrevocably predestined. The circumstances of the times 
 ought rather to excite you to go on with your plan than 
 to deter you from it, if you have spirits for it. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " C. J. Fox." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " November 29th, 1792. 
 
 " It is good not to despair, but I do assure you I am 
 forced to use considerable exertion M'ith myself to avoid it. 
 I still am blind as to any disposition to what I call concilia- 
 tion. The very word forgive, if it were mentioned, which I 
 hope it never will, would put an end to all hopes of it. But 
 what is worse than this is, that I do not see any express re- 
 nunciation of the plan of suspending opposition for the pur- 
 pose of giving strength to Government. This, with me, is the 
 most real cause of separation of any that has been started, 
 and this I know was mentioned, and not reprobated, before 
 I came to town. It is given out to be the Duke of Portland's 
 intention by Pitt and his friends, and sorry am I to say that, 
 when I hear it, I have no authority to contradict it, though 
 that was the point I laboured most hard for when I was in 
 town. This point must be cleared up. Is the Duke of Port- 
 land ready to go on with the same sort of opposition we 
 have been engaged in for years past ? or is he not ? I am 
 sure the world thinks not, and I believe Ministers have reason 
 to think not, thoufyh I do not believe the Duke of Portland 
 ever authorized any assurances to them upon the subject.
 
 CILySLKS JAMES FOX. 9 
 
 Till this is cleared up, I must remain in the state in which I 
 
 described myself to you ; and, in such a state, it were no 
 
 wonder if I did make continually these large strides which 
 
 are complained of, though I am not conscious of having 
 
 made any. . . .* I do not mention the proclamation, 
 
 because that mischief is over and irreparable ; but I cannot 
 
 help wishing to know to what length they consider themselves 
 
 bound to support the sort of measure to which it points. Is 
 
 Lord Grenville's circular letter to be supported ? Is every 
 
 absurd prosecution Ministers institute to be supported ? Am 
 
 I to Siiy that it is right to crush every paper that does not 
 
 atone for its sins by gross libels upon myself, for instance ? 
 
 or is it possible that they are so blind as not to see that they 
 
 are arming Pitt with a power to support his own libels, and 
 
 to put a stop to all others ? I mean they are doing this if 
 
 they succeed ; for I think the jn-obability is that they will 
 
 wholly fail, and that libels of all sorts will, if possible, 
 
 increase. I must own, I think that in addition to their other 
 
 means of influence, a monopoly of libels in the hands of a 
 
 Minister who we know would not be scrupulous in the use of 
 
 it would be rather too dangerous a power for wise men to 
 
 give. I must finish now, or I shall be too late for dinner. 
 
 Foreign politics to-morrow. 
 
 " "^'oui-s ever most sincerely. 
 
 "St. Aunc's Hill. Thui-sday." 
 
 The following letter from ]\Ir. Grenville is highly honour- 
 able to him, and also to l''o.\ : 
 
 " Taplow, I)ccenibor 29th, 1703. 
 
 " Dkau ClIAiiLES, — I sit down to write to yon with an ini- 
 pre.'sion of irreater uneasiness and anxiety than has ever yet 
 
 • tor liic jiait ol tliia U-tlcr iiol lieix' given, hce vol. ii. |i. ja:!.
 
 10 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 belonged to any letter from me to you ; that impression, too, is 
 the more hopeless because it arises not out of any new e\ ent, 
 or alteration of any opinions which I have been used to enter- 
 tain, but out of a conviction daily increasing in my mind that 
 the opinions which I hold are such as I cannot change, and yet 
 are such as are likely to be most at variance with yours in very 
 many of the most probable subjects of public business, perhaps 
 in the greater part of those which are, at present, easy to be 
 foreseen. The main points of difference between us are two ; 
 the one is respecting the war with France, which you con- 
 demn and oppose, while I think it is the greatest of all duties 
 to support and maintain it to the utmost ; the other respects 
 an apprehension which I entertain of those principles and 
 designs in this country adverse to the constitution of it, 
 which makes me feel it to be my duty to resist whatever can 
 give to such designs either strength, opportunity, or counte- 
 nance ; while you, on the other hand, believe in no such 
 designs, and believe the danger to arise from there being too 
 little spirit of free inquiry and resistance in the minds of the 
 people of this country. Either of these subjects of difference 
 existing between us would tell much in public conduct, but 
 both united extend very widely indeed, and must in their 
 direct course, or at least in their bearings and consequences, 
 pervade almost all measures of public description. ] do not 
 write to go into the arguments on these questions — there is 
 nothing new to be stated about them ; nor to any detail of 
 new measures which would seem to call for any expla- 
 nation ; and I have none in view, other than a more direct 
 and manifest assertion of those opinions which the pressure 
 of the time seems to make necessary, and which it would be 
 neither manly, nor honourable, nor useful in me to disguise 
 or suppress. If I write to you, then, at this moment, it is
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. H 
 
 ratlier to anticipate the pain which I am to feel out of this 
 miserable shape of things, and, bad philosophy as it may be, 
 to force both into your view and mine all this scene of un- 
 easiness three weeks earlier than it need come. I have not 
 been able to resist doing- so. Perhaps, that it is so unpleasant 
 to me to write this letter, has been the temptation to me to 
 do so ; if I have any other motive, it is only the honest one 
 of making' myself sure that you should know my thoughts 
 and feelings to the same extent to which I know them my- 
 self; I know no other happiness in life than that of being 
 persuaded I do I'ight whatever may be the consequences, 
 and sure I am that, in this instance, I need not tell you what 
 it was to me to do so. 
 
 " Ever, ray dear Ciiarles, 
 
 " Very truly and affectionately yours, 
 
 "TlIOS. GllENVILLE." 
 
 In this letter of Mr. Grenville we see clearly stated the 
 causes which broke up the W hig party. Tiie differences of 
 oj)inion which manifested themselves in 179;') were radical 
 and irrecoucileable : the one section opposed war with 
 !• rauce and favoured Parliamentary Reform : the other sec- 
 tion promoted the war, and dreaded any measures or any 
 language which might give "strength and opportunity, or 
 countenance," to designs iiostile to tiie constitution. Pox, 
 while opposing the war, wjia of opinion that th(^ resistance 
 l)y the Duke of I'ortland to I'arliainentary Ud'orm might be 
 continued without a disrujition of the party. Huf, whether 
 this were possible or no, the mighty (picstiou of support- 
 ing or oj)j)o."iMg th(! war with I'Vance was (juite snfliciciit to 
 snap asunder the strongest bonds which ever linked a jjarty 
 together.
 
 12 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF , 
 
 In these circumstances the conduct of Burke's followers to 
 Fox was manly and upright. Surveying the whole wide 
 extent of the breach, they parted from their great leader 
 with pain and reluctance. Some, like Mr. Grenville and 
 Lord Fitzwilliam, while maintaining their resolve with firm- 
 ness, preserved in their hearts the affection which Fox's 
 loveable qualities were so well calculated to inspire. 
 
 The events which followed were not propitious to either 
 section. Fox saw the war supported by immense majorities, 
 and measures of coercion readily sanctioned both in England 
 and in Ireland. Fitzwilliam and Windham were obliged to 
 acquiesce in the total disregard of the ideas and plans of 
 Burke ; the French Royalists found little countenance to 
 their cause in England, and were massacred in France ; the 
 Irish Catholics were goaded into rebellion, and treated as 
 a conquered people. In 1803 the breach was repaired ; 
 Lord Spencer and Lord Fitzwilliam, Mr. Windham and 
 Lord Minto, renewed their political connection with Fox ; 
 the Duke of Portland alone joined the Tory party, and 
 never returned to his liberal opinions. 
 
 As Fox's sentiments and opinions on the French Revo- 
 lution and the war of 1793, have been much misunderstood, 
 it may be interesting to look back to the course of those 
 sentiments and opinions as formed on the events of the day, 
 and communicated in his letters to his dearest relations and 
 most intimate friends. 
 
 At first, his views and his hopes were not very different 
 from those entertained by the best among his countrymen, 
 and by all the lovers of freedom throughout Europe. On 
 the 2Gth of May, 1791, Fox writes thus to his nephew, 
 Lord Holland : " I have not read Burke's new pamphlet, but 
 hear a very different account of it from yours. It is, in
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. ]3 
 
 Ereneral, thought to be mere madness, and especially in those 
 ])arts where he is for a general war, for the ])urpose of 
 destroying the present Government of France. There is a 
 ]iamphlet by one ]\Iacintosh, which I hear a great character 
 of, though it is said to go too far in some respects ; but I 
 have not yet had time to read it."* 
 
 Lord Holland, in a letter to Fox, had given expression 
 to three wishes ; one for Poland, one for France, and a 
 third evidently for a coalition which should bring Fox into 
 office witii Pitt. Fox, in reply, says : " None of your three 
 wishes are, 1 fear, likely to be accomplished. It is over, 
 as you have already heard, with poor Poland ; and what 
 has happened at Paris seems to make the chance of the 
 poor French being settled worse than ever. It seems as if 
 the Jacobins had determined to do somethinfj as revoltintr 
 to the feelings of mankind as the Duke of Brunswick's pro- 
 clamation ; but, though it must be owned that they have 
 done their utmost for this purpose, yet, with respect to mine, 
 they have not succeeded, for the proclamation, in my judg- 
 ment, still remains unrivalled. As to your third wish, I 
 Ixilieve it is out of the question, nor do I much regret it. 
 It would be too late to do any great and real good in regard 
 to fweign affairs ; and, for my own sake, when 1 consider the 
 many disagreeable circumstances that always attend 7iew con- 
 nections, and, what is much worse, the possible discontent that 
 iiiav arise among the old, I do not know whether 1 am not 
 better as I am. However, if I know myself, i never allow 
 any considerations res|M.'Cting my own comfort or disadvan- 
 tag«? to weigh witli me so as to influence my conduct on 
 these occasions, howcvi-r my wishes may be alfected by 
 tlM-m."t 
 
 • Vide " Correi ijondciicc," vol. ii. p. 363. f Jl^'J- ^"l- "• P- ^IJC.
 
 14 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 On the 3rd of September, 1792, he writes: "There is 
 nothing new here, and, indeed, if there were, I am not in the 
 way of hearing it ; hut I believe French news is what all the 
 world is principally interested about, I do not think near 
 so ill of the business of the 10th of August as I did upon 
 first hearing it. If the King and his Ministers were really 
 determined not to act in concert with the Assembly, and still 
 more if they secretly favoured the invasion of the Ijarbarians, 
 it was necessary, at any rate, to begin by getting rid of him 
 and them. Indeed, you know that from the moment of the 
 dismission of the Jacobin Ministry, I have thought that it 
 was absolutely necessary either that the Assembly should 
 come round to the Feuillans, or (which seemed most accord- 
 ing to our WHiig ideas) that the King should be forced to have 
 Ministers of the same complexion with the Assembly. How- 
 ever, it is impossible not to look with disgust at the bloody 
 means which have been taken, even supposing the end to be 
 good, and I cannot help fearing that we are not yet near 
 the end of these trials and executions. Many accounts give 
 me great uneasiness for the Queen, and I am more and more 
 sorry every day that they did not (as I think they ought to 
 have done) either shut her up, or send her away (the last 
 best), after the King's escape last year. The capture of 
 Longwy, especially if it is true that the municipality forced 
 the garrison to surrender, is a very bad beginning of the 
 war ; and, indeed, the way in which the news of it was 
 received in the National Assembly does not appear very 
 magnanimous. There is a want of dignity and propriety in 
 everything they do. When the enemy is in a manner at 
 their doors, to be amusing themselves with funerals and in- 
 criptions, and demolitions of statues, and creations of 
 honorary citizens, is quite intolerable ; and to talk so
 
 CHAKLES JAMES FOX. 15 
 
 pompously of dying for liberty and tlieir country, before one 
 single gallant action has been performed by any part of their 
 army against the enemy, is worse than ridiculous. And 
 yet, with all their faults and all their nonsense, I do interest 
 myself for their success to the greatest degree. It is a great 
 crisis for the real cause of liberty, whatever we may think 
 of the particular people who are to fight the present 
 battle.' * 
 
 Again, in September, after the massacres, he writes : " I 
 had just made up my mind to the events of the 10th of 
 August, when the horrid accounts of the 2nd of this month 
 arrived, and I really consider the horrors of that day and 
 night as the most heart-breaking event that ever happened 
 to those who, like me, are fundamentally and unalterably 
 attached to the true cause. There is not, in my opinion, a 
 shadow of excuse for this horrid massacre — not even the pos- 
 sibility of extenuating it in the smallest degree ; and if one 
 were to consider only the people of Paris, one should almost 
 doubt to whom one should " f (The rest torn.) 
 
 In a letter of the 12th October, after exulting in the 
 defeat of the Duke of iJrunswick, he says, in a subsequent 
 passage : " Vou will understand that I only mean to defend 
 tiie Jacubins as far as the lUtli of August inclusively, for if 
 they have had any hand in the massacre of the 2nd of Sep- 
 tember, and the killing of the j)risoncrs at Versailles, there 
 is no excu.se, no palliation, for such cruelty and extreme base- 
 ness. There are hojx'S, however, that the monsters who 
 caused these horrors will at last be punished. Till they are, 
 I own that their impunity (notwithstanding the noble speeches 
 of Koland, \'ergniaux, &c,) throws a slur upon the present 
 
 • Vide " Ccrrodi.oiKlcnco," vol. ii. i>. 308. f "''J- vol. li. p. [ilv.
 
 16 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 brilliant administration of France which gives pain to all 
 true friends of liberty. It is not enough to express horror 
 at such execrable scenes, but no man of proper feelings could 
 bear to be a member of a government unable to punish the 
 actors of them. Well, enough of French politics. All 
 friends to the good cause, whatever they think of Jacobins, 
 &c,, must rejoice at the defeat of the Germans, and there 
 I am sure we shall agree." . At the end he says : " I was 
 glad to find that the Duke of Bedford, aristocrat as he is, 
 wished against the invaders." * 
 
 Fox's joy at the retreat of the Duke of Brunswick was 
 very great. In the same letter of October 12 he says, 
 ''The defeats of great armies of invaders always gave me 
 the greatest satisfaction in reading history, from Xerxes' 
 time downwards ; and w^hat has happened in America and 
 in France wnll, I hope, make what Cicero says of armed 
 force be the opinion of all mankind : ' Invidiosum, detesta- 
 hile, imhecillum, caducum.' " t 
 
 Greatly would Fox have rejoiced at the defeat of the 
 great host which invaded Spain in 1808, and the far greater 
 host which invaded Russia in 1812. But the period which 
 Cicero and Fox looked for, when armed force would cease 
 to decide the fate of empires, is, I fear, far distant still. 
 Indeed, it may be doubted whether a state, or a party in a 
 state, long in possession of power will ever acknowledge that 
 the progress of opinion requires that they should quietly 
 transfer authority to other hands. In our own days we have 
 not seen the Southern States of America abandon slavery, or 
 Austria renounce her rule in Italy or in Germany, without 
 an armed struggle. Will it always be so ? 
 
 * Vide " Conespondence," vol. ii. p. 374. f Ibid. vol. ii. p. 372.
 
 CIL\ELES JAMES FOX. 17 
 
 In November, he writes to his nephew : " I agree with you 
 in disliking Dumouriez's vapouring ; but a Frenchman must 
 be a Frenchman. I doubt his success in Brabant on account of 
 the influence of the priests ; but, on the other hand, I have a 
 great idea of the power of a French army in these moments 
 of enthusiasm and victory."* 
 
 So much better ditl Fox reason from general principles of 
 human nature than the jMinister did from the discord and 
 disorganization of the French Councils and Assembly. 
 
 On the 2ord of November, he writes : " You have heard, 
 by this time, of the complete conquest of the Netherlands 
 by Dumouriez, so that all his vapouring promises are ful- 
 filled. I cannot reconcile my mind (with all my partiality) 
 to these boasting manners, but success, I suppose, will put 
 them quite in fashion. I think the mode of the Austrian 
 Government's leaving Brussels is the most contemptible I 
 ever heard of. The Princess, after having grossly deceived 
 them about the action at Jemappe, and the capture of Mons, 
 runs away, and leaves behind her a declaration annulling her 
 former acts, of which the Brabanters had complained, and 
 promising them, in the Emperor's name, an acquiescence in 
 all their wishes. What a dignified moment for concession ! 
 The French disclaim any intention of interference in Dutch 
 affairs, but whether their disclaimer, even if sincere, is much 
 to be relied upon, I doubt. Our ]\linistry are nmch alarmed, 
 and have, it is said, sent Lindsay to I'aris. I shall think 
 
 them as mad as if tlii'y suffer anything to draw them 
 
 into a uar with France, and yet it is inij)ossible for a nation, 
 as it is for an individual, to say that at all events she will nut 
 fijrht. In this case, 1 think myself sure that it can be avoided 
 witii lujuour, and, therefore, I su])pose it will he, though 1 
 
 • Vide " Coi rrtjiondenc"-," vol. ii. p. ^70. 
 VOL. HI. C
 
 18 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 do really think that Pitt, in these businesses, is a great 
 bungler."* 
 
 Lord Holland seems to have returned to England at the 
 end of 1792, but in 1793, after war had been declared, he 
 was in Spain. 
 
 On the 14th of June of that year, Fox writes to him : 
 " People here begin to be heartily tired of the war, in some 
 degree owing to the disgust pretty generally felt at the 
 scandalous conduct of the Empress and Prussia in respect to 
 Poland^ but chiefly to the extreme distress which is felt at 
 home. I do not know whether there is not some comfort in 
 seeing that, while the French are doing all in their power 
 to make the name of liberty odious to the world, the despots 
 are conducting themselves so as to show that tyranny is 
 worse. I believe the love of political liberty is not an error , 
 but, if it is one, I am sure I never shall be converted from 
 it, and I hope you never will. If it be an illusion, it is one 
 that has brought forth more of the best qualities and exer- 
 tions of the human mind than all other causes put together, 
 and it serves to give an interest in the affairs of the world, 
 which, without it, would be insipid. But it is unnecessary to 
 preach to you upon this subject ; so now to myself. You 
 will hear by others of what has been done, and is doing, for 
 me. I may, perhaps, flatter myself, but I think that it is the 
 most honourable thing that ever happened to any man. The 
 sum which has been raised is such as will pay all my debts 
 that are in any degree burthensome, and give me an 
 income upon which I can live comfortably without contract- 
 ing any more." t 
 
 The allusion in these last paragraphs is to a subscription 
 raised by his friends to pay his debts, and buy him an annuity. 
 
 * Vide " Con espondence," vol. ii. p. 379. f Ibid. vol. iii. p. 39.
 
 CHAKLKS JAMKS FOX. 19 
 
 Both Fox and Pitt accepted this sort of pecuniary assistance. 
 In both instances the liberality of the subscribers was prompted 
 by the most sincere friendshij), and accepted without humi- 
 liation. 
 
 Afiain he savs, on the 1st of Au<xust, 1793 : " The internal 
 affairs of France seem more embroiled than ever, and it is 
 an interestinfj object of curiosity to see whether and what 
 effect is produced by the taking of Valenciennes. Nothing 
 can be more according to my opinion than all you say 
 abuut the Polish business. There are now hopes that the 
 two robbers may quarrel about the spoil, as it is supposed 
 the Poles will make an offer of their whole kingdom to the 
 Empress, and some people think that it is such a bait that 
 she cannot resist it. However, all this I have from mere 
 report ; but you wish me to write politics, and, not knowing 
 anvthiufT authentic, I must write what I hear. As to what 
 I think upon these subjects, you know all my opinions too 
 well to make it necessary for me to repeat them, oidy that, 
 whether from obstinacy or from pliilos()])hy, I know not, I 
 grow to value political liberty more and more every day."* 
 
 On the siege of Dunkirk he says: "That the Admiralty 
 have been to blame I can easily believe, and knowing 
 my uncle'st great dislike to the Duke of York, I do not 
 think it impossible tiiat lie may have been so, too; but 
 even if Ordnance and Admiralty had done all they could, 
 the j)roject was fundamentally absurd, dangerous to the ex- 
 treme, as lias appeared in tiie execution, and worse than use- 
 lc5.-, 1 think, if att<iined. But to besiege it. without j)reviously 
 cnal)ling themselve:s to invest it, was a degree of madness 
 quiti! unaccountable, and this, I know, was the gcMieral 
 opinion of all reasonable military men before the failiux' ; 
 
 • Vide ** Correnpondencc," rol. iii. p. 4Li. f Tliu Duke of Ikichnuinil, Fox'* uiule. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 for opinions formed upon the event you know I do not give 
 much credit to."* 
 
 Again, in the same letter: "The very name of liberty is 
 scarce popular ; but the failure of the war against France, 
 and the calamities which the war must bring on here, may 
 make it so again. The most violent Tories here, and, 
 indeed, all the world, except the Ministry and some hot 
 friends of mine, are for peace ; but I believe, at the same 
 time, that they are inconsistent enough to be against all 
 means of bringing about peace. AVhat will happen here 
 nobody knows, but I cannot help flattering myself that the 
 marked incapacity of our present Ministers for war will 
 produce peace in some way or other. They appear to me 
 to have been much more deficient in common sense than one 
 ought reasonably to expect one's enemies to be." t 
 
 On the 7th of November : " You will, long before this, 
 have been satisfied of the groundlessness of your notion that 
 France was likely to be conquered. Since I wrote last, the 
 Duke of York has gained an advantage which, /or the jiyresent, 
 will probably make the French retire within their own 
 territory ; and, if Flanders can be kept free from their 
 incursions during the winter, I believe it is as much as the 
 most sanguine expect. The King of Sardinia has been 
 obliged again to leave Savoy at their mercy, and it is reported 
 that they have given a considerable check to the combined 
 armies near Strasburg. Yv hat a pity that a people capable 
 of such incredible energy should be guilty, or, rather, be 
 governed by those who are guilty, of such unheard-of crimes 
 and cruelties !" | 
 
 * Vide "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. .50. • f Ibid. p. 51. 
 
 J Ibid. vol. iii. p. 56.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 21 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 CONDUCT OP THE WAR, 1794. 
 
 Pitt's conduct of the war may be considered under the 
 heads of foreign alliances, military expeditions, and financial 
 measures. 
 
 Under the head of foreign alliances, Pitt's policy was 
 founded upon a mistaken estimate of the motives and 
 sentiments of the German Powers. For a short time 
 Austria and Prussia were closely united by the dread of 
 France, but the first shock of arms over, they relapsed 
 into their habitual jealousy of each other and into apathy 
 in regard to all measures which required joint action. The 
 consequence of this feeling at Ik'rlin and Vienna was that 
 the war soon came to be considered as an English war 
 waged for English objects. It was observed that England 
 alone flourishc'd, while Germany was exhausted by the 
 efforts she had made ; and the conclusion drawn from these 
 prenjiscs was that no more vigour should be displayed tlian 
 would be .sufficient to extract the much desired subsidies 
 from (ireat Britain. It is true tiiere were some politicians, 
 and s^jme military men botii in Prussia and in Austria, 
 wiio wished to carry on the war in earnest, but the Ministers 
 and military commanders contrived Id imj)e(le all their 
 exertions, to interpose delay where promptitude was re-
 
 22 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 quired, and to introduce feebleness into the execution of 
 projects to which nothing but the utmost boldness and 
 energy could give a chance of success. Pitt might have 
 done much to preserve the harmony, if not to stimu- 
 late the vigour, of the Alliance. But unfortunately his 
 whole policy consisted in offering money in return for the 
 muster-roll of useless armies, whose action was paralyzed 
 by their own governments. The more the Continental 
 States hung back, the more eager did Pitt appear to pour 
 into their laps the treasures of England ; and they thus 
 became more and more convinced that the war was an 
 English war, and that in supporting it they should support 
 English objects. Hence they soon became lukewarm, and 
 resolved to consult nothing but their own convenience. 
 Such, and not the inadequacy of military means, or the 
 want of valour in the field, were the causes which led to 
 the reverses of 1794, the conquest of Belgium, the loss 
 of Holland, and the peace of Basle. 
 
 It would be a long and tedious work to trace all the 
 subtle contrivances by which the threads of the Alliance 
 were separated, and the whole web broken. But there 
 are some parts of the process which are too full of in- 
 struction to be omitted. The plan of restricting France 
 within narrower limits, in order to improve the Austrian 
 frontier ; that plan which had excited the prophetic rage 
 of Burke, and the patriotic indignation of Frenchmen, 
 whether Royalists or Republicans, was much discussed by 
 politicians of Pitt's school during the gleam of success which 
 in 1793 shone upon the arms of the Allies. 
 
 Thus, in reference to a cherished plan of Austria, by 
 which she would have exchanged the Netherland pro- 
 vinces for Bavaria, Lord Grenville says in a letter tq
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 23 
 
 Lord Auckland, of April the 3rd, 1793: "Your Excellency 
 is apprized of the decided preference with which his 
 Majesty would see the plan of indemnification on the side 
 of Flanders adopted by the Court of Vienna, rather than 
 that of the exchange of Bavaria ; . 
 
 • ■ • ■ • • * 
 
 You are therefore in all your conversations to point at the 
 great advantage of the Austrians looking to the acquisition of 
 a new barrier in the Netherlands, rather than to the exchange 
 of those provinces for Bavaria/'* Lord Loughborough, 
 writing on the same day, says : " It is not too sanguine 
 a hope that Artois and the sea-coast to the Sornrae might 
 again he united to the Netherlands, which would concentrate 
 the interests of England, Holland, and Austria, and form 
 the best security for the balance of Europe."-}* On the 
 'Jth of the same month, Lord Auckland, alluding to 
 a plan of getting ])ossession of Conde, Maubeuge, and. 
 if possible, of Lille, writes to Lord Grenville : " I had 
 occasion to intimate fully to those whom it most concerned 
 the expediency of retaining those conquests, if they should 
 be made, for the future security of the Low Countries 
 against France. "J On the same day the Prince of Coburg 
 issued a new declaration, in which his former promises of 
 keeping the towns captured as a "sacred deposit" were 
 rescinded, and conquest was clearly pointed out as the 
 real object of Austria. 
 
 On the l<Jth of April, ]\Ir. ]-)uu(las. Secretary for War, 
 writes to Sir James Murray : '' I tliink T may without any 
 reserve state to you that no operation of the combined 
 annies on the Continent can be so essential in our eyes 
 
 • " Auckland Corresijondcncc," vol. iii. p. 5. t Ibid. p. 7. 
 
 I Ibid. p. 13.
 
 24 THE LIFE AND TI5IES OF 
 
 as those whose ultimate tendency is to establish the Nether- 
 lands in the possession of the House of Austria, with such 
 extended and safe frontier as may secure the independence 
 and tranquilHty of Holland."* In a conversation of the 
 same month, Colonel Mack (afterwards the unlucky General 
 Mack) informed Captain Bentinck that Austria wished to 
 have Maestricht, Valenciennes, Conde, and Lille as frontier 
 towns. 
 
 In the following month of May, Lord Auckland seems 
 to have caught a glimpse of the folly of these plans, for 
 he writes to Lord Grenville, after alluding to the plans of 
 Austria for acquiring Bavaria : " It is not yet certain that 
 the French troubles will be so far appeased as to cease to 
 be dangerous to all civil society, and to the existence of 
 every established government. But it is very certain that 
 in the midst of this storm the other Continental Powers are 
 infatuated by short-sighted views of aggrandizement, and 
 are laying the foundation of a long succession of wars."! 
 These projects of weakening France excited very naturally 
 the alarm and jealousy of IMonsieur (afterwards Louis XVIII.) 
 the Comte d'Artois, and the French emigrants. 
 
 Lord Auckland, however, soon forgetting his recent warning, 
 observes very complacently : " But surely it is to be wished 
 that the war may be so directed as to effect a great and solid 
 dismemberment of France, or at least a permanent im- 
 pression so far as the chain of fortresses is concerned."! In 
 the same vein Lord Auckland writes again to Lord Grenville 
 when the surrender of Valenciennes was expected : " So far 
 as I can form any opinion on a military subject, I believe 
 that many of the suggestions in the enclosed paper are 
 
 * " Aucklaud Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 25. f Ibid. p. 55. 
 
 X Ibid. p. (31.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 25 
 
 excellent, and coincide, too, with the Austrian idea of 
 acquirinir the Sonime for a new boundary. It is a question 
 worth consideration whether, in supposing' the possibility 
 of such a conquest, we ought not to insist on holding 
 Dunkirk (and perhaps also Calais)."* On the 31st of 
 July, after A'alenciennes and Mentz had surrendered, Lord 
 Grenville makes the following remark upon a memoir of 
 M. Jarry which gives in great detail the ])lan for taking 
 from France, and giving to Austria, the Line of the Somme : 
 " The memoir is certainly written with knowledge and 
 judgment. The result of what is doing on the subject 
 will, I trust, be satisfactory and advantageous ?"t It was 
 impossible for a man in Lord Grenville's position to speak 
 more plainly. 
 
 ^^ e may now conclude that, at this period, the Line of 
 the Somme was to be the "indenmity for the past and 
 security for the future" of which Pitt so often spoke. 
 In pursuance of this plan, upon the capture of Quesnoy, 
 Valenciennes, and Conde, the Austrian arms were placed 
 on the public buildings and the Austrian flag displayed 
 from the walls. ^Vhcn Burke heard what the Emperor had 
 sanctioned, he exclaimed: "-4/i.' le sceUrat ! cela vaudra 
 cent mille hommes aux sans-culottes T 
 
 In the same spirit of aggrandizement for Austria, 
 ^Vu^nse^, tiie Austrian General, iiaving obtained the assist- 
 ance of the Prince of Prussia for tin; bombardment of 
 Landau, thought the time was come for the recovery of 
 Alsace, and thus addressed the inhabitants of that province : 
 " .Alsatians," he .said, " cast your eyes ujion tlie other 
 |)(.'oj)!c.s (jf Germany ; see Ikjw they rejoice at being able 
 
 • " Aijcklnml Corrwpoiidwnco," vol. iii. p. 79, 
 Ibid. p. 8o. Vide " Memoir," p. HO, d (<«/.
 
 26 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 again to call you their brothers. Rejoice with them ! I 
 know there is not one of you who will be insensible to the 
 happiness of being a German."* 
 
 The Prussians, who had seen with displeasure the arms of 
 the Emperor placed over the gates of the captured towns, 
 were alarmed at this new proof of Austrian ambition, and the 
 Ministers of the King of Prussia unanimously advised him to 
 withdraw all his troops then in the field against France, 
 except his contingent as a Prince of the Empire. 
 
 The Duke of Brunswick, his Commander-in-Chief, thus 
 instructed, stopped the bombardment of Landau, and retiring 
 slowly, uncovered the flank of the Austrian army. Lucchesini, 
 a most artful Prussian agent, was sent to Vienna to ask thirty 
 millions of crowns as the price of Prussia's continuing to 
 share in the war. 
 
 Soon afterwards the Prussians, during fifteen days of com- 
 bat, left the whole brunt of attack to weigh upon the 
 Austrians, remaining inactive in their position. Wurmser, 
 thus exposed, withdrew across the Rhine. The Duke of 
 Brunswick, however, cut to the heart by the ignominy 
 of the part he was obliged to play, earnestly entreated 
 the King to allow him to retire from the post he held. 
 In a manly letter written for this purpose, he revealed 
 the whole source of the past disasters. " The raising 
 of the blockade of Landau," he said, " will be an era in 
 this unhappy war ; and 1 have the grief of knowing that 
 I am cruelly compromised. . . . The same means 
 which have divided the Allied Powers hitherto will divide them 
 again ; the movements of the array will be impeded as they 
 have been impeded, and the delay in the reorganization of 
 
 * " Memoires d'un Homme d'Etat," vol. ii. p. 33-i. Proclamation of 14th 
 November, 1793,
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 27 
 
 the Prussian army — a delay, perhaps, poHtically necessary — 
 will become tli? cause of a succession of misfortunes in the 
 next campaign, of which the consequences are incalculable." 
 
 With equal justice the Duke pointed out the cause of the 
 French successes : " }]lie7i a great nation, such as the French 
 nation is, is led to great actions hj the douhJe motives of fear 
 of punishment and enthusiasm, a single i^rinciiile, a single 
 will, ought to preside in the councils of the Allies. But when 
 instead of that, each army acts for itself, without a fixed plan, 
 without unity, witiiout principle, without method, the results 
 are naturally such as we have seen at Dunkirk, at the raising 
 of the blockade of !Maubouge, at the sack of Lyons, at the 
 destruction of Toulon, at the raising of the blockade of 
 Landau." 
 
 The brave old man then offered his resignation. He was 
 at once taken at his word, and Marshal Mollcndorff, who 
 was quite prepared to act the mean part which his Court 
 intended for him, was sent to command the Prussian army on 
 the Rhine. 
 
 The Court of Vienna in its turn, pressed for subsidies by 
 Prussia, and humbled at defeats inflicted by France, began 
 also to think of jx'ace. Thugut suggested the recognition of 
 the Republic, and a truce for two years, during which time a 
 rejrular government might be formed in France, and a defi- 
 nitive treaty of peace considered. The (.'ommittee of Public 
 Safety saw in tiiis proposal a snare and a danger. The 
 leaders of the Connuittee must, however, have drawn from it 
 the inference that the Emperor was not totally averse to a 
 regicide peace. 
 
 While the Cabinet of Austria, however, were in doubt 
 whether they should accept the l)lo()dy hand of Robespierre, 
 or the tempting gold of England, the King of Prussia seems
 
 28 THE LIFE AISTD TIMES OF 
 
 to have been bent on attaining at once the objects of retiring 
 from the Alhance, and securing the subsidies ^ Great Britain. 
 He had anotlier object still more dear to him — that of anni- 
 hilating altogether the independence of Poland. 
 
 These triple ends — of treachery towards England, oppres- 
 sion of Poland, and reconciliation with France — were, it must 
 be owned, difficult of attainment, and it required an unusual 
 degree of blindness in Pitt to permit of their successful 
 accomplishment. His ignorance of Continental affairs, his 
 want of intercourse with foreign statesmen, his extreme eager- 
 ness to obtain a triumph where no triumph was to be had, 
 and his sanguine temper, can alone account for the success of 
 Prussia in her dishonest policy, and the blunders of England 
 in her infatuated course. 
 
 Such was the conduct of the war on the Continent of 
 Europe. Further details will develope further errors.
 
 CHARLES JA5n:S FOX. 29 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 FKUSSIAN DEFECTION. — BRITISH SUBSIDIES. 
 
 The policy of Prussia — that of so directing the great Alliance 
 of Europe as to ensure its failure — had to encounter many 
 difficulties ; but the skill of the Prussian statesmen, and their 
 extreme perfidy, won the day against them all. 
 
 In 1704, the Austrian Colonel IMack went to London, and 
 there unfolded to Pitt and his colleagues a plan of cam- 
 paign, by which Landrccy being invested and taken, a direct 
 march upon Paris, founded on that base of operations, should 
 be made with all ])ossible speed. The plan having been 
 aj)proved by the ('abinets of London and A^ienna, Marshal 
 Molleiidorfi' was asked to assist in its execution by marching 
 uj)on Treves. 'J'o this sunmions the Mar^^hal coldly replied 
 that he did not know what part his Government might 
 have taken in adopting this plan of canijiaign ; that it con- 
 t-iincd some good ideas, but many inconvenient arrangements ; 
 and that for his part he should not march upon Treves, lest by so 
 doing he should lose Mayence. Prussia likewise ca^jtiously 
 obji'cted to a proposal of Austria to iiave a levy en masse in 
 the empire, in order to defend the soil of (jlermanv. Ifarilen- 
 berg was detiiclied from hi- jxot, on a nii.-sion to the Arch- 
 Chancellor of the Emjjire, the Elector of Mayence ; and a 
 counter pro[)03itiou was made on the part of Prussia, that
 
 30 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 six circles of the empire should be required to furnish pro- 
 visions for the Prussian army. Prussia thus succeeded in 
 preventing any effectual preparation being made for the 
 defence of the empire. 
 
 A more open sign of defection was now ventured. Three 
 agents of the Committee of Public Safety, sent to Mayence 
 nominally to regulate the exchange of prisoners, were directed 
 by the Prussian General upon Frankfort. They went there in 
 a coach of Louis XVI., displaying ostentatiously the tricolor 
 flag. General Kalkreuth, with wliom they were put in 
 communication, held out, as it was supposed, hopes of a 
 separate peace. What is certain is, that the prolonged stay 
 of these Jacobin Commissioners at Frankfort g-ave rise to 
 the most sinister rumours. The King of Prussia now openly 
 opposed any levies en masse, and in the middle of March 
 declared that he should withdraw his army to his own States, 
 leaving for the defence of Germany only the contingent he 
 was obliged to furnish. An order to march homewards fol- 
 lowed immediately on this announcement. 
 
 Austria and the Empire were alarmed at this measure, and 
 could only expect the dissolution of the Alliance. But 
 Pitt, who had but one remedy for all emergencies, imme- 
 diately offered to Prussia a treaty of subsidies, and engaged 
 Holland to aid him in giving a sum of money to Prussia to 
 induce her to remain faithful to a cause which she had been 
 the first to espouse. On the 28th of April, the Treaty of 
 Subsidy, signed on the 19th, was laid before Parliament, with 
 a Royal Message, and on the oOth, Pitt explained the 
 treaty, and asked the sanction of the Flouse of Commons 
 to its provisions. Pitt on this occasion adopted a tone 
 almost of apology. He confessed that it would be much 
 more satisfactory to him to state that the King of Prussia
 
 CILVELES JAMES FOX. 31 
 
 continued to carrj' on the war as a principal, rather than to 
 state that henceforth that Sovereign was content to act a 
 suhordinate part, lie then explained that hy the terms 
 of the treaty, Enirland and Holland were to furnish 400,000/. 
 to the King of Prussia, by way of outfit, and afterwards 
 50,0007. a month for the maintenance of his troops. He 
 concluded by asking for 2,500,0007. as a vote of credit. 
 Fox, in a high tone, commented on the speech of Pitt, which 
 he justly called ver)' extraordinary. 
 
 '•The right honourable gentleman had said, that if he had 
 the honour of advising the Court of Berlin, he had no doubt 
 which wav his o])inion would be given, because the existence 
 of the nation depended on the issue of the contest, but that 
 the Court of Berlin, from a consideration of the restricted 
 commerce, the limited resources, and the nature and form of 
 the constitution of Prussia (which, by the way, was no ])roof 
 of its excellence), might have entertained doubts how fjir it 
 was prudent to remain a principal in this contest. Yet, not- 
 withstanding these considerations, the right honourable 
 ffentleman would have had no hesitation in advisinfj that 
 Court to have continued a principal in the war. The House 
 would recollect, therefore, that it was told by the Minister of 
 the King of England, that his ally the King of Prussia had 
 been so ill-advised, that ho had taken the timid, the weak, 
 the mean, the wicked, the shameful and scandalous determi- 
 nation, by abandoning the war, of abandoning his own 
 honour, abandoning the interest and safety of his own sub- 
 jects. .......... 
 
 " The right honourable gentleman bad not, however, 
 stojipcd there ; he went further : he .^aid, since tliis was the 
 case, fcince such has ix-en the disgraceful conduct of Prussia,
 
 32 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 such the timid and pusillanimous results of the Councils of the 
 Court of Berlin, that Great Britain ought to step forward and 
 press the King of Prussia to proceed contrary to the advice 
 of his counsellors, and engage to bear the expense. What ! 
 when Spain, Austria, and all the other Powers might come 
 to the same resolution ? Yes, though all Europe should 
 come to that resolution ; for he had said, that from the 
 moment that resolution was taken, it became our interest 
 and our duty to stand in the place of this monarch, and to 
 say to him: 'Since you are so ill-advised upon this business, 
 and are determined to withdraw yourself from the contest, let 
 us have your troops, and you shall have our money.' " 
 
 Fox said ^'he wished to ask whether the whole of that 
 argument was not applicable to Spain and to all the other 
 combined Powers at present at war with France ? This was 
 not an idle speculation ; it might soon become a reality. Did 
 the right honourable sientleman know the resources of 
 Austria ? Had he anything to say that could give the 
 people of this country any ground to hope that the same 
 difficulty would not be felt by the other Powers as had been 
 expressed by Prussia? They had the same circumstances of 
 difficulty with regard to their wealth and commerce ; and all 
 except the Dutch, the same defect with respect to their con- 
 stitution. Was there any inconvenience felt by the King of 
 Prussia that did not belong, in a great degree, to the 
 Emperor, to the King of Spain, and to the other combined 
 Powers ? What, then, was to be expected to be the result of 
 all this ? Wliy, that the whole expense would eventually fall 
 on Great Britain. He laid the more stress upon this, 
 because the whole force of the rigrht honourable g-entleman's 
 argument went to this point. When this came to be coupled 
 with the avowed object of the war, the total destruction of
 
 CHARLES JA^IES FOX. 33 
 
 the French Government, the situation of this country was 
 dreadful. If we should be of opinion that our existence as a 
 nation depended on that' point, as the right honourable gentle- 
 man's argument maintained, and the other Powers should 
 follow the steps of the King of Prussia, then, for the sake of 
 our own existence, we might be brought to pay for every 
 man and every horse in Europe employed against the French 
 in this dreadful contest. From our own conduct in this war, 
 it would seem as if we had been originally attacked in it, and 
 Prussia not at all ; as if France had attacked us in the East 
 and West Indies, and that the King of Prussia was only at 
 war with France as our ally and assistant. But we all know 
 the fact to be otherwise — that the King of Prussia originally 
 began it ; and, for anything we could now prove to the con- 
 trary, it was that very beginning of his which brought on the 
 aggression made by the French on Holland, and which 
 involved us in the contest. What does the King of Prussia 
 say to us upon this occasion ? Does he say : ' Sorry I am 
 that I have involved my friends in a disagreeable situation : 
 that I have, without intending it, brought upon them the 
 calamities of war ; but now that I have done so, I feel myself 
 bound by every tie of honour and of justice, to double, nay, 
 treble, my efforts to get them out of it ? ' No ; the language 
 was this : ' 1 have got Great Britain and Holland into this 
 contest ; they are involved in it at this moment from ray 
 adventure, and my dominions are more remote, and, conse- 
 quently, not so immediately affected as theirs. I will discon- 
 tinue my efTurt.s, unless they choose to bear my expenses.' "* 
 
 On the .'50th of May, Fox brought forward resolutions 
 in tiie Hou.-e (jf Commons for putting an end to the war. 
 He' lalxjured to establish two points. The first was, tiiat 
 
 • " Fox'i ?peech«i," vol. v. ]>. '.'t;i. 
 VOL. HI. U
 
 34 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 althouo-h the British Government disclaimed all interference 
 with the internal Government of France, they did in fact so in- 
 terfere, and that they promised protection to the monarchical 
 party, though they did not in reality protect them. The second 
 point was, that although Prussia had by treaty engaged to 
 co-operate with his Majesty, she had lately ceased to do so, 
 and only lent her troops in consideration of a large subsidy, 
 as if the object of the war were none of hers. That Austria, 
 if her finances were in like manner deranged, would claim 
 similar subsidies, and thus the whole cost, and apparently the 
 whole maintenance of the war, would be transferred to Great 
 Britain. Fox proved victoriously these two points. In 
 regard to the first, he referred to the memorial presented by 
 Lord Auckland to the States General of Holland, in January, 
 1793. In this memorial Lord Auckland affirmed: "It is 
 not quite four years (1789), since certain miscreants, assuming 
 the name of philosophers, have presumed to think themselves 
 capable of establishing a new system of civil society ; in order 
 to realize this dream, the offspring of vanity, it became neces- 
 sary for them to overturn and destroy all established notions 
 of subordination, of morals, and of religion," &c. 
 
 It would seem, from these phrases, that the laws of 1789, 
 and the Constitution of 1791, were incompatible with all 
 established notions of subordination, of morals, and of reli- 
 gion. But on the other hand, as the 5th Resolution records, the 
 inhabitants of Toulon did declare that it was their unanimous 
 wish to adopt a monarchical government, such as it was ori- 
 o-inally formed by the Constituent Assembly of 1789, and 
 Lord Hood, by his proclamation of the 28th of August, 
 accepted of that declaration, &c. The loth and 14th Resolu- 
 tions were in the following terms : 
 
 13. "That it is the duty of his Majesty's Ministers to avail
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 35 
 
 themselves of the present circumstances of the war. and to 
 promote a paciticatiou by every means in their power, by pro- 
 posiufi^ to France equitable and moderate conditions, and, 
 above all things, by abstaining from any interference in the 
 internal affairs of France. 
 
 14. " That it is the opinion of this House that in every 
 possible case it is equally desirable that his Majesty should 
 make an explicit declaration of his views. If it is the inten- 
 tion not to interfere in the internal government of France, 
 nothing can contribute so much to advance a negotiation 
 with those who now exercise the power of government in that 
 country as such a declaration, solemnly and explicitly made. 
 If, on the other hand, it is intended to interfere, it is highly 
 essential to make the degree of interference precisely known, 
 to induce such parts of the French nation as are dissatisfied 
 with the present Government to unite and exert themselves 
 with satisfaction and security."* 
 
 The answer of Pitt to these very explicit demands was 
 more than usually evasive and ambiguous. lie said "that if 
 it should appear, from the report of the Secret Committee, 
 that there existed a system in this country to introduce 
 French principles for French purposes ; that if the same 
 system existed all over the Continent ; that if the whole 
 shall be clearly iiiiputable to the present Government of 
 France, and be calculated to produce the same effects which 
 it iiad produced in France, ihen it nm.st be admitted that 
 nothing less tiian the subversion of that Jacobin Government 
 can 1)0 adecjuate to the purposes of the war." Having thus 
 adopted, aj>i)arently, the princi])le of interference, Pitt 
 went on to vindiwite tlic supjjort given at Toulon to tiie 
 Constitution of J 7^'J, on the ground of jirotecting all jthe 
 • " Fox'* SiiccchM," vol. V. p. ;;o7.
 
 36 THE LIFE AND TBIES OF 
 
 people of France who shall approve of hereditary monarchy. 
 It would appear from this vindication that Great Britain was 
 at war in order to restore hereditary monarchy in France. 
 But this, again, Pitt disclaimed, and went on to declare 
 that when the present Government of France should be de- 
 stroyed, " the government that shall be deemed most proper 
 to succeed will then naturally become the object of modifica- 
 tion to the different parties." Such was the manner in which 
 the question was evaded. The truth seems to be that 
 Pitt was afraid to declare openly, or, perhaps, to fix in his 
 own mind, the object of the war. If, with Burke, he had 
 pronounced the object of the war to be the restoration of the 
 Bourbons, he would have run counter to his own opinions and 
 the general sentiments of the country. If he had declared 
 that the Frenc^h might adopt any form of government they 
 chose, provided they did not interfere with other nations, 
 he must have alienated Burke, Windham, and a large 
 party among his supporters in Parliament. Thus hampered, 
 he preferred to carry on war without any definite object. 
 In this respect, both Fox and Burke had a great advantage 
 over him in argument. Each supported a great principle — 
 Fox the principle of non-interference in the internal concerns 
 of another nation ; Burke the principle of social order, repre- 
 sented by the ancient monarchy of France. 
 
 Pitt on this, as on other occasions, defended himself by 
 quoting the example of his father when he gave subsidies to 
 Frederick the Great. But Lord Chatham knew the character 
 of Frederick of Prussia. He knew that every pound advanced 
 in subsidy would buy for England effective blows, crippling 
 France, and weakening Austria. Pitt's subsidies, on the 
 contrary, were paid to a worthless monarch, intent upon 
 quitting the cause he had rashly espoused, and bent only
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 37 
 
 upon acquiring in Poland the territory to be gained by the 
 oppression and subjugation of a brave nation. For at this 
 time broke out that formidable insurrection in Poland which, 
 under the guidance of Kosciusko, seemed to afford to Poland 
 one more chance of saving its independence. Alarmed at 
 the energy and patriotism of the Poles, the Empress of 
 Russia neglected entirely the distant carnage of the French 
 Revolution, and employed all her military strength and all 
 her unscrupulous policy in subduing the resistance of Poland. 
 The King of Prussia, on his side, declared that he would him- 
 self march to Poland, Nor did he fail in this, as he had failed 
 in keeping faith with England. He went there in May, one 
 month after his convention with Pitt, and fought a bloody but 
 unsuccessful battle in the neighbourhood of Warsaw. But so 
 intent was he upon the destruction of Polish independence, 
 that he sent for 10,000 men of his Army of the Rhine to 
 assist him in I*oland, and scarcely gave a thought to his 
 engagements with England and Holland. When, therefore. 
 Lord ^falmesbury and Lord Cornwallis went to urge Marshal 
 MoUendorff to transport his army to the Low Countries, in 
 conformity with the Convention of the 19th of April, they 
 found the Prussian General little disposed to comply. He 
 stated at great length the military reasons which induced 
 him to think that the Low Countries could only be defended 
 on the Rhine ; comj)lained that the ncirotiations had been 
 concealed from him ; and finally declared that he could not 
 move without the King's orders. I^ord jMalmesbury, who 
 had been the active and cflicij'iit instnnnent of I'itt in 
 concluding with Prussia the Treaty of Subsidy of April, 
 could not conceal his disgust at the bad faith with which the 
 Cabinet of Berlin evaded the execution of the Treaty. AN'lien 
 infonned by the Duke of Portland that I'itt and li(> were
 
 38 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 favourable to the continued payment of the subsidy, in spite 
 of the Prussian evasions, he wrote to the Duke : "If we 
 listened only to owv feelings, it would be difficult to keep any 
 measure with Prussia. But your opinion and that of Pitt 
 is one of sound political wisdom, and I am well pleased 
 it has prevailed. Yv^e must consider it as an alliance with 
 the Algerines, whom it is no disgrace to jpay, or any imjpeach- 
 ment of good sense to he cheated hy"* 
 
 Thus wrote Lord ]\[almesbury in August. Before this 
 period, however, he had justified himself, by anticipation, in a 
 despatch to Lord Grenville, of the 27th of June : " I should 
 feel myself undeserving of any indulgence," he said, " if I 
 could impute to myself the failure of this great measure — if 
 it is to fail ; but no experience or habits of business —no 
 prudence or care, can read so deep into the human mind as 
 to foresee that a great Sovereign and his confidential Minis- 
 ters would be so regardless of their personal honour, and so 
 forgetfid of their puUic interests and glory, as to refuse to 
 be bound in June by the stipulations of a treaty ratified 
 with their full consent and approbation, in May." f 
 
 Yet Burke had predicted this falling-off of the Allies as 
 the certain consequence of the policy Pitt was pursuing ; and 
 Fox had, in this very month of June, pointed out the probability 
 of the desertion at which Lord Malmesbury was astonished. 
 But Burke and Fox, though they were great and consistent 
 statesmen, were not listened to. The period arrived, however, 
 when the refusal of Marshal Mollendorff to march his army to 
 the relief of the Low Countries became too glaring an infrac- 
 tion of the treaty of April to be submitted to any longer, 
 even by Pitt. The British Government refused the pay- 
 
 * "Diaiies and Correspondence of Lord Malmesbury," vol. iii. p. 122. 
 
 + Ibid. p. 112.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 39 
 
 ruent of any further subsidies. The King of Prussia and his 
 Ministers gladly took advantage of this refusal to declare the 
 Treaty at an end. Twenty thousand Prussians were sent 
 from the Rhine to the siege of Warsaw, and the British 
 subsidy was apjilied, without a blush, to the final subjugation 
 of Poland. When this conquest was eft'ected, the separate 
 negotiation between France and Prussia made rapid advances. 
 The Committee of Public Safety turned a deaf ear to the 
 appeals of the Polish patriots, and thus conciliated the Court 
 of B.Tlin. At the same period, the extreme fury and cruelty 
 of the rulers of France began to slacken. It was impossible 
 that the daily massacre of innocent persons of all ages should 
 continue without exciting a revulsion of feeling, and the only 
 question among the rival factions was as to who should hit upon 
 the right moment for proclaiming mercy and moderation. 
 
 Danton relented too soon, and was murdered by Robes- 
 pierre ; Robespierre relented too late, and was a victim to 
 the guillotine by which he had so long governed. 
 
 Prussian statesmen who had been willinfj to nejjotiate with 
 Robespierre were still more willin']!' to negotiate with his 
 successors. The Committee of Public Safety declared that 
 France would not interfere with the internal jjovernment of 
 foreign nations. M. Barthelemy, a man of sense and 
 character, was named Plenipotentiary of France, and as he 
 was already French Minister in Switzerland, the eonmiuni- 
 cations and conferences were easy and uninterrupted. 
 
 Pru.s.sia declared her readiness to yield the provinces held 
 by her and her allies, on the h^ft l)ank of the Rhine ; but her 
 wakeful jealousy was excited by the fear tiiat they might be 
 ceded by the French liepublic to Austria. This fear having 
 been reujoved by an apj)roj)riate provision, ])ostj)oning the 
 final ce.-sion to the moment of a general j)aeilieation, a
 
 40 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 treaty of peace between France and Prussia was signed 
 at Basle, in April, 1795. 
 
 Thus the great coalition which Pitt had crammed with 
 English gold and gorged with English blood fell to pieces. 
 Its failure was owing partly to the perfidy of Prussia, partly 
 to the apathy of Austria, and above all to the blunders of 
 England. 
 
 From the cursory review we have made, it is clear that 
 Pitt was the chief author of the rupture of the Alliance 
 asrainst France, which he found in existence. He had so far 
 gratified the ambition of Austria as to excite to the utmost 
 the jealousy of Prussia. To Austria he gave hopes of 
 extended empire, and a mastery over both Germany and 
 France. Prussia could not bear to see her rising fortunes 
 thus rudely repressed. She loved herself more than she 
 hated France. Bribed, but not satisfied, and intent on aggran- 
 dizement in Poland, she deserted the Alliance to become the 
 humble friend of France. Such were the first fruits of 
 Pitt's attempts to promote a Continental coalition against the 
 French Republic. 
 
 The doctrine which Pitt had so often enunciated, that 
 it was impossible to make a treaty with France, and at the 
 same time maintain social order, was falsified by the Treaty 
 of Basle. Even the cause of Poland, which a moderate 
 friend of liberty might have espoused, was sacrificed without 
 a sigh by the Jacobin rulers of France. So that Pitt 
 might well have tolerated a rule which was consistent with 
 the arbitrary government of Prussia, and the unprincipled 
 dismemberment of Poland. 
 
 But, in fact, the doctrine that peace with France was incom- 
 patible with social order, and would be fatal to religion and 
 morality, was nothing more than the baseless dream of
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 41 
 
 Burke, and the rhetorical phrase of Pitt. To this dream 
 and this phrase, however, English lives were sacrificed by 
 thousands, and a debt wantonly incurred which still presses 
 on the shoulders of the English people, who pay to this day 
 more than twenty millions a year for these fatal illusions.
 
 42 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 MISSION OF LOBD SPENCEE AND ME. GKENVILLE TO VIENNA, 1794. 
 
 The srreat mistake of Pitt and Lord Grenville in the conduct 
 of the war upon the Continent was their false estimate 
 of the views and dispositions of the chief Powers engaged 
 against France. The English Ministers imagined that the 
 Continental Courts, affrighted at the revolutionary crimes 
 and revolutionary doctrines of France, were ready to 
 fight to the death for the cause of social order, and for 
 the maintenance of monarchical instituti(ms. But this was 
 far from being the case. The first efforts of the French to 
 put a curb on despotism and establish representative govern- 
 ment, the first restraints put upon the absolute will of the 
 French Monarch, had indeed alarmed the great Powers of the 
 Continent, and these Powers had made their feeble effort, by 
 means of the Prussian army under the Duke of Brunswick, 
 to crush the independence of France. But when that effort 
 was defeated at the passes of the xirgonne, the Alliance 
 broke into fragments, and each fragment began to move in 
 its own orbit, round its own centre of attraction. Austria 
 now pursued a course in accordance with the views which 
 Austrian statesmen had held from the time of the Barrier 
 Treaty.* M. Thugut and his colleagues, like their prede- 
 
 * See Coxe's " House of Austria," passim.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 43 
 
 cessors, considered that the retention of the Low Countries 
 under the rule of Austria was a mistake. They calculated 
 the cost of the great armies necessary for the defence of these 
 remote provinces, and they came to the conclusion that it would 
 be wise to abandon so dishint and so discontented a depen- 
 dency. As English statesmen, however, founded their support 
 of Austria on the possession of the Low Countries by the Em- 
 peror, his Ministers advised him to make an appearance of 
 fifjhting for this object, but to make no hearty struggle for 
 success. The consequences were soon visible, and were not 
 unwelcome to Austrian statesmen. The Committee of Public 
 Safety, who were terribly in earnest, added regiment to regi- 
 ment and army to army. The Prince of Coburg, after neglect- 
 ing to succour Charleroy, and after fighting a faint-hearted 
 battle at Flcurus, withdrew to the Rhine. The whole of 
 Flanders and Brabant fell a second time into the hands of 
 tlie French. Li the following winter, during a very liard frost, 
 General Pichegru advanced to Amsterdam, and with a few 
 squadrons of hussars captured the fleet in the Texel. The 
 Duke of York with his army, and the Prince of Orange 
 with his Court, were glad to escape to England. 
 
 Pitt, who had but one resource for carrying on war, 
 adoptcjl it on this occasion, lie had lo^^t the nominal 
 alliance of Prussia by refusing to continue his subsidies ; he 
 retained the nominal alliance of Austria by lavish gifts of 
 British money. lie therefore offered to Austria three 
 millions sterling; Austria asked more, and he gave more.* 
 F(jr thi.s subsidy, Austria, after abandoning Belgium and 
 Holland to the French, gave fresh jjromises, to be followed 
 by fresh defeats; new resolutions, to he nisinu departed from ; 
 
 * " MdmoirM d'un Homine il'Ktat." It is there snid Umt Mr. Pitt coDsetitcU 
 to give six instead of tbrit- niillioiit.
 
 44 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and, finally, some weak efforts, to be terminated by peace with 
 France. What is mortifying in all this story, is the reflec- 
 tion that while Tuscany, Prussia, and Spain made peace 
 with the Republic of France, England was still deluded by 
 the cry that men who had put their King to death, murdei'ed 
 their enemies, and proclaimed wild impracticable theories of 
 government, were incapable of carrying on the relations 
 of peace and amity. The nations of the Continent were 
 not deceived by this pious fraud. They laiew that when 
 the English put their King to death in 1649, Spain and 
 France were only intent on making an advantageous peace 
 with the usurper.* They knew that neither the horrors of 
 the massacre of St. Bartholomew, nor the tortures and 
 murders of the Spanish Inquisition, had provoked Eliza- 
 beth or Cromwell to make war on France or Spain. 
 Moreover, many of the military, and many of the civil 
 officers of the German Governments, had embraced French 
 principles. They had no inclination, therefore, to make 
 war to prevent the advance of such principles. Nor could 
 they believe that England felt the horror she professed. 
 They argued that the destruction of the French navy, and 
 the monopoly of trade by sea, were the real objects of 
 Pitt ; and they thought it but fair that, for objects purely 
 English, they should not fight unless amply paid for the work. 
 
 We have related in a former chapter the defection of 
 Prussia ; we have now to calculate the value of the fidelity of 
 Austria. 
 
 In the summer of 1794, the British Ministry, disappointed 
 at the failure of the Imperialists, determined to send Lord 
 Spencer and Mr. Grenville to Vienna, "to endeavour to 
 encourage our xlustrian Allies to a little more exertion and 
 
 * See " Whitelocke's Embassy to Sweden."
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 45 
 
 enerfT}'," which Lord Grenville was persuaded was " the only 
 thinjT wantinfT to ensure success."* 
 
 Mr. Thomas Grenville was a man of a strong and clear 
 understanding-, who, in spite of excessive fears of French Jaco- 
 binism, was quite capable of penetrating the real character 
 of atfairs which were transacted before his eyes. In an able 
 and sagacious statement of the prospects of the mission con- 
 tained in a letter to the Duke of Portland from Vienna, Mr. 
 Grenville informs his correspondent that the British Cabinet 
 will not be able to buy, even at a dear rate, " a pro])ortionate 
 degree of energy and activity in the war from this Govern- 
 ment." He goes on to say : " There is no soul in the bodies 
 of these men — none, at least, which is alive to the magnitude 
 of all the objects now at stake, or which leads them to share 
 with you the great points of common danger and common 
 interest ; and while these mainsprings are wanting, it is in 
 vain to look for such movements and effects as cannot be 
 produced without them."! He expresses his wish, therefore, 
 as well as that of Lord Spencer, to be relieved from a fruit- 
 less tai^k. At a later time he writes, that if the whole amount 
 of the subsidy were to be expended, " it might be more ad- 
 vantageously used in the purchase of Hessians, Swiss, or any. 
 other such troops absolutely at our disposal, in addition to the 
 Au.strians, than in the proposed purchase of increased vigour 
 and activity in the Government and army of this country. 
 You cannot huy what they have not to sell^X 
 
 III a subsequent letter, Mr. Grenville, after describing 
 M. (if i'liugut as very diligent and laborious in his oilicc, 
 proceeds to s<'iy of him : " What we, however, miss in him i.s, 
 either the disposition or c;ipacity to sec the present great 
 
 ♦ " Mcmoini of Courta aiid Cabinet*," vol. ii. pp. C.IS, 259. 
 t Ibid. p. 'JO.}. X Ibid. p. 'J8I.
 
 46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 crisis of Europe upon the large scale on which it should be 
 looked at by the leading Minister of this Empire ; instead of 
 which, we see in all our discussions a cold, narrow, and con- 
 tracted view of this subject, infinitely too languid and little 
 for the object, and made peculiarly unfavourable to our pro- 
 positions by the disinclination which he certainly feels to 
 concur heartily with us in the great interests attached to the 
 Austrian possession of the Low Countries."* Yet, thouo-h 
 "cold, narrow, and contracted," "languid and little" in his 
 views, Thugut could see clearly enough the mote in his 
 brother's eye. In his remarks on the King of Prussia, 
 Thugut spoke, Mr. Grenville says, "with some truth and 
 some humour." M. de Thugut aflirmed of the Kino- of 
 Prussia " that all he wanted was to use the whole of his army 
 to conquer Poland without the loss of a man ; and in reward 
 to receive from us (England) a pension of a million and a 
 half per annura."t Lord Malmesbury, who was never wanting 
 in clear perceptions, says at this time : " It is really deplorable 
 that we should be the only nation in Europe who are up to 
 the danger of the moment, and that the minds of all the 
 other Cabinets are so tainted with false principles, or so 
 . benumbed, that it is impossible to work upon them."| 
 
 In fact, the Continental Powers had ceased to contemplate 
 the French Revolution with the feelings of horror and 
 affright by which they had been affected upon the first 
 spectacle of the meeting of the National Assembly, and the 
 first illusions of liberty. There was some reason, perhaps, 
 for the diminution of their fear that their subjects might be 
 captivated by the visions which had thrown so much brightness 
 over the dawn of liberty in France. Duessa, in the form of a 
 
 * " Courts and Cabinets," vol. ii. p. 292. 
 t Ibid. p. 3U9. J Ibid. p. 310.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 47 
 
 beautiful maiden in distress, mipht work on the sympathies of 
 a generous knight ; but the same Duessa, when she appeared 
 as a loathsome, tilthy hag, could excite only horror and 
 disgust. So the youth of Europe, who had been caught 
 by the visions of liberty and equality in 171)0, might well 
 recoil fi'ora the bloody massacres and brutal excesses of the 
 sans-culotfes in 1 793. In this situation, Austria, to the infinite 
 indignation of the Anti- Jacobin school, thought more of extend- 
 ing her frontier, and procuring an improved barrier, or, better 
 still, of obtaining Bavaria in the place of Belgium, than of 
 crushing the Bepublican Government in Paris. Monsieur, 
 the French Pretender, protested against the appro})riation of 
 French territory by Austria. The Emigrants were every- 
 where naturally indignant, and (Cardinal Maury, the Royalist 
 orator of the National Assembly, spoke of joining the 
 Jacobins. But Pitt seems to have thou"-ht of nothinir so 
 much as of inducing Austria to accept our money in return 
 for vain promises and unsuccessful hostilities. In May, 1795, 
 four millions six hundred thousand pounds were lent to the 
 Emperor, and this lavish loan had the cordial approbation of 
 Parliament.* The delusion continued some time lono-er. 
 English money was given in profusion, but it did not purchase 
 energy and vigour ; fur " England could not buy wliat 
 Austria had not to sell." It at length became apparent to all 
 sensible men that social order was in no dan<:er ; that the 
 French Government was as capable as any other of maintain- 
 ing relations of amity ; that to fight for the restoration of 
 the lk)urbons, or to fight for a better frontier for Austria, 
 
 • *' I'arlinmpiitary HiHtory." In IH2'>, Mi-. FrpJoiitk Kobinson, then Clmnccllor 
 of 'the Exchequer, announced to the House of Commons that he had obtained from 
 Austria one milHon ajt repiiyment of thin loan, inincipiil and interest; and this divi- 
 dend of four >hiUing« in tiie |iouud he designated "a godsend." — " Debatis," 18'.'.j.
 
 48 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 were alike unjustifiable and dangerous ; that we exposed our 
 friends and aggrandized our enemies by a course at once 
 wrong and inexpedient. 
 
 Pitt was not insensible to truths now become evident. 
 
 Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras 
 Hie labor, hoc opus est. 
 
 If he and his colleagues had gone down to Parliament, 
 had owned themselves deceived, had pointed to Prussia 
 and Spain, where civil order had not been disturbed by a 
 Regicide Peace, had proposed to give no more subsidies 
 to Continental Powers, and to make peace with France as 
 quickly as possible, what would have become of the minis- 
 terial majority ? 
 
 Unhappily, whatever were his motives, Pitt persevered 
 in a war which he no longer approved, but from which he 
 found it difficult to escape.
 
 CHARLKS JAMES FOX. 49 
 
 CHAITER XLII. 
 
 BKITISn MILITAnY AND KAVAL OrERATIOXS, 1793-4. 
 
 I HAVE said, in a former chapter, that there were three 
 different schemes for conducting the war, any one of which 
 Pitt miglit have chosen — namely : (1) to attempt the restora- 
 tion of monarchy ; (2) to weaken France by depriving her of 
 some part of French territory ; or (3) to defend the King's 
 dominions and cripple France on the sea. Pitt being 
 doubtful which object he should pursue, tried all three 
 methods at once. 
 
 In pursuance of the scheme for restoring the French 
 monarchy, an expedition was sent to Toulon to support 
 a jiarty there who had got possession of the town and 
 harbour, and had proclaimed Louis XVII. and the Con- 
 stitution of 17^1. Of the success of this ])Uin Lord 
 GrenviJle wais very hopeful. On the 15th of Sej)tenibcr, 
 17'J3, at night, he wrote to the ^Marquis of Buckingham: 
 " After all, a few towns more or less in Flanders are cer- 
 t'liiily not unimj)ortant, but I am much mistaken in my 
 sjKiCulation, if the business of 'i'oulon is not decisive of the 
 war. Oidy let ytjur own mind fcjllow up all the conscMjuences 
 of that event, arid you will, I believe, agree with mc that the 
 expression I have used is not too sanguine."* 
 
 • " CourUoixl <':il.inctii," vol. ii. j-. 4'J. 
 
 vol.. ru. K
 
 50 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF t^ 
 
 Toulon was besieged and taken by the Republican troops ; 
 the Royalists, to the number of 14,300, were killed by 
 grape-shot, by musketry, and the guillotine ; the French ships 
 were burnt by the English, and the town by the fury of 
 the Jacobins. Such was the end of " the business of 
 Toulon."* 
 
 Let us now see the effect of those military operations which 
 were among the fruits of the second plan — namely, that of 
 weakening France on the Continent of Europe. 
 
 The first requisite in an English war upon the Continent is 
 the choice of a general. Queen Anne had appointed Marlbo- 
 rough as her commander ; and well did he justify her discern- 
 ment. In the conduct of the Seven Years' War, Lord Chatham 
 is said to have hesitated, and looking over the list of generals 
 in the Army List, to have exclaimed : " I don't know what effect 
 this list may have upon the enemy, but it makes me tremble." 
 In naming General Wolfe, however, for his Canada expedition, 
 he made a happy though hazardous choice. His son, with 
 greater powers, in the midst of a more perilous war than that of 
 175G, selected the Duke of York, a young prince of an honour- 
 able and manly character, but without military capacity, and 
 totally wanting in military and all other knowledge. The 
 choice was successful at Court, but fatal in the campaign. In 
 fact, the selection was an unwise and discreditable concession 
 to the King's partiality to his son. Of this appointment 
 Lieut.-General Sir Henry Bunbury says: "it certainly was 
 gratifying to George HI. ; . . . But the Cabinet seems 
 to have entertained strong misgivings of the fitness of their 
 own appointment, for they clogged it with instructions that, 
 on every occasion of importance, his Royal Highness should 
 convene a council of war ; . . . But, much as I loved the 
 
 ' Alison, "Hist, of Euicpe,' vol.iii.
 
 ' CHARLES JAMES FOX. 51 
 
 Duke personally ; much as I felt the many good and amiable 
 qualities in his character ; much as I owe to him of gratitude 
 for long kindness to myself, I cannot but acknowledge that 
 he was not qualified to become the ostensible head of a great 
 army in arduous service. At home, he administered the 
 business of our military establishments sedulously, zealously, 
 clearly, and impartially ; but he possessed none of the higher 
 (lualities which influence the fate of a campaign, or turn the 
 fortune of a battle. He was of a cool courage ; he would 
 have stood all day to be shot at ; but he had no active 
 bravery. With a very fiilr understanding, he had little 
 ([uickness of apprehension ; still less of sagacity in penetra- 
 tiug designs, or forming large views : painstaking, yet devoid 
 of resources, and easily disheartened by difficulties."* Such 
 was the General whom Pitt and Dundas employed in this 
 great war, upon the issue of which, according to them, the 
 fate of social order in 1-^urope was to depend! 
 
 After some successful but minor operations, the Duke of 
 York, being outnumbered by the generals of the Republic, 
 was forced to retreat, first to lircda and then to Nime- 
 guen. At the end of the year, he left the army, and returned 
 to England. The Stadtholder in vain endeavoured to 
 rouse a spirit of resistance to the French invaders. The 
 English troops in the province of Utrecht evacuated 
 that country amid the execrations of the peoj)le. J-^von 
 the wounded English soldiers were attacked and murdered 
 by our Dutch Alliea Such was the result of the violence 
 by which the British Government had forced the Dntcii 
 to abandon their own wi>c policy (jf neutrality, and 
 to figiit for the cause of monarchy ! A severe frost comiu"- 
 on during this winter, Amsterdam was thrown ojxm by its 
 
 • Sir II. DuLbtirj'* " Tlio (Jrc.it War witli Frniice," i>. 44. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF * 
 
 sans-culoUe citizens to the French invaders. Other towns 
 of Holland followed its example, and General Pichegru 
 made himself master without difficulty of that State from 
 which Louis XIV. had been driven with disg-race. 
 
 While such were the dark features of the campaign which 
 England carried on upon the Continent, she was com- 
 pletely successful in warfare on her own element — the 
 sea. On the 1st of June, 1794, Lord Howe, with twenty- 
 five sail of the line, met the French Admiral, who had twenty- 
 six, and a greater number of guns than the British fleet. 
 The result of a severe battle was, that seven sail of the line 
 fell into the hands of the English, and many other French 
 vessels were so crippled that a vigorous pursuit would pro- 
 bably have secured several more prizes. But Lord Howe, 
 though brave and skilful, was somewhat too old for the 
 work required. Such were the first exploits of the war, so 
 far as the British army and navy were concerned ; showing 
 clearly what objects we ought to pursue, and what we ought 
 to avoid. 
 
 But every lesson was in vain ; in 1799, the Duke of York 
 was sent to command a fresh expedition, to make fresh mis- 
 takes, and to make another inglorious retreat. 
 
 Lord Macaulay, who saw clearly enough that Pitt's con- 
 huct of the war was wrong, though he fails to prove that a 
 war, conducted on Burke's principle, would have been suc- 
 cessful, says : 
 
 '• It was impossible that a man who so completely mistook 
 the nature of a contest could carry on that contest success- 
 fully Great as Pitt's abilities were, his military adminis- 
 tration was that of a driveller." 
 
 Pitt's mistake was not that he misunderstood the nature 
 of The contest, but [tl.at not sharing the opinions of
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 53 
 
 Burke, Lord Grenville, and AViiulham, he tried to conduct 
 the war without a principle and without an object, in the vague 
 hope that France, having no credit and only a paper cur- 
 rency, greatly depreciated, must soon be ruined. \'ain 
 expectation !
 
 54 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 FINANCIAL MEASrKES OF PITT. 
 
 During the period which elapsed from 1784 to 1792, 
 Pitt had justly obtained the credit of having repaired 
 the finances, which the prodigality of Lord North, during 
 the American War, had left in a state of disorder. After 
 having restored the balance of income and expenditure, he 
 had reserved a million of surplus, which he vainly hoped 
 would extinguish the National Debt, in 1808. His portrait 
 at Windsor Castle records this title to glory, and " Redemp- 
 tion of the National Debt " is inscribed on a scroll which, 
 with apparent complacency, he holds in his hand. Alas 
 for his financial fame ! No sooner was the country engaged 
 in war than Pitt, by his faulty and unsound system of 
 finance, increased the National Debt in a manner which, at 
 the end of the war, left an additional burthen on posterity, 
 four times as great as the whole National Debt at the end 
 of the Seven Years' War ! Let us see how this came to pass. 
 In the wars of the English Revolution, against Louis XIV., 
 considerable debts had been incurred ; the victories of Blen- 
 heim, Oudenarde, Ramillies, Malplaquet, and La Hogue, 
 had entailed heavy burthens on the nation. But Montagu 
 and Godolphin were wise enough to borrow at 5, 0, 7, or 
 8 per cent., according to the market value of money ; so
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 55 
 
 that Walpolo and rdhani were enabled to reduce the in- 
 terest of the National Debt to 5, 4, and finally to 3 per 
 cent. ; diminishing at each reduction of interest the national 
 burthens. Archdeacon Coxe tells us that such was at one 
 time the state of public credit that, between 1750 and 1756, 
 no less than 112^. was given for 100^. stock, bearing 3 per 
 cent, interest.* 
 
 Far different was the conduct of Pitt. lie raised, in 
 the first place, large sums of money by loan, and very little 
 by taxes, so as to throw on posterity the heaviest, and on 
 his own time the lightest, possible burthen. " That it was," 
 said Mr. (jrladstone, " that conferred upon Mr. Pitt the title 
 of ' the Ileaven-born ]Ministor.' ... I have understood 
 that that name came from the city of London, and came 
 from the city of London at the time when Pitt embarked 
 this country in the unhappy policy of meeting the expendi- 
 ture of a revolutionary war, even from the first, by loan, 
 loan, loan. . . . Here, sir, is the War Budget of 17U2. 
 What did Mr. Pitt do with regard to the first operations 
 of the war? ]\rr. Pitt proposed a plan involving an excess 
 of charge over Ways and Means of 4,500,000/. — that 
 is, taking the income of the country on one side, and taking 
 the charge connected with the first operations of the war 
 on the other. . . lie had heard then, no doul)t. all 
 those plausil)ilities we hear now in great abundance — such 
 as, ' Oh, the war is all for the benefit of posterity, and why 
 should not posterity \ydy fur it ?' He therefore met a 
 chargi! of 1,500,000/., not by attempting to fill his exciiequer 
 by the proceeds of taxes, but by sending into the City, and 
 asking for a loan of 0,000,000/. at 75/. Well, he very easily 
 accompli.-5hed tliat desire. . . . Mr. l^itt thought he 
 
 • VVfflpole'ii " Life of I'elhani. '
 
 56 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 should get that loan at 4 per cent., but he had to pay 
 4Z, 3s. 4d. per cent, even on the 4,500,000?. of the first year. 
 What was the second step ? In ] 794, Mr. Pitt borrowed 
 11,000,000/., paying for it, not 4Z. 3s. U., hut 41 10s. 9d. per 
 cent. In 1795, he borrowed 18,000,000/., at Al. 15s. 8^. per 
 cent. In 1796, he borrowed 25,500,000/., for which'he paid 
 4/. 14s. dd. and 4/. 12s. 2d. per cent. In 1797, he borrowed 
 32,500,000/., for which he paid 5/. 14s. dd. and 6/. Qs. lOd. 
 per cent. Surely he deserved popularity ! Surely for this 
 he was a Heaven-born Minister! Again, in 1798, Mr. Pitt 
 borrowed 17,000,000/., at 6/. 4s. dd. per cent. Such were 
 the fatal effects of the series of measures upon which he had 
 entered, that in order to obtain those 17,000,000/. indepen- 
 dently of annuities separately created, he added 34,000,000/. 
 to the capital of the National Debt. In fact, the financial 
 operations of these six years, unsuccessful and inefi'ective as 
 they were, in respect to the war, gave him a sum of no more 
 than 108,500,000/., but they added nearly 200,000,000/. to 
 the capital of the National Debt."* 
 
 Such is the picture of Pitt's financial policy during the 
 first five years of the war, drawn by no unfriendly hand. 
 
 It must be remembered that, as the debt was not increased 
 after the manner of Montagu and Godolphin, so neither 
 could its burthen be lightened after the manner of Walpole 
 and Pelham. For 108,500,000/. borrowed between 1793 
 and 1798, with the exception of sums paid off, we still pay 
 4/, 3s. Ad., 4/. 10s. 9t/., 5/. 14s. 3d., and 6/. 4s 9d. per cent. 
 
 The encouragement, and, in Pitt's eyes, the justification 
 of this wanton extravagance, was the expectation on his 
 part that the war would not last. " I remember," said 
 Mr. Canning, " hearing Mr. Pitt, not in his place in Parlia- 
 
 * " rarliameutaiy Debates," Srd series, vol. xiii. pp. 1472-4.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 57 
 
 rr.ent, where it might have been his object and his duty to 
 animate zeal and encourage hope, but in the privacy of his 
 domestic circle, among the friends in whom he confided — I 
 remember well hearing him say, in ITUo, that he expected 
 that war to be of very short duration. That duration ran 
 out to a period beyond the life of him who made the pre- 
 diction."* 
 
 It was in the vain and false expectation that the war 
 would be short, and with a view to reconcile the ])eople to 
 burthens of which they might otherwise soon be weary, that 
 Pitt made such inadequate provision for its expenses. 
 
 It was with this view that he charged us, his posterity, 
 with loans at 5 and 6 per cent., which we are now paying 
 with the 3 per cents at 88. Thus, of the different modes 
 of carrying on war, before enumerated — viz., by alli- 
 ances, by expeditions, and by pecuniary exertions — no one 
 had been successfully pursued. Prussia, instead of cement- 
 ing her alliance, had fallen off, and had made peace with 
 the Jacobin Republic ; Austria had no energy to sell, 
 and her languid efforts always ended in defeat. The cam- 
 paigns in the Low Countries, canned on by an incaj)able com- 
 mander, had terminated by the evacuation of Holland, amid 
 the execrations of the people whom our young Prince went 
 to deliver from the '' miscreants" of France. An enormous 
 addition had been made to the National Debt of (ireat 
 Britain, in such a manner as to entail a j)erj)('tual burthen 
 on posterity of an amount needlessly swelled by lavish 
 extravagance and erroneous views of finance. 
 
 It may be well to state here what was the; actual increase 
 of debt which Pitt and his successors have left to us, and 
 (iur posterity, an a legacy. At the end of the American 
 
 • '• Parliamentary lX>ktteii," New Scries, vol. viii. J.!". l.>l''-Jt).
 
 58 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 war, the National Debt amounted, in round numbers, to 
 
 257,000,000?. On the 5th of January, 1817, when the French 
 
 war was over, the National Debt was . . 845,000,000?. 
 
 257,000,000?. 
 
 588,000,000?. 
 
 Of this immense sum, a wise Minister might probably have 
 spared 500,000,000?., the interest of which we have to pay 
 yearly, with little hope of its diminution.
 
 CKARLES JAMES FOX. 59 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 fox's letters to his KEPHEW. — HIS HAPPINESS IN PIUVATE LIFE. — 
 
 Ills MAKUIAGE. 
 
 \\'iliLE Fox derived hai)[)iiiess from the reHection that he 
 had done all in his power to prevent the war, there would 
 frequently come over his heart the sadness which his love 
 of humanity could not hut inspire in those calamitous times. 
 At these moments the verses of Cowper recurred painfully to 
 his mind : 
 
 " Oh ! for a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
 Some boundless contiguity of shade, 
 Where rumour of op])ression and deceit, 
 Of unsuccessful or successful war, 
 Jliglit never reach me more ! My ear is pained, 
 My soul is sick, with every day's report 
 Of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled." 
 
 He alludes to these lines in a letter to his' nephew, written 
 about Christmas, 171)3, in which, after mentionin<r a note of 
 Lord Robert l-'itzjierald, he says : " In short, there is such 
 a barefaced contempt of ])rinciple and of justice in every 
 step we take, that it is quite disgustin<^ to think that it can 
 be endured. Fraivce is worse is the only answer, and 
 perhaps that is true in fact, for the horrors there grow every 
 day worse. The transactions at Lyons seem to surpass all 
 their former wickedness. Do you remember Cowju'r ? 
 
 •' ' Oh ! for a lodye," &c.
 
 00 TPIE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 It is a much more natural wish now than when it was 
 uttered. If I had written yesterday, I should have said, 
 ' Poor O'Hara ; ' to-day I am glad that he is a prisoner, as it 
 has exempted him from being concerned in the evacuation of 
 Toulon. We do not yet know to what number, but it is cer- 
 tain that thousands of poor wretches, who had been deluded by 
 our promises, are now left by us to the guillotine. It must 
 be a strong case of necessity which can justify such a pro- 
 ceeding, and at any rate it is fortunate for a man not to be 
 concerned in it."* 
 
 Sometimes he wrote of the state of the Whig party. Thus, 
 in March, 1794, he says: "The Duke of Portland, Fitz- 
 william, and Grenville all came, or wrote to me some days 
 before the meeting of Parliament, to tell me, with the 
 strongest expressions at the same time of personal friendship 
 and esteem, that they felt it necessary to take a more decided 
 line than they had hitherto done, in support of the Adminis- 
 tration ; in short, to declare formally the separation, or, rather, 
 the dissolution, of the Whig party. Many from this supposed 
 that they meant to join the Ministry by taking offices ; I did not, 
 and I now think it is clear that I was right. However, they 
 all voted for the address, and persuaded the Duke of 
 Devonshire to do the same, and the Cavendishes in the House 
 of Commons to stay away, for they could not be brought to 
 vote with Pitt or for the war. You will easily imagine how 
 much I felt the separation from persons with whom I had so 
 long been in the habit of agreeing. It seemed some way as if 
 I had the world to begin anew, and if I could have done it 
 with honour, what I should best have liked would have been 
 to retire from politics altogether ; but this could not be done, 
 and therefore there remains nothing but to get together the 
 
 * " Memoiis and Correspondence of Fox," vol. iii. p. 59.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 61 
 
 remains of our party, ami begin, like Sisyphus, t(i roll up the 
 stone afjain, which, long before it reaches the sununit, may 
 probably roll down again. Even in our small ])arty, all is 
 not quite in harmony; but I rather think that the necessity 
 of concert begins to be more felt, and that we may soon 
 l>ecome something like a party. In the House of Conunons 
 we are weak in numbers, but not in argument, nor, 1 think, 
 in credit, for notwithstanding Pitt's great majorities, it is 
 evident that the House is very far from sanguine about the 
 war, if not altogether disgusted with it. Everything we say 
 against it is heard with great attention, and though Pitt has 
 spoken two or three times extremely well, tlie House does 
 not appear to be responsive to him."* 
 
 Giving an account of the speakers of his party, he says : 
 "On our side. Grey, I think, is the person most improved. 
 Sheridan has spoken admirably, but that is not new. AVhit- 
 bread did very well indeed last Thursday, which was the 
 first time he has done so since the Russian business, which 
 raised my expectations of him so much. In the House of 
 Lords. Lord Guildford has raised himself very high in all 
 people's opinions, and Lord Albemarle is very promising 
 indeed. The Duke of Bedford spoke, as I hear from every- 
 body, excessively well ; which, on every account, I am happy 
 at. His steadiness and zeal have been of the greatest use, 
 and I think he is a man that, having be<run, is sure to go on. 
 I look upon him to be one of the main pillars of the party. 
 You know, I am one who think both property and rank of 
 great importance; in this country in a party view; and, in 
 addition to these, the Duke of Bedford lias a very good 
 un(h;rstanding — I wish I could add, jxipular manners, l^iu- 
 derdale ai.d Derby you know; iiisliort, there is quite enough 
 
 • " .Moin.ijr* nii'l ('orri*»{>oinlouco of l-'ox," vol. i i. p. 05.
 
 62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 in the House of Lords to make it a very troublesome place 
 to Ministers, and to give you an opportunity of debating when 
 you come. When will that be ? I do long to see you, I 
 own ; and when you have seen Italy, I do not know what 
 should stop you. At Naples there is a great deal to see, 
 particularly antiquities, some of which are not so much worth 
 seeing for themselves as for the very pretty places which you 
 see in going to them. The temples at Psestum are more 
 curious than beautiful, but the road there is very well worth 
 seeing, especially about Salerno, which seems to be the 
 country Salvator Rosa most studied."* 
 
 Again, in the same month, he writes : " Arguments 
 against the war and our alliances are heard favourably 
 in the House of Commons, though they do not get us 
 a vote ; but sentiments of liberty and complaints of oppres- 
 sion are very little attended to, however well founded. 
 In short, liberty is not popular, and of those who are 
 attached to it, there are too many who have wild and im- 
 practicable schemes of government, to which the miserable 
 state we are in, both in regard to Foreign Affairs and our 
 Constitution, gives more plausibility and credit than they 
 are by their own merit entitled to. The country seems 
 divided (very unequally indeed) between the majority, who 
 are subdued by fears or corrupted by hopes, and the minority, 
 who are waiting sulkily for opportunities for violent remedies. 
 The few who are neither subdued enough to be silent throuo-h 
 fear, nor desperate enough to give up regular opposition, in 
 expectation of more violent measures, are weak both in 
 number and weight ; but, though weak, we are right, and 
 that must be our comfort."t 
 
 On the 25th of April, writing from St. Anne's Hill, and re- 
 
 * " Memoirs and Coirespondence of Fox," vol. iii. p. G7. f IWd. p. 70.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 63 
 
 ferrinfT to two letters he had written to his nephew, he says : 
 *' In the first, I gave you an account, at length, of politics, 
 particularly as far as concerned myself. They go on, accord- 
 ing to the Irish translation of semper eadem, worse and 
 worse. I am heartily tired of them, but one must do one's 
 duty. In the course of the debates upon the last measure of 
 enlisting the Emigrants, it seemed to be avowed that the 
 restitution of the old Government of France is now the 
 object of the war, and that the re-instatement of the Emi- 
 grants in their possessions is to be the sine qua non of peace. 
 Surely this is madness, or I am mad. Here am I passing a 
 most comfortable week of holidays, the weather delicious, 
 and the place looking beautiful beyond description, and the 
 niglitingales singing, and Mrs. A. as happy as the day is 
 long — all which circumstances enable me to bear public 
 calamities with wonderful philosophy ; but yet I cannot help 
 thinking now and then of the dreadful state of things in 
 Europe, and the real danger which exists, in my opinion, of 
 the total extinction of liberty, and possibly of civilization, too, 
 if this war is to go on upon the principles which are held 
 out. We hear of a great struggle in Poland, but I do not 
 like to indulge myself in hopes for the poor Poles, lest it 
 should be all noise and end in a disappointment."* 
 
 Writing fnmi the iManager's Box at \Vestnun>t(M- Hall, lie 
 seems to delight in dwellinj^r on the works of art, and esj)e- 
 cially the paintings, he saw in Italy, and refers to Paphael's 
 pictures in the Vatican, to the San (jirolamo of Doinini- 
 chino, and to a picture of Christ in the garden, by CJuercino, 
 which," he says, " I think is the first of his pictures, and, 
 p<.'rhai)S, the most pleasing picture in the world." in others 
 of his letters he also refreshes his recolhu'tions of the pictures 
 
 • "Memoir* and Corici»pon(J(.iifo of Fox," vol. iii, \\. 71.
 
 64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 in which he delighted. He praises the Bolognese school, 
 but seems to prefer the Venetian to any other, and the San 
 Pietro Martire of Titian to every other picture. 
 
 Singularly happy in his nature, devoid of all envy, and 
 knowing how little his habits were suited to official life, 
 he bore the storm of unpopularity, libel, and calumny 
 with unruffled ease and good humour. " It is a great com- 
 fort to me," he writes, on the 23rd of June, 1794, " to reflect 
 how steadily I have opposed this war, for the miseries it 
 seems likely to produce are without end. . . . How- 
 ever, in these bad times, here am I with Liz., enjoying 
 the fine weather, the beauty, and, not its least beauty, the 
 idleness of this place as much as if these horrors were not 
 going on. When one has done all one can, as I think I 
 have, to prevent mischief, one has a right, I think, to forget 
 its existence if one is happily situated, so as not to be within 
 its reach ; and, indeed, 1 could not name any time of my life 
 when I was happier than I am now ; but I do not believe I 
 should be so if I had acted otherwise than I have done. 
 This is quite such weather as you would like, warm enough 
 to sit under a tree and do nothing all day, or, as Ariosto 
 says : 
 
 " ' Air ombi-a de' poggetti 
 
 Legger d' auticlii gli amorosi detti.' 
 
 I wish you were here to enjoy it with us, and, faith, that is 
 almost the only wish I have." 
 
 He did not much like to wander back from these subjects 
 to the passing interests of the day, and, above all, to the cruel 
 rupture in his old party. It is interesting, however, to see in 
 what manner he treats it, and how easily he reconciles him- 
 self to the loss of all prospect of office, which was the conse- 
 quence of it. On the 18th of August, 1794, he thus writes to
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 65 
 
 Lord Holland, concluding with a reference to his own happi- 
 ness, and the satisfaction he felt at the fall of Rohespierre : 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill, August 18th, 1794. 
 
 " It is SO long since I wrote to you last, that I think 
 I must write now, or you will fancy (which is very far 
 indeed from being the case) that I have forgot you. The 
 truth is, I never had so great a dislike to writing or talking 
 about any event that ever happened as about those which 
 took place in the beginning of last month.* I have nothing 
 to say for my old friends, nor, indeed, as politicians, have 
 they any right to any tenderness from me ; but I caiinot 
 forget how long I have lived in friendship with thcni, nor 
 Gin I avoid feeling the most severe mortitication, when I 
 recollect the certainty I used to entertain that they never 
 would disgrace themselves, as I think they have done. I 
 cannot forget that, ever since I was a child, Fitzwilliam has 
 been, in all situations, my warmest and most atl'ectionate 
 friend, and the person in the world of whom decidedly I have 
 the best opinion ; and so, in most respects, I have still, but, as 
 a politician, I cannot reconcile his conduct with what I (who 
 have known him for more than five-and-thirty years) have 
 always thought to be his character. U'here is a sentiment 
 in a writer from whom one would not expect much sen- 
 timent (I mean Lord Rochester) that I have always much 
 admired, and which I feel the truth of very forcibly on this 
 occasion. It is this: 'To be ill-used by those on whom we 
 have bestowed favours is so much in the course of things, and 
 ingratitude is so common, that a wise man can neither feel 
 much surprise or pain when he experiences it ; but to be ill- 
 used by those to whom we owe obligati(ins which we can 
 never forget, and towards whom we must continue to feel 
 
 • Thff jmiclion of thf Duke of I'orli.ui.l. ic. with Mr. I'itt. 
 VOL. Ul. F
 
 66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 affection and gratitude, is indeed a most painful sensation,' 
 I do not believe these are the words, but I know they are 
 the sense of the passage I allude to. I think they have all 
 behaved very ill to me, and for most of them, who certainly 
 owe much more to me than I do to them, I feel nothing but 
 contempt, and do not trouble myself about them ; but Fitz- 
 william is an exception indeed, and to my feelings for him 
 everything Lord Rochester says applies very strongly indeed. 
 But I will not say any more upon this unpleasant subject, 
 only that I do not think we shall be much weaker as an 
 opposition, on account of what has happened, and one would 
 think if anything happened, as it used to do, that the events 
 of this campaign must make us stronger. I hope you will 
 come home soon, and if you make the figure I cannot help 
 thinking that you will, it will make amends to me for every- 
 thing, and make me feel alive again about politics ; which I 
 am now quite sick of, and attend to only because I think it a 
 duty to do so, and feel that it would be unbecoming my 
 character to quit them at such a moment. Here, I am per- 
 fectly happy. Idleness, fine weather, Ariosto, a little Spanish, 
 and the constant company of a person I love, I think, more 
 and more every day and every hour, make me as happy as I 
 am capable of being, and much more so than I could hope 
 to be if politics took a different turn. Though the death of 
 Robespierre took place on the 28th of last month, we have yet 
 no I'egular account of it here, I own, I think it a very good 
 event in one view — that it will serve to destroy an opinion which 
 was gaining ground, that extreme severity and cruelty are the 
 means fo safety and success to those who practise them."* 
 
 Again, on the 21st, a few days later, he writes : " It is, 
 as you say, a great comfort indeed to reflect that one is 
 
 * '* Memoirs and Con-espondence of Fox," vol, iii, p. 79.
 
 CLL^ELES JAMES FOX. 67 
 
 wholly innocent of all the national disgrace, and more 
 extended calamity and misery which have already arisen, 
 and will still increase, from the rashness and violence of our 
 ^linisters. When it will end, or how it can end, is more 
 than I can foresee. I am convinced our Government is as 
 determined as ever to make no peace without monarchy in 
 France, which appears to be, if possible, more out of the 
 chances than ever. . . . Notwithstanding all they 
 talk of idleness, I have not had time to read five pages of 
 * Persiles ' these three days. 
 
 " ' How various his employments whom the world 
 Calls idle !' 
 
 is my motto, which I have half a mind to have written on 
 the front of the house here. I have not seen your uncle 
 Dick* since we were at ^Voburn together, about a month 
 ago. We had a very pleasant party there ; but I am sorry 
 to tell you that the Duke has overtaken me at tennis, and 
 beat me, even. Last year I gave him near fifteen. We have 
 a kind of annual party there, and next year, when you are 
 there, the great pond is to be dragged, which has been kept 
 for you. lie takes much to politics, and will, I have no 
 doubt, be steady. 1 believe I told you in my former letters 
 not to omit seeing Vallombrosa and Camaldoli, with both of 
 which I am sure you will be delighted. I'ray, in the Palazzo 
 Pitti (I think it is there), take notice of Titian's portrait of 
 Paul III. It is by far the finest j)ortrait in the world, 
 to my thinking, and I have not yet heard you speak of Titian 
 with the praise he deserves. There is a St. JNIark by Fra 
 Bartolomeo there, too, which is a wonderful fine thing, and 
 a.s grand as anything by M. Angelo. Dinner is on table, 
 and, indeed, if it were not, I have nothing more to say ; so 
 
 • Gencrid Fit/.j>atrick. 
 
 r 2
 
 68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 God bless you, and write me good long letters, and come 
 home as soon as you can,"* 
 
 These are not the letters of a man soured and disappointed 
 by his exclusion from office. 
 
 In a letter from Holkham, written in October, 1794, Fox 
 discusses the utility of party, with some reference, also, to 
 the condition of the Whig party at that time. Although the 
 extract I give is somewhat long, yet the subject is one of so 
 much importance in our constitutional system, that I do not 
 hesitate to give it. 
 
 After discussing the merits of Correggio, and other 
 painters, he says : "I should be much more sorry if we 
 should have any difference of opinion about politics, nor 
 do I think it at all likely, except, perhaps, in the degree 
 of utility which belongs to the system of party. I do not 
 wonder that the late events lead you to doubt the wisdom 
 of that system. I believe they have shaken everybody ; 
 and, if instead of doubting the wisdom of the system, you 
 had said that they showed you the imperfection of the 
 system, I should entirely agree with you. So far I go, but 
 no further. I remain of opinion, I hope not from mere 
 obstinacy — that party is by far the best system, if not the 
 only one, for supporting the cause of liberty in this country ; 
 and I fear the services it has done will appear but too 
 plainly from the mischiefs w^iich are likely to follow its 
 destruction, if, indeed, it be quite destroyed. I am con- 
 vinced that this system, and this alone, has prevented Great 
 Britain from falling into what Hume calls its euthanasia 
 of absolute monarchy ; and that therefore it is my duty 
 and that of those who think like me, to use the utmost 
 endeavours to preserve together what little remains of this 
 
 * '■ Memoirs and Correspondence of Fox," vol. iii. p. 85.
 
 CHARLES JA5IES FOX. 69 
 
 system, or to revive it if it is supposed to be quite extinct. 
 The master of this House,* the Duke of Bedford, Guildford, 
 and Derby, and some others, with myself, make undoubtedly 
 a small basis, but then how glorious it would be from such 
 small beginnings to grow into a real strong party, such as 
 we once were. The times are, in some respects, favourable 
 to such an attempt. At the commencement of the American 
 \\'ar, though we had a greater number of si)lendid names, 
 we were not much more numerous in Parliament, and we 
 grew to what we afterwards were by events. This war 
 must grow to be disliked by all classes of people as much 
 or more than the American War, and we may profit as a 
 party by such an opinion becoming prevalent. You may 
 say, that when we are again become strong, other men 
 may act as the Duke of Portland, Arc, have done, and 
 airain reduce us. They may. But this is an objection to 
 all systems, for in all systems men must be the actors and 
 tlie means ; and men are always liable to act both corruptly 
 and absurdly. The question u])on the solution of which, in 
 my opinion, principally depends the utility of party is, in 
 what situations are men most or least likely to act corruptly ? 
 in a party or insulated ? and of this I think there can be no 
 doubt. There is no man so pure who is not more or less 
 influenced, in a doubtfid case, by the interests of his 
 fortune or his amljition. It", therefore, upon every new 
 question a man has to decide, this influence will have so 
 many frequent opportunities of exerting itself that it will 
 in most cases ultimately prevail ; whereas, if a man has 
 once engaged in a party, the occasions f(jr new decisions 
 are more rare, and consecpiently these corrujjt inlhiences 
 operate less. This reasoning is nmch strengthened when 
 
 ♦ Mr. Coke.
 
 70 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 you consider that many men's minds are so framed that, in 
 a question at all dubious, they are incapable of any decision — 
 some from narrowness of understanding, not seeing the 
 point of the question at all ; others from refinement, seeing 
 so much on both sides, that they do not know how to balance 
 the account. Such persons will, in nine cases out of ten, 
 be influenced by interest, even without their being conscious 
 of the corruption. In short, it appears to me that a party 
 spirit is the only substitute that has been found, or can be 
 found, for public virtue and comprehensive understanding ; 
 neither of which can be reasonably expected to be found 
 in a very great number of people. Over and above all this, 
 it appears to me to be a constant incitement to everything 
 that is right ; for, if a party spirit prevails, all power — aye, 
 and all rank too, in the liberal sense of the word — is in a 
 great measure elective. To be at the head of a party, or 
 even high in it, you must have the confidence of the party ; 
 and confidence is not to be procured by abilities alone. In 
 an epitaph upon Lord Rockingham, written, I believe, by 
 Burke, it is said, 'his virtues icere Ms means;'* and very 
 truly. And so, more or less, it must be with every party 
 man. Whatever teaches men to depend upon one another, 
 and to feel the necessity of conciliating the good opinion of 
 those with whom they live, is surely of the highest advantage 
 to the morals and happiness of mankind ; and what does 
 this so much as party ? jMany of these which I have men- 
 tioned are only collateral advantages, as it were, belonging 
 to this system ; but the decisive argument upon this subject 
 appears to me to be this : is there any other mode or plan 
 in this country by which a rational man can hope to stem 
 
 * The inscription is to be seen in the Mausoleum at Wentworth Woodhouse ; 
 the exact words are: " His virtues were his arts."
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 71 
 
 the power and influence of the Crown? I am sure that 
 neither experience nor any well-reasoned theory has ever 
 shown any other. Is there any other j)lan which is likely 
 to make so g-reat a number of persons resist the tempta- 
 tions of titles and emoluments? And if these things 
 are so. ou<:ht we to abandon a system from which so 
 much good has been derived, because some men have 
 acted inconsistently, or because, from the circumstances 
 of the moment, we are not likely to act with much effect ? 
 I had no idea of going on so far when I began, or I 
 would have endeavoured to have written a little more 
 regularly and systematically upon a subject which I have 
 certainly thought much of, but not with a view of dis- 
 cussing it in a roirular way ; but when we meet, which I 
 hope will now be soon, I will talk it over with you till you 
 are tired."* 
 
 Fox renews the subject in a letter from St. Anne's Hill 
 of the 15th of December: "I have not time to-day to 
 write to you upon half the things I had intended, so will 
 only say one word in answer to what you say in your last 
 about party. You conceive the influence of the Crown, 
 whidi you admit party to be good for counteracting, to be 
 all abuse, and that it may be destroyed ; and in this, in my 
 opinion, consists your princi])al error. How is it ])Ossible 
 that the Executive Government of such an empire as ours 
 should not have a great |)atronage, which nmst always be 
 liable to be abused for the purpose; of improper influence? 
 The defence of such extensive possessions, and the collec- 
 I'uni of .-o large a revenue, nuist always in our form of 
 govcniment be attended with an iiiflunice of the Crown, 
 to counteract which, jtarty (even according to your notions 
 
 * " Meniuin) aud Curre«{x>ndcnce of Fox," vol. iii. \>. 88,
 
 72 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of it) is necessary ; and I am so far from thinking as you 
 do that this influence may be destroyed, that I am at a 
 loss for any plan by which it can be in any considerable 
 degree diminished ; and, perhaps, the more you think upon 
 this subject practically and in detail, the more difficulties 
 you will find. However, let anything be tried that affords 
 any rational hope of success, though I may not be sanguine 
 in it. You will perceive I am always speaking upon the 
 supposition of the form of government remaining unaltered, 
 but even in the case of republics, I think I could equally 
 show the necessity of party principles and parties ; but as I 
 believe we thoroughly agree in wishing the form of govern- 
 ment to continue, that argument would be foreign to our pre- 
 sent purpose. However, of all these things I shall have great 
 pleasure in conversing with you at leisure, and more, perhaps, 
 than you like. Adieu ; I must finish, though I have a 
 thousand things to say. I have no doubt but you rejoiced 
 as I have done upon all these acquittals, about which I 
 was very anxious indeed. It is a good thing that the 
 criminal justice of the country is not quite in the hands of 
 the Crown."* 
 
 On the 6th of March, 1795, Fox writes to his nephew on 
 some views of his, and adds some remarks on Lord Fitz- 
 william's recall. It will be seen that his opinions in favour 
 of the justice and policy of concessions to the Roman 
 Catholics were adopted early and never varied. Here are 
 his words : " Though I have no time to write you more 
 than a few lines, I must not let the post of to-day go 
 without telling you how very much delighted I am with your 
 verses to Mrs. A., which I received together with another 
 letter from you, dated the 24th of January, this morning. 
 
 * " Memoirs and Correspondence of Fox," vol. iii. p. 94.
 
 CIIAET.ES JAMES FOX. 73 
 
 I do not know that the verses, as such, arc particularly 
 good, but there is a kindness in them and something 
 altogether that made me quite happy when I read them ; 
 and indeed you are right, for I believe if ever there was 
 a i)lace that might be called the seat of true happiness, 
 St. Anne's is that place. In a postscript to the last letter I 
 wrote you, I told you a report of the INlinistry here having 
 disavowed Fitzwilliam : I did not then believe it, but it has 
 turned out to be true to a greater extent, even, than the 
 report. ]Ie is to come home immediately, and states 
 himself publiclv to have been betrayed and deserted not 
 only by ]*itt, but by the Duke of Portland. The business 
 will, I hope, be made public soon in all its parts. At present 
 it is very unintelligible, but I feel myself quite sure- that 
 Fitzwilliam will turn out to be as much in the right in all 
 its points as he is clearly so in my judgment with respect to 
 the measures about which the difference between him and the 
 Ministry is said to be the widest. I am told that they give 
 out that the Catholic Bill is the real cause of this recall, and 
 that the question of Beresford, Attorney-General, &c., is 
 comparatively of no consequence. Now, as to the Catholic 
 Bill, it is not only ri^dit in principle, but, after all that was 
 given to the Catholics two years ago, it seems little short of 
 madness to dispute (and at such a time as this) about the 
 very little that remains to be given them. To suppose it 
 po.ssible that now that they are electors they will long 
 submit to be ineligible to Parliament aj)ijears to me to i)e 
 absurd beyond measure ; but common sense seems to be 
 totally lo.st out of the councils of tiiis devoted country."* 
 
 On the 12th (.f AjjHI, he writes again: " iNIrs. A. tells 
 mc that it is a long time since I wrote to you. I thought 
 
 • *• Memoir* and CorrotjwiKlcncc of Fox," vol. iii. j). 99.
 
 74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 not, but yet I recollect that when I wrote last, I was in the 
 Ninth Book of the ' Odyssey,' which I have since finished, and 
 read eighteen books of the ' Iliad ;' so that it must be a good 
 while since. I think the superiority of the ' Iliad ' is greater 
 than I had imagined, or than I believe is generally allowed, 
 and more than makes up for the fable being less entertain- 
 ing. To be sure, the battles are too long, and the wounds 
 too minutely described ; but there is a charm in it which 
 makes one read on with eagerness, and a rapidity, and fire, 
 and freedom in the manner that surpasses all other poets ; 
 and I mean this of his style in general, exclusive of the 
 passages (of which there are so many) containing anything 
 particularly sublime or affecting. In short, the more I read 
 the more I admire him. There are parts of Virgil (and 
 among those, too, imitated from Homer) which, I think, 
 fully equal to Homer ; but then he has not, in any degree 
 approaching to his master, that freedom of manner which I 
 prize so much; and Milton, who has some passages as 
 sublime as possible, is, in this respect, still more deficient, or, 
 rather, he has no degree of it whatever. Ariosto has more 
 of it than any other poet, even so as to vie in this particular 
 merit with Homer himself ; and possibly it may be that my 
 excessive delight in him is owing to my holding in higher 
 estimation than others do the merit of freedom and rapidity. 
 My mind is so full of poetry just now that I could not help 
 giving you the seccaggine of this long intrusion, though I 
 suspect you are quite out of the habit of reading poetry, as 
 you never say a word either of Ariosto, or Dante, or Tasso, 
 or, indeed, of any poet at all ; and yet you write some, and 
 I think your translation of Medea to Jason one of the 
 best things you ever did in that way. You have done 
 Dos ubi sit quaeris, and what follows, remarkably well, but
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 75 
 
 you have failed very much in these two heautiful lines: 
 
 " ' Jussa domo cessi, natis comitata duobus, 
 Et qui me sequitur semper, amoie tui.' " * 
 
 Fox goes on to say : 
 
 " I do not think that even peace would prevent our expe- 
 riencing frreat difficulties — nay, perhaps it might accelerate 
 them ; but the continuation of the war, on the other hand, 
 must make every remedy more difficult, and, consequently, 
 the ruin more certain. I forgot whether my last letter to 
 you was before or after Grey made his excellent speech upon 
 the subject. He is improved to the greatest degree, and 
 would, if the country were in a stiite to admit of being 
 saved, be as likely to save it as any man I ever knew\ As 
 to mvself, I grow every day to think less of public affairs ; 
 possibly your coming home and tiikinga part in them might 
 make me asa'm more alive about them : but I doubt even that. 
 The bills of this year appear to me to be a finishing stroke 
 to ever)'thing like a spirit of liberty ; and though the country 
 did ghow some spirit while they were depending, yet I fear 
 it was only a temporary feeling which they have quite for- 
 gotten. I wish I could be persuaded that it was right to 
 quit public business, for I should like it to a degree that 1 
 cannot express ; but I cannot yet think that it is not a duty 
 to persevere. One may be of opinion that persevering is of 
 no use ; but ought a man who has engaged himself to the 
 public to trust so entirely to a speculation of this sort, as to 
 go out of the common road, ami to desert (for so it would 
 be called) the public service ? ^^'ould it not be said, with 
 more colour than ever, that my objt!ct was, all along, per- 
 sonal power; and that, liiiding that unattainable, 1 gave up 
 all exertion for the public ? 1 kntjw there is another view 
 
 • " Mcmoirii and Corrwpotidcucc of Fox," vol. iii. p. lol.
 
 76 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of this question, and that it may be said, with some truth, 
 that, by persevering, we are assisting the imposture which is 
 putting upon the people, that the Government is still a free 
 one. But though some would put a candid construction 
 upon secession, yet, as I do not think the people are in a 
 disposition to interpret favourably the conduct of public men, 
 I fear the general opinion would be what I mentioned before, 
 that, having lost all hope of place, we left the country to 
 take care of itself Homer makes Ulysses say : 
 
 " ' 'AAAa Tiri fjioi ravra (pi\os SieXe^aro Ovfjihs ; 
 oiSa yap otti kkkoI fxiv a.TToixovTai ttoX^/jlolo,'* 
 
 and I cannot help feeling something like the same sentiment. 
 I am so sure secession is the measure a shabby fellow would 
 take in our circumstances, that I think it can scarcely be 
 right for us ; but, as for wishes, no man ever wished anything 
 more. I am perfectly happy in the country. I have quite 
 resources enough to employ my mind ; and, the great resource 
 of all, literature, I am fonder of every day. And then the 
 lady of the Hill is one continual source of happiness to me. 
 I believe few men, indeed, ever were so happy in that 
 respect as I. Besides, with my limited income, it would be 
 far easier to us to keep out of debt, if I were not obliged to 
 have a house in town. In short, every reason that relates to 
 my own interest or happiness is on the side of giving up the 
 thing, and perhaps this makes me suspect the argument on 
 that side of the question. However, events and circum- 
 stances may happen which may make that right, which I 
 am sure would be pleasant, and I think it not unlikely that 
 they may. God bless you."t 
 
 * " Yet wherefore doubtful ? Let this truth suffice : 
 The brave meets danger, and the coward flies." 
 
 U. XI., 407, 8. — Pope's Tkanslation. 
 f " Memoirs and Correspondence of Fox," vol. iii. p. 104.
 
 CHMiLES JAIHES FOX. 77 
 
 In a letter of June the 9th, he says : "The Austrian loan 
 has been voted by small majorities, and evidently, I thiuk, 
 agrainst the grain. Indeed, it is the most impudent measure, 
 all things considered, that ever was carried through. The 
 Prince's business has since been the chief business, which is 
 much too complex to explain to you, and which, perhaps, 
 you will scarcely undei^stand from the newspapers. To- 
 morrow it comes on again, I hope for the last time, for I am 
 heartily tired of it, and of the Session, too, and do very 
 much loniif for St. Anne's and quiet. jNIrs. A. and I had each 
 a letter from you last week ; I need not say how much 
 pleasure your letter to her gave me. You were never more 
 riirht than in what you say of my hai)j)iness derived from 
 her. I declare, I think my affection for her increases every 
 day. She is a comfort to me in every misfortune, and makes 
 me enjoy doubly every pleasant circumstance of my life. 
 There is to me a charm and a delight in her society which time 
 does not in the least wear off; and, for real goodness of heart, if 
 she ever had an equal, she certainly never had a superior."* 
 
 In a postscript to a letter of the 16th of the same month, 
 
 he says : " I forgot to tell you that there is much talk of a 
 
 triple alliance of Great Britain, Russia, and Austria, which 
 
 is to bring on a war with Prussia, possibly with Sweden and 
 
 Denmark, and probably with Turkey, and so involve all 
 
 Kuroj)c ; and this some ])e(»i)le apjinne. What a truly 
 
 diaboliciil character we are taking up ! for it is certain that 
 
 if we were to let them alone, all the world would be at 
 
 peace ; and for what a purpose are we instigating them all 
 
 to war? However, I understand that in all foreign countries 
 
 wc are hated a.s much as we deserve. More cannot be." t 
 
 • '' Mc-tJioin aud Corroipondeni'c of Vox," vol. iii. p. 1 lu-l 1. 
 t IbiJ. p. IH.
 
 78 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 I have dwelt in these extracts on the passages which 
 testify to Fox's happiness in retirement in preference to 
 those which refer to public events, because they show more 
 clearly the real character of the man. His entire freedom 
 from affectation makes it certain that in these passages he 
 speaks the genuine sentiments of his heart. 
 
 In the month of September, of the year 1 795, Fox married 
 Mrs. Armitstead, who had for many years lived with him as his 
 mistress. His life had from his youth been one of indulged 
 passion and loose morality. Even now he seems to have 
 been ashamed to avow to his friends and to the world 
 that he was able to call an affectionate and faithful woman 
 his lawful wife. Hence Mr. Coke, his steady adherent, 
 while he every year gladly received Fox at Holkham, 
 refused to admit Mrs. Fox into his house. 
 
 In the parish register of the parish of Wyton, near Hun- 
 tingdon, is found this entry : 
 
 " Charles J. Fox, of the parish of Chertsey, in the county 
 of Surrey, bachelor, and Elizabeth B. Cane, of this parish, 
 were married in this church, by license, this 28th day of 
 September, in the year one thousand seven hundred and 
 ninety-five, by me, J. Pery, Rector. 
 
 " This marriage was solemnized ("C. J. Fox, 
 
 between us (Elizabeth B. Cane. 
 
 ,,r .^ c f Maey Dussonville, 
 
 " in the presence oi i ^ ^ 
 
 (Jesse Bkadshaw. 
 
 It was not till Fox went on the Continent after the peace 
 of Amiens that he told his friends that Mrs. Armitstead was 
 his wife. 
 
 Mrs. Fox was devoted to her husband, amiable and 
 affectionate in her temper, quiet and retiring in her manner,
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 79 
 
 lovlnor and beloved. Fond of modern literature, she con- 
 stantly read with him ; she was kind to his fi'iends, cheerful 
 in her temper, and a source of happiness which never failed 
 him to the last hour of his existence.
 
 80 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 TRIALS FOR HIGH TREASON. — TKEASOX AND SEDITION BILLS. 
 
 The abandonment of justice and moderation in domestic 
 politics was one of the natural and necessary consequences of 
 the war. Societies insignificant in point of numbers when 
 compared with the great body of the people, and contemptible 
 in point of talent when contrasted with the mighty leaders who 
 sustained the cause of peace or of war in Parhament, sprang up 
 from day to day, and in vapid and tawdry orations mimicked 
 the haranj^ues of the French Convention. But insimiificant as 
 the English and Scotch demagogues were, Pitt- either felt 
 or simulated fear, and twelve of the most active of these men, 
 of whom Home Tooke alone bore a name in the world, were 
 brouofht to trial for their lives. On the 28th of October, 
 1794, Thomas Hardy, by trade a shoemaker, who had exer- 
 cised the functions of Secretary of the Corresponding Society, 
 was placed at the bar on an indictment for high treason. 
 Sir John Scott, the Attorney General, spoke for seven hours 
 in support of the indictment — a length of exposition which 
 gave occasion to the remark that a case of high treason which 
 required a speech of seven hours to explain it could not be 
 really a case of high treason. For four days documents were 
 read, and witnesses examined. At length, on the fifth day, 
 Mr, Erskine rose to speak for the defence. Never were the
 
 CHARLES JA:\IES FOX. 81 
 
 talents of that great orator exerted with greater effect for 
 the benefit of his client, and the maintenance of the Constitu- 
 tion and laws of his country. By an admirable exposition 
 of the Law of Treason, he showed how that severe law was 
 intended to apply to cases of real conspiracy against the King's 
 life and actual levying of war, and not to meetings, speeches, 
 toasts, and rhapsodies tending, indeed, ultimately to political 
 changes, but not immediately leading to armed resistance or 
 organized insurrection. Then, proceeding to the documents 
 and the evidence, he tore to pieces the case for the prosecu- 
 tion. Keen analysis, constitutional law, brilliant wit, moving 
 eloquence, were all displayed in this extraordinary speech. 
 On the 8th day, after three hours of deliberation, the jury 
 returned a verdict of not guilty. 
 
 The only other trial of this time worth noticing is that of 
 Home Tooke. 
 
 Home Tooke was a man of considerable capacity ; he 
 had wrestled, not unequally, with Junius, and his " Diversions 
 of Purley " show research, originality, and power of analysis. 
 On the breaking out of the war, Home Tooke espoused warmly 
 the cause of the I'rench Revolution, and when the Duke of 
 York retreated, pursued by the French army, he gave as a 
 toast to men of congenial opinions : " The brave followers of 
 the Duke of York !"' This spirit of caustic sarcasm did 
 not desert him when he was j)ut on his trial for his life. 
 Sir John Scott having burst into tears while ])rotestino- 
 that his reputation as an honest man was the only inheri- 
 tincc that he expected to leave to his children, some one 
 standing by asked I lorne Tooke : " Wliy does he cry ?" '♦ He 
 is crying," replied Home Tooke, "to think how poor he 
 will leave his children." The prisoner had no need of feel- 
 ing any apprehension. Mr. Krskine carriecl alonir with 
 
 VOL. III. O
 
 82 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 him in his flood of eloquence jurymen and public. Home 
 Tooke was acquitted, and none of the persons accused were 
 convicted. 
 
 On the 29th of October, 1795, George III. opened Par- 
 liament in person. In going to the House of Lords, the 
 King was assailed with hisses and hootings, and when he 
 reached the part of the road in St. James's Park opposite the 
 Ordnance OflSce, a small pebble or bullet, fired, it was 
 supposed, from an air-gun, perforated one of the windows of 
 the carriage. The King behaved with the utmost calmness, 
 and when he entered the House of Lords, said quietly to the 
 Lord Chancellor : " My Lord, I have been fired at." He 
 then proceeded to read the speech in his ordinary manner. 
 On his way back, he was again hooted, and on returning from 
 St. James's Palace to Buckingham House, in his private 
 carriage, without guards, he was in some danger of falling 
 into the hands of the mob, but was rescued happily by some 
 of his dismissed escort, who happened to be passing. The 
 King attended the theatre in state the next evening, and was 
 received with raptures of loyalty. In these circumstances the 
 King showed a courage becoming his station and worthy of 
 his illustrious lineage. In the royal speech it was stated that 
 the prospect of afiuirs had materially improved. It was 
 declared that should the destruction and anarchy in France, 
 " which had produced the present crisis, terminate in any 
 order of things compatible with the tranquillity of other 
 countries, and aff^ording a reasonable expectation of security 
 and permanence, the appearance of a disposition to negotiate 
 for a general peace on just and equitable terms would be met 
 on the part of the King with an earnest desire to give it full 
 and speedy effect." Considering that in the April preceding 
 Prussia had made peace, and that Spain had followed her
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 83 
 
 example without any interruption of their internal tranquillity, 
 these terms seemed scarcely befitting the occasion. 
 
 Fox accordinoflv declared that after going to war 
 for miserable speculations, after incurring one hundred 
 millions of debt, and burthening the country with five 
 millions of permanent taxes, Ministers had insulted the 
 country when tlu-y put into their Sovereign's mouth the 
 impudent falsehood that the condition of the country had 
 materially improved. Fox treated as vague and unsatis- 
 factory the assertion respecting a disposition to treat for 
 peace, and declared that there was no moment since the com- 
 mencement of the war when better terms could not have been 
 obtained than at the time at which he was speaking. 
 
 The attack on the King's person was fruitful in measures 
 of coercion. The Treason and Sedition Bills of Pitt form 
 an epoch in our constitutional history. If they mark the 
 character of the Ministry, and their desire to curb the freedom 
 of discussion, so, on the other hand, the theme was one to 
 rouse all the energy of Fox. The former of these bills 
 extended the Treason Laws of Edward III., and the second 
 placed under strict regulations public meetings of every 
 kind. Fox, in speaking against these bills, evidently contem- 
 plated them as the prelude to the final extinction of our free 
 fona of government, ^^'ith wonderful ability and fervid 
 eloquence, he warned the House of Commons against giving 
 their sanction to these measures. "If," he said, " iNFinisters 
 are determined, by means of the corrupt influence they 
 possess in the two Houses of Parliament, to j)ass these bills 
 in violent oj)position to the declared sense of a great majority 
 of the nation, and if they should be j)ut in force with all 
 their rigorous provisions, then, if his opinion were a.sked by 
 the people as t(» their obedi(;nce, he should tell them that it 
 
 a 2
 
 84 THE LIFE AND TIMES 01 
 
 was no longer a question of moral obligation and duty, but of 
 prudence." These words caused a burst of indignation on 
 the Ministerial side of the house. Pitt immediately took 
 advantage of this feeling to pervert and misrepresent the 
 import of Fox's expressions. He said that " Mr. Fox 
 had openly advised an appeal to the sword ; advice which 
 might be followed by the penalties of the law, or involve the 
 country in anarchy and bloodshed." On a subsequent day, 
 Mr. Abbott, repeating Fox's words, and misrepresenting 
 them in the same way as Pitt had done, asked Fox to 
 declare plainly and distinctly " whether now, if these laws 
 should be passed, he will again repeat his signal to the people 
 of England, and hid them unfurl the standard of rebellion T' 
 In answer to this question, Fox maae a full, explicit, and 
 powerful reply. He stated that if a bill were to pass the 
 Houses of Parliament which went to destroy the very vitals 
 of the Constitution, which reduced a people, hitherto free, to 
 slavery, obedience to such a law would be a question not of 
 duty, but of prudence. " But," he went on to say, " the hon. 
 gentleman makes me decide not only the question of duty, 
 but that of prudence also. Upon that question he had left 
 the people entirely free to determine for themselves. He 
 could not recommend resistance, for prudence, in his opinion, 
 dictated quietness to mankind under many severe oppressions. 
 The more he thought the more he was convinced of the 
 philosophy of the maxim of a celebrated character of 
 antiquity — ' Iniquissimam pacem justissimo hello antefero.'* 
 That appeared to him to be one of the wisest sayings of that 
 wise man, and it expressed his opinion upon the point of 
 prudence in these cases." Such being the deliberate opinion of 
 Fox, an opinion which he consistently held and constantly 
 
 * This is a sentiment of Cicero.
 
 CHAKLES JAMES EOX. 85 
 
 expressed, it must be admitted that while he had a ri^rht to 
 resent the misrepresentations of his adversaries, the country 
 had some reason to coniphiin that in his orio^inal speech he 
 had prochiimed an extreme opinion without the qualifications 
 which he subsequently added. lie had stated, and he now 
 repeated, that neither Lords, nor Commons, nor King, nor 
 tlie whole Legislature together, were to be considered as pos- 
 sessing the right to enslave the people of this country. They 
 might, he thought, separately or unitedly do such acts as 
 might justify the resistance of the people ; but, for from add- 
 ing that in the present case he would advise resistance, he 
 intimated a contrary opinion. There can be no doubt 
 that Fox looked upon the bills ])roposed as equivalent to 
 the change which the Roman Kepubhe underwent in the time 
 of Augustus. He referred more than once to the despotism of 
 that able usurper: " AVhat fine panegyrics were then pro- 
 nounced on the prosperity of the empire ! ' T\im tutus bos 
 prata pemmhulahat.' This was flattery to Augustus — to 
 that great destroyer of the liberties of mankind — as much an 
 enemy to freedom as any of the detestable tyrants who suc- 
 ceeded him. So with us : we are to be flattered with an 
 account of the form of our Government by King, Lords, and 
 (Jommons. Eadem magistratuum vocahula.'' 
 
 Was this comparison a dream or a j)rophecy ? Did the 
 dreaded change from liberty to des])otism take ])lace ? Every 
 one knows that it did not. Indeed, upon examining the laws 
 passed in 17f)o, we cannot fail to see that, however hostile to 
 the lifeguards of freedom, they were not destructive of its 
 .spirit. 'I'lie alteration of tlie Law of Treason was not in 
 itself unsuitablt! to the change of society which had taken place 
 between the days of Edward III. and those of George III. 
 The law (jn public meetings could not really .-tifle opinions
 
 86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 earnestly and sincerely entertained ; the restrictions enacted 
 were rather vexatious than oppressive. Still, it must be 
 remembered that the French, like the American War, was 
 a contest on the part of the British Crown in favour of 
 authority and against liberty. Nor can it well be denied 
 that in the zeal for authority, and in the attempt to check 
 the expression of public opinion in England, there was a 
 danger that liberty would lose her strongest barriers, and 
 fresh incursions of power might succeed. The exclamation 
 of Lord Chatham — "I rejoice that America has resisted;" 
 the eloquent speeches of Burke in favour of America ; the 
 wonderful forensic efforts of Erskine in behalf of Hardy 
 and Tooke ; the impassioned argument and burning denun- 
 ciations of Fox during the French War, kept alive the spirit 
 of the nation, and helped to preserve those holy temples of 
 liberty which our ancestors had erected. 
 
 The acts ,of Pitt and his successors have, it is true, 
 passed away ; the free institutions of England have survived. 
 But what would have been the case had no Erskine spoken 
 to a jury — had no Fox denounced tyranny in Parliament ? 
 While we are in the full enjoyment of liberty, we must 
 not be wanting in gratitude to those who, fallen on evil 
 days and evil tongues, trimmed the sacred lamp of freedom, 
 which its careless guardians might have allowed to sink and 
 expire. 
 
 It may be worth remark that the correspondence of Cicero 
 and his friends, in the last days of the Republic, shows great 
 confidence in the perpetuity of the freedom of Rome ; while 
 Fox, in his letters, almost despairs of the liberties of England.
 
 CHAKLES JAMES FOX. 87 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 NEGOTIATIONS, 1795-6. 
 
 Pitt liad so evidently ftiilcd in his war measures, that in 
 1790 he was induced to attempt to obtain peace. Put liis 
 failure in negotiation was, if possible, still more conspicuous 
 than his defeat in war. 
 
 The first symptom of this desire was a letter written by 
 Mr. \Vickham in April, 1795, at Basle; but it led to no 
 result. Later in the year, Lord Auckland, after communica- 
 ting with Pitt, published a pamphlet called " Remarks on 
 the Apparent Circumstances of the War in the Fourth Week 
 of October, 179a." The editor of " Lord Auckland's Corres- 
 pondence " expressly says : " The thoughts of Mr. Pitt 
 naturally turned towards peace, jukI it was with his sanction 
 Lord Auckland ])ublished his celebrated })amphlet."* 
 
 Burke was exceedingly angry at tiie a])pearance of 
 tliis pamphlet. Li answer to a ])ri\ate letter from Lord 
 Auckland, sending him the work, he expressed his opinion 
 that " the ])lan of politics there reconnnended can have no 
 other conseiiuence but utter and irretrievable ruin to the 
 Ministry, to the (Jrown. to the succession, to the in)portaiice, 
 to the independence, to the very existence of this country." 
 lie goes on to Kiy : "Perhaps you may think that my ani- 
 
 * "Journal and Corre»|Kjnileiicc," vol. iii. |>. JIG
 
 88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 mosity to opposition is the cause of my dissent, on seeing the 
 politics of Mr. Fox (which, while I was in the world, I com- 
 batted by every instrument which God had put into my hands, 
 and in every situation in which I had taken part) so com- 
 pletely, if I at all understand you, adopted in your lordship's 
 book ; but it was with pain I broke with that great man for 
 ever in that cause," &c. 
 
 In his public letter (the fourth on a Regicide Peace) he 
 attacked Lord Auckland with those weapons of sarcasm, 
 scorn, ridicule, and invective which no one knew so well how 
 to wield. 
 
 Thus he says: "Finding the last week in October so par- 
 ticularly referred to, and not perceiving any particular event 
 relative to the war which happened on any of the days in that 
 week, I thought it possible that they were marked by some 
 astrological superstition to which the greatest politicians have 
 been subject. I therefore had recourse to my ' Rider's Alma- 
 nack.' There I found, indeed, something that characterized 
 the work, and that gave directions concerning the sudden 
 political and natural variations, and for eschewing the mala- 
 dies that are most prevalent in that aguish intermittent season, 
 ' the last week of October.' On that week, the sagacious 
 astrologer. Rider, in his note on the third column of the 
 calendar side, teaches us to expect ' variable and cold 
 weather ; ' but instead of encouraging us to trust ourselves to 
 the haze, and mist, and doubtful lights of that changeable 
 week, on the answerable part of the opposite page he gives us 
 a salutary caution (indeed, it is very nearly in the words of the 
 author's motto). ' Avoid, ^ says he, 'heing out late at night 
 and in foggxj weather, for a cold now caught may last the 
 whole winter' This ingenious author, who disdained the 
 prudence of the almanack, walked out in the very fog he
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 89 
 
 complains of, and has led us to a very unseasonable airing at 
 that time."* 
 
 Pitt, however, was not turned from his course by this 
 high authority. In returning ])urke's letter to Lord Auck- 
 land, he says : " I return iJurke's letter, which is like other 
 rhapsodies from the same })cn, in which there is much to 
 admire a7id nothing to agree witli.""^ 
 
 Pitt having prepared public opinion in favour of peace 
 by means of Lord Auckland's })amphlet, determined to 
 negotiate at Paris. The Directory, who had rudely and 
 peremptorily rejected an indirect overture made just before, 
 gave an intimation that passports would be sent to a nego- 
 tiator officially appointed. Lord ^Nlalmesbury was accordingly 
 named, and, in October, 17^6, set out on his mission. Some 
 one observing to Burke that, as the weather was bad and 
 the roads broken up, Lord Malmesbury's journey must be 
 slow, Burke rejoined: "It must indeed be slow, as he 
 must go the whole way on his hands and knees ! " But 
 although Pitt was thus far indulged in liis wish to make 
 peace, his colleague. Lord Grenville, held a card iu his hand 
 by which the game of negotiation might at any time be 
 spoilt. When Lord Malmesbury had already set out for 
 Dover, I>(jr(l Grenville wrote to him these words: " It is, 
 |>erhaps, unnecessary for me to recall to your recollection 
 that, by the convention signed with the Court of \'iemia in 
 the begiinilng of the war, tlie King is bound not to make 
 peac<! without tiie consent of Austria, except on tiie terujs of 
 procuring for that INjwer the restitution of all it may have 
 lost in the war." Now, as it was certain that Prance wouhl 
 insist on retaininjr Ik'lgium, whicii she had twice con([uered, 
 and had ainiexed by law to her territory, it was clear that 
 
 • *' liurke's \Voik«," vol. ii. |.. 4, f .SUinhoiif's " Life of rilt," vol. iv.
 
 90 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 either Austria must be induced to waive the performance of 
 the promise thus foolishly made, or the negotiation must fail. 
 There were, however, two ways in which Austria might have 
 been prevailed upon to give up Belgium. The one was to 
 tell her roundly that, unless she did so, English subsidies 
 would be withheld. The other was to treat her with great 
 consideration, to depreciate the value of Belgium, and to 
 negotiate only in concert with an Austrian plenipotentiary. 
 Neither method was tried. After a very trifling and ineffec- 
 tual effort, through Mr. Jackson, to obtain the renunciation 
 of the Low Countries from the Court of Vienna, the British 
 Government commenced Lord Malmesbury's negotiation with- 
 out any understanding or agreement with Austria. Thugut, 
 the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was deeply hurt by this 
 neglect. " He dwelt long," says our Envoy at Vienna, "on 
 the Emperor's great efforts, consistency, and firmness, when 
 the enemy was on the frontiers of this country ; on the slight 
 shown him by the adoption and carrying into execution a 
 measure of such a great and common interest without a pre- 
 vious consent being even proposed to him ; stated his full 
 conviction that it would not be productive of peace."* 
 
 Li this conviction M. Thugut proved to be quite right. 
 The British Government showed themselves as much want- 
 ing in wisdom at Paris as they were wanting in courtesy 
 at Vienna. When Lord Malmesbury, much to his own 
 disgust, had, in pursuance of his instructions, exhausted 
 every kind of cavil about the basis of negotiation, he was 
 summoned by the Directory to state exactly what compensa- 
 tions the English Government would give, and what con- 
 cessions they would require. Thus pressed, Lord Grenville 
 specified the restoration of the whole of the possessions of 
 
 * " Auckland Correspondence," vol. iii.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 91 
 
 the House of Austria by France, the evacuation of Italy, 
 and a promise on the part of France not to interfere any 
 further in that country. On these conditions, the maritime 
 conquests of Great Britain were to be restored to France 
 and to her allies, Spain and Holland. To these terms the 
 Directory quickly replied: "The Executive Government 
 could not listen to any proposition contrary to the constitu- 
 tion, the laws, and the treaties which bound the Republic." 
 Further than this, as Lord Malmesbury seemed to have no 
 power to negotiate, he was required to leave Paris in forty- 
 eio-ht hours. Such was the end of this absurd and ridiculous 
 attempt. It is obvious that if Great Britain was not pre- 
 pared to assent to the annexation of Belgium to France, she 
 should not have begun the negotiation. If, on the other 
 hand, she was ready to concede on the question of Belgium, 
 she ourrht to have obtained the assent of Austria to that 
 cession before entering upon a correspondence with France. 
 Had she done so, she might have preserved to Austria the 
 possession of Lombardy. Indeed, at this very time, the 
 Directory determined to propose to Austria the following 
 terms of peace : l^t'lgiuni and Luxemburg to remain to 
 France ; Lombardy to be restored to Austria, and the Pala- 
 tinate to Germany ; the Stadtliolder to receive corajjensation 
 for his losses in Germany.* These terms were by no means 
 extravagant, and had they been agreed to by England, in 
 concert with Austria, j)eace might ])robably have been made. 
 The fault of this negotiation, and at the same time the 
 cause of its failure, was the same which caused the failure 
 of tlu! war, that it was conducted without any defmite object. 
 When .M. Delacroix jL-«ked Lord Malmesbury at the out- 
 set the very simple (question, whether the British Govern- 
 
 ♦ ThitTS.
 
 92 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ment proposed the status quo ante helium or the uti possi- 
 detis as the basis of negotiation, Lord Malmesbury said 
 it was too soon to ask that question. Yet on the answer to 
 this question depended the best chance of success in the 
 negotiation. It is also clear that the English Cabinet ought 
 to have made up their minds on this question before Lord 
 Malmesbury left London, When two Powers, at war with 
 each other, have made few conquests or conquests equivalent 
 in value, they naturally resort to the status quo ante helium ; 
 when one of the two has made important conquests, of 
 which there is no prospect on the other side of depriving her> 
 the uti 230ssidetis is the principle usually adopted. The uti 
 possidetis, in this instance, would have given the best chance 
 of peace. With regard to the negotiations at Vienna, Lord 
 Malmesbury himself judged them truly when he said: "Pray 
 take care that the puzzle and embarrassments which I fore- 
 see with too much certainty must arise from the manner 
 in which we have conducted this business at Vienna be 
 not made over to me in its puzzled and twisted state to 
 unravel."* 
 
 Thus it was that while we were uncourteous and almost 
 faithless at Vienna, we raised up at Paris, apparently for 
 the sake of Austrian interests, an obstacle which was sure 
 to prove fatal to the whole negotiation. Fox, naturally 
 enough, could not believe that so many mistakes could have 
 been made without design. It was therefore in a spirit 
 of scepticism that when Pitt, in a speech of three hours 
 of elaborate apology, explained the failure, Fox pointed 
 out the many occasions on which peace might have been 
 made. He said : " The right honourable gentleman, what- 
 ever may have been his sincerity in the transaction, is no 
 
 * "Malmesbury Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 282.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 93 
 
 straiifror to the advantiigrs tliat may be derived from the 
 idea of a pending- neg^otiatlon. ... It seems doubtful, 
 indeed, from the inspection of the papers on the table, 
 whether Lord Malmcsbury was not sent over merely to show 
 his diplomatic dexterity ; to fence and parry with M. Dela- 
 croix, in order to evince his superior skill and adroitness in 
 the manafrement of arirument and the arts of finesse ; to 
 confound the shallow capacity and artificial reasoning of the 
 French Minister, and to make the cause of this country 
 appear the better cause.'* 
 
 Such suspicions were at the time perfectly justifiable. In- 
 deed, it is evident that if, instead of employing Lord Malnies- 
 bury at Paris, that able diplomatist had been sent first to 
 Vienna, he might easily have obtained the cession of Belgium 
 from Austria, and then, no doubt, without haggling or quib- 
 bling, peace might have been made in a fortnight. No 
 wonder that the sincerity of Pitt was doubted when he 
 chose the path of ingenious refinement instead of com- 
 puting the advantages and losses of the belligerent Powers, 
 and making a fair offer of terms founded upon that com- 
 putation. 
 
 In reviewing this negotiation, it is, indeed, quite clear 
 that Pitt and Lord Grenville never provided themselves with 
 the means of success. An honest and frank declaration to 
 Austria that Belgium could not be defended, and .in ox])]a- 
 natlon equally honest and frank to I'lance of the terms upon 
 which Great Brit<iin and Austria were ready to treat, would 
 have ojK'hed the only road by which peace could liav(» been 
 reached. On the other hand, the conduct of the French 
 Government In di.smissing Lord ^Ldincirbury was needless-ly 
 ofFensivc. By tiiLs behaviour, they excited resentment in 
 • " Koi'» SjHwihfs,'' L»i;cfink'r 3o, 1790.
 
 94 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 England, and indisposed the British people to peace. They 
 thus strengthened the British Ministry, and prolonged the 
 war. But for this effect they were probably prepared. 
 
 Pitt must have been by this time convinced that although 
 it was easy to commit the nation to war, it was not equally in 
 his power to make peace when he wished it.
 
 CHARLES JA!HES FOX. 95 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 SESSION OF PARLIA51ENT, 179G. 
 
 On the 10th of May, 170G, Fox moved an address to the 
 Crown on the conduct of the war. In a speech of little less than 
 four hours, he went over all the causes of the war, and pointed 
 out the mistakes which had been made since its commence- 
 ment. On the former topic he said : " I think there was a time 
 before the war broke out between France and Austria which 
 presented an opportunity for this country to exercise the 
 great and dignified office of mediator, which would not only 
 have been highly honourable to herself and beneficial to 
 Europe, but an office which she was in some measure called 
 upon to undertake by the events of the preceding year. 
 The event to which I particularly refer was the Treaty of 
 Pilnitz, by which Austria and Prussia avowed their intention 
 of interfering in the internal affiiirs of France, if tiiey should 
 be supj)orted by the other Powers of P^urope. . . . The 
 Emperor, at that time, was imjwrtuned by the emigrant 
 nobility and clergy to interfere in the domestic affairs of 
 France. Au.stria did not dare to interfere without Prussia, 
 and Prussia did not wi.-h to hazard the fate of such an enter- 
 prise. When these Powers were in such a state ul' uncer- 
 Uiinty, that was the very moment for I'^ngland to become a
 
 96 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 mediator, and if this country had at that time proposed fair 
 terms of accommodation to the parties, the matter might 
 have been compromised, and the peace of Europe preserved, 
 at least, for some time, for God knows, the duration of peace 
 is at all times uncertain ! If England had then stepped 
 forward as a mediator, the questions to be agitated would 
 have related solely to Lorraine and Alsace. And is there 
 any man who believes, imtting out of the question the 
 internal affairs of France altogether, that, under the im- 
 partial mediation of this country, all the difficulties respecting 
 the tenures of the nobility and the rights of the chapters in 
 those two provinces might not have been settled to the satis- 
 faction of the disputants ? " 
 
 Fox, in this passage, shows how well he understood 
 that the maintenance of peace by this country depends not 
 upon abstinence from all interference in the quarrels of other 
 countries, but upon a judicious use of the power of advising, 
 and, if need be, of interposing, in the disputes of other 
 countries. 
 
 Fox goes on to say : " Neutrality I admit to have been 
 preferable to an active share in the contest ; but to a nation 
 like Great Britain, whose prosperity depends upon her 
 commerce, the general tranquillity of Europe is a far greater 
 blessing (laying the general interest of mankind out of the 
 question) than any partial neutrality which she could pro- 
 serve. * 
 
 Fox did not say, but it is an obvious inference from 
 his words, that the mediation he suggested must have 
 been an armed mediation. Had Pitt, in 1792, instead of 
 predicting fifteen years of peace from a partial neutrality, 
 declared boldly, in pursuance of her mediation, that if the 
 
 * "Fox's Speeches," May 10th, 1796.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 97 
 
 Allies invaded France in order to dictate to her a form of 
 internal government, they would find England their enemy, 
 and had at the same time declared to France that she must 
 not liecorae aggressive nor extend her actual frontiers, under 
 pain of English hostility, it is probable that peace might 
 have been preserved. If, however, France had then, without 
 cause, made a war of ambition, and had the Allies disclaimed 
 any intention to deprive France of her old frontier, or 
 to interfere in her internal allairs, the objects attained 
 in 1814 might have been accomplished in 1794, without 
 the waste of blood and treasure of which that lono- 
 war was the cause. Fox, in the speech we are reviewing, 
 after discussinj? again the allcfjed reasons for hostilities on 
 the part of England, pointed out the writings and speeches 
 of Burke as one of the main causes of the war, " In a 
 masterly performance," said Fox, " he charmed all the 
 world with the brilliancy of his genius, fascinated the country 
 with the powers of his eloquence, and, in as far as that cause 
 tended to [)roduce the effect, plunged the country into all 
 the calamities of war, . . . Never, certainly, was there 
 a nation more dazzled than the })eoj)le of this country 
 wore by the brilliancy of this performance ! Much of the 
 lustre of his opponents, as well as of his friends, was drawn 
 from the influence of this dazzling orb ; but it was the 
 brilliancy of a fatal comet, which bore terror and desolation 
 in its train ; and we are, to this day, suficring from its 
 baneful effects." Speaking then of the conduct of the war 
 as distinguished from it.s causes. Fox i^aid : " The great 
 defect in the management of the war has, in my oj)inioii 
 be<m the want of a determinate object for which you were 
 contending. You have neither carried <iii war for the pur- 
 pose of restoring monarchy in I'Vanc^', nor with a view to 
 
 VOL. III. II
 
 98 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 your own advantage. While the Emperor In Alsace was 
 taking towns in the name of the King of Hungary, and you 
 were taking Valenciennes for the Emperor, you were pro- 
 claiming the Constitution of 1791 at Toulon, and taking 
 possession of Martinique for the King of Great Britain. 
 What has been the consequence of this want of object? 
 You have converted France into an armed nation ; you have 
 given to her rulers the means of marshalling all the strength 
 of the kingdom against you. The Royalists in France did 
 not join you ; they did not know whether you were at war for 
 the purpose of re-establishing the ancient monarchy of 
 France, or for the purpose of aggrandizing yourselves by 
 robbing France of her territories." Nothing could be 
 more true than this reproach. Fox, adverting to the sup- 
 posed project of indemnifying ourselves at the peace by 
 annexing to Great Britain the Dutch Colonies, observed 
 that he would sav little as to the fairness of taking' those 
 possessions from a nation to preserve whose territory we 
 professedly went to war. He added : " I will only remark 
 that our extensive colonies in different quarters of the 
 globe are already a great incumbrance to us in time of 
 war ; they exhaust our strength, and if our maritime force 
 shall ever be equally opposed by a hostile Power, their pos- 
 session will be very precarious." 
 
 Adverting, at the end of his speech, to the partition of 
 Poland, he exclaimed : " And will any man contend that 
 England and France united might not have prevented that 
 transaction, and by that means have preserved the balance of 
 power in Europe ? But Poland was abandoned to its fate, 
 suffered to be sacrificed, annihilated, destroyed, for the sake 
 of those absurd and vicious principles which govern the policy 
 of Ministers, and which have involved us in the present war."
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 90 
 
 After a long and able answer from Pitt, and some futher 
 debate, there appeared on a division — 
 
 Against the proposed address . 206 
 For 42 
 
 Majority against 164 
 
 II J
 
 100 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 EXPEDITION OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE INTO ITALY. — HIS VICTORIES. — TREATY 
 OF LEOBEN. — PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO, 1796-97. 
 
 While Lord Malniesbury was contending at Paris for the 
 retention of the Low Countries by Austria, the sword of a 
 mighty warrior cut the knot which the English Minister had 
 endeavoured so ineffectually to untie. In March, 1796, 
 Napoleon Bonaparte assumed the command of the Army of 
 the Alps. He at once addressed his troops in the language 
 of confidence and of victory : " The patience and courage you 
 have displayed amongst these mountains is admirable ; but 
 they bring you no glory, reflect on you no splendour. I will 
 lead you into the most fertile plains in the vv^orld ; rich pro- 
 vinces and great cities shall be in your power ; there you 
 will find honour, fame, and wealth. Soldiers of Italy, will 
 you be deficient in courage and constancy?"* 
 
 This language was no idle boast ; promise was instantly 
 followed by performance. On the 4th and 11th of April, 
 Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Montenotte, and gained 
 the key of the Austrian position. On the 14th, he fought 
 a great battle at Millesimo ; divided the armies of Austria 
 and Piedmont, and took forty pieces of cannon. 
 
 Speaking of a great commander who had invaded Italy 
 some centuries earlier, Livy says : 
 
 * " Adolphus," vol. vi. p. 443.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 101 
 
 " Pluriraum audac'uc ad perioula capessenda, plurimuni 
 consilii inter ipsa pericula erat : nuUo labore aut corpus 
 fatigari, aut animus vinci poterat. Caloris ac frigoris patientia 
 par ; cibi potionisque desiderio naturali, non voluptate, modus 
 finitus ; vigiliarum somnique nee die, nee nocte diseriminata 
 tempora ; id quod gerendis rebus superesset, quieti datum : 
 ea neque moUi strato, neque silentio arcessita : multi sa'pe 
 militari sagulo opertum, bumi jacentem inter custodias 
 stationesque militum, conspexerunt. Vestitus nihil inter 
 a?quales excellens : amia atque equi conspiciebantur. Equi- 
 tum peditumque idem longe primus erat ; princeps in proclium 
 ibat ; ultimus conserto proelio excedebat. Has tantas viri 
 virtutes ingentia vitia aquabant ; inhumana crudolitas, per- 
 fidia plus quam Punica, nihil veri, nihil sancti, nullus deiim 
 metus, nullum jusjurandum, nulla religio."* 
 
 Considering the difference of the times, of the character of 
 Carthaginians and Frenchmen, and of the nature of the 
 weapons employed in war, there is a strong resemblance be- 
 tween this character of Hannibal, then in the twentieth year of 
 his age, and the character of Napoleon, at twenty-six. There 
 was the same vifjilance, the same indifference to the indulirence 
 of aj)petite, the same hardihood of courage, the same contempt 
 of the ornaments of dress, the same want of good faith in 
 treating with those he encountered. Cruelty in the character 
 of Naj)oleon there was not ; but indifference to life there 
 certiiinly was. " 11 traversait," said Madame de Stael — " il 
 traversiiit les vertus ct les vices conmie il traversait Ics 
 montatrnes et les fleuvcs, parccque c'etait son chemin." 
 
 It does not i»elotig to my subject to describe the series of 
 victories by which Napoleon signalized iiis memorable cam- 
 [wigns in Italy, or to relate at lcnj:tli how, after vanc^uishing 
 
 • Livy, lib. 21, cnp. iv.
 
 102 THE LITE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his enemy at Lodi, Areola, Castiglione, and after receiving 
 the surrender of Mantua, he found himself within a few 
 marches of Vienna. As, however, the character of this 
 extraordinary man affected the course of events for twenty 
 years, and, indeed, still influences the politics of Europe, it is 
 of importance to remember that his activity, his genius, his 
 ambition, and his want of good faith, made him dreaded as an 
 enemy and suspected as a friend. No sooner had he obtained 
 by an armistice possession of Coni and Alessandria, than he 
 suggested to the Directory that, if it so pleased them, they 
 might keep the fortresses, pursue the war, and undermine by 
 intrigue the throne of the King of Sardinia, which they pro- 
 fessed to respect. In the same spirit he seized pretexts for 
 driving out the Grand Duke of Tuscany, for making war on 
 the Pope, and overturning the Republic of Venice, In all 
 his proceedings his genius for war was accompanied by an 
 unscrupulous use of assurances without sincerity, and engage- 
 ments destitute of good faith. 
 
 On the 18th of April, one year after the battle of Monte- 
 notte, the preliminaries of peace between Austria and France 
 were signed at Leoben. By this treaty, confirmed by the subse- 
 quent Treaty of Campo Formio, Austria consented to give 
 up the Low Countries to France, and to yield Lombardy. 
 This rich province was to form a new State, to be called the 
 Cis-Alpine, a satellite of the Great Republic ; Savoy was to 
 be annexed to France ; Austria was to have her compensation 
 for the loss of Belgium out of the territories of the Republic 
 of Venice. This neutral State having given no just cause of 
 war either to France or Austria, was deemed by both Powers 
 a fit subject for spoliation. 
 
 By the definitive Treaty of Campo Formio, this ancient 
 and glorious Commonwealth was totally extinguished.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 103 
 
 There was some consistency, if there was no justice, in the 
 perpetration of this great wrong on the part of the French 
 Republic — a government which had been from its com- 
 mencement violent and revolutionary ; but on the part of 
 Austria, a great conservative Power, fighting for law and 
 order, professing a regard for treaties, bound to the Venetian 
 Republic by solenui engagements, and having no pretext for 
 hostility, the crime had no palliation, and remains a blot on 
 her history, second only to the partition of Poland. 
 
 In speaking of this transaction in February, 1800, Fox, 
 alluding to the defence set up for Austria, said : " ' The 
 Emperor took it as a compensation ; it was his by barter ; he 
 was not answerable for the guilt by which it was obtained.' 
 What is this, sir, but the false and abominable reasoning with 
 w Inch we have been so often disgusted on the subject of the 
 slave trade ? Just in this manner have I heard a notorious 
 wholesale dealer in this inhuman traffic justify his abominable 
 trade. Under such detestable sophistry as this, is the infernal 
 traffic in human flesh, whether white or black, to be continued, 
 or even justified ?" * 
 
 ♦ " Foi's Speeches," vol. vi., j>. 399.
 
 lOi THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 NEGOTIATION AT LILLE, 1797. 
 
 In June, 1797, the attempt to negotiate a peace with France 
 was renewed by the English Cabinet at Lille, but with the same 
 infelicity as before. Yet Austria had now signed preliminaries 
 of peace, and had herself surrendered Belgium and Lom- 
 bardy, thus relieving the British Government from all their 
 pledges on that score. Prussia, Spain, Sardinia, had dis- 
 appeared from the Grand Alliance. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, a prelate of the old Court, and free 
 from the regicide stain, was now Minister for Foreign Affairs. 
 The British Cabinet, on their side, were ready to yield to the 
 insolent and groundless pretension of the French Directory 
 that they could not give up territory annexed by the law 
 and constitution to the Republic. But if the British Govern- 
 ment were ready to concede to their great enemy, they were 
 stiff and unbending to the weaker States who had fallen 
 under that enemy's influence. They asked that Spain and 
 Holland should sacrifice a part at least of the colonies con- 
 quered by England. But this demand, at once servile and 
 ungenerous, was set aside by the Directory, who declared 
 haughtily that they had secret treaties with Spain and Hol- 
 land guaranteeing to them the restoration of their lost pos- 
 sessions.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 105 
 
 Pitt was suspected, while this neg'otiation was going 
 on, of not being sincere in his expressed wishes for peace. 
 This charge, however, was quite unfounded. He was quite 
 sincere in wishing to make peace. His conduct, indeed, is 
 open to blame, but on very different — indeed, entirely opposite 
 grounds. We have seen that in 1705 he prompted Lord 
 Auckland to write a ])amphlet in favour of a " Regicide 
 Peace." In 1797, he established private relations with Mr. 
 Canning, the Foreign Under-Secretary of State, and through 
 him, with Lord Malmesbury, whose ostensible instructions 
 were from Lord Grenville. Lord Malmesbury, in one of his 
 letters, says : " You must have perceived that the instructions 
 I get from the Minister under ivliose erders I am hound to 
 act accord so little with the sentiments and intentions I 
 heard expressed by the Minister ^vitli ichom I wish to act^ 
 that I am placed in a very disagreeable dilemma."* Lord 
 Grenville, thus undermined and imperfectly informed, ap- 
 pealed to the Cabinet against the practice of giving scraps of 
 information to the newspapers while the negotiation was in 
 progress. 
 
 Mr. Canning, on this occasion, writes to Lord Malmes- 
 bury : " You will, I think, have understood the meaning and 
 intent of tiie resolutions of the Cabinet mentioned in my other 
 letter of this day in the manner in which I understand it ; 
 which is, that it was devised by Lord Grenville to tie tip 
 Pitts tongue alone, whom he suspected of conununicating 
 with other j)ersons, and fortifying himself with out-of-door 
 opinions against the opinions which might be brought for- 
 ward in Council by those with whom he diO'ered in his 
 general view of the negotiation."! 
 
 Yet Lord Grenville, while ho tried to defend himself 
 
 • " Malinwburj CorrMpondencc," vol. iii. p. 490. t I'j'J- I'- 400.
 
 106 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 against the public press, probably did not suspect that 
 Pitt, his chief, ]\Ir. Canning, his Under-Secretary, and 
 Lord Malmesbury, his negotiator, were all engaged in a 
 secret leao^ue ao^ainst him. Lord Grenville had not the 
 genius nor the eloquence of Pitt. He was deficient in 
 knowledge of men, in conciliatory manners, in acquaintance 
 with the statesmen of the Continent, their tempers and disposi- 
 tions. But he had a manly understanding, a strong feeling for 
 the honour of his country, and an uprightness of mind above 
 all trick or subterfuge. He would not have condescended 
 to practise those indirect means for defeating a colleague 
 to which his chief had recourse. It is but too evident 
 that Pitt's conduct on this occasion, though not un- 
 friendly to peace, was wanting in fairness, in dignity, and 
 in wisdom. Lord Grenville, on his side, was very unskil- 
 ful. Instead of hastening the conclusion, he spun out the 
 negotiation till the peace party in the Directory had been 
 driven from office, and an insolent demand on the part of the 
 new authority put an end to the fruitless discussion. Had 
 Lord Grenville exerted himself to obtain peace with zeal 
 and ability, there is no doubt that a better peace than the 
 peace of Amiens might have been obtained. Nor, were 
 it otherwise, is it by any means clear that it was worth 
 while to continue the war from 1797 to 1801 for the sake 
 of retaining Ceylon and Trinidad — colonies conquered 
 by Great Britain from Holland and Spain. It is said, 
 indeed, that Pitt was ready to restore the Cape to Holland, 
 and if Lord Grenville had refused this concession, was 
 prepared to accept his resignation. If such were the 
 case, Pitt was doubtless in the right. For the real 
 danger from France was in the extent of her territory, 
 and the terror of her power on the Continent of Em*ope ;
 
 CIL\RLES JAMES FOX. 107 
 
 and this danger was by no means counterbalanced by the 
 addition of a few more colonies to Great Britain in Africa 
 and Asia. Indeed, it may be doubted whether in 
 1814-15, when our Government could dictate terms for our 
 own interests, we did not retain too many colonies rather 
 than too few under our direct dominion. The desire ex- 
 pressed in 1797 to deprive Spain and Holland of their colonies 
 tended to keep them under the influence of France, while the 
 restoration to both of all their colonial possessions, besides 
 being an act of magnanimous justice, Mould have inclined 
 them to assert their independence of France, and throw their 
 weight on any subsequent occasion into the opposite scale. 
 Be this as it may, the blundering course of the British 
 Government, and the little inclination of Lord Grenville for 
 peace, together with the insolence of the war party in France, 
 caused the failure of the negotiation at Lille. There was 
 much dissension at this time in the Cabinet. Mr. AVindham 
 writes in his diary of June 15th, 1797, "Renewal of Council 
 on French aflfairs. Complete opposition of opinion. Pitt, 
 Dundas, Chancellor, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Chatham, and 
 ultimately Lord Liverpool : on the other side, Lord Gren- 
 ville, Lord Spencer, Duke of Portland, myself."* Had Pitt 
 at this time thrown over Lord Grenville and his ^^ hig 
 allies, he might have had peace. But an unlucky stiir 
 prevailed. 
 
 • " Diary of W. Windham," p. 3G8.
 
 108 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 THE MUTINY OP THE FLEET. 
 
 While millions of money were lavished without stint 
 to purchase the co-operation of Prussia and the energy of 
 Austria, of which the one was never fairly given and the 
 other found to have no existence, the British navy, which 
 had gained the brilliant victory of the 1st of June, was 
 treated with parsimony and injustice. The pay of the 
 seamen was regulated by Orders in Council passed in the 
 reign of Charles II., and in despite of the great advances 
 which had taken place in the price of every article of neces- 
 sity and of comfort, the rate of pay had not been increased. 
 The grievance was aggravated by the contrast of the in- 
 creased pay granted to the army and militia. 
 
 Besides their inadequate remuneration, the sailors were also 
 wronged by false weights and measures, and insufficient quan- 
 tities of provisions. 
 
 In the year 1797 deep murmurs began to circulate among 
 the sailors. Anonymous letters came, in the beginning of 
 March, to Lord Howe, then recruiting his health at Bath. 
 
 But so long as these murmurs did not break out into 
 open mutiny, the authorities, both on shore and at sea, pro- 
 nounced them to be groundless, and unworthy of attention. 
 It was plain that the wishes of British sailors did not meet
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 109 
 
 that ready acceptance which greeted the ravenous demands 
 of Prussian and Austrian statesmen. 
 
 At length, rumours of mutiny having reached the Admi- 
 ralty, orders were sent to Portsmouth that the fleet should 
 immediately ))ut to sea. ]'>ut when the crew of the Queen 
 Charlotte were required to lift the anchor, they refused to 
 obey, and. running up the shrouds, gave three cheers. This 
 signal was at once taken up by the other ships, and, in a 
 few minutes, the command of the whole fleet was taken out of 
 the hands of the King's officers, and committed to a body of 
 delegates, who assembled on board the Queen Charlotte. 
 The delegates issued strict reiiulations, forbade the intro- 
 duction of wine and spirits, and prohibited all private 
 communications with the shore. These mutinous proceed- 
 ings soon obtiiined that attention which a peaceable behaviour 
 had been inefl'ectual to procure. A Board of Admiralty 
 proceeded to Portsmouth to announce a considerable increase 
 of pay. But the mutineers were now peremptory. They 
 demanded that the amount of pensions and provisions should 
 l)e augmented, declared that other grievances must be re- 
 dressed, and, finally, that until these terms should be com- 
 plied with, " and his JNIajcsty's gracious pardon granted to 
 the fleet now lying at Spithead, the fleet would not lift an 
 anchor; and this," they added, "is the total and final 
 answer." These tenns, coupled with the King's pardon, 
 under the sign manual, were speedily granted, and an 
 admiral, four captains, and seventy-nine infi-rior oflficers, were 
 displaced from full j)ay on the demand of the nmtineers. 
 The sailors then returned to their duty. 
 
 So vigilant a leader of (>j)j)u.sition as Fox was sure 
 not to pass over unobserved scenes so full of scandal and 
 of danger. Having mentioned the subj(;ct on the l.-t of
 
 110 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 May, he spoke again, and more severely, when, on the 5th 
 of the same month, Pitt proposed a grant of money for 
 the current year of 372,000?., and stated the whole increase 
 to exceed half a million a year. Fox remarked that 
 Ministers had neither entirely granted nor entirely refused 
 the demands of the sailors ; but, by giving less than was 
 reasonable, and endeavouring to make a bargain, had in- 
 creased their suspicions. This censure was undoubtedly just. 
 The Duke of Bedford, in the House of Lords, said the 
 transactions were without parallel in history: there had been 
 hitherto no instance in which the King's Ministers had 
 entered into correspondence and negotiation with any por- 
 tion of his subjects. 
 
 A new mutiny, which broke out soon after at the Nore, 
 was the natural consequence of the manner in which the 
 first mutineers had been treated. But these offenders, with 
 a leader named Parker at their head, having clearly shown 
 that their purpose was not honest, were deserted by the 
 sailors, and, after a time, Parker and some others were 
 arrested and hanged. Fox has been much blamed for 
 attacking Ministers on this occasion. Yet he had pursued 
 the same course when Lord Sandwich mismanaged the navy 
 during the American war. Nor can there be a worse case 
 of mal-administration than that of treating the interests of 
 our seamen with gross neglect and silent contempt while they 
 are obedient, and making degrading concessions when they are 
 in a state of mutiny. Any other than the complacent Par- 
 liaments of those times would have driven from power the 
 incompetent Ministers who lavished millions on German 
 Sovereigns for no adequate service, and refused their due 
 reward to the men who had ennobled and saved their country 
 by their briUiant courage and their victorious energy.
 
 CHARLES JASIES FOX. Ill 
 
 Pitt on this occtosion, as on many others, redeemed 
 his public character by the calmness and fortitude which 
 were habitual to him. Lord Spencer, having occasion to 
 consult him in the middle of the night, went to his bedroom, 
 and, having obtained his opinion, withdrew. When Lord 
 Spencer got into the street, he recollected some point on 
 which he had not spoken to Pitt, and hastily returned 
 to his bedroom. To his great surprise, he found the Minister 
 already asleep. This calm composure cannot be reckoned 
 an accident, or attributed to physical causes. Pitt, from 
 his first entrance into the House of Commons, showed an 
 amount of presence of mind, and of moral courage, which 
 enabled him to rule over the minds of others. This was 
 his great quality, and, joined with a proud and disinterested 
 spirit, gained for his personal conduct the respect which, by 
 his unwise and inconsistent measures, he might otherwise 
 have forfeited.
 
 112 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 PERSONAL FEELINGS OF FOX. — MR. GKEY's MOTION ON REFORM OP 
 PARLIAMENT. — SECESSION OF FOX AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 While Fox displayed, from day to day, his vast abilities in 
 the discussion of public affairs, and held in check the pre- 
 vailing tendency to place absolute power in the hands of Pitt, 
 his own feelings recoiled from the task which a sense of duty 
 imposed. The separation which had taken place between him 
 and the Conservative Whigs had cut him to the heart. 
 
 With such feelings as those described in his letters of 
 November, 1792, and August, 1794,* it is no wonder that 
 he often wished to pursue, unburthened by public duties, a 
 life of literature, affection, and happiness. Lord Holland 
 tells us that in 1793 he had serious thoughts of retiring from 
 Parliament. 
 
 In 1797, he thought the time was come when, his duty to 
 the public having been performed with abundant zeal and 
 energy, but without any success, his wish for retirement 
 might be indulged without any injury to his country, and 
 without any loss to his reputation. Neither Peace, nor 
 Reform of Parliament, nor Abolition of the Slave Trade, 
 appeared to be brought within reach by his greatest and 
 loftiest efforts. Pitt, who had been the organ of the 
 
 * See pp. 7 and 65 of this volume.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 113 
 
 friends of rarlianieiitarv Reform, who still spoke elo- 
 quently in ftivour of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and 
 who was, in his heart, favourable to the removal of the 
 disiibilities weiirhing on the Roman Catholics, was chained as 
 a n-alley slave to a ])arty which resisted all those measures. 
 
 In these circumstances, Fox felt that if systematic 
 secession was not justifiable, a lax and rare attendance 
 was at least excusable. But before relinquishing the very 
 forward posts he and his friends had hitherto occupied, it 
 was thought right to test the House of Commons on some 
 great question. Reform of Parliament was the measure 
 fixed upon, and ^Ir. Grey was to be the man to propose it. 
 
 Mr. Charles Grey was one of the most upright, consistent, 
 and virtuous statesmen who have ennobled the race of 
 English politicians. Born of an aristocratic family, the heir 
 to considerable landed property, of a spirit to recoil from 
 all that was mean and base, he embraced in early life the 
 popular principles of Fox, and adhered to them through 
 good and ill rejiort to the end of his life. When he first 
 undertook the aiuse of Parliamentary Reform it is true he 
 had not sufficiently considered the influence of the evil days 
 upon which he had fallen, but when at a later period of his 
 life he addressed himself to his great ta.sk the skies were 
 more propitious, and he was fortunate enough to enlarge, by 
 a temperate but efficient reform, the liberties of the people. 
 Mr. Grey was endowed by nature with a graceful person, a 
 lofty demeanour, an iinj)rcssivc voice, and a vigorous under- 
 standing. He enhanced these gifts by study, and became a 
 good .scholar, a perspicuous writer, a master of all questions 
 of con.stitutional law and of foreign policy. Thus armed, 
 he addressed the House of Cijinmons with forcible argument 
 conveyed in the clearest and mo.-t aj)propriate language. 
 VOL. Ill 1
 
 114 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 It was on the 26th of May, 1797, that Mr. Grey brought 
 forward his motion for Parliamentary Reform. After an able 
 speech, showing the necessity for the measure, he explained 
 his plan. It was apparently a very simple one. The county 
 representation with the addition of twenty-one members was 
 to remain nearly untouched. But the borough representation 
 was to be I'eformed on the basis of dividing the cities and 
 boroughs into four hundred separate districts, each returning 
 one member by household suffrage. How these districts 
 were to be formed, and whether the great towns were to have 
 members in proportion to their population was not precisely 
 stated, and probably had never been maturely considered. 
 Fox's speech in this debate was one of the greatest 
 efforts of his oratory. Taking advantage of the fact that 
 Pitt had been, in former days, the chief leader of the 
 Reformers, and that he had traced the evils of the American 
 war to the want of Parliamentary Reform, Fox pointed 
 his sarcasm at the head of the Minister now the hope and 
 the stay of the enemies of Reform. 
 
 " We assert," he said, " that under the present form and 
 practice of elections, we cannot expect to see any remark- 
 able change produced by a general election. We must 
 argue from experience. Let us look back to the period 
 of the American war. It will not be denied by the 
 right honourable gentleman that, towards the end of that 
 war, it became exceedingly unpopular, and that the King's 
 Ministers lost the confidence of the nation. In the year 
 1780, a dissolution took place, and then it was naturally 
 imagined by superficial observers, who did not examine the 
 real state of the representation, that the people would have 
 returned a Parliament that would have unequivocally spoken 
 their sentiments on the occasion. What was the case ? I
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 115 
 
 am able to speak with considerable precision. At tbat time 
 I was much more than I am at present in the way of knowing 
 personally the individuals returned, and of making an accu- 
 rate estimate of the accession gained to the popular side by 
 that election. I can take upon me to say, that the change 
 was very small indeed : not more than three or four persons 
 were added to the number of those who had from the bejrin- 
 iiing opposed the disastrous career of the Ministers in that war. 
 I remember that, upon that occasion. Lord North made use 
 of precisely the same argument as is now brought forward : 
 ' What !' said he, ' can you contend the war is unpopular, 
 after the declaration in its favour that the people have made 
 by their choice of representatives ? The general election is 
 the proof that the war continues to be the war of the people 
 of England.' Such was the argument of Lord North, and 
 yet it was notoriously otherwise ; so notoriously otherwise, 
 that the right honourable gentleman, the present Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, made a just and striking use of it, to 
 demonstrate the necessity of a Parliamentary reform. He 
 referred to this event as a demonstration of this doctrine. 
 
 " ' You see,' said he, ' that so defective, so inadequate, is 
 the present practice, at least of the elective franchise, that 
 no impression of national calamity, no conviction of minis- 
 terial error, no abhorrence of disastrous war, is sufficient to 
 stand against that corru])t influence which has mi.\ed itself 
 with election, and which drowns and stifles the j)opular 
 voice.' Uj)on this statement, and upon this mianswerable 
 ari,niment, the rigiit honourable gentleman aoted in the year 
 17^2. When he ])rop()sed a jjarliamentary reform, he did 
 it expres-sly on tlu.' ground of the exj)erience of 1780; and 
 he made an explicit declaration, that we had no other secu- 
 rity by which to guard ourselves against the return of tiie 
 
 I 2
 
 116 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 same evils. He repeated this warning in 1783. It was 
 the leading principle of his conduct. 'Without a reform,' 
 said he, ' the nation cannot be safe ; this war may be put an 
 end to, but what will protect you against another ? As cer- 
 tainly as the spirit which engendered the present war actuates 
 the secret councils of the Crown, will you, under the influence 
 of a defective representation^ be involved again in new wars, 
 and in similar calamities.' This was his argument in 1782, 
 this was his prophecy, and the right honourable gentleman 
 was a true prophet. Precisely as he pronounced it, the 
 event happened ; another war took place, and I am sure it 
 will not be considered as an aggravation of its character, 
 that it is at least equal in disaster to the war of which the 
 right honourable gentleman complained. ' The defect of 
 representation,' he said, ' is the national disease ; and unless 
 you apply a remedy directly to that disease, you must inevit- 
 ably take the consequences with which it is pregnant.' With 
 such an authority, can any man deny that I reason right? 
 Did not the right honourable gentleman demonstrate his 
 case ? Good God ! what a fate is that of the right honour- 
 able gentleman, and in what a state of whimsical contra- 
 diction does he stand ! During the whole course of his 
 administration, and particularly during the course of the 
 present war, every prediction that he has made, every hope 
 that he has held out, every prophecy that he has hazarded, 
 has failed ; he has disappointed the expectations that he has 
 raised ; and every promise that he has given has proved to 
 be fallacious. Yet for these very declarations and notwith- 
 standing these failures, we have called him a wise minister. 
 We have given him our confidence on account of his predic- 
 tions, and have continued it upon their failure. The only 
 instance in which i really predicted what has come to pass,
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 117 
 
 we treated with stubborn incredulity. In 1785, lie pro- 
 nounced the awful prophecy : ' AVithout a ])arlianientary 
 reform, the nation will be plunged into new wars; without a 
 parliamentary reform, you cannot be safe against bad Minis- 
 ters, nor can even good Ministers be of use to you.' Such 
 was his prediction ; and it has come upon us. It would seem 
 as if the whole life of the right honourable gentleman from 
 that period had been destined by Providence for the illus- 
 tration of his warning. If I were disposed to consider him 
 as a real enthusiast, and a bigot in divination, we might be 
 apt to think that he had himself taken measures for the 
 verification of his prophecy. For he might now exclaim to 
 us, ' You see the consequence of not listening to the oracle ! 
 I told vou what would happen. It is true that your destruc- 
 tion is complete. 1 have plunged you into a new war ; I 
 have exhausted you as a people ; I have brought you to the 
 lirink of ruin ; but I told you beforehand what would happen ; 
 I told vou that without a refurm in the representation of 
 the people, no Minister, however wise, could save you : you 
 denied me my means, and you take the consequence !' "* 
 
 Turning, then, to the nature of the reform proposed, he 
 denied that it would produce a pure democracy. 
 
 " An honourable baronet," he said, " spoke of the insta- 
 bilitv of democracies, and sjiys tiiat iiistory does not give us 
 the cxamj)le of one that has lasted eighty years. Sir, I am 
 not speaking of ])urc democracies, and therefore his allusion 
 does not apj)ly to my argument. Kiglity years, however, of 
 peace and rej)ose would lie jirctty well for any people to 
 enjoy, and would he no bad recommendation of a pure 
 democracy. I am ready, however, to agive with lh(! honour- 
 able baronet, that, according to the ex])erience of history, the 
 • " Fox*!! Specchen," vol. vi. \>. 349.
 
 118 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ancient democracies of the world were vicious and objection- 
 able on many accounts ; their mstability, their injustice, and 
 many other vices cannot be overlooked ; but surely, when we 
 turn to the ancient democracies of Greece — when we see them 
 in all the splendour of arts and of arms — when we see to what 
 an elevation they carried the powers of man, it cannot be 
 denied that, however vicious on the score of ingratitude and 
 of injustice, they were, at least, the pregnant source of national 
 strength, and that in particular they brought forth this 
 strength in a peculiar manner in the moment of difficulty 
 and distress. When we look at the democracies of the 
 ancient world, we are compelled to acknowledge their oppres- 
 sions to their dependencies, their horrible acts of injustice and 
 of ingratitude to their own citizens ; but they compel us also 
 to admiration of their vigour, their constancy, their spirit, and 
 their exertions in every great emergency in which they were 
 called upon to act. We are compelled to own that it gives a 
 power of which no other form of government is capable. Why? 
 Because it incorporates every man with the State ; because it 
 arouses everything that belongs to the soul as well as to the 
 body of man ; because it makes every individual feel that he 
 is fighting for himself and not for another ; that it is his own 
 cause, his own safety, his own concern, his own dignity on the 
 face of the earth, and his own interest on the identical soil 
 which he has to maintain ; and accordingly we find that 
 whatever may be objected to them on account of the turbu- 
 lency of the passions which they engender, their short dura- 
 tion, and their disgusting vices, they have exacted from the 
 common suffi^age of mankind the palm of strength and vigour. 
 Who that reads the history of the Persian war — what boy, 
 whose heart is warmed by the grand and sublime actions 
 which the democratic spirit produced — does not find in this
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 110 
 
 principle the key to all the \vondei"s which were achieved at 
 Thermopylae and elsewhere, and of which the recent and 
 marvellous acts of the French people are pregnant examples? 
 lie sees that the principle of liberty only could create the 
 sublime and irresistible emotion : and it is in vain to deny, 
 from the strikinfj illustration that our own times have ffiven, 
 that the principle is eternal, and that it belongs to the heart 
 of man. Shall we, then, refuse to take the benefit of this in- 
 vigorating principle? Shall we refuse to take the benefit 
 which the wisdom of our ancestors resolved that it should 
 confer on the British constitution? Whh the knowledge 
 that it can be reinfused into our system without violence, 
 without disturbing any one of its parts, are we become so 
 inert, so terrified, or so stupid as to hesitate for one hour to 
 restore ourselves to the health which it would be sure to 
 give? \Mien we see the giant power that it confers upon 
 others, we ought not to withhold it from Great Britain. 
 How long is it since we were told in this House that France 
 was a blank in the map of Europe, and that she lay an easy 
 prey to any Power that might be disjjosed to divide and 
 plunder her ! Yet we see that, by the mere force and spirit 
 of this principle, France has brought all Europe to her feet. 
 Without disfjuisinjT the vices of France — without overlooking- 
 the horrors that have been committed, and that have tarnished 
 the glory of the Revolution — it cannot be denied tliat they 
 have exemplified the doctrine, that if you wish for power you 
 must look to lilx'rty. If ever there was a moment when this 
 maxim ought to be dear to ns it is the present. We have 
 tried all other means ; we have had recourse to every 
 stratai^em that artifice, that influence, that cunnin^' could 
 suggest; we have addressed ourselves to all the bas(> passions 
 of the nation ; we have; addre.-.-ed oui>elvi's to j)ri(le, to
 
 120 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 avarice, to fear ; we have awakened all the interested emo- 
 tions ; we have employed everything that flattery, everything 
 that address, everything that privilege could effect ; we have 
 tried to terrify them into energy, and all has been unequal to 
 our emergency. Let us try them by the only means which 
 experience demonstrates to be invincible ; let us address our- 
 selves to their love ; let us identify them with ourselves ; let 
 us make it their own cause as well as ours ! To induce them 
 to come forward in support of the State, let us make them a 
 part of the State ; and this they become the very instant you 
 give them a House of Commons that is the faithful organ of 
 their will. Then, sir, when you have made them believe and 
 feel that there can be but one interest in the country, you will 
 never call upon them in vain for exertion. Can this be the 
 case as the House is now constituted ? Can they think so if 
 they review the administration of the right hon. gentleman, 
 every part of which must convince them that the present 
 representation is a mockery and a shadow ?" * 
 
 Speaking of the plan proposed, he said he thought that to 
 extend the right of election to householders was the best plan 
 of reform, and the most perfect recurrence to first principles. 
 " I do not mean to the first principles of society nor the 
 abstract principles of representation, but to the first known 
 and recorded principles of our constitution." " It is the 
 opinion of the celebrated Glanville, that in all cases where 
 no particular right intervenes, the common-law right of 
 paying scot and lot is the right of election of the land. 
 This, sir, was the opinion of Serjeant Glanville, and of one of 
 the most celebrated committees of which our parliamentary 
 history can boast." "That I take to be the most perfect 
 system," he said later, "which shall include the greatest 
 
 * " Fox's Speeches," vol. vi, p. 353.
 
 C1IAEI.es JAMES FOX. ]21 
 
 number of independent electors, and exclude the greatest 
 number of those who are by their situation dependent." He 
 thoujjht the number of voters would be about GUO,000 — a 
 number sufficiently extensive for deliberation on the one 
 hand, and yet sufficiently limited for order on the other. At 
 the end of his speech, Fox said he desired to see a change of 
 [Ministers, but that he had no desire to form a part of any 
 new Administration. 
 The House divided : 
 
 Ayes 91 
 
 Noes 256 
 
 Majority against . . . 165 
 
 This was for some time the close of Fox's efforts in Par- 
 liament.
 
 122 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF BUEKE, 1797. 
 
 In this year died Edmund Burke, one of tlie greatest men 
 whom the United Kingdom has produced. With a fertiUty 
 of fancy sufficient to make a poet of the rank of Milton, and 
 a power of general reasoning which might have furnished a 
 philosopher of the rank of Bacon, he devoted these rare gifts 
 to political pursuits. He was not indeed the ivory paper- 
 knife which Swift considers as the true measure of sharp- 
 ness of intellect for a practical statesman, and was rather 
 the razor to which Goldsmith compares him. Thus it was 
 his fate to propound lessons of political wisdom and 
 enlightened policy to minds incapable of fathoming his 
 doctrines, or of appreciating the extent of his views. So 
 that, when his exposition of the elementary doctrines of 
 political economy was heard by Lord Chatham, he was sup- 
 posed by that great man to be incurably wild and unpractical. 
 Thus, also, when, in his magnificent speech on conciliation 
 with America, he pointed out the path by which three mil- 
 lions of people might be won back to allegiance, he was scoffed 
 at and despised by the narrow intellects of the Ministers of the 
 Crown, and the venal souls of the majority of the House of 
 Commons. He said very truly that when he showed zeal for
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 123 
 
 some great public object, he was supposed to be working for 
 some private object of his own. 
 
 " Too deep for his hearers, he went on refining, 
 And thought of convincing when they thought of dining." 
 
 Xor did he fare better with the inhabitants of a great com- 
 mercial city than with the blinded Court, or the corrupt House 
 of Commons. His knowledge of the wrongs of Ireland, and 
 his wish to remove them, together with his foresight of the 
 fatal issue of the quarrel with our American colonies, lost him 
 the attachment of Bristol, and he was indebted to the pa- 
 tronajje of Lord Rockint^ham for a seat at Malton. 
 
 Two great defects were inherent in Burke ; the one of 
 mind, the other of temper. 
 
 The fault of his mind was that imagination was allowed to 
 prevail over judgment, and the fault of his temper was a 
 want of patience, justly considered by Pitt the most necessary 
 quality in the character of a British statesman. Thus, having 
 his indignation roused by the violence, cruelty, and treachery 
 of our Indian Government towards the natives, he clothed the 
 splendid ceremonies of the Hindu superstition with all the 
 colours of his fancy, and giving a character of sanctity to 
 heathen idols, inveighed against the crimes of Hastings with 
 acrimony and exaggeration. 
 
 These defects of Burke found copious aliment in the 
 events of the French Revolution. The flagrant immorality 
 of the French nobility, the notorious infidelity of the French 
 clergy, the levity and culpable frivolity of the (iueen of 
 France, found in hini not a lenient and ('(juitalile judge, 
 but a j)a."Hionate advocate. He conjured up a vision of 
 political virtue, of moral purity, and of social harmony 
 which iiad no existence among the society of monarchical 
 France. As events proceeded the follies of the honest
 
 124 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 promoters of the revolution; the brutal cruelties of the 
 ambitious demagogues ; the recklessness with which the 
 Church was not reformed but overthrown ; the aristocracy 
 not chastised, but exterminated ; the mixture of vanity and 
 ferocity; the injustice practised towards the King; the 
 servility shown by the Assembly to the mob of Paris ; the 
 insults offered to women of high station and pure reputation ; 
 the overthrow of religion ; the massacres perpetrated daily 
 in the capital, the chief cities, towns, and rural districts — all 
 these things completely unsettled the mind of Burke, and 
 drove him into a state of frenzy in which all control from 
 reason was lost. 
 
 In this wreck of his judgment, and extreme irritation of 
 his temper, he urged on war in behalf of the Bourbons, and 
 would have had his country oppose the preternatural strength 
 which the French people derived from their insanity by a 
 fury no less insane. Speaking of this period of Burke's 
 career, Pitt was wont to say : " He was very mad at that 
 time." It was a madness of which Pitt at no time partook ; 
 but it is no wonder that when the violence of the storm had 
 driven from their moorings intellects the most firmly anchored, 
 the mind of Burke, never remarkable for stability, should 
 have been at the mercy of the tempest. When, at last, he 
 became as he described himself, a hulk utterly broken up, he 
 received a pension from the king. Fully had he deserved this 
 poor provision for his old age from those who were entitled to 
 dispense the bounty of the Crown and of the nation. For he 
 was a good as well as a great man ; he had served faithfully 
 the interests of his country, was a brilliant and eloquent 
 writer, and a discriminating and profound admirer of his 
 country's constitution. 
 
 His works will be read with interest and with profit so
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 125 
 
 long as England shall be a nation, and so long as the 
 English language shall be known. 
 
 The first of those works, which is much read, is the 
 treatise on the " Sublime and Beautiful." Its chief merit 
 consists in its apt classical quotations. He had not very care- 
 fully studied nature, but he knew the poets, and delighted in 
 the images which poets paint so well. 
 
 The '* Thoujjhts on the Causes of the Present Discontents " 
 is an essay which contains a masterly view of the prerogative 
 policy of George III. 
 
 It was this policy which, artfully directed by a shrewd and 
 watchful j)rince, set one faction against another till all were 
 bent or broken by the inflexible will and subtle policy of the 
 sovereign. 
 
 Of Burke's published speeches, Fox used to say that it 
 was common to charge Burke with want of judgment, but 
 that those who had heard his speeches must confess that 
 nothing could be more judicious than the selection of his 
 best speeches for publication, and the omission of passages 
 which, when spoken, had offended his hearers. 
 
 The speech on conciliation with America is perhaps the 
 finest recorded speech in the English language. Yet, not- 
 withstanding the dictum of Fox, I regret the loss of the 
 speech on the employment of Indians, of which Horace ^Val- 
 pole says: " Wonderful speech of Burke on Burgoyne's invita- 
 tion to Indians; his wit made North, Rigby, and Ministers 
 hiugh ; iiis pathos drew tears down Barre's cheeks."* 
 
 The " lleflections on the French Revolution," and the 
 subse(iuent pamphlets of Burke, wlTde they contain pas- 
 sages of large philosoj)hy, and .>-till moie of brilliant 
 description, and c^iustic invective, an^ all tinged with that 
 • " Correspouclfnco," vol. i. ji. 171.
 
 126 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dark horror of the French revolution, which made him look 
 upon war against the French Republic as a duty to the religion, 
 morality, and social order of Europe. He never perceived 
 that crimes and disorders so wild and irrational must have 
 some adequate cause, and must also in no long process of time, 
 if let alone, cure themselves. 
 
 The old monarchy of France, which Burke worshipped 
 as an idol, was a compound of all that was corrupt in politics, 
 infidel in religion, and profligate in morals. 
 
 In 1774, Burke failed in the patriotic task of inducing 
 England to be reconciled to her American children ; in 1792, 
 he succeeded but too well in exciting her to rush into a long 
 and bloody war with her nearest neighbour. 
 
 " L'homme est de feu pour le meusonge, 
 II est de glace pour la veriteV 
 
 La Fontaine.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 127 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 IREL.\^XD, 179S. 
 
 WnEX four leaclin<j: men of the Wiug party were admitted 
 into the Ministry of Pitt some of his friends expressed 
 an apprehension that he was creating an opposition to his 
 policy, and might be out-voted in his own Cabinet. This 
 fear he treated with scorn, saying he felt no anxiety on that 
 account, since he placed much dependence on his new col- 
 leagues, and still more on himself.* It seems, however, 
 that upon one subject the new colleagues of Pitt hoped to 
 effect a change in his policy. Burke had always been an 
 advocate for concessions to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, 
 and the Duke of Portland, when Lord Lieutenant, had repre- 
 sented in that country a policy of conciliation. 
 
 The ^larquis of Buckingham had received on the question 
 (if the Regency the sujjport of a party, whose bond of union 
 was Protestant ascendancy, and Lord ^Vestmoreland, the 
 reigning Lord Lieutenant, was the organ and symbol of 
 that party. 
 
 Suddenly there came a rumour that Lord Westnuireland 
 
 was to give way to Lord Fitzwilliam, and that Lord I'it/- 
 
 william had openly avowed to Mr. (irattau and AL*. i'onsonb) 
 
 both his expectation of succeeding Lord Westmoreland, 
 
 • " Life of Lord Sidmouth," vol. i. p. 120.
 
 128 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and his determination in that case of changing the policy 
 of repression and intolerance for a system of mildness 
 and religious freedom. 
 
 The statements as to the facts of the arrangement differ so 
 widely as make it almost impossible to reconcile them. 
 
 Lord Grenville, writing to his brother at Vienna, on the 
 15th of October, 1794, states that he had heard with infinite 
 surprise the rumours just mentioned ; that upon inquiry it 
 was found to be the truth, that Lord Fitzwilliam had written 
 in the sense supposed to Mr. Ponsonby and Mr. Grattan, and 
 liad given them reason to think that the Chancellor (Fitz- 
 gibbon) would be one of the first persons removed. 
 
 As the Chancellor had strenuously supported Pitt and 
 Lord Buckingham on the question of the Regency, it was felt 
 by Lord Grenville that the consent to sacrifice him would be 
 a step dishonourable and degrading to Pitt and himself 
 
 Lord Grenville continues his letter in these words : 
 
 " On every principle therefore of duty and character, we 
 are obliged to say that we cannot consent to this step, and 
 we can only regret that if it was originally intended, so 
 capital a feature in the new arrangement was not brought 
 forth earlier. The same observation applies to tlie whole 
 idea of holdinjr out a new svstem of men and measures in 
 Ireland. If that was meant before the junction was made, it 
 ought surely to have been stated then, in order that we might 
 judge whether it did not oppose an insurmountable bar to 
 the whole scheme."* 
 
 Every one will agree with Lord Grenville in this remark. 
 
 Lord Holland on the other hand says that Mr. Grattan and 
 the Irish patriots might think themselves justified in not 
 resisting the war, as the question had already been decided 
 
 * "Courts and Cabinets," vol. ii. p. 315.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 129 
 
 in England, and as by waiving objections tbcy migbt obtain 
 some advantages for tbeir own country. " That they had such 
 expectations," continues Lord Holland, "cannot be doubted. 
 They were distinctly encouraged in them by the Duke of 
 Portland — ' at least, we have secured the Catholics,' said he 
 to some English friends ; and he did not scruple to affirm to 
 Mr. Grattan that his chief object in taking office was to secure 
 the objects which the Irish ^Vhigs had pursued, and a large 
 share of power and patronage to their party. Nearly thus 
 did Lord Fitzwilliam understand it."* 
 
 Burke was deeply grieved at this schism in Pitt's coun- 
 cils, lie looked to Pitt as the only man who could 
 save the country. But he loved and respected Lord Fitz- 
 william and those who had joined the Ministry. He could 
 see no remedy for the breach but the resignation or dismissal 
 of the Uuke of Portland and Lord Fitzwilliam. With these 
 feelintrs, he thus writes to Mr. Windham : 
 
 " You are better acquainted than I am with the terms, 
 actual or understood, upon which the Duke of I\)rtland, 
 acting for himself and others, accepted office. I know nothing 
 of them but by a single conversation with him. From thence 
 I learned that (whether authorized or not), he considered 
 without a doubt that the administration of Ireland was left 
 wholly to him, and without any other reserves than what are 
 supposed in every wise and sober servant of the Crown. Lord 
 Fitzwilliam, I know, conceived things exactly in that manner, 
 and j)roceeded as if there was no controversy whatever on the 
 subject. !!'• iiesitated long wiiether he should take tiie 
 station ; but when he agreed to it, he thought he had obliged 
 the Mini.>-try, and done what was j)leasant to the King, in 
 going into an office of great difficulty and heavy responsibility." 
 • "Mcmoiraof the Whig Party," vol. i. |'. 7». 
 
 VOL. in. . K
 
 130 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Again : " I think I know what a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 
 is, or I know nothing. . . . Lord Fitzwilliam is a high- 
 minded man, a man of very great parts, and of very quick 
 feehngs. He cannot be the instrument of the junto, with 
 the name of the King's representative, if he would. If Lord 
 Fitzwilliam was to be sent to Ireland to act exactly as 
 Lord Westmoreland does, I undertake to say, that a worse 
 choice for that purpose could not be made. . . . Lord 
 Fitzwilliam has no business there at all ; he has fortune 
 enough ; he has rank enough. Here he is infinitely more at 
 his ease, and he is of infinitely more use here than he can be 
 there, where his desire of really doing business, and his desire 
 of being the real representative of the Crown, would only 
 cause him infinite trouble and distress. For it is not to know 
 Ireland to say, that what is called opposition is what will give 
 trouble to a real Viceroy. His embarrassments are upon 
 the part of those who ought to be the supports of English 
 government, but who have formed themselves into a cabal to 
 destroy the King's authority, and to divide the country as a 
 spoil among one another. Non regnum sed magnum latro- 
 cinium is the motto which ought to be put under the harp. 
 . . . I love Lord Fitzwilliam very well, but so con- 
 vinced am I, on the maturest reflection, of the perilous state 
 into which the present junto have brought that kingdom, 
 (on which, in reality, this kingdom at this juncture is depen- 
 dent), that if he were to go with a resolution to support it, I 
 would on my knees entreat him not to have a share in the 
 ruin of his country, under the poor pretence of governing a 
 part of it."* 
 
 Again, in writing on October 16th, respecting the junto 
 which governed Ireland, Burke says : " I should have made 
 
 * " Diary of W. Windham," p. 322, et seq.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 131 
 
 a great scruple of conscience to do anything whatever 
 for the supj)ort, directly or indirectly, of a set of men in 
 Ireland who, that conscience well informed tells me, by their 
 innumerable corruptions, frauds, oppressions, and follies, are 
 opening a back door for Jacobinism to rush in and to take us 
 in the rear. As surely as you and I exist, so surely this will 
 be the consequence of their persisting in their system."* 
 
 The immediate rent was patched up : Lord Fitzwilliam 
 went to Ireland and dismissed several of the junto ; they 
 raised a piteous cry of distress ; Pitt took their part ; 
 Lord Fitzwilliam was recalled ; the Duke of Portland 
 deserted him, and as Burke had foretold, the Jacobins 
 rushed in and took us in the rear. The melancholy history 
 of the Irish Rebellion ; the burnings, the tortures, and the 
 outrages by which it was fanned into a flame by the Govern- 
 ment ; the barbarous cruelties by which it was accompanied 
 on the part of the insurgents, form no part of my subject, and 
 I am glad to save myself and my readers the painful details. 
 Vet there is one person, a young man of singular merit 
 and singular enthusiasm, a near relation of Fox, whose fate 
 deserves some record in these volumes. 
 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald was the fifth son of the Duke of 
 Lcinster. Entering early into the army, he became a skilful 
 officer, and was beloved by all who knew him. The fol- 
 lowing testimony to his merit cannot be impeached. Major 
 Doyle, who served with him in America, thus speaks of him : 
 " Of my lamented and ill-fated friend's excellent qualities I 
 should never tire in speaking. I never knew so loveable a 
 person ; and every man in the army, from the general to the 
 drummer, would cheer the exj)ression. His frank and o])eii 
 manner, his universal benevolence, his (jaiete de cceiir, his 
 • " Diiiry of VV. Windlmin," p. 329. 
 K 2
 
 132 THE LITE AND TIMES OF 
 
 valour, almost chivalrous, and, above all, his unassuming tone, 
 made him the idol of all who served with him. He had 
 great animal spirits, which bore him up against all fatigue ; 
 but his courage was entirely independent of those spirits — it 
 was a valour sui generis. Had fortune happily placed him in 
 a situation, however difficult, where he could legitimately have 
 brought those varied qualities into play, I am confident he 
 would have proved a proud ornament to his country,"* 
 
 Lord Edward married early in life, after a month's courtship, 
 Pamela, supposed to be the daughter of Madame de Genlis 
 and the Duke of Orleans. His letters to his mother during 
 his early married life, show the warm, simple, and affectionate 
 nature of his character. In April, 1793, he writes : 
 
 " Dearest Mother, — I have been very idle, and so has 
 my dear little wife, but I hope you will forgive us. She is afraid 
 you are angry with her. The truth is, the sitting up so late 
 has made us late in the morning ; and we get on so agreeably, 
 and chatter so much in the morning, that the day is over before 
 we know where we are. Dublin has been very gay ; a great 
 number of balls, of which the lady misses none. Dancing 
 is a great passion with her. I wish you could see her dance, 
 you would delight in it, she dances so with all her heart 
 and soul. Everybody seems to like her, and behave civilly 
 and kindly to her. We have not been able yet to go to 
 Castletown to stay, but intend going there next week. I 
 had one very pleasant day with dear aunt Louisa,t and had 
 a long talk about you, which was not the least pleasant part 
 of it. We have been four or five times to Frascati, but 
 the weather has been too cold to enjoy it well. You know 
 what a difference that makes in everything with me. 
 
 * Moore's " Memoir of Lord E. Fitzgerald," p. 26. f Lady Louisa Conolly.
 
 • CHARLES JAMES FOX. 133 
 
 Pray tell Offilvie I have deferred speaking to Byrne till 
 
 the spring was a little more advanced, to show it in beauty 
 
 to him. If the weather comes mild, I shall go and stay 
 
 there, for I long for a little country, and a little tine 
 
 weather. 
 
 " There is nothino- ""oinjj on in the House, and I believe 
 
 our Beform will not take us long, so that, I suppose, Dublin 
 
 will soon be empty. I find, by your letter, that people are 
 
 as violent about politics in London as they are here, which 
 
 is prettv well. My diftering so very much in opinion with 
 
 the people that one is unavoidably obliged to live with here, 
 
 does not add much, as you may guess, to the agreeableness 
 
 of Dublin society. But I have followed my dear mother's 
 
 advice, and do not talk much on the subject, and when I 
 
 do, am very cool. It certiiinly is the best way ; but all my 
 
 prudence does not hinder all sorts of stories being made 
 
 about both my wife and me, some of which, I am afraid, 
 
 have frightened vou, dearest mother. It is rather hard that 
 
 when, with a wish to avoid disputing, one sees and talks 
 
 only to a few people of one's own way of thinking, we are 
 
 at once all set down as a nest of traitors. From what you 
 
 know of me, you may gues.s all this lias not much changed 
 
 my opinions ; but I keep very quiet, do not go out much, 
 
 except to sec my wife dance, and, in short, keep my breath 
 
 to cool my porridge. 
 
 " Your aflectionate son, 
 
 " E. F." * 
 Agaui : 
 
 " Fmscati, Ai.iil 27th, 1793. 
 " Ogilvie will have glorious weather ior his journey. 1 
 shall be delighted to see him : he docs ipiite right to come. 
 
 • "MtmoiM," vol. i. p. Tl\.
 
 134 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 I believe Lord W. only waits to see him to settle about 
 Frascati. Mrs. S., whom I saw yesterday, told me he was 
 now determined on taking it. He has been shilli-shally 
 about it lately, but is now fixed ; this makes me, at last, 
 look about me. I have heard of a place in the county of 
 Wicklow which I think will do for me. A Mr. Magennis 
 had it, and the description he gives of it is delightful ; in a 
 beautiful country between Wicklow and Arklow, a small 
 house, with forty acres of land, some trees upon it, near 
 the sea side, evergreens, the most beautiful, gi'owing upon 
 the rocks, the rent £90 a year. We are going to' see 
 that, and some other places that are to be let to-morrow. 
 We go to Newbridge, twenty-six miles from this, and mean 
 to stay three days there to look about us. 
 
 " I have heard a beautiful description of that part of the 
 county of Wicklow, and every thing lets cheaper than about 
 the parts we know. I think I shall like anything in the 
 county of Wicklow better than Leinster Lodge or Kildare, 
 the country is so much more beautiful ; and, when one is to 
 settle, why not choose a pretty spot and pretty country ? 
 I think it is worth while paying a little more rent, and, if 
 necessary, curtailing in other things, as in servants or horses. 
 I own also I like not to be Lord Edward Fitzgerald, ' the 
 county of Kildare member,' &c., &c., to be bored with ' this 
 one is your brother's friend,' ' that man voted against him,' 
 &c. In short, by what I hear of this place, I shall be very 
 quiet, not a gentleman nearer me than six miles, except a 
 young Mr. Tighe, whom I like. 
 
 " I am a little ashamed when I reason, and say to myself, 
 ' Leinster Lodge would be the most profitable. Kinety 
 persons of one hundred would choose it, and be delighted to 
 get it.' It is, to be sure, in a good country, plentiful, affords
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 135 
 
 everything a person wants, but it has not mountains and 
 rocks, and I do like mountains and rocks, and pretty views, 
 and pretty hedges, and pretty cabins, ay. and a pleasanter 
 people. In short, I shall certainly, I think, fix on the Wick- 
 low place, that is, if I like it. If not, I sliall take some place 
 that is to be let for the summer, or by the month, to go to 
 from here. 
 
 "• Poor Frascati ! I shall be sorry to leave it. I look at 
 all the trees and places with regret. I hope, however, to 
 see everything blossom before I go, for two or three days 
 more will bring all the lilacs out completely. My dear little 
 wife is very well — goes on delightfully. I never saw her 
 look so well, she grows both broad and long ; indeed, she 
 has quite taken a fit of growing."* 
 
 " Frascati, May 6tli, 1793. 
 
 " Dearest Mother, — Wife and I are come to settle 
 here. We came last night, got u}) to a delightful 
 spring day, and are now enjoying the little book-room, 
 with the windows open, hearing the birds sing, and 
 the place looking beautiful. The plants in the passage 
 are just watered, and with the passage door open, the 
 room smells like a green-house. I*araela has dressed four 
 beautiful flower-pots, and is now working at her frame, 
 w hile 1 write to my dearest mother ; and upon the two little 
 stands there are si.\ pcjts of fine auriculas, and I am sitting 
 in the bay window, with all those pleasant feelings which the 
 fine weather, the pretty place, the singing birds, the pretty 
 wife, and I'rascati gives me — with your last dear letter to 
 my wife; before me : — so you may jud;re how I love you at 
 this moment. W'n, dearest mother, I am delighted .it the 
 Malvern party, and I ;ini determined to meet you there, or 
 
 • " .Memoirs," vol. i. ].. •224.
 
 136 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 wherever you are. I dote on being with you anywhere, but 
 particularly in the country, as I think we always enjoy one 
 another's company there more than in town. I long for a 
 little walk with you, leaning on me, or to have a talk with 
 you, sitting out in some pretty spot, of a fine day, with your 
 long cane in your hand, working at some little weed at your 
 feet, and looking down, talking all the time. I won't go on 
 in this way, for I should want to set out directly, and that 
 cannot be, so I shall give you some account of what we have 
 been doing."* 
 
 " Frascati, February 6th, 1794. 
 
 " I have got an under-gardener (myself) to prepare 
 some spots for flowers, and to help Tim. I have been hard 
 at work to-day and part of yesterday (by-the-by, weather so 
 hot, I go without coat, and the birds singing like spring) 
 cleaning the little corner to the right of the house, digging 
 round roots of trees, raking ground, and planting thirteen 
 two-year old laurels and Portugal laurels. I have also 
 trimmed the rose trees. The flowers and shrubs had all got 
 out of the little green paling ; I am now putting them inside, 
 and mean only to have a border of primroses and polyanthus 
 outside, if I have any. I mean from thence to go to the 
 rosary, and then to the little new-planted corner. I am to 
 have hyacinths, jonquils, pinks, cloves, narcissuses, &c., in 
 little beds before the house, and in the rosary. Some parts 
 of the long round require a great deal of pruning, and trees 
 to be cut ; if you trust me I think I could do it prudently 
 and have the wood laid by. There are numbers of trees 
 quite spoiling one another. 
 
 " God bless you, dear mother, I am now going to make 
 my gardener work, for he does nothing if I am not with him. 
 
 * " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 226.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX, 137 
 
 Pamela sends vou lior love ; hers and mine to all the rest. 
 Bless you all : this is too fine a day to stay longer writing. 1 
 wish to Gotl you were here. If you want anything done, 
 tell me ; if you like what I am doing tell me ; if you like 
 the part of the house you have taken, tell me." 
 
 " Frascati, February lOtli, 1794. 
 
 • ••■•••••• 
 
 " I live here constantly. Pam has not been in town 
 since we came. She goes to the manufacturers' ball on 
 Friday. She is quite well, eats, drinks, and sleeps well ; 
 she works a great deal, and I read to her. I have left off 
 gardening, for I hated that all my troubles should go for that 
 
 vile Lord ^V , and my flowers to be for aides-de-camp, 
 
 chaplains, and all such followers of a lord-lieutenant." 
 
 " Kildiire, June 23rd, 1794. 
 
 " Dearest ^FornER, — I write to you in the middle of 
 settling and arranging my little fomily here. But the day is 
 fine, the spot looks pretty, quiet, and comfortable. 1 feel plea- 
 sant, contented, and happy, and all these feelings and sights 
 never come across me without bringinfr dearest dearest mother 
 to my heart's recollection. I am sure you understand these 
 feelings, dear mother. How you would like this little spot ! 
 It is the smallest thing imaginable, and to numbers would have 
 no lx?auty ; but there is a comfort and moderation in it that 
 delights me. I don't know howl can describe it to you, but 
 I will try. 
 
 " After going up a little lane, and in at a close gate, you 
 come on a little wiiite house, with a small gravel court before 
 it. You see but three small windows, tiic court surrounded 
 by large old elms ; one side of the house covered with shrubs, 
 on the other .side a toli-rable lari^e Jish ; iiiion the stairs iroinir 
 up to the house, two wicker aiges, in which there are at this
 
 138 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 moment two thrushes singing a gorge dejjJoijee. In coming 
 into the house you find a small passage-hall, very clean, the 
 floor tiled ; upon your left, a small room ; on the right the 
 staircase. In front you come into the parlour, a good room, 
 with a bow-window looking into the garden, which is a small 
 green plot surrounded by good trees, and in it three of the 
 finest thorns I ever saw, and all the trees so placed that you 
 may shade yourself from the sun all hours of the day ; the 
 bow-window, covered with honeysuckle, and up to the window 
 some roses. 
 
 " Going up stairs you find another bow-room, the honey- 
 suckle almost up to it, and a little room the same size as that 
 below ; this, with a kitchen or servants' hall below, is the 
 whole house. 
 
 " There is, on the left, in the courtyard, another building 
 which makes a kitchen ; it is covered by trees, so as to look 
 pretty ; at the back of it, there is a yard, &c., which looks 
 into a lane. On the side of the house opposite the grass- 
 plot there is ground enough for a flower garden, communi- 
 cating with the front garden by a little walk."* 
 
 To drive a man of such " a constant, noble, loving nature " 
 into the crime of rebellion would seem to have been a difficult 
 task. To the first overtures of French agents — namely, one 
 sent over in 1793, and a Dr. Jackson, who was arrested on 
 his landing in Ireland — Lord Edward turned a deaf ear. 
 For some time his views seem not to have gone beyond plans 
 of Parliamentary Reform in concert with the English Whigs 
 led by Fox. But the measures of coercion introduced 
 by the Irish Government, the total rejection of all Mr. 
 Grattan's motions for reform, and finally the recall of Lord 
 Fitzwilliara drove all the more ardent lovers of freedom to 
 
 * " Slemoirs," vol. i. pp. 237-241.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 139 
 
 despair, and presently to conspiracy, to treason, and to rebel- 
 lion. Non regnum sed magn um latrociniuni was the charac- 
 ter Bnrke gave of the Irish Government, and of the system 
 which he said would drive the Irish into Jacobinism. Such, 
 however, was the system which Pitt sanctioned, a system 
 of proscription, of corruption, and of cruelty. Mr. Secretary 
 Pelham declared that " the exclusion of Catholics from the 
 parliament and the state was necessary for the crown and 
 the connexion." 
 
 " Eternal and indefeasible proscription," exclaimed Mr. 
 Grattan, " denounced by a minister of the Crown against 
 three-fourths of His Majesty's subjects. . . . But the 
 member may rely on it, the Catholic, the Irish, will not long 
 submit to such an interdict ; they will not suffer a stranger 
 to tell us on what proud terms English Government will 
 consent to rule in Ireland, still less to pronounce and dictate 
 the incapacity of the natives as the terms of her dominion, 
 and the base condition of our connexion and allegiance."* 
 
 But, besides these haughty declarations, the Government 
 of Ireland ])urposely goaded the Irish people into rebellion. 
 
 " It has been said," remarked Grattan, in his speech on 
 General Lake's proclamation, " that it were better the people 
 should proceed to violence, nay, it has been said in so many 
 words, ' It were to be wished they would rebel.' Good 
 God! wished they would rebel! Here is the system, and 
 the principle of the system. I'rom corruption to coercion, 
 and so on to military execution, accompanied with a declara- 
 tion, tiiat it were Xo be wished the people would go into 
 rebellion ! " 
 
 .Mr. Gratt.m and his parliamentary friends were prudent 
 enough to keep within the limits of legality. Lord Edward 
 
 • ** Life of Lord Hdward KitzgcralJ," voL i. p. -77.
 
 140 THE LIFE AND TBIES OF 
 
 Fitzo'erald, Arthur O'Connor, Wolfe Tone, and many others, 
 fell into the snare, and gratified the Irish junto by sharing 
 in a plot to overturn the Government of England in Ireland 
 by the aid of the French Republic. 
 
 I do not propose to go any further into this sickening 
 history. Lord Edward Fitzgerald committed himself deeply, 
 and was too earnest in the cause to consult his personal 
 safety. Betrayed by a spy or unfaithful friend, he attempted 
 resistance, was shot by Major Sirr in the arm, with a view to 
 effect his capture, and, after thirteen days in prison, died 
 of a fever brought on by his wound. 
 
 The conduct of the Government, even after they had 
 caught their victim, was cruel and tyrannical. They refused 
 his relations the privilege of seeing him when living, and 
 they brought in a bill of attainder to deprive his widow and 
 his children of their inheritance after he had ceased to live ! 
 
 The comment of Sir Ralph Abercromby shows how a 
 brave and humane man judged the proceedings of the Irish 
 Government. Speaking of the army under his command, 
 he said : " That it was in a state of licentiousness which must 
 render it formidable to every one but the enemy."* 
 
 Pitt's connection with the great Tory party made it 
 easy for him to proscribe the Roman Catholics ; to torture 
 the suspected ; to burn the houses of the peasantry. But 
 when he sought to admit the Roman Catholics to Parliament 
 and to office, to conciliate the priests, and to consult the wel- 
 fare of the people of Ireland, the same Tory party, headed 
 
 * See the excellent memoir of Sir Ralph Abercomby, by his son, Lord Dun- 
 fermline. The author says truly that the documents he publishes prove that 
 " the commander of the army was the steady and consistent vindicator of the 
 authority of the civil power, while the Govei-nment were the zealous and watchful 
 advocates of military rule, and of tlie uncontrolled license of the troops." — " Memoir 
 of Lieut.-Gea. Sir Ralph Abercromby," by his son Lord DuEfermline, p. 93.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 141 
 
 by the King:, put an insuperable bar in the way of his 
 endeavours. Yet, wicked and detestiible as were tlie mea- 
 sures of the Irish Government, no one can blame them for 
 putting down by force the insurgents who sought to separate 
 Ireland from England. In IGDO, King William carried an 
 army to Ireland to defeat King James, who was, ])ossibly, the 
 choice of the majority of the Irish people ; in 1793, the French 
 Convention put down, not only by force, but with ferocity, the 
 efforts of Lyons and Toulon to set up a separate government ; 
 in 1798, animated by the same instinct of self-preservation, 
 the English Government subdued the Irish rebels, but in 
 doing so they acted with a cruelty that ill became a civilized 
 nation and an established jiovcrnnient.
 
 142 ""' ""^IFK AND TIME:? G 
 
 CHAPTER LI\. 
 
 pox's mode of life DtlEESTG THE SECESSION, 1797-1800. 
 
 Aftee his great effort on Parliamentary Reform, Fox, as he 
 had announced, gave nearly his whole time to study and 
 private enjoyment, scarcely any to political discussion. 
 
 In coming to this decision, his mind had been much agi- 
 tated, but his heart beat strongly in fiivour of retirement. 
 In argument, he was obliged to admit that secession was 
 either, as Pitt described it, a retreat to the Mons Sacer 
 with a view to demand by force what had not been yielded 
 to persuasion, or a voluntary abandonment of the pursuit of 
 the great objects of his public life. 
 
 Thus embarrassed, Fox was eager to declare that his 
 secession was not systematic. Already, in the month of 
 August, he writes to his nephew : " Pray, if you have an 
 opportunity of talking about the Secession, say what is the 
 truth, that there was not agreement of opinion enough upon 
 the subject to make it possible to take what one may call 
 a measure upon the subject ; but that most of us thought, 
 that, after the proposition for reform, we might fairly enough 
 stay away, considering the preceding events of the Session, 
 and the behaviour of Parliament upon them."* 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 136.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 143 
 
 Yet in the following November on can intimation from 
 Lord Lauderdale that, in the Duke of Bedford's opinion, 
 he ought to attend on the tirst day of the Session, he says, 
 " My own is so much the other way that I shall scarcely 
 bring myself to give it up. . . . That secession is a 
 measure liable enough to misconstruction I admit, but that 
 was considered, I suppose, before we absented ourselves last 
 Session ; and if ever there is a time when secession is like to 
 have any effect upon the public, it is at the beginning of a 
 Session. Absence at other times passes only for less vigour 
 and activity."* 
 
 Lord Lansdownc was one of those who most disap- 
 proved secession. lie said to Lord Holland : " Is your uncle 
 aware of what he is doing? Secession means rebellion, 
 or it is nonsense." Yet in November Fox writes to his 
 nephew : 
 
 '• I am glad to hear Lansdowne, at last, approves of our 
 secession ; w hether it will ever produce any effect I know 
 not ; but I own I think it has a better chance of doino- so 
 than attendance ; mind, I mean my attendance, for I think 
 the more any new ones show themselves the better ; and I 
 shall be very sorry if Moira makes his motion when you 
 caimot attend it." | 
 
 Fox's life during the Secession was spent almost en- 
 tirely at St. Anne's Hill. He loved that ])l;icc with a 
 passionate fondness. His house was not large, but coni- 
 fortaljle and convenient. The position is beautiful, and li(> 
 took such interest in the garden that in one of his manu- 
 script volumes he inserted a catalogue of all the flowers cul- 
 tivated in it. Some fine trees grow in the; shrubberv. The 
 
 • "Correspondence,"' Tol. iii. p. 274, f ll^'J- ]»• 1^^.
 
 144 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 house stands on an eminence commanding a wide and 
 varied prospect, of which the Thames, flowing beneath the 
 hill, forms a striking and agreeable feature. Shrubs planted 
 with taste and judgment, and bowers and rustic arches of 
 honeysuckle and roses adorned the lawns and walks near the 
 house. About thirty acres of land formed the whole 
 domain, but the part of the hill which rises above the 
 house was left as a common, and with its gorse and heath 
 diversified by its wildness the cultivated scenery of the valley 
 below. 
 
 The habits of Fox were simple and studious. In sum- 
 mer, he rose between six and seven ; in winter, before 
 eight. He breakfasted between eight and nine in summer ; 
 a little after nine in winter. At breakfast, the chief news 
 of the day was read aloud, generally by Fox. He also 
 read out such parts of his private letters as did not require 
 secrecy, and commented with freedom, but without acrimony, 
 on political events. After breakfast, he usually read some 
 Italian poet with ]\[rs. Fox, and then till dinner-time 
 pursued his own studies. These were generally directed 
 to poetry ; of poets he preferred the Greek, and of Greek 
 poets. Homer to all others. Mrs. Fox says, in one of her 
 letters, that he read as much Greek as Dr. Parr, and 
 would ffet throuo'h two or three books of Homer in a 
 morning. 
 
 His dinner hour was half-past two or three o'clock in 
 summer, and four in winter. In summer, after a few glasses 
 of wine and a cup of coffee, he walked out, conversing with 
 any friend who happened to be an inmate of the house. 
 After tea, reading in history commenced, chiefly with a 
 view to a work he was projecting on the Revolution of 
 1688. At ten, a light supper of fruit and pastry was brought
 
 CHARLES JAMKS FOX. 145 
 
 in, and at half-past ten the host and his family retired to 
 rest.* 
 
 There can be no doubt that Fox enjoyed this period of re- 
 tirement and literary study more than any other part of his 
 life. He was a man without malignity, envy, or the sordid 
 parts of ambition ; his fjime as an orator could hardly be in- 
 creased ; he loved his wife with a devoted aflbction which was 
 as fondly returned, and his passion for poetry, for flowers, and 
 for a rural life was intense. "A good critic," says Burke, in 
 one of his political pamphlets, " and there is none better 
 than Mr. Fox," iScc. If Burke was a fit judge of Fox's 
 qualifications as a critic, I feel sure I shall be excused 
 for giving copious extracts from his letters on the subject 
 of Greek and Latin poets — the great models of Milton 
 and of Tasso, though not of Shakespeare, Dante, and 
 Ariosto. 
 
 In 17'JG, the celebrated Greek scholar, Gilbert AVake- 
 field, dedicated to Fox, in very complimentary terms, his 
 edition of Lucretius. This incident gave rise to a 
 correspondence between them, in which Fox's opinions 
 on ancient literature are given in a simple and unafiected 
 manner. He writes to Gilbert Wakefield on the 3()th 
 January, 1798 : " I am at present rather engaged in 
 reading Greek, as it is my wish to recover, at least, if 
 not to imj)rove, my former ac<|uaintancc with that lan- 
 guage." This is followed i)y a controversy, in which 
 the tone of Fox is rather one of incpiiry than of posi- 
 tive oj)inions. lie had asked jNIr. \\'akefield, in one of 
 his letters, the following question : " I cannot refuse myself 
 Uiking th(; ojiportunity of asking your ()i)inion relative to 
 the twenty-fourth ' llia<l,' whetiier it is Homer's or not ?" In 
 
 • These dctiiiU nre taken from TrotUr'i " Memoii-s of Fox." 
 VOT.. ITT. T,
 
 146 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 answer to a paper of observations by Wakefield, he writes 
 as follows: 
 
 "St. Anne's Hill, February 23rd, 1798. 
 
 " Sir, — Nothing but your stating yourself to be in some 
 degree at leisure now could justify my troubling you with 
 the long and, perhaps, unintelligible scrawl which I send 
 with this. I most probably have shown niuch ignorance, and 
 certainly some presumption, in seeming to dispute with you, 
 upon points of which you know so much, and I so little : all 
 I can say in my defence is, that disputing is sometimes a 
 way of learning. 
 
 " I have not said anything yet upon the question which 
 you seem to have thought most upon — whether the Iliad is 
 the work of one or more authors? I have, for the sake o 
 argument, admitted it ; but yet, I own, I have great doubts, 
 and even lean to an opinion different from yours. I am 
 sure the inequality of excellence is not greater than in 
 ' Paradise Lost,' and many other poems written confessedly 
 by one author, I will own to you, also, that in one, only, of 
 the instances of inequality which you state, I agree with you. 
 Ate is detestable, but I cannot think as you do of the death 
 of Hector. There are parts of that book, and those closely 
 connected with the death of Hector, which I cannot help 
 thinking equal to anything." * 
 
 Fox, having hurt his hand by the bursting of his gun, 
 when out shooting, Mr. Wakefield rates him soundly for in- 
 dulging in so cruel a pastime. Fox defends himself on 
 the ground of general custom rather than of argument, and 
 finally puts an end to the controversy in a letter of which I 
 will quote only the earlier part. 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 318.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 147 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill, October 22nd, 1799. 
 
 " Sir, — I believe I had best not continue the controversy 
 about field sports ; or at least, if I do, I must have recourse, I 
 believe, rather to authority and precedent than to argument ; 
 and content myself with rather excusing than justifying them. 
 Cicero says, I believe, somewhere, ' Si queni nihil delectaret 
 nisi quod cum laude et dignitate conjunctum foret,' 
 • huic homini ego fortasse, et pauci, Deos propitios, plorique 
 iratos putarent.'* But this is said, I am afraid, in defence of 
 a libertine, whose public principles, when brought to the 
 test, proved to be as unsound as his private life was irregular. 
 By the way, I know no speech of Cicero's more full of beauti- 
 ful passages than this is (pro M. Cgelio), nor where he is 
 more in his element. Argumentative contention is what he 
 by no means excels in ; and he is never, I think, so happy as 
 when he has an opportunity of exhibiting a mixture of philo- 
 so})hy and j)leasantry ; and especially when he can interpose 
 anecdotes, and references to tiic authority of the eminent 
 characters in the history of his country. No man appears, 
 indeed, to have had such real resj)cct for authority as he ; 
 and, therefore, when he speaks on that subject, he is always 
 natural, and in earnest ; and not like those among iw, who 
 are so often declaiming about the wisdom of our ancestors, 
 without knowing what they mean, or hardly ever citing any 
 particulars of their conduct, or of their didiC^ 
 
 In a letter of the 22ud November, 1790, he gives liis 
 correspondent .some account of his reading : " Since; I wrote 
 last to you, I have read three plays of Euripides ; and in 
 them 1 find no less tiian five instances of that description, of 
 which Porson in liis note on the ' Orestes' supposes that there 
 are none induhiiL' fidei. ... 1 have read over, possibly 
 
 • I'ro M. Ciilio. xvii. 39. t " C'oircii|)ondc'nLO," rol. iv. p. ;M!I, 
 
 L 2
 
 1-18 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 for the hundredth tune, the portion of the ' Metamorphoses ' 
 about Pythagoras ; and I think you cannot praise it too 
 highly. I always considered it as the finest part of the 
 whole poem ; and, possibly, the Death of Hercules as the 
 next to it."* 
 
 Further on, he says : " I have read again (what I had 
 often read before) the chapter you refer to of Quintilian, and 
 a most pleasing one it is ; but I think he seems not to have 
 an opinion quite high enough of our favourite Ovid ; and in 
 his laboured comparison between Demosthenes and Cicero, 
 he appears to me to have thought them more alike, in their 
 manner and respective excellences, than they seem to me. 
 It is of them, I think, that he might most justly have said, 
 ' Magis ^ares guam similes' I have no Apollonius Ehodius, 
 and have never read of him more than what there is in our 
 Eton ' Poetae Grceci,' and the Edinburgh ' Collectanea ' ; but, 
 from what I have read, he seems to be held far too low by 
 Quintilian ; nor can I think the ' wqualis mediocritas ' to be 
 his character. The parts extracted in the above collections 
 are as fine as poetry can be ; and, I believe, are generally 
 allowed to have been the model of what is certainly not the 
 least admired part of the 'vEneid :' if he is in other parts 
 equal to these, he ought not to be characterized by medio- 
 crity. I wish to read the rest of his poem, partly for the 
 sake of the poem itself, and partly to ascertain how much 
 Virgil has taken from him ; but I have not got it, and do 
 not know what edition of it I ought to get : I should be 
 much obliged to you if you would tell me. Shaw's is one 
 of the latest ; but I think I have heard it ill-spoken of. If, 
 at the same time, you would advise me in regard to the 
 Greek poets in general (of the second and third order, I 
 
 * " Conespouilence," vol. iv. p. 362.
 
 CUA.RLES JAMES FOX. 149 
 
 mean,) which are best worth reading, and in what editions, 
 you would do me a great service. Of Aratus, Nicander, 
 Dionysius, Oppian, Nonnius, Lycophron, I have never 
 read a word, except what has occurred in notes on other 
 authors : nor do I know what poems those are which Barnes 
 often alludes to, calling them Troica. Against Lycophron, I 
 own, 1 am somewhat prepossessed, from hearing from all 
 quarters of the difficulty of understanding him. The 
 Argonautics, that go under the name of ' Orpheus,' I have 
 read, and think that there are some very beautiful passages 
 in them, particularly the description of Chiron, &c. I have 
 read, too, ' Theognis ;' and observed four verses in them 
 that are full as applicable to other countries as ever they 
 could be to any city in Greece : 
 
 " ' Ao| iirlfia S-qucfi Kei'e6(ppovi, tuttte 8« Kivrptf 
 '0|ej, K.a\ ^ivyKT^v Svff\o(pov aficpLTidet. 
 Ov yap (0' fi)pr)(reis 5")/xov <pi\o5e(nroToy wSe 
 'AvOpuTrwv, 6irocrouj T}4\tos Kadopa.' 
 
 " I wish to read some more, if not all, of the Greek poets, 
 before 1 begin with those Latin ones that you recommended ; 
 especially as I take for granted that Valerius Flaccus (one 
 of them) is in some degree an imitator of Apollonius Rhodius. 
 Of him, or Silius Italicus, I never read any ; and of Statins 
 but little. Lideed, as, during far the greater ]);irt of my 
 life, the reading of the (.'lassies has been only an amusement 
 and not a study, 1 know but little of them, beyond the works 
 of those who are generally placed in the fust rank ; to 
 which I have always more or less attended, and with which 
 1 have always been as well ac<juainted as most idle men, 
 if not better. My practice has always been ' inuJtuin ixiiius 
 qtuim multos kf/ere.' Of late years, it is true that I have
 
 150 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 read with more critical attention, and made it more of a 
 study ; but my attention has been chiefly directed to the 
 Greek lanofuao'e, and its writers, so that in the Latin I have 
 a great deal still to read, and I find that it is a pleasure 
 which grows upon me every day."* 
 
 In a letter of the 10th March, 1800, Fox writes: "I 
 received yesterday your letter, with the proposals for the 
 lexicon. I see innumerable advantages in an English inter- 
 pretation ; to which the only objection is, that it will confine 
 the sale to this country ; and how far it may be possible to 
 get two thousand subscriptions for a work useful only to 
 Eno-lish readers of Greek, I am afraid is doubtful. If 
 schools and colleges are excepted, the number of those who 
 ever even look at a Greek book in this country is very small, 
 and you know enough of schools, no doubt, to suspect that 
 partiality for old methods is very likely to make them adhere 
 to Latin interpretations, notwithstanding the clear advantage 
 of using for interpretation the language we best understand. 
 My endeavours to promote the work shall not be wanting, 
 and you will, of course, set me down as a subscriber. My 
 idea with regard to a Greek dictionary, which I hinted at 
 in a former letter, was suggested by a plan of a French 
 dictionary, mentioned by Condorcet in his life of Voltaire. 
 It is this : that a chronological catalogue should be made of 
 all the authors who are cited in the work ; and that the 
 sense of every word should be given first, from the oldest 
 author who has used it ; and then should follow, in regular 
 chronological order, the senses in which it was afterwards 
 used by more modern authors. Where the sense has not 
 altered, it should be observed in tliis manner : 
 
 " 0eoj, a god. Homer ; and is used in the same manner by the other authors. 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 3G3.
 
 CHARLES ja:nu:s fox. 151 
 
 "Thus we should have a history of every word, which 
 woukl certainly he very useful ; but, perhaps, it would 
 require a greater degree of labour than any one man could 
 perform, (ondorcet Siiys, that Voltiiire had offered to do 
 one letter of a dictionary upon a princij)le something like 
 this ; but even if he would have kept his word, one letter of 
 a French dictionary, upon this plan, would not be a hun- 
 dredth part of a Greek one ; for, besides the much greater 
 copiousness of the Greek, the great distance of time between 
 the early and the late writers must make a dictionary upon 
 this principle more bulky when applied to that language 
 (but, for the same reason, more desirable,) than it would be 
 in any other. 
 
 "iSoon after I wrote to you last, I read Apollonius (in 
 Shaw's edition, for I have not been able to get Brunck's), 
 and, upon the whole, had great satisfaction from him. Ilis 
 language is sometimes hard, and very often, I think, pro- 
 saical ; and there is too much narration ; but there arc 
 passages quite delightful to me, and, I think, his reputation 
 has been below his merit. Both Ovid and Virgil have taken 
 much from him ; but the latter less, as appears to me, than 
 has been commonly said. Dido is, in very few instances, a 
 coj)y of Medea, whereas I had been led to suppose that she 
 was almost wholly so ; and of llyp.';ij)yle, whose situation is 
 most like Dido's, A])ollonius has made little or nothing. I 
 have lately read Lycophron, iiiid ;uii much obliged to you 
 for recotnmendin"' it to me t(j do so : besides, there beinir 
 some very charming poetry in him, the variety of stories is 
 very entertaining. \Vithout Tzetzes, I should not have? un- 
 derstood, however, a tenth part of him, nor would they, 
 pcrha|)s, who treat this poor scholiast with so nuich contempt, 
 have understood much more. There remain, after all, some
 
 152 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 few difficulties which, if you can clear up to me, I shall be 
 much obliged to you, and upon which neither Canterus, 
 Meursius, nor Potter, give me any help."* 
 
 Again : " If you have a Lycophron with you, and much 
 leisure, I shall be obliged to you for your opinion upon some of 
 the above passages, for, excepting these, I do not think there 
 are any about which I have much difficulty, though I may 
 have forgot some, as I did not note down any whilst I was 
 reading him. And there are, besides, many words new to 
 me; but where the commentators have taken notice of them, 
 and so explained them that I can acquiesce in their expla- 
 nation, I do not trouble you with them. The passage you 
 quote from Theocritus is most beautiful. I suppose Horace 
 took his idea of 
 
 ' Quern til, Melpomene, semel ' 
 
 irom it ; for, besides the general resemblance of the senti- 
 ment, the shape in which it is put seems exactly the same, 
 
 ' Ous yap bpivvTi * * * rws 5' ovk,' k.t.K. 
 ' Quem tu * * * videris, Ilium iion,' &c.f 
 
 Upon some observations on Yirgil he remarks : " The 
 verses you refer to in the fifth ' ^Eneid ' are indeed delightful, 
 indeed I think that sort of pathetic is Virgil's great excel- 
 lence in the ' JEneid,' and that, in that way, he surpasses all 
 other poets of every age and nation, except, perhaps (and 
 only perhaps), Shakespeare. It is on that account that I 
 rank him so very high, for surely, to excel in that style which 
 speaks to the heart, is the greatest of all excellence. I am 
 glad you mention the eighth book as one of those you most 
 admire. It has always been a peculiar favourite with me. 
 Evander's speech, upon parting with his son, is, I think, the 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 374. 
 
 \ Ibid. p. 378 ; Theocr. ix. 35; Hor. Od. iv. 3.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 153 
 
 most beautiful thing in the whole, especially the part from 
 verse 574, ami is, as f.ir as I know, wholly unborrowed. 
 What is more remarkable is, that it has not, 1 believe, been 
 often attempted to be imitated. It is so, indeed, in Valerius 
 Flaceus, lib. i., v. 323, but not, I think, very successfully. 
 
 •diini inetus est, nee aJhuc dolor' 
 
 goes too minutely into the philosophical reason to make, with 
 propriety, a part of the speech. It might have done better 
 as an observation of the poet's, in his own person, or still 
 better, perhaps, it would have been to have left it to the 
 reader. The passage in Virgil is, I think, beyond anything. 
 
 * Sin aliquem iiifandum casum ' 
 
 is nature itself. And then the tenderness in turning towards 
 
 Pallas : 
 
 ' Dum te, care puer !' &c. 
 
 " In short, it has always appeared to me divine. On the 
 other hand, I am sorry and surprised that, among the capital 
 books, you should omit the fourth. All that })art of Dido's 
 speech that follows 
 
 • Num fletu ingemuit nostro?' 
 
 is surely of the highest style of excellence, as well as the 
 description of her last impotent efforts to retain yEueas, and 
 of the dreariness of her situation after his departure. 
 
 " I know it is the fashion to siiy Virgil has taken a great 
 deal in this book IVom Apollonlus, and it is true that he 
 has taken some things, but not nearly so much as I had been 
 taught to expect before I read ApoUonius, I think jNIedea's 
 gpcecli in the fourth Argonaut, verse 35(!, is the j)art he has 
 madt; most u.se of. There are some very ])eculiar breaks 
 there, which Virgil luis imitated crrtainly, and whlcli. 1 
 think, are very beautiful and expressive, 1 mean, particularly
 
 154 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 verse 380 in Virgil. To be sure, the application is different, 
 but the manner is the same ; and that Virgil had the passage 
 before him at the time is evident, from what follows : — 
 
 ' Mvr](Ta7o 5e Kal ttot' efiolo, 
 
 compared with, 
 
 ' Supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido 
 Saspe vocaturum.' 
 
 It appears to me, upon the whole, that Ovid has taken more 
 from Apollonius than Virgil."* 
 
 Again : " Here let me finish this unconscionable letter. But I 
 have dwelt the longer on Virgil's pathetic, because his wonder- 
 ful excellence in that particular has not, in my opinion, been in 
 general sufficiently noticed. The other beauties of the eighth 
 ' ^neid,' such as the rites of Hercules, and the Apostrophe 
 to him, both of which Ovid has so successfully imitated in 
 the beginning of the fourth Metamorphosis, the story of 
 Cacus, the Shield, and, above all, the description of Evander's 
 Town, and of the Infancy of Rome, which appears to me, 
 in its way, to be all but equal to the account of Alcinous, 
 in the ' Odyssey,' have been, I believe, pretty generally cele- 
 brated, and yet I do not recollect to have seen the eighth 
 book classed with the second, fourth, and sixth, which are 
 the general favourites." f 
 
 An inquiry about Phaon shows, in a lively manner. 
 Fox's curiosity upon any subject connected with famous 
 poets. 
 
 Thus he writes in June, 1801: " Fenton, in a sort of 
 note prefixed to his translation of Sappho to Phaon, says 
 that we learn from the ancients that Phaon was an old 
 
 * " Conespondence," vol. iv. p. 415. f Ibid. p. 418.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 155 
 
 mariner, restored to youth by Venus. In Burman's Ovid 
 there is a note from Eirnatius, rcferrinfj to some other work 
 of his (Egnatius's) upon the subject, and there is some 
 reference, too, in my Variorum Ovid, to '^Ehau's Various 
 History,' which I have not. 
 
 '• This is not a very important subject of inquiry, but I own 
 I have a sort of curiosity concerning this history of Phaon, 
 which, if you can instruct me how to gratify, you will much 
 oblige me."* 
 
 Again, two months later : " I have found, since I wrote to 
 you, a great deal about Phaon, by looking into Bayle, who 
 refeiTcd mc to Lucian ; a note in I ley no's Virgil, which 
 I found at Woburn, and PahTphatus, which I have not seen, 
 but from whom there are extracts, in some of the books 1 
 have looked into, containing, as I suppose, all he says upon 
 the subject. I observe in Brunck's ' Analecta,' which I have 
 lately purchased, that he takes no notice of the doubts con- 
 cerning the authenticity of the Remains of Anacreon. 1 
 have always supposed them modern, but I understand there 
 has been discovered a manuscript which proves them to be 
 of a certain degree of antiquity, or, at least, not a forgery of 
 II. Stephens. The style of them appears to me very modern, 
 but yet that preserved in A. Gellius bears a strong resem- 
 blance to some of the others. As to their bein^ really Ana- 
 crcon's, I should require very strong evidence to satisfy me."t 
 
 Lord Grenville remarked to the late Sir George C Lewis, 
 that the good taste of Fox gave him, with inftn'ior learning, 
 a marked suj)criority over the more extensive scholarship of 
 Wakefield. Nor is it unimportant to remark the j)assionate 
 love of poetry which induced Fox, in tlu; maturity of his 
 talents, and at the height of his fame, to enter with eager 
 * " CorresjioDdcucc," vol. iv. |>, 4.i7. t Ilii'l. p. 4.(9.
 
 156 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 zeal and laborious research into disputed questions of clas- 
 sical literature. I have omitted the references to the 
 digamma, and other scholarly matters, as not interesting to 
 the general reader. One question, however, I will notice, 
 as it illustrates the ingenuity of Wakefield, and the more 
 poetical taste of Fox. In quoting the well-known lines of 
 Ovid, as appropriate to his own publications — 
 
 " Parve, nee invideo, sine me, Liber ! ibis in urbem ; 
 Hei mihi ! quo domino non licet lie tuo. 
 Vade, sed inciiltus ; qualem decet exsulis esse : 
 Inf'elix, habitum temporis hujiis liabe." 
 
 Wakefield makes the remark that the poets never used nee, 
 but always neque, before a word beginning with a vowel. He 
 also objects to the third line, and proposes to read — Vade ; 
 sed in cuUu, instead of incultus. To this Fox replies : 
 
 " I showed your proposed alteration in the Tristia to a 
 very good judge, who approved of it very much. I confess, 
 myself, that I like the old reading best, and think it more 
 in Ovid's manner ; but this, perhaps, is mere fancy." 
 
 He goes on speaking of Ovid : 
 
 " I have always been a great reader of him, and thought 
 myself the greatest admirer he had, till you called him the 
 first poet of antiquity, which is going even beyond me. The 
 grand and spirited style of the 'Iliad;' the true nature and 
 simplicity of the ' Odyssey ;' the poetical language (far excel- 
 ling that of all other poets in the world) of the ' Georgics,' and 
 the pathetic strokes in the ' ^neid,' give Homer and Virgil a 
 )-ank, in my judgment, clearly above all competitors; but 
 next after them I should be very apt to class Ovid, to the 
 great scandal, I believe, of all who pique themselves upon 
 what is called purity of taste." * 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 350.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 157 
 
 I will now proceed from a correspondence with a great 
 scholar to some letters to a voini'T student, Mr. Trotter, who 
 afterwards made so objectionable a use of his intimacy with 
 Fox. The following extract will again show Fox's partiality 
 to Homer and Ariosto, " from their wonderful facility and 
 the apparent absence of all study." 
 
 " I was much gratified, my dear sir, with your letter, as 
 your taste seems so exactly to agree with mine ; and am 
 verv glad, for vour sake, that vou have taken to Greek, as it 
 will now be very easy to you, and, if I may judge from myself, 
 will be one of the greatest sources of amusement to you. 
 Homer and Ariosto have always been my favourites ; there 
 is something so delightful in their wonderful facility and the 
 apparent absence of all study, in their expression, which is 
 almost peculiar to them. I think you must be very partial, 
 however, to find but two faults in the twelve books of the 
 ' Iliad.' The passage in the Ninth Book, about Atra/, appears 
 to me, as it does to you, both poor and forced ; but 1 have 
 no great objection to that about the wall in the twelfth, 
 though, to be sure, it is not very necessary. The 'I'enth Book 
 luis always been a particular favourite with me, not so much 
 on account of Diomede's and Ulysses's exploits, (though that 
 part is excellent, too,) as on account of the beginning, which 
 describes so forcil)lv the anxious state of the ffcnerals, with 
 an (?nemy so near, and having had rather the worst of the 
 former day. I ilo not know any descrijition anywhere that 
 seta the thinir so clearly before one ; and then the brotherly 
 feelings of Ajfameunion towards Menelaus, and the niodetty 
 and amialileness of Menelaus's character (whom Homer, by 
 the way, seems to be j)articularly fond of), are very aHci"tin<r. 
 
 "Ario.sto has cerUiinly taken his iiiLditexiJcdition either from 
 Homer's or from X'irgil'd* Nisus ' and ' Euryalu?;.' I scarcely
 
 158 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 know which I prefer of the three ; I rather think Virgil's ; 
 but Ariosto has one merit beyond the others, from the im- 
 portant consequences which arise from it to the story. Tasso 
 (for he, too, must have whatever is in the ' Ihad ' or '^neid ' ) 
 is a very poor imitation, as far as I recollect. 
 
 "I suppose, as soon as you have done the ' Iliad,' you will 
 read the 'Odyssey,' which, though certainly not so fine a poem, 
 is, to my taste, still pleasanter to read. Pray let me know what 
 parts of it strike you most, and believe me you cannot oblige 
 me more than by corresponding on such subjects. Of the 
 other Greek poets, Hesiod, Pindar, Eschylus, Sophocles, 
 Euripides, Apollonius Rhodius, and Theocritus, are the most 
 worth reading. Of the tragedians, 1 like Euripides the best ; 
 but Sophocles is, I believe, more generally preferred, and is 
 certainly more finished, and has fewer gross faults. Theo- 
 critus, in his way, is perfect ; the two first Idylls, particu- 
 larly, are excellent. I suppose the ode you like is"A8covtv a 
 JLvdyjpj] which is pretty enough, but not such as to give you 
 any adequate idea of Theocritus. There is an elegy upon 
 Adonis, by Bion, which is in parts very beautiful, and parti- 
 cularly some lines of it upon the commonplace of death, 
 which have been imitated over and over again, but have never 
 been equalled. In Hesiod, the account of Pandora, of the 
 Golden Age, &c., and some other parts, are very good ; but 
 there is much that is tiresome. Perhaps the work, which is 
 most generally considered as not his, I mean the 'Acttt/'?, 
 is the one that has the most poetry in it. It is very good, 
 and, to say that it is inferior to Homer's and Virgil's shields, 
 is not saying much against it. Pindar is too often obscure, 
 and sometimes much more spim out and wordy than suits my 
 taste ; but there are passages in him quite divine. I have 
 not read above half his works, Apollonius Rhodius is, I
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 159 
 
 think, very well worth reading. The beirinning of Medea's 
 love is, I believe, original, and, though often copied since, 
 never equalled. There are many other fine parts in his 
 jjoeni, besides some which Virgil has improved, others scarce 
 equalled. There is, however, in the greater part of the 
 poem an a])pearance of labour, and a hardness, that makes it 
 tiresome, lie seems to me to be an author of about the 
 same degree of genius with Tasso ; and if there is more in 
 the latter to be liked, there is nothing, I think, to be liked in 
 him so well as the parts of ApoUonins to which I have 
 alluded. I have siiid nothing of Aristophanes, because I 
 never read him. Callimachus and Moschus are worth read- 
 ing, but there is little of them. By the way, I now recollect 
 that the passage about death, which I said was in Bion's elegy 
 ipon Adonis, is in Moschus's upon Bion. Now you have all 
 my knowledge about Greek poetry. I am quite ])lcased at 
 your liking Ariosto so much, though Indeed I foresaw you 
 would, from the great delight you expressed at Spenser, who 
 is certiiinly inferior to him, though very excellent too. Tasso 
 I think below both of them, but many count him the first 
 among those three ; and even Metastiisio, who ought to be a 
 better judge of Italian poetry than you or I, gives him, upon 
 the whole, the j)reference to Ariosto." * 
 
 Further on he says: "I think, in the last half of the 
 ' Iliad,' you will admire the IGth, LlOth, 22nd, and 24th 
 lK)oks particularly. I believe tiie general oj)inion is that 
 Ibimer did write near the shore; and lie certainly does, 
 as you observe, j)articularly delight in illustrations Uiken 
 from tiic .sea, waves, &c. Perhaps a lion is rather too 
 frecpii-nt a simile with him. I daresiiy you were delighted 
 
 • " CorT«|>oiideDcr," vol. iv, p. 444 ; Trotter's " Memoirs of Fox," p. 403.
 
 160 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 with Helen and Priam on the walls in the third book ; 
 and I suspect you will be proportionably disgusted with 
 Tasso's servile and ill-placed imitation of it. Do not 
 imagine, however, that I am not sensible to many beauties in 
 Tasso, especially the parts imitated by Spenser, Erminia's 
 flight and adventure, the description of the pestilence, and 
 many others."* 
 
 Again : "I do not wonder at your passionate admi- 
 ration of the ' Iliad,' and agree with you as to the 
 peculiar beauty of most of the parts you mention. The 
 interview of Priam and Achilles is, I think, the finest 
 of all. 
 
 " I rather think that, in Andromache's first lamentation, she 
 dwells too much upon her child and too little upon Hector ; 
 but maybe I am wrong. By your referring to the Fourth 
 Book only for Agamemnon's brotherly kindness, I should 
 almost suspect that you had not sufficiently noticed the 
 extreme delicacy and kindness with which he speaks of him 
 in the tenth, ver. 120, &c."f 
 
 Of the Greek tragic poets he says : " I am very 
 glad you prefer Euripides to Sophocles, because it is my 
 taste ; though I am not sure that it is not thought 
 a heresy. He (Eur.) appears to me to have much 
 more of facility and nature in his way of writing than the 
 other. The speech you mention of Electra is indeed 
 beautiful ; but when you have read some more of Euripides, 
 perhaps you will not think it unrivalled. Of all Sophocles's 
 plays, I like ' Electra' clearly the best, and I think your 
 epithet to ' CEd. Tyr.' a very just one. It is really to me a 
 disagreeable play ; and yet there are many who not only 
 
 * " CorresponJpiice," vol. iv. p. 44-7. f Ibid. p. 450.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. IGl 
 
 prefer it to ' Electra,' but reckon it the finest specimen of 
 the Greek theatre. I like his other two plays upon the 
 Theban story both bettor — i.e., the 'QEd. Col.' and the 
 * Antigone.' In the latter, there is a passage in her answer 
 to Creon that is, perhaps, the sublimcst in the world ; 
 and in many parts of the play there is a spirit almost 
 miraculous, if, as it is said, Sophocles was past eighty when 
 he composed it. Cicero has made great use of the passage I 
 allude to in his oration for Milo. I suppose you selected 
 Hipp, and Ipii. in xVulis, on account of Racine; and I hope 
 you have observed with what extreme judgment he has 
 imitated them. In the character of Hipp, only, 1 think he 
 has fallen short of his original. The scene of Phaedra's dis- 
 covery of her love to her nurse he has imitated pretty 
 closely ; and if he has not surpassed it, it is only because 
 that was impossible. His ' Clytemnestra,' too, is excellent, 
 but would have been better if he had ventured to brino- on 
 the young Orestes, as Eur. does. The change whicii you 
 mention in the Greek ' Ijihigenia I like extremely ; but it is 
 censured by Aristotle as a change of character — not, I think, 
 justly. I'erhaps the sudden change in ' Menelaus,* which he 
 also censures, is less defensible. Now, though the two plays 
 of Eur. which you have read are undoubtedly among his 
 best, I will venture to assure you that there are four othei-s 
 you will like full as well : ' Medea,' ' Plioenissce,' * Heraclida;,' 
 and ' Alcestis,' with the last of which, if I know anything of 
 your ta.-tc, you will be enchanted. Many faults are found 
 with it, but those faults lead to the greatest beauties. For 
 inatiince, if Uercules's levity is a little improjur in a tragedy, 
 his shame afterwards, and the immediate consetpience of that 
 shame being a more than human exertion, afford the finest 
 VOL. in. M
 
 162 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 picture of an heroic mind that exists. The speech begin- 
 ning a TToWa jXaaa Kaphta, &c., is divine. Besides the two 
 you have read, and the four I liave recommended, ' Hercules 
 Furens,' 'Iph.inTauris,' 'Hecuba,' 'Bacchge,'and 'Troades,' 
 are all very excellent. Then come ' Ion,' ' Supplices,' ' Electra,' 
 and ' Helena ;' ' Orestes' and ' Andromache' are, in my judgment, 
 the worst. I have not mentioned ' Rhesus ' and ' Cyclops,' 
 because the former is not thought to be really Euripides's, 
 and the latter is entirely comic, or, rather, a very coarse farce ; 
 excellent, however, in its way, and the conception of the 
 characters not unlike that of Shakespeare in Caliban. I 
 should never finish if I were to let myself go upon Euripides. 
 In two very material points, however, he is certainly far 
 excelled by Sophocles — 1st, in the introduction of proper 
 subjects in the songs of the Chorus ; 2ndly, in the manage- 
 ment of his plot. The extreme absurdity of the Chorus in 
 * Medea ' suffering her to kill her children, and of that in 
 ' Phaedra ' letting her hang herself, without the least attempt to 
 prevent it, has been often and justly ridiculed ; but what 
 signify faults where there are such excessive beauties ? Pray 
 write soon, and let me know, if you have read more of these 
 plays, what you think of them."* 
 
 Repairing an omission, he says in a subsequent letter : 
 " I said nothing of Eschylus, because I know but little of 
 him. I read two of his plays — the ' Septem apud Thebas,' and 
 the ' Prometheus ' — at Oxford, of which I do not remember 
 much, except that I liked the last far the best. I have 
 since read the ' Eumenides,' in which there are, no doubt, most 
 sublime passages ; but in general the figures are too forced 
 and hard for my taste ; and then there is too much of the 
 
 * " Conespoiideuce," vol. iv. p. 457.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 163 
 
 grand, and terrific, and gig-antic, without a mixture of any- 
 thing either tender, or pleasant, or elegant, which keej)S the 
 mind too much on the stretch. This never suits my taste ; 
 and 1 feel the same ohjection to most parts of the ' Paradise 
 Lost,' though in that poem there are most splendid exceptions, 
 — Eve, Paradise, &c. I have heard that the ' Agamemnon,' if 
 you can conquer its obscurity, is the finest of all Eschylus's 
 plays, and I will attempt it when 1 have a little time. I 
 quite long to hear how you are captivated with ' Alcestis,' for 
 captivated I am sure you will be. 
 
 " Mrs. Fox desires to be remembered kindly. We have 
 been a great deal from home these last two months — t\\ice at 
 Lord Robert's, and at ^^'oburn, and Mr. Whitbread's. ^^'e 
 are now here, as I hope, to stay with little interru])tion ; and 
 very happy we are to be here quietly again, though our 
 parties were very pleasant ; and I think change of air at this 
 time of the year is always good for the colds to wliich 31 rs. 
 Fox is subject. 
 
 " I was just going to end without noticing Pindar. I 
 dare say the obscurities are chiefly owing to our want of 
 means of making out the allusions. His style is more full of 
 allusions than that of any other poet, except, perhaps, Dante, 
 who is on that account so difficult, and, as I think, on that 
 account only. 
 
 "The fine passages in Pindar are equjj to, if not beyond, 
 anythinir : but the want of interest in the subjects, and, if it is 
 not blasphemy to say so, the excessive profusion of words, make 
 him something bordering upon tediousness. There is a fire 
 in the celebrated pa.ssage in the Second ()lyni|)ic which Ix'gins 
 cro<po>i 6 TToXXa eiS(o<i <f)va, tiiat is quite unequalled in any 
 poem whatever; and the sweetness in the preceding jtart, 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 describing the happy islands, is in its way ahnost as 
 good."* 
 
 The next and last letter to Mr. Trotter I will give entire : 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill. Wednesday. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — It gives Mrs. F. and me great pleasure 
 to hear that you think you are getting better, and that, too, in 
 spite of the weather, which, if it has been with you as with us, 
 has been by no means favourable to such a complaint as yours. 
 The sooner you can come the better ; and I cannot help hoping 
 this air will do you good. Parts of the first, and still more of 
 the Second Book of the ' ^neid,' are capital indeed ; the de- 
 scription of the night sack of a town being a subject not touched 
 by Homer, hinders it from having that appearance of too close 
 imitation which Virgil's other battles have ; and the details — 
 Priam's death, Helen's appearance. Hector's in the dream, 
 and many others — are enchanting. The proem, too, to ^Eneas's 
 narration is perfection itself. The part about Sinon and 
 Laocoon does not so much please me, though I have nothing 
 to say against it. Perhaps it is too long, but, whatever be 
 the cause, I feel it to be rather cold. As to your friend's 
 heresy, I cannot much wonder at or blame it, since I used 
 to be of the same opinion myself; but I am now a convert, 
 and my chief reason is that, though the detached parts of 
 the ' yEneid ' appear to me to be equal to anything, the story 
 and characters appear more faulty every time I read it. My 
 chief objection (I mean that to the character of ^Eneas) is, 
 of course, not so much felt in the three first books ; but after- 
 wards he is always either insipid or odious, sometimes excites 
 interest against him, and never for him. 
 
 •' The events of the war, too, are not striking ; and Pallas 
 
 ^ " Conebpondence," vol. iv. p. 4tJ0.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 165 
 
 and Lausijs, who most interest you, are in effect exactly alike. 
 Init, in parts, I admire Virgil more and more every day — sue-h 
 as those I have alluded to in the Second JJook, the fiudinf 
 of Andromache in the third, everything relating to Dido, the 
 Sixth Book, the visit to Evander in the eighth, Nisus and 
 Euryalus, Mezentius's death, and many others. In point of 
 passion, I think Dido equal, if not superior, to anything in 
 Homer, or Shakespeare, or Euripides. For me, that is saying 
 everything. 
 
 " One thing which delights me in the ' Iliad ' and ' Odyssey,' 
 and of which there is nothing in Virgil, is the picture of 
 manners, which seem to be so truly delineated. 'J'he times 
 in which Homer lived undoubtedly gave him a great advan- 
 tage in this respect, since, from his nearness to the times of 
 which he writes, what we always see to be invention in 
 Virgil a])j)ears like the plain truth in Homer. Upon this 
 principle, a friend of mine observed that the characters in 
 Shakespeare's historical plays always appear more real than 
 those in his others. But, exclusive of this advantajze. Homer 
 certainly attends to character more than his imitator. I hope 
 your friend, with all his partiality, will not maintain that the 
 simile in the first 'yEneid' comj)aring Dido to Diana is equal 
 to that in the 'Odyssey' comparing Nausicaii to her, either in 
 propriety of application or in beauty of description. If 
 there is an ' Apolionius Rhodius ' where you are, ])ray look at 
 IVIedea's speecii, lib. 4, ver. .'JOr), and you will perceive that 
 even in Dido's finest speech, nee iihi diva imrens, &c., iu; has 
 imitated a good deal, and especially those expressive and 
 sudden turn.s, neque ie ieneo, (tc. ; but, then, he has made won- 
 derful inq)n)venient.H, and, on tiie whole, it is, perhaj)s, the 
 finest tiling in all poetry. 
 
 " Now, if you are not tired of all this criticism, it is not my
 
 166 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 fault. The bad weather has preserved a verdure here which 
 makes it more beautiful than ever ; and Mrs. F. is in nice 
 good health, and so everything goes well with me, which I am 
 sure you will like to hear. But I have not yet had a moment 
 for history. I sent you, some weeks ago, though I forgot to 
 mention it in my letter, some books you had left in England, 
 by a gentleman whose name, I think, is Croker. It was 
 Rolleston who undertook to give them him, directed to you 
 in Capel Street. I added to them a duplicate I had of 
 Miller on the English Constitution — a book dedicated to me, 
 and which is written on tjie best and soundest principles ; but 
 I fear it is more instructive than amusing, as, though a very 
 sensible man, he was not a lively one. 
 
 " Yours very affectionately, 
 
 "C. J. Fox. 
 
 " P.S. — Even in the First Book, ^neas says : *■ Sum pius 
 Mneas,fama swper sethera notus.' Can you bear this? "* 
 
 The following letter to Lord Holland shall conclude this 
 chapter : 
 
 •^October, 1797. 
 
 " If you will not read the ' Iliad ' regularly through, pray 
 read the Tenth Book, or, at least, the first half of it. It is a 
 part I never heard particularly celebrated, but I think the 
 beginning of it more true in the description of the uneasiness 
 in the Greek army, and the solicitude of the different chiefs, 
 than anything almost in the poem. It is one of those things 
 that one cannot give an idea of by any particular quotation, 
 but which is excellent beyond measure in placing the scene 
 exactly before one's eyes ; and the characters, too, are 
 remarkably well distinguished and preserved. I think Homer 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 464.
 
 CILVIILES JxUIES FOX. 167 
 
 always happy in liis accounts of ]Menelaus — remarkably so, 
 you know, in the ' Odyssey ;' but I think he is so always, and 
 in this place, too, particularly. You see, I have never done 
 with Homer; and, indeed, if there was nothing else excep 
 Virgil and Ariosto, one should never want reading." * 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 137.
 
 168 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 rOX"S SPEECH AT THE WHIG CLUB. — HIS NAME STRUCK OUT OF THE 
 
 PRIVY COUNCIL. 
 
 In' the beginning of May, 1798, the Duke of Norfolk 
 presided at a great dinner of the Whig Club, at the Crown 
 and Anchor. In giving the health of Fox, he observed that 
 he was informed that two thousand persons were present; 
 that the same number had first rallied round another great 
 man — General Washington. "That man," his Grace added, 
 " established the liberties of his countrymen. I leave it to 
 you, gentlemen, to make the application." Loud applause 
 followed the toast. He then made some moderate speeches, 
 apparently with a view to efface the impression he had caused ; 
 but at the close of the evening he gave as a toast, " Our 
 Sovereign — the People ; " or, as Lord Holland relates it, 
 " The People — our Sovereign." Upon the report of these 
 speeches and toasts, he was dismissed by the Crown from the 
 Lord Lieutenancy of the West Riding of Yorkshire. 
 
 Lord Holland says : " It was not less in the spirit of Mr. 
 Fox's policy than of his temper to take, and even to seek, his 
 share of the odium which the rash zeal of a friend might 
 incur in the common cause." 
 
 In Fox's opinion, the doctrine that the People were the 
 Sovereign was the only foundation upon which the Revo- 
 lution of 1688 and the Brunswick succession could be
 
 CILVRLES JAMES FOX. 169 
 
 justified. For, if James the Second and his family had, as 
 the University of Oxford had affirmed in 1G83, an inde- 
 feasible right to the Throne, which, as the sister University 
 of Carabridfre decreed at the same time, no fault and no law 
 could alter or diminish, it followed clearly that neither William 
 the Third nor the first two Princes of the House of Hanover, 
 nor the Sovereign then reigning, had any right to the Crown, 
 but were mere usurpers. Fox w^as glad to defend what he 
 considered the true doctrine, and he accordingly went to the 
 AVhig Club, and, in a speech singularly terse and logical, 
 pointed out that the right of George HI. to exact obedience 
 from his subjects depended on that very thcorj- of the sove- 
 reignty of the people which the Minister of the Crown had 
 recentlv condemned. He then gave the same toast which 
 had caused so much offence in the mouth of the Duke of 
 Norfolk.* 
 
 Pitt's friends, eager to maintain 
 
 •' The right divine of kings to govern wrong," 
 
 and even not averse to 
 
 "Th' enormous faith of many made for one," 
 
 sugjiested that Fox might be prosecuted, or, if that was 
 thought unwise, might be reprimanded by the Sjteakcr, and 
 if he repeated his Whig heresy at the next meeting of the 
 club, he miirht be sent to the Tower for the remainder of the 
 Session. r>ut Pitt, with better sense and judgment, and by 
 no means anxious to make his adversary a p()])ular martyr, 
 decided against both the prosecution and the reprimand, and 
 contented him.-elf with striking Fox's name out of the Pri\7 
 (Jouncil — a mea-^^ure which could hardly rouse i)ublic (>xcite- 
 ment or l)e an occasion for adding to his rival's poj)uhirity. 
 
 • "Mcmoiri of the Whig I'ai-ty," vol. i. j). 133.
 
 170 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Fox was, no doubt, right in his general doctrine — that 
 the Eevolution of 1688 could only be justified on the ground 
 that the sovereignty of the people was supreme against the 
 hereditary tenure of a tyrant. Lord Stanhope remarks, in 
 speaking of the Duke of Norfolk, ("Life of Pitt," vol. iii. 
 p. 91,) " Sentiments which at one time may be passed over 
 as Utopian, must at another be resented as seditious." These 
 terms are not happily chosen ; the sentiments of Fox, and 
 even of the Duke of Norfolk, were not LTtopian, but were the 
 sentiments of Whiggism at all times, and Fox's language, at 
 least, was by no means seditious. Yet, the soundest constitu- 
 tional doctrines may be mischievous, if perverted to bad 
 ends ; and on the occasion in question, it would be difficult 
 to say that exclusion from the Privy Council was too severe 
 a punishment for uttering truths which might have been a 
 cloak to treason in others.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 171 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 pox's mode of life during the secession. — CONTINITED. 
 
 I NOW resume the correspondence carried on by Fox during 
 the Secession. 
 
 In 1799, he thus conveys to Lord Holland his notions on 
 poetic lanfjua^e : " My general notion is, that poetical lan- 
 guage should deal as much as possible in words conveying 
 simple ideas, and as little as possible in such as convey com- 
 plex or abstract ideas. It should deal in words that could 
 be explained, for instance, to a person who had no previous 
 knowledge of" the nature of language, either by a reference 
 to his senses or by signs of one sort or other." 
 
 "Februaiy 19th, 1799. 
 
 " I left off yesterday in a very tiresome, and, perhaps, not 
 quite intelligible dissertation upon poetic language ; but, by 
 attcmjjting to explain myself liirthcr, I should become more 
 tiresome, witiiout, perhajjs, being more clear. Only one 
 observation further, and I have dcme, and that is, that my 
 theory about words simple rather tiian complex, and a])peal- 
 ing to tiie senses rather than to the understanding, if it is 
 true, licJjKs to explain why there are better jjoeta generally in 
 the earlier tiian in the more refined periods of eacli language, 
 and why many ^jood poets are fond of ;i(loi)ting the style of 
 the age jireceding that in which they write."* 
 
 • " Corrwpoinlcnce," vol. iii. p. 150.
 
 172 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Referring to Cowper's noble lines on war, Fox writes 
 to Wakefield: "Did you, who are such a hater of war, 
 ever read the lines at the bemnninor of the Second Book of 
 Cowper's 'Task?' There are few things in our language 
 superior to them, in my judgment. He is a fine poet, 
 and has, in a great degree, conquered my prejudices against 
 blank verse." * 
 
 Upon this Wakefield remarks : " But surely Milton might 
 have reconciled you to blank verse, without the aid of 
 Cowper !" t 
 
 Fox replies: "Milton, you say, might have reconciled 
 me to blank verse. I certainly, in common to all the 
 world, admire the grand and stupendous passages of the ' Pa- 
 radise Lost'; but yet, with all his study of harmony, he had 
 not reconciled me to blank verse. There is a want of flow, 
 of ease, of what the painters call a ' free pencil,' even in his 
 blank verse, which is a defect in poetry that offfends me more, 
 perhaps, than it ought ; and I confess, perhaps to my shame, 
 that I read the ' Fairy Queen ' with more delight than the 
 ' Paradise Lost.' This may be owing, in some degree, perhaps, 
 to my great partiality to the Italian poets." % 
 
 I shall now continue, without comment or apology, 
 my extract of letters from Fox, omitting the politics of 
 the day. 
 
 On the 4th of January, 1800, Fox writes to Lord Hol- 
 land: "I am very glad you are reading Euripides, but I 
 had rather you had begun almost any other play than the 
 ' Hippolytus,' and I meant, if I had not forgot it, particularly 
 to have recommended the ' Heraclidae ' to you. There are as 
 fine things in ' Hippolytus ' as in any of his plays ; but, then, 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 360. 
 t Ibid. vol. iv. p. 352. J Ibid. p. 366.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 173 
 
 they are almost all of them most judiciously takeu by Racine, 
 and some of them even improved — so that they would not be 
 new to you : and there is a great deal of very indifferent in 
 it, and the plot I think vile. 1 mean making Phaedra kill 
 herself, and leave the lie behind her. It is an excess of 
 wickedness which, in my conception, does not suit her 
 character. In short, of all Euripides's plays, I think it 
 the one most below its reputation. The ' Cyclops,' in a 
 style of its own, is very well worth reading. It is so 
 Shakespearic. The worst of all, I think, is ' Andromache.' 
 ' Helen ' you would like, if it is only for the difference 
 of the story from the common one. As to difficulty, do not 
 mind that, and read on till you find him easy, which is much 
 more certain than what you bid me do — write on till I find 
 it easy."* 
 
 SAME TO SAME. 
 
 " January, 1800. 
 
 " I do not disapprove of Racine's introduction of Aricie ; 
 on the contrary, I think it is an excellent way, and, indeed, 
 the only way of making the story tolerable, as it makes 
 Pha-dra consent to the accusation through jealousy. Be- 
 sides, IIipi)olytus's declaration of love to Aricie is beautiful 
 in itself, and Pha;dra's speech when she hears of it still 
 more so; and great beauties are with me a complete jn>ti- 
 tication of the introduction of an episode. Only read 
 Pha-'dra's speech when fii-st she hears of his love for Aricie. 
 Nothing can exceed it. I have read but little of A])ollonius 
 since I wrote last; my opinion continues the same. lie is 
 a go(jd poet, certainly, but, like; Tasso, some way he does 
 not get liold of me right. Ibjwcvcr, there are passages both 
 ♦ •* JorrcMponJi-nce,'' vol. iii. \>. 172,
 
 174 THE LIFE A2^D TIMES OF 
 
 in Tasso and him that are great exceptions to this. Pray 
 read in the First Book (of Apollonius) Telamon's and Jason's 
 quarrel and reconciliation, particularly from v. 1329 to 
 1340. It is capital, and not, I think, taken from any 
 former poet. 1 have not yet perceived that Virgil has 
 taken much from him, but am not yet half way in the Second 
 Book. If Jason's adventure at Lemnos is the prototype of 
 ^neas at Carthage, and Dido is taken from Hypsipyle, it 
 is indeed a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I am afraid you 
 will not have liked the ' Heraclida? ' as I do, for I have never 
 heard it much praised, and, perhaps, the thinking so highly 
 is a fancy quite of my own. It is quite brimful of that 
 sort of spirit the want of which I complain of in our Apollo- 
 nius and Tasso. Are you not delighted where he says to 
 Macaria : 
 
 " '"^n TfKfov, ovK iffT &\Kodev rh crhv Kapa 
 'AAA' €| kKdvov; &c.?"'* 
 
 SAME TO SAME. 
 
 " January, ISOO. ' 
 
 " I am very glad you like the ' Heraclidse ' so well. Your 
 objections to it are very well founded. It is indeed very irre- 
 gular, and so are most of Euripides's plays. Sophocles's are • 
 less so ; but I agree with you that the Unities, and still 
 less Aristotle's Beginning, Middle, and End, are much less 
 observed in the Greek plays than, from the observations of 
 modern critics"/especially the French), one should imagine. I 
 did not mention ' Helen ' as good, but thought you might like 
 it on account of its making the story so different from the 
 common one. I never read it but once, and believe it is one 
 of his worst. I will answer for your liking ' Alcestis ;' and 
 
 "■ " C.'VrespouJeucf'," vol. iii. p. 174-. Eiiiip. " Heraclidtc." 5o9.
 
 CIIAKLES JAMES FOX. 175 
 
 there is one scene in the ' Troadcs ' uhich, 1 am sure, will 
 entertain you at least very much, though perhaps it is not 
 very dramaticiil, nor in the circumstance very natural. I 
 mean the dispute, or, rather, debate, between Hecuba and 
 Helen. Did not Alcmena and Eurystheus put you a little in 
 mind of Queen Margaret and York in Henry VI. ? I am 
 very glad you grow to find Greek so easy ; and I think if 
 you get deep into Euripides, you will grow to like, as I do, 
 his very faults. I dare say the passages which you and Mr. 
 Marsh cannot make out will be equally unintelligible to me ; 
 but yet I should like to try, and, therefore, pray point them 
 out to me. I know there is a Barnes's Euripides at Woolbe- 
 ding; so you need only mention the page or verse. I suppose 
 Evander's relating his having had Hercules for his guest, and 
 sending his son with /Eneas, is taken from Lycus, in Apollo- 
 nius; but it is so superior that Apollonius looks quite like the 
 imitation, I admire Virgil more than ever, for his power of 
 giving originality to his most exact imitations."* 
 
 SAME TO SAME. 
 
 "March 14th, 1800. 
 
 '• I have been reading Lyco])hron, and have been very 
 much pleased, ])artly with him and partly with the innume- 
 rable stories which his Scholiast Tzetzes gives for the purpose 
 of explaining him,"t 
 
 SAME TO SAME. 
 
 "March 20th, 1800. 
 
 " I have just been reading the ' Phccnissa*,' on account of 
 
 I'orsoii's new edition, and find that it deserves a higher rank 
 
 amoii"- Euripides's plays than 1 had given it in my mind. 'I'he 
 
 'M.i,i,,>j«.i,.l.nc*," vol. iii. |>. 171. t Il'i'l. p. 177. 

 
 176 THE LIFE AND TEVIES OF 
 
 scene with Jocasta and the two brothers is famous. Of all 
 poets, Euripides appears to me, without exception, the most 
 useful for a public speaker."* 
 
 SAME TO SAME. 
 
 " August 19th, 1800. 
 
 " I do not wonder you like the ' Odyssey ' better than ever ; 
 it is the most charming reading of all. I have read near half 
 of it over again lately. I do not know whether I do not like 
 the book with Nausicaa the best of all ; but it is all delightful, 
 and there is such variety, which I am afraid the ' Iliad ' cannot 
 boast of I am now reading the ' Conquista di Granata' of 
 Graziani. It seems full of story, and the poetry sometimes 
 good, oftener middling. I have read the first volume of 
 Laing's ' History of Scotland.' He is a bad writer, but it is a 
 good book, with a great deal of good sense in parts of it." t 
 
 SAME TO SAME. 
 
 " September 28th, 1800. 
 
 " I am very glad you have been reading the ' Odyssey ' 
 regularly, and am sure it has well paid you for the trouble. 
 The books you mention (fE> and X) are certainly the finest, 
 but whether the most pleasing, and particularly whether the 
 best specimens of the characteristic beauty of the ' Odyssey' as 
 distinguished from that of the ' Iliad,' I rather doubt. I have 
 read the T, and the three following books, since I received 
 your letter yesterday morning, and do not wonder at your 
 admiring them as you do. I had a perfect recollection of the 
 second-siglit passage, which is a very singular one. I believe 
 it would be very difficult to match it in any poet, whether 
 real or pretended, of the second-sighted country. As to pro- 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 177. f Ibid. p. 178.
 
 CUARLES JAMES FOX. 177 
 
 sody, I once set down all the peculiarities of it in the * Odyssey' 
 upon pajxT ; but I think there was only one line (and I do not 
 know what that is) that I could not reconcile to the connnon 
 rules. In the four books I read yesterday, I observed nothing 
 much out of the way ; Ifirrcuoq is used as a dactyle, but 
 diphthongs in such positions are often made short, as 
 TOLo<; eoiv, oio^ ovTi,<i A-^aKov — tTrei?/ ttoXv (peprepov eari, 
 and many other instances ; aTearof; as a dissyllable may 
 seem strange ; but why should not the ea there be contracted 
 like the ea in Teu;^ea, r€i-)(ea, &c., which in Homer are 
 always written at length, but in more modern authors Tev^V^ 
 rei-)(r], Sec. ? The same observation applies to eKc^opeov 
 for i^6(f)opovv. Tell me your difficulties, and 1 think I can, 
 in most cases, resolve them. I do not wonder Marsh does 
 not know so much about it, for he was not, I believe, at Eton, 
 and, though it sounds impertinent to say so, I think that none 
 but those who have been there ever have a correct notion of 
 Greek or even Latin metre. What you say about v. 120 
 in the A is not quite correct ; what Tiresias there says about 
 the one Ulysses is to carry, &c., is not mentioned as a cir- 
 cumstiince necessary to his return (as you erroneously state 
 it), but as a circumstance which is to take place after his 
 return, and alter his conquest of the suitors in a voyage 
 which he (Tiresias) enjoins him to make ; and accordhigly 
 Ulysses afterwards mentions it to Penelope as ichat is to 
 happen — but you iiad not got to the passage when you wrote. 
 The 'Odyssey' ends with the massacre of the suitors and the 
 mutual recognition between Ulysses and Penelope, and con- 
 sequently c(nild not relate the subsequent events of Ulysses's 
 life. Perhaps Homer meant to make another pcjem of them, 
 and I heartily wish lie had. You are to observe that among 
 the many suHpectcd parts of the 'Od\ssey,' all that part of H' 
 
 VOL. 111. ,N
 
 178 THE LIFE AND TBIES OF 
 
 which is subsequent to v. 299, and the whole of H, are 
 the most generally supposed to be spurious. In regard to 
 the A, too, I cannot help agreeing with those who think the 
 account of Tantalus, Sisyphus, &c., fine as they are, interpo- 
 lations, and that this interpolation is the only ground for 
 representing Ulysses as having seen the infernal regions. He 
 brought up the '\^v')(aX veKvcov to him : he did not go down 
 to them : and there is an indistinctness upon th-e common 
 supposition wholly unlike Homer. On the other hand, if you 
 go from V. 566 to v. GOO, all is pretty clear ; but I think it 
 still clearer by going at once from v. 563 to v. 627 ; then 
 it runs naturally : 
 
 ■' ' ;8fj 5e juer' aWas 
 i^vxo.5 els ipi^os v^KvcDV KaTar^QvriwTtav, 
 avrap eyuiv avrov fxivov e^TreSoj'.' 
 
 And by this means, you get rid of Hercules's deification, &c., 
 which Homer seems to have known nothing of, or, indeed, of 
 any man becoming a god. It is true by this erasure we 
 lose some beautiful verses, but I cannot help thinking it right. 
 The passage, v. 69, &c., in the M is apparently spurious, 
 as it is the single one in which the Argo and Jason are men- 
 tioned ; but, indeed, the whole account of the TrXayKral, begin- 
 ning at V. 59, seems very doubtful, as Ulysses never mentions 
 them afterwards. Perhaps it would be right to go from 
 v. 38 to 73, though even then there is some obscurity, as it 
 is not quite easy to consider the keeping nearer to the one or 
 the other of the rocks, as the two 68ol that Circe mentions, 
 though, I rather think, that is the meaning. There are, 
 certainly, more passages in the ' Odyssey ' than in the ' Iliad ' 
 which are justly suspected ; but that is no reason for doubt- 
 ing their having been written by the same poet, of which I 
 cannot help thinking the internal evidence most convincing.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 179 
 
 You arc to understand that when I speak of spurious pas- 
 Siiges, I do not mean that such passa<Tes are modern interpo- 
 lations ; so far from it, that I think there is reason to beUeve 
 the interpolations (if such they were) as ancient as any other 
 Greek poetry we have, and many of them are very beautiful. 
 Even in the CI, v. 30, &c., 6X/3te UrjXeo^i vi€ is beautiful ; but 
 how much has Virgil Improved it by his application ? O ! fellx 
 una ante alias Priameia virgo ? &c. Well here is Homer criti- 
 cism enough ; but it is a subject upon which I never tire. 
 
 " You have hardly seen the new edition of Lurns. Currle's 
 life of him is the most affected thing I ever read, and in some 
 parts (particularly when he speaks of his drunkenness, an 
 odd subject to be pompous upon) pompous to a degree of 
 ridicule. Some of Burns's things are admirable, particularly 
 ' Tam o' Shanter,' which is very Bermeddlnish. The 
 'Cotter's Saturday Night' is very good, too. It seems 
 strange, but I think that it is so, that the Scotch should 
 excel in pastoral. Except the ' Tancla ' and ' Ceceo da 
 A'arlungo,' I think some of the Scotch songs, and some of 
 Burns's works, the best pastorals in any modem language." * 
 
 TO THE HON. R. FITZPATRICK. 
 
 "1799. 
 
 "As to criticism and poetry (that is, reading poetry), 
 there is no danger of my leaving them otf; and my late 
 (ireck studies have made me fonder of them than ever ; l)iit 
 ;w to versifying myself, I doubt the fit will soon be over, 
 tliough, a.s yet, I have not been able even to keep my resolu- 
 tion about the Faddles, and shall send Price, by to-day's 
 j)Ost, one more Latin and one. more Italian. I know it is 
 not fair to argue against criticisms from the poetry of tiie 
 
 * •' CoriMiK)iiil<'iKP," \c>l. iii. y. 176, 
 N 2
 
 180 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 critic ; if it were, I think Addison's ' Cato, ' with all its merit, 
 would sufficiently prove that he did not much understand the 
 nature of dramatic poetry ; and, indeed, in this instance, 1 
 think the argument pretty fair. But it is certainly not in the 
 language, or poetry, or what may be called the execution, 
 that ' Cato ' fails, but in the plan and scheme of it. As to 
 the Union, I know nothing but what I see in the papers ; but 
 Sir J. Parnell's dismission looks as if Pitt was in earnest. 
 But, as you say, no more of politics, and let poetry and 
 criticism be the order of the day ; and of these, if I could 
 get Young One to meet you here for a day or two, we might 
 have a very pleasant dose. There is a Cambridge declama- 
 tion published of William Lamb, and which, though too 
 Johnsonic in the style, is certainly an extraordinary perform- 
 ance for so young a man, and has, I think, many strokes of 
 genius in it."* 
 
 TO LORD HOLLAND. 
 
 "St. Anne's Hill, Thursday, July 23rd, ISOl. 
 
 " I will answer your questions as well as I can. The A6709 
 Aljinrrio'? is, I suppose, the work of Aristides the sophist, 
 who lived in the time of M. Aurelius, and travelled a great 
 deal in Egypt. His works were printed at Oxford, 1723.t 
 I do not know where you can find an account of all the 
 Arabian authors, but it is not unlikely that sufficient infor- 
 mation upon that subject may be in d'Herbelot's ' Oriental 
 Dictionary.' I have no doubt but there are both English 
 and French translations of ' Abulfeda,' who is constantly 
 quoted by Gibbon and others ; but I know there is a Latin 
 translation of him, which was published, together with the 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 287-8. William Lamb was the late Lord 
 Melbourne. 
 
 t " Ed. Jebb," Oxford, 1722, two vols. 4to.
 
 CHAKLES JAMES FOX. 181 
 
 original, in London, KioO. Nota, at a time when, accord- 
 ing to modern courtly writers, no good literature was culti- 
 vated in England.* 
 
 " The generally received opinion is, that Moses left Egypt 
 about 1500 years before Christ. 
 
 " The date, (and of late, as you know, the existence) of the 
 Trojan war is more disputed. I believe the commonest opinion 
 is, that it was about 1100 years before Christ,! and, conse- 
 quently, 4U0 years after Moses ; but some maintain it to have 
 been in the time of Kehoboani, Solomon's son, which would 
 make it near 200 years later. As to Homer, Herodotus says 
 positively that he lived 400 years after the Trojan war ;t but 
 the more common opinion has been that he lived and wrote 
 within a century after it — nay, some suppose that he sung 
 his verses to the sons and grandsons of his heroes. One of 
 the most modern guesses (for it appears to me to be nothing 
 more) is, that Homer, or at least, his family, were among the 
 numerous emigrants from Greece to Asia, on the return of the 
 Heraclida) to Peloponnesus, which is supposed to have hap- 
 pened about fifty years after the destruction of Troy,§ and 
 that the poem was written in Asia Minor in C()ni])linieiit to 
 
 • A list of the translations of tlie " History of Abulfeda" is given in the "Bio- 
 grajihie L'niverst'lie." A Latin translation of that j>ortion of his GeogrMphy which 
 relates to the countries beyond the Oxus, was {mblisheil by (Jreavcs, at I.oniloii, 
 1»;50, 4to. This is the work referre*! to by Fox; it consists only of sixty- 
 four pages. Fox's remark does not ajiply in this case, for Greaves was an 
 adherent of the Koyalist cause, and had been patronized by Laud; and the publica- 
 tion of his ti-anslation of the entire <Jeo},'raphy of Abulfeda was prevented by the war. 
 
 ■f The date of Fratosthencs for the faking of Troy is 1184 n.C. 
 
 X HerfKiotus nowhere says expressly tliat Ilomcr lived 4(i0 years after tlu» 
 Tiojan war; but he sUites (ii. .'i.i.) that Homer lived about 40U years before hit 
 own time ; and (ii. 145) that the Trojan warw.-is alwut 8<»0 years Iwfore his own 
 time. If these two st-itemenU are put together, it follows that Homer lived about 
 4i>0 y«\rs after the Trojan war. 
 
 § Thucyilides (i. rjjpla<e» the return of the Heraclidjc to the Peloponnesus iu 
 the eightieth year after the capture of Tioy.
 
 182 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the chiefs of those emigrants, and intended to show that they 
 were the true authors of the Grecian glory, on the one hand, 
 and that their superior valour might make them easily masters 
 of the country to which they had emigrated, on the other.* 
 This appears to me a specious hypothesis, and that it was 
 that made me remark, not, as you once understood me, that 
 he never mentions Hercules, but that he never exalts him ; 
 that, in one instance, in the ' Odyssey,' he ascribes to him a 
 horrid and treacherous outrage, t and never speaks of him with 
 much respect. It is observable that several passages where 
 he is mentioned are very suspicious from internal evidence 
 relating to digammas, &c. Herodotus says that he was 400 
 years younger than Homer,!, and consequently, according to 
 liis calculation, that 800 years had elapsed between the 
 Trojan war and his writing; but we know that he wrote 450 
 years before Christ, and, therefore, according to him, the 
 Trojan war would be 1250 years before Christ, and so only 
 250 years subsequent to Moses. If the era of Moses is, as I 
 have stated it, and I believe it is very generally understood 
 so, between Moses and Herodotus there are only 1050 years ; 
 and consequently, if the Pyramids were built 1200 years 
 before Herodotus, as your author says, they must have been 
 built near 200 years anterior, instead of 200 years subse- 
 quent to Moses ; but I suspect he follows some different 
 system of chronology from that generally received, and plenty 
 of systems there are built upon very slender foundations. 
 That Homer should not have noticed the Pyramids, if they 
 existed in his time, is very wonderful, as he speaks so much 
 about Egypt ; that there should be no mention of them in 
 
 * This, and other theories relating to Homer, are stated and discussed by 
 Colonel Mure, in his work entitled " History of the Language and Literature of 
 Ancient Greece," vol. ii. c. 18. 
 
 t t^ee "Odyssey," xxi. 24-30. J Ante, p. 181.
 
 CHARLES JA3IES FOX. 183 
 
 Ilesiod is not extraordinary, for his only work extant being a 
 'Gcoffric,'* thcv would not come in his way. Ainontr 
 Joseph's adventures they would very naturally have found a 
 place. After all, I cannot conceive what ditRculty you can 
 have about these Pyramids in 'Bermeddin;' Abdelrahman 
 may get out any way ; and if you wish to say anything about 
 them and their history, you may choose any account of them 
 you please, and Ilerodotus's seems made exactly for such a 
 poem as ' Bermeddin.' I do not want to read ^Vhite, or 
 any author, to learn that the famous library at Alexandria 
 was destroyed long before Mahomet was born — that is to 
 say, when .lulius Caesar was at Alexandria — not, it is to be 
 supposed, intentionally, by fire. But it is possible that 
 though the library of the Ptolemies was gone, the city of 
 Alexandria might have collected a considerable library after- 
 wards ; and this is the more likely on account of the great 
 renown of that which had been destroyed, which they might 
 wish to emulate. But of this second library nothing, I believe, 
 is known, but that, such as it was, it was destroyed by 
 Amrou ; nor is even that fact by any means certain.f I do 
 •not wonder you are delighted with Lucretius. I have always 
 thought Virjril alludes to him in the passage, '■Felix qui 
 potuit,' X ^^-i '^"^^ ^'''^^ ^'^' "it-'ans to say Lucretius has the 
 first place ; and then, by ' Fortunatus et iUe' «Scc., gives him- 
 self the second. The passage you mention is indeed an 
 imitation, and in some respects a pretty close one — not in all 
 parts, either, an improvement. § I think the ibur lines, 'Nee 
 varios inhiani,' &c., very heavy in comparison of Lucretius. 
 
 * Vox here treafii the " Theogony" and the " SliioM of Ilonniles" lus the works 
 of a iK>ot diflercnt fmm llotioil, the author of " Works niiii |)ay.s." 
 
 t Oh the Ak-saiiiliiiic Librarieii, i>ec " Orufcrihain, (jeschiclitc der K'lassischcii 
 rhihdogie," vol. iii. p. b'S. 
 
 X " (itorg." ii. 490. § Conipiire '* (iwrg." ii. 4<>1, witli Liicret. ii. 24.
 
 184 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 In the counter-part,'^^ secura quies,'' &c., YirgW is more 
 beautiful, to be sure ; but yet, by being more general, he is 
 less picturesque, or (since Price has given such a fanciful 
 meaning to that word) I suppose I must say less descriptive, 
 which last word does not explain my idea half so well.* 
 Lucretius, too, as his subject required (Virgil's did not), is, 
 as he always is, argumentative in the midst of his poetry, 
 and puts ' non magnis ojnhis,' to make out his proposition ; 
 whereas Virgil's '^arvo assuetajuventus' is oi no great use, 
 either to the sense or to the poetry, ' Inliiant ' is the only 
 reading I ever saw ; nor is there any hint of another in the 
 three editions of Virgil which I have. One of the notes in 
 the ' Variorum ' says it belongs to ' Salutantes.' I had always 
 understood it to belong to ' Agricolae ; ' and the Roman and 
 Delphin editions favour my construction, as Annibal Caro 
 translates it ' hramano,' and the Delphin interprets it 
 ' appetunt,' which must refer to the ' Agricola?.' t By the 
 way, I do not approve of Caro's or the Delphin's sense, 
 though I do of their construction. I conceive ^ inliiant ' to 
 mean simply to ' stare at,' or to ' gape at.' I should be at 
 as much difficulty to construe ' inhians ' as you seem to find 
 in ' inliiant.' I hope the grand passage in the First Book of 
 Lucretius about the winds did not escape you4 Virgil, if I 
 recollect, has pillaged that, too, pretty well, though I cannot 
 immediately point out the places." § 
 
 In writing to Mr. Grey on the subject of the song of 
 the nightingale, he says : "In defence of my opinion about 
 
 * 'I'he sense which Mr, Uvedale Price affixes to this word, in his " Essay on the 
 Picturesque," is, " that quality in external nature which fits it for being the subject 
 of a picture," Mr. I'rice was a friend of Fox ; they travelled together in Italy 
 when Fox was a young man. See " Correspondence," vol. i. p, 29. 
 
 t Heyne also interprets it by " habere cupiunt." 
 
 J See Lucret. i, 272-95, § "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 192.
 
 CUAIJLES J^VMES FOX. 185 
 
 the uightingale, I find Chaucer — who of all poets seems 
 to have been the fondest of the singing of birds — calls it 
 a merry note, and though Theocritus mentions nightingales 
 six or seven times, he never mentions their note as plain- 
 tive or melancholy. It is true he does not call it anywhere 
 merry, as Chaucer does, but, by mentioning it with the song 
 of the blackbird, and as answering ir, he seems to imply 
 that it was a cheerful note. Sophocles is against us ; but 
 even he only says lamenting Itijs, and the comparison of 
 her to Electra is rather as to perseverance day and night 
 than as to sorrow. At all events, a tragic poet is not half 
 so good an authority in this question as Theocritus and 
 Chaucer. 
 
 " I cannot light upon the passage in the ' Odyssey ' where 
 Penelope's restlessness is comjjared to the nightingale ; but I 
 am sure it is only as to restlessness or watchfulness that he 
 makes the comparison. If you will read the last twelve books 
 of the Odyssey, you will certainly find it, and I am sure you 
 will be paid for your hunt, whether you find it or not. The 
 passage in Chaucer is in the ' Flower and the Leaf,' p. 99. 
 The one I particularly allude to in Theocritus, is in his Epi- 
 grams — I think in the fourth. 
 
 " Drj'den has transferred the word merry to the goldfinch, 
 in his ' riower and the Leaf,' in deference, maybe, to the 
 vulgar error ; but pray read his descrij)tion of the nightingale 
 here — it is quite delightful. 
 
 " r am afraid I like these researches as much better than 
 those that relate to Siiaftesbury, Sunderland, Sec, as I do 
 those better tlian attending the House, of Connnons."* 
 
 In respect to Italian poets, Fox, in a letter to Mr. Trotter, 
 says: *' 1 think when you siiy you despise Tjisso,you go further 
 
 • " Con e«ix)Ddtiicc," vol. iii, p. 310.
 
 X36 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 than I can do, and though there is serviUty in his manner of 
 imitation which is disgusting, yet it is hardly fair to be angry 
 with him for translating a simile of Homer's — a plunder, if 
 it be one, of which nearly every poet has been guilty. If there 
 be one who has not, I suspect it is he whom you say you are 
 going to read. I mean Dante. I have only read part of 
 Dante, and admire him very much. I think the brilliant 
 passages are thicker set in his works than in those of almost 
 any other poet ; but the want of connection and interest 
 makes him heavy ; and besides the difficulty of his language, 
 which I do not think much of, the obscurity of that part of 
 history to which he refers is much against him. His allusions, 
 in which he deals not a little, are, in consequence, most of 
 them lost. 
 
 "I agree in liking Armida, but cannot help thinking 
 Rinaldo's detention in her garden very inferior to Ruggiero's. 
 
 " ' Or fino agli occhi ben nuota nel golfo 
 Delle delizie e delle cose belle,' 
 
 may seem to some an expression rather too familiar, and 
 nearly foolish ; but it is much better for describing the sort of 
 situation in which the two heroes are supposed to be than the 
 * Romito Amante ' of Tasso — not to mention the garden of 
 Armida being all on the inside of the palace, and walled 
 round by it, instead of the beautiful country described by 
 Ariosto. Do you not think, too, that Spenser has much im- 
 proved upon Tasso by giving the song in praise of pleasure 
 to a nymph rather than to a parrot ? 
 
 " Pray, if you want any information about Greek poets or 
 others thcit I can give you, do not spare me, for it is a great 
 delight to me to be employed upon such subjects with one 
 who has a true relish for them."* 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 448,
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 187 
 
 In a letter to Lord Holland, Fox again takes occasion to 
 praise Ariosto. 
 
 •■December 10th, 1798. 
 
 '' Dryden wants a certain degree of easy playfulness that 
 belongs to Ariosto, Parnell is too grave, Prior does not 
 seem to me to have the knack (perhaps only because he did 
 not try it) of mixing familiar and serious, though he does 
 very well in each respectively. The former, however, is his 
 forte ; at least, 1 think 'Alma ' better than either ' Solomon ' 
 or ' Henry and Emma.* " 
 
 "December 14th, 1798. 
 
 "I cannot help thinking that Dryden has not the exact 
 sort of playfulness, or levity, or familiarity of manner, or 
 easy grace which I mean, and which it is very difficult rightly 
 to detine. Prior has more of it than Dryden, La Fontaine 
 more than Prior, and Ariosto and Ovid as much as possible, 
 which in them is the more remarkable, as I do not think it 
 often belongs to any gi'eat genius. The ' Cock and the Fox ' 
 is the poem of Dryden where he approaches nearest to the 
 style I mean ; but as the subject there is all of the comic 
 kind, there is not room for a display of that style in all its 
 merits, part of which, I think, consists in mixing occasionally 
 a certiiin degree of ])layfuhiess in even the most tragic and 
 sublime subjects, and that, too, without diminishing, but 
 rather increasing, the interest. IJesides, though in some of 
 Dryden's fables there is a conceit and wit, I do not recollect 
 anytiiing of the familiar and ea.sy kind very successful. The 
 '(Jock and the Fox' is rather of a kind allied to the mock 
 heroic, es])ecially chanticleer's speeches, which is very 
 different from what I mean, and of wiiich (meaning the 
 mock h«.'roic) tliere is not a single trait in 'Orlando Furioso.' 
 I do not know whether I explain myself thoroughly, but if
 
 188 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 we were to read Ariosto together, I could show you by 
 example what I mean ; and, indee'l, Spenser has some of it, 
 but to those who are full of Ariosto, his imitation in this 
 respect appears too close to have quite the right effect." * 
 
 I will now give two more quotations from his letters to his 
 nephew : " By-the-by, I do not know whether you have had 
 Cowper the poet's life and letters. They are delightful ; but 
 Buonaiuti proscribes quartos. To Godwin's 'Life of Chaucer' 
 there is the same objection, and, I suspect, another also — 
 that it is in some parts very dull and tiresome. I have not 
 read it, but I looked into it when I was at Woolbedino-. I 
 observe that he takes an opportunity of showing his stupidity 
 in not admiring Racine. It puts me quite in a passion ; je 
 veux contre euxfaire un jour un gros livre, as Voltaire says. 
 Even Dryden, who speaks with proper respect of Corneille 
 and Moliere, vilipends Racine. If ever I publish my edition 
 of his works, I will give it him for it, you may depend. Oh, 
 how I wish that I could make up my mind to think it right 
 to devote all the remaining part of my life to such subjects, 
 and such only ! Indeed, I rather think I shall ; and yet, if 
 there were a chance of re-establishing a strong Whig party, 
 however composed, 
 
 ' Nou adeo has exosa manus victoria fugit 
 Ut tanta quicquam pro spe tentare recusem.' 
 
 Grey, too, is in Northumberland, and will not (come) except 
 I press him, which I do not feel myself justified in doing at 
 present. He is perfectly right in all his ideas. Poor Hol- 
 land House is said to be in a bad way. I have not seen it, 
 but I find there is a terrible outcry against its weakness ; so 
 that I fear it cannot stand. Why not, as well as the Doctor, 
 you will say, against whom there is a similar outcry ? Why, 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 14-7.
 
 CHARLES JA:MES FOX. 189 
 
 if you were as obstinate as tlie Doctor s supporters, perhaps 
 it might ; but, I fear, it cannot be. ... I never heard 
 of any other Portuguese poet but Canioens, and concluded 
 there was no other of note ; but you will bring over, I hope, 
 some of those whom you say Frere so much admires. Lope 
 de Vega is still, I own, the great object of my curiosity, and 
 I must not only see your translations but read two or three 
 of his plays with you in the original. If his extravagance is 
 of the Drydenish style, it seems odd that the earlier dra- 
 matic poets, Fletcher, &c., who probably copied from hiiu 
 and other Spanish poets, should have little or nothing of the 
 sort. 
 
 " P.S. — I have employed my odd five minutes, &c., lately 
 in looking over Horace's Odes ; pray tell me which you 
 think the most perfect and beautiful of them in their dif- 
 ferent styles. I think ' Quis desiderio ' the most perfect of 
 all, and next, ' Quem tu Melpomene ;' in the lighter style, 
 ' Ulla si juris tibi pejerati ' and ' Quis multa gracilis ;' in 
 the grander style, ' lUe et nefasto,' ' Descende coelo ' (with 
 the exception, however, of the three last stanzas), the Re- 
 gulusOde, about half of 'Qualem ministrum,' and 'Pindarum 
 quLsquis.' I like what are called the fiat endings in many 
 of his odes, but dislike them extremely in others, particularly 
 in the last .stanza of ' Qualem ministioim.' "* 
 
 The next begins with Cowper, and goes on to Dryden's 
 translations : 
 
 " What can you mean by saying there is littli; good of 
 the new poetry in Cowper? What, not the triplets to i\rary? 
 Not the verses about his first hjve, in the early part ? Not 
 one of the sonnets? Not the Shipwreck or Outcast? 
 Pray read them over again, and repeat your former jndg- 
 
 • " Coirc»i>ouJ«iia-,'' \ol, iii. \>, '_'J4.
 
 190 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ment, if you dare. I have not the book here, having lent 
 it, or I could quote, I believe, much more. Hayley's part 
 of the book is, no doubt, lamentable, and what I am most 
 angry with him for is, that he seems to have withheld much 
 that I should have liked to read. I think, in general, how- 
 ever (not in this publication), that you hold poor Hayley too 
 cheap. His ' History of Old Maids,' and parts of the ' Trials 
 of Temper,' are, I think, very good. I like Frere's trans- 
 lation very much, and shall be glad to see the original. I 
 read a little, and very little, of Gilford, and thought it vile. 
 To catch the manner of Juvenal is difficult, and, without 
 his peculiar manner, he is not himself. Dryden catches it 
 sometimes admirably. Only compare his conclusion of the 
 Tenth Satire with Johnson's, and I hope you will think the 
 superiority as great as I do. The part about Messalina, in 
 the Sixth Book, is very good, too. If the word sin could 
 fairly stand for ]^leasure, it would be perfect. 
 
 " Now we are upon criticism, do you know that if you 
 have made out any good rule about personification, it is 
 what I want more than anything of the kind. I feel clearly 
 that it is sometimes right, and sometimes wrong ; that 
 Johnson and his imitators are excessive in it, even to ridicule ; 
 that it is often convenient and not ungraceful, and at other 
 times detestable; but upon what principle it should be 
 adopted here, and rejected there, I have never been able to 
 satisfy myself. I have been very sparing of it indeed in 
 what I have written, both because I think it safer to err on 
 that side than on the other, and because it is less used by 
 the ancients, to whose religion, in matters of taste, I grow 
 every day more and more bigoted."* 
 
 In order to give more room for the insertion of Fox's 
 
 * " CVrrespondence," vcl. iii. p. 236.
 
 ClI-VrtLES JASIES FOX. 191 
 
 literary opinions, I have gone beyond the period which pro- 
 jK'rly belongs to the Secession. I now return to it, in order 
 to relate an interruption of Fox's quiet life, which led to 
 one of his most raer.iorable speeches. 
 
 On his birthday, in January, IT'JO, Fox, having completed 
 his fiftieth year, addressed these verses to his wife: 
 
 "Of ycai-s I have no^v half a centuiy jxist, 
 Ami none of the fifty mj blest as tlio last. 
 How it happens my troubles thus daily should cease. 
 -\iiil my hap])iiie>s thus with my years should increase, 
 This deriance of Nature's more general law.s, 
 You alone can explain, who alone arc the cause." 
 
 Yet although Mrs. Fox was everything that affection could 
 desire, thougli she constantly studied his happiness, partook 
 of his love for English jiiid Italian poets, worshij)j)ed his 
 greatness, and was as amiable in domestic life as he himself 
 was, she was not alone the cause that his happiness increased 
 with his years. The main cause was that he was made to be 
 happy, and having done what he thougiit right in jjublic 
 life, events which to other men would have been severe and 
 painful disapj)ointments were to him nothing more than the 
 defeats he had expected. Tn 177S, when he was under 
 thirty, he had written thus to Richard Fitzpatrick : 
 
 '• 1 think I have given you enough of politics, considering 
 1 have nothing but reports and conjectures to give vou. 
 "\\ ith resjject to my own .-hare, I can only say that ])eople 
 flatter me that I continue to gain, rather than lose, my credit 
 as an orator, and 1 am so convinced that this is all Ihat I 
 ever shall gain {unless I choose to become the meanest of men), 
 that I never think of any other ohject of ainhition. . . . 
 Great reputation 1 think I may a((|uire, and Jccej) ; great 
 Hituation J never can ac(|uire, nor, if a-cpiired, kcei), without
 
 192 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 making sacrifices that I never will maJce. If I am wrong, 
 and more sanguine people right, tant mieux. and I shall be 
 as happy as they can be ; but if I am right, I am sure I shall 
 be the happier for having made up my mind to my situation."* 
 
 Fox's character places him above the suspicion that he 
 affected anything he did not feel in this intimate letter to his 
 friend. Thus, at fifty, he found himself with great reputa- 
 tion, and was perfectly content without great situation. 
 
 Let us add to this, that he had outlived the vehement passions 
 of his youth ; that his debts were paid, his desires moderate, and 
 his style of living exactly suited to his taste and his temper. 
 
 It was in this disposition of mind that he received the news 
 of the First Consul's offer to treat of peace, and of Lord 
 Grenville's answer. In writing to his nephew, after speaking 
 of Euripides and Sophocles, of Queen Margaret and Henry 
 VI., of Apollonius and of Virgil, he added : " I approve of 
 Bonaparte's letter very much indeed ; and what an answer ! 
 Surely they must think as meanly of the people of this country 
 as I do. ' Restore monarchy, and show us that you can behave 
 peaceably for some time, before we can treat.' And this expe- 
 rience of peaceable demeanour is desired during the war ! " t 
 
 Urged by his friends to come to London, and make one 
 more effort for peace, he consented to go to Holland House 
 for two nights, most reluctantly, " and when he heard," says 
 Lord Holland, "that the debate was postponed in conse- 
 quence of Mr. Pitt's indisposition, he sat silent and over- 
 come, as if the intelligence of some great calamity had 
 reached his ears. I saw tears steal down his cheeks, so 
 vexed was he at being detained from his garden, his books 
 and his cheerful life in the country."^ 
 
 * " CoiTespondence," vol. i. p. 169. f Ibid. vol. iii. p. 175. 
 
 X " Memoirs of the Wjiig Party," vol. i.
 
 CH.\ELES JASIES FOX. 193 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 WAR ON THE CONTIXENT. — NAPOLEON's OVERTURE. — DEBATE. 
 
 Ix 1799, a new war broke out on the Continent. The 
 Emperor Paul, having succeeded to the Empress Catherine, 
 found himtolf unable to endure the insolent demands of the 
 French Re])ublic, and formed a league with Austria and Eng- 
 land against IVance. The plan comprised a joint English and 
 Russian expedition to the Holder. The Duke of York 
 having been placed in command of the combined army, 
 their movements were directed by the want of skill and 
 military knowledge which were characteristic of that 
 brave but incapable prince. After mentioning his various 
 deficiencies as a general, and his culpable good-nature, 
 which prevented him from saying no when he ought to have 
 done so, Sir Henry IJunbury adds : " To these defects must 
 be added habits of indulgence, and a looseness of talk- 
 ing after dinner about individuals, which made him enemies, 
 and which, in this unfortunate campaign, probably excited or 
 inflam(.'(l the rancour of the Russian irenerals." * Thus 
 commanded, the troops, after souk? bhmdering attemj)ts to 
 advance, fell back to their former p(jsitions. 'J'he Duke of 
 York cajjitulated, and returned to iuigland, respected for his 
 courage, but much derided for his incapacity. On the Rhine, 
 
 • "Sir II. liujibuiy," p. 44. See alao " .Memoir of Sir K. Abcrcroinby." 
 V(jl,. III.
 
 194 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 in Switzerland, and in Italy, great actions were fought, and 
 victories were alternately won by the contending armies. 
 
 After many vicissitudes. Napoleon Bonaparte, landing 
 from Egypt, assumed, by military force, that position of 
 dictator which could alone restore internal peace, inspire 
 external confidence, and inaugurate what might have been 
 a commencement of order in France, and of tranquillity 
 in Europe. Unhappily, Lord Grenville and his colleagues 
 were blind to an augury which might have enabled them 
 to repair their former errors, and to make a lasting peace 
 with France. 
 
 On the 25th of December, 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 now First Consul of France, made a direct overture to Great 
 Britain. Addressing himself to the King of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, he said : 
 
 " Called, by the wishes of the French nation, to occupy 
 the first magistracy of the Republic, I think it proper, on 
 entering into office, to make a direct communication of it to 
 your Majesty. 
 
 " The war, which for eight years has ravaged the four 
 quarters of the world, must it be eternal ? Are there no 
 means of coming to an understanding ? 
 
 " How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, 
 powerful and strong beyond what their safety and indepen- 
 dence require, sacrifice to ideas of vain greatness the benefits 
 of commerce, internal prosperity, and the happiness of 
 families ? How is it that they do not feel that peace is of 
 the first necessity, as well as of the first glory ? 
 
 "These sentiments cannot be foreign to the heart of your 
 Majesty, who reigns over a free nation, and with the sole 
 view of making it happy. 
 
 " Your Majesty will only see in this overture my sincere
 
 CH^NJtLES J.UIES FOX. 195 
 
 desire to contribute efficaciously, for the second time, to a 
 general pacification by a step speedy, entirely of confidence, 
 and disengaged from those forms whicb, necessary perhaps 
 to disguise the dependence of weak States, prove only in those 
 which are strong the mutual desire of deceiving one another. 
 
 " France and England, by the abuse of their strength, 
 may still, for a long time-, for the misfortune of all nations, 
 retard the period of their being exhausted. But I will 
 venture to say it, the fate of all civilized nations is attached 
 to the tenuination of a war which involves the whole world.*' 
 
 To this overture Lord Grenville made a caj)tious and 
 irritating reply. It was in substance that France had shown 
 herself incapable of maintaining pennancntly the relations of 
 peace and amity ; that if by internal changes, such as the 
 restoration of the Bourbons, or by a change of conduct towards 
 the Powers of Europe, the British Government should be 
 convinced that peace could be obtained, and be reckoned 
 upon as permanent, they would then negotiate, but in the 
 meantime the war must continue.* 
 
 Fox was strongly urged to attend the debate on the 
 rejection of this overture. He was told that there were signs 
 of a disposition for peace, and that great doubts existed of 
 the propriety of the step that had been taken. 
 
 Thus pressed, lie wrote to Lord lIolUuul : 
 
 "January 17th, 1800. 
 
 "I have determined, against inclination, common sense, 
 and j)hil()s()pliy, tu attend uj)on the question of llonaparte's 
 letter, tScc, and shall be much obliged to you if you will in- 
 (juire about the time and manner in which it will probably 
 come on."t 
 
 • " I'arliamenUiry Hii.tory," vol. xxxiv. yy. 1198-1200. 
 t " C'orrwijionilciicp,*' vol. iii. p. 170. 
 
 2
 
 196 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The debate took place on the 3rd of February, 1800. 
 Fox rose after Pitt, and made a most powerful speech. 
 But some of his friends remarked that instead of discussing 
 the rejection of the Consul's overture, upon which many of 
 the friends of the Ministry would have agreed with him, he 
 was led by Pitt's example into a discussion of the origin 
 of the war, upon which the House of Commons were already 
 committed. However imprudent this course might be, the 
 instruction given on this occasion ought not to be thrown 
 away by the posterity of those who made the war. 
 
 Fox's opinion on the origin of the war was expressed in 
 the following terms : 
 
 " My opinion is that, when the unfortunate King of France 
 
 offered to us, in the letter delivered by M. Chauvelin and M. 
 
 Talleyrand, and even entreated us, to mediate between him and 
 
 the allied Powers of Austria and Prussia, they (the Ministers) 
 
 ought to have accepted the offer, and exerted their influence 
 
 to save Europe from the consequence of a system which was 
 
 then beginning to manifest itself It was, at least, a question 
 
 of prudence ; and as we had never refused to treat and to 
 
 mediate with the old princes on account of their ambition or 
 
 their perfidy, we ought to have been equally ready now, when 
 
 the same principles were acted upon by other men. I must 
 
 doubt the sensibility which could be so cold and so indifferent 
 
 at the proper moment for its activity. I fear that there were 
 
 at that moment the germs of ambition rising in the mind of 
 
 the right honourable gentleman, and that he was beginning, 
 
 like others, to entertain hopes that something might be 
 
 obtained out of the coming confusion. "What but such a 
 
 sentiment could have prevented him from seizin o- the 
 
 fair occasion that was offered for preventing the calamities 
 
 with which Europe was threatened ? What but some such
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 197 
 
 interested principle could have made him forcf^o the truly 
 honourahle task, by which his administration would have dis- 
 played its magnanimity and its power ? But for some such 
 feelino:, would not this country, both in wisdom and in dignity, 
 have interfered, and. in conjunction with the other Powers, 
 have said to France : ' You ask for a mediation ; we will 
 mediate with candour and sincerity, but we will at the same 
 time declare to you our apprehensions. We do not trust to 
 your assertion of a determination to avoid all foreign conquest, 
 and that you are desirous only of settling your own Consti- 
 tution, because your language is contradicted by experience 
 and the evidence of facts. You are Frenchmen, and vou 
 cannot so soon have thrown off the Bourbon princi})les in which 
 you were educated. You have already imitated the bad 
 practice of your princes ; you have seized on Savoy, without 
 a colour of rifjht. But here we take our stand. Thus far 
 you have gone, and we cannot help it ; but you must go no 
 further. We will tell you distinctly what we shall consider 
 as an attack on the balance and the security of Europe ; and 
 as the condition of our interference, we will toll you also the 
 securities that we think essential to the general repose.' This 
 ought U) have been the language of his Majesty's jMinisters 
 when their mediation was solicited ; and sometiiing of this kind 
 they evidently thought of when tiiey sent the instructions to 
 Pcter.sburgh which they liave mentioned this night, but uj)on 
 which they never acted. Having not done so, I Siiy they have 
 no claiuj to talk now about the violated rights of I'hirope, 
 about tlu; aggression of the French, and about thr (»riL;iu of 
 the; war in which this country was so suddenly afterwards 
 plunged. Instead of thi.s, what did they do? They hinijr 
 back ; tliey avoided cxj)lanation ; they ijave the French no 
 meaud of satisfying them ; and 1 upcMi my proposition —
 
 198 THE LIFE AXD TIMES OF 
 
 when there is a question of peace and war between two nations, 
 that government puts itself in the wrong which refuses to state 
 with clearness and precision what she would consider as a 
 satisfaction and a pledge of peace."* 
 
 The most striking passage, however, is Fox's answer to 
 Pitt, who, in speaking against the whole course of Bona- 
 parte's military and diplomatic career, had thus concluded : 
 
 " What, then, is the inference I am to draw from all that 
 I have now stated ? Is it, that in no case will we treat with 
 Bonaparte ? I say no such thing. But I say, as has been 
 said in the answer returned to the French note, that we ought 
 to wait for experience and the evidence of facts before we are 
 convinced that such a treaty is admissible."t 
 
 Fox thus replies : 
 
 " We must keep Bonaparte for some time longer at war, 
 as a sta,te of probation ! Gracious God, sir, is war a state of 
 probation ? Is peace a rash system ? Is it dangerous for 
 nations to live in amity with each other ? Is your vigilance, 
 your policy, your common powers of observation, to be extin- 
 guished by putting an end to the horrors of war ? Cannot this 
 state of probation be as well undergone without adding to 
 the catalogue of human sufferings? ' But we must pause.' X 
 AVhat! must the bowels of Great Britain be torn out — 
 her best blood spilt — her treasure wasted — that you may 
 make an experiment ? Put yourselves — oh, that you would put 
 yourselves in the field of battle, and learn to judge of 
 the sort of horrors that you excite. In former wars, a 
 man might at least have some feeling, some interest, that 
 served to balance in his mind the impressions which a scene 
 
 * " Fox's Speeches," vol. ri. p. 394. 
 t " Parliamentary History," vol. xxxiv. p. 1343. 
 
 + This appears to have been the term used by Lord Carnarvon in the House of 
 Lords.
 
 CiL\Ri:ES J^VMES FOX. 199 
 
 of caniaffc and of death must inflict. If a man had been 
 present at the battle of Blenheim, for instance, and had 
 inquired the motive of the battle, there was not a soldier eu- 
 ^aofed who could not have satisfied his curiosity, and even, 
 perhaps, allayed his feelings — they were fighting to repress 
 the uncontrolled ambition of the grand monarque. But if a 
 man were present now at a field of slaughter, and were to 
 inquire for what they were fighting — ' Fighting ! ' would be 
 the answer ; ' they are not fighting, they are pauiiing.' ' Why 
 is that man expiring? Why is that other writhing with agony ? 
 What means this implacable fury?' The answer must be : 
 * You are quite wrong, sir ; you deceive yourself They are 
 not fighting. Do not disturb them ; they are merely imusing ! 
 This man is not expiring with agony — that man is not dead — 
 he is only pausing ! They are not angry with one another ; 
 they have now no cause of quarrel — but their country thinks 
 there should be a pause. All that, you see, sir, is nothing 
 like fighting — there is no harm, nor cruelty, nor bloodshed in 
 it whatever ; it is nothing more than a 2^olit iced pause ! It is 
 merely to try an experiment — to see whether Bonaparte will 
 not behave himself better than heretofore ; and in the mean- 
 time we have agreed to a pause, in jjure friendship ! ' And 
 is this the way, sir, that you are to show yourselves the advo- 
 cates of order ? You tiike up a syj-tem calculated to uncivili/e 
 the world, to destroy order, to trample on religion, to stifle in 
 the heart not merely the generosity of noble sentiment, but 
 the artections of s(x;ial nature ; and in the ])rosecution of this 
 system, you spread terror and desolation all around you." * 
 
 In sjMte of this eloquent speech, in spite of the absurdity (f 
 the conduct of the Government, the division was — 20;") for 
 Ministers, and only (54 for tlu,' ( )p])ositi()n. 
 
 • " Foi'» .Speeches," Vol. vi. p. 4'.'0.
 
 200 THE LITE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The war had been undertaken to oppose democracy, but 
 that pretext over, the supremacy of a mihtary chief served 
 quite as well as democratic license, or any other pretence, the 
 purpose of carnage and desolation. 
 
 It was not possible, surely, for the First Consul to show 
 by experience his inclination and love of peace while he was 
 forced by his enemies to carry on war with all the vigour he 
 could command.
 
 CUARLES JAMES FOX. 201 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 RESIGNATION OF PITT. — HIS CHARACTER AS A MINISTER. 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1801, Pitt resifined his offices of 
 First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer. The reasons for his retirement are not difficult to 
 penetrate, if we content ourselves with the accounts given by 
 Pitt himself, and his most intimate friends, Mr. Dundas and 
 ]Mr. Rose. 
 
 It appears from their statements that Pitt had always 
 been of opinion that the Irish Union would strengthen the 
 Empire, and ainonji: other ways, by making it safe to admit 
 tiie Roman Catholics to office and to Parliament. He argued 
 justly that a proportion of Roman Catholics who would be 
 dangerous in an Iri.-li House of Commons, or at Dublin 
 Ca.stle, would be harmless at Westminster and W'iiitehall. 
 He saw, in addition to this absence of danger, the same 
 advantages in investing a great body of the Irish peojjle with 
 privileges as his father had seen in trusting the inhabitjints 
 of the ni<:hland.s with arms. Caiming (met* related in 
 the House of Connnons that, being on a vl.-it at W'almer 
 Ca-stle, Pitt read at jjreakfast a letter from I.nrd ( "orn- 
 wallis siiyitif; that lie could carry the Union, but he could not 
 carry the admi.s.sion of Roman (.'atiiolics to office and to 
 Parliament. "Then, if I were you," exclaimed Canning,
 
 202 THE LIFE AKD TIMES OF 
 
 " I would have neither." Pitt rebuked his impatience, 
 and accepted the good within his reach. But, in the spirit of 
 a great statesman, he perceived there might be a union by 
 statute, but there woukl be no union of interests and affec- 
 tions while the Roman Catholics were excluded from the 
 privileges and the prizes of the British Constitution. He 
 accordingly began to prepare the means for admitting the 
 Roman Catholic laity to political power, and for endowing 
 the Roman Catholic clergy with a provision from the Stata 
 This project, if accomplished, would have crowned him with 
 glory. Unfortunately, Pitt had not that sympathy with 
 his political friends, or that cordial intercourse with his 
 Sovereign, which could insure success. Had he persuaded 
 his party to go with him, the King must have yielded. Had 
 he overcome the scruples of the King, his party would have 
 followed him with implicit obedience. But he communicated 
 neither with his party nor with the King. Some of his col- 
 leagues, and some of his professed friends, were in the mean- 
 time secretly consulted by the King. Lord Clare, Chancellor 
 of Ireland, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Auckland, 
 and Lord Loughborough have been mentioned, with more or 
 less authority, as the private counsellors employed in advising 
 the King to reject the advice of his constitutional Minister. 
 They told him, it is said, that he was bound to prefer a doubtful 
 construction of his coronation oath to the measure proposed 
 by his Minister; and they infused into his weak mind and 
 stubborn disposition scruples at once groundless and danger- 
 ous. Thus it happened that when Pitt wrote an official 
 letter to the King advising concession to the Roman Catholics, 
 he got a peremptory refusal. As the Minister chiefly respon- 
 sible for the conduct of the war, he could not dispense with 
 measures which he thought essential to his country's safety.
 
 CHARLES J^\3IES FOX. 203 
 
 As tlie head of the Adniiuistration, he could not submit to be 
 thwarted and overruled by the subordinates whom he had 
 admitted to a share in the Government. He resigned. The 
 event so shook the faculties of the Kin": that his mind crave 
 way, and for a timo Pitt hesitated (naturally, one must 
 admit), and was inclined, in view of such a catastrophe, to 
 withdraw his resignation. But the King recovered, Mr. 
 Addin<rtou jjrofessed his willingness to accept office, and 
 Pitt's resignation became final. 
 
 Had the King and Mr. Addington been, either one or the 
 other, men of less courage and determination than they were, 
 Pitt must have returned to power, and Catholic emanci- 
 pation would have been postponed only for a time. Put the 
 King, witii his mind overwrought and shaken, feared the re- 
 turn of the question of Catholic Relief and of the Minister 
 who had proposed it to him. Nor was he altogether dis- 
 pleased to have an adviser whose abilities would not over- 
 shadow him, and to exchange Lord Louo-hborouiifh, whom he 
 disliked, for Lord Eldon, whom he soon after designated as 
 his own Chancellor. 
 
 Thus this wonderful change was accomplished, and Pitt, 
 magnanimous in his retirement, did what he could to sui)port 
 his feeble successor. 
 
 Fox, like many others, thought for some time that 
 tiie whole arrangement was a juggle. He writes to Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick, on the .3r(l of February, tiiat the rejjorts of 
 Pitt'.s being out come from such concurrent authorities 
 that he hardly knows how to disbelievi; them. "The 
 SjM'aker's being eujployed," he writes, " looks as if there was 
 some strange juggle. . . . Je ny coviprejuh goutte."* 
 And again, on the Sth, he writes to Lord Holland: 
 
 • " ColTc^I^omJcnce," vol, iii. p, 320.
 
 204 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 *' Adtlington, Chancellor of the Exchequer, as against 
 Pitt ! If I do believe it, it must be quia incomjprehen- 
 sihile."* 
 
 A few days afterwards, he writes to Grey that his letter 
 convinces him that it is not altogether the juggle that it 
 appeared. On the 8th of February, he observes to his 
 nephew : " If the King does make another Ministry and 
 can keep it, first of all they will be very weak, which in 
 itself is good, and, besides, they will feel the absolute neces- 
 sity of making peace ; and it is possible the inclinations of 
 France may induce Bonaparte to make it with them, and 
 peace, however obtained, is a real good." Fox was jus- 
 tified by the event. Mr. Addington found himself obliged 
 to make peace, and the peace, disadvantageous as it was, put 
 an end to the war against Jacobinism, and was thus " a real 
 good." 
 
 Let us now, however, look back to the long Administra- 
 tion of Pitt, and to the condition in which he left the affairs 
 of the country. From 1784 to 1792 — from the day when he 
 defeated the Whig party to the day when he abandoned a 
 pacific policy — Pitt was a great Minister, repairing the 
 ravages of a costly and unnecessary war, placing the finances 
 in a sound condition, securing a surplus revenue, providing 
 for the extension of our trade with France, and maintaining 
 peace without neglecting our interests on the Continent of 
 Europe. But when the French Revolution shook Europe 
 with its anarchy, its madness, and its massacres, Pitt was 
 bewildered by so new and so frightful an emergency. He 
 was ignorant of the character of this great change, ignorant 
 of the sources from which it sprang, unaware of the direc- 
 tion of the storm, little prepared for the ravages it might 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 186.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 205 
 
 cause, and still less prepared for the fertility it might create. 
 Great Britain ^vas, under his pilotage, like a noble frigate 
 driven from her anchorage and drifting with the winds and 
 the waves, uncertain amid the gloom, without a port in sight, 
 or a chart to direct her cour:-e. 
 
 Hence Pitt, the Minister of peace, made war — made war 
 for a long time, at great cost, and with immense bloodshed, 
 but without any definite purpose or rational object. 
 
 It seems strange, at first sight, that a statesman of his 
 genius, having at his command the resources of so great 
 a nation as Great Britain, which were poured lavishly at 
 his demand into the Exchequer, and an army so brave and 
 so devoted as that which was landed in the Low Countries in 
 1 793, should have failed so utterly in his Continental wars. A 
 warlike career, which began with the evacuation of Holland 
 and ended with the defeat at ]Marengo and the peace of 
 Luneville, has scarcely a parallel in calamity. Yet the phe- 
 nomenon is not incapable of explanation. Pitt never had 
 before his eyes a clear object for which he was fighting ; the 
 pompous words with which he deceived others seem likewise 
 to have deceived the orator himself. 
 
 Wlien William III., Marlborough, and Godolphin, carried 
 on that war of the Spanish Succession, which was rendered 
 illustrious by the victories of Blenheim, Oudenarde, Mal- 
 placjuet, and Ramillies — and which was marked by the 
 capture of Minorca and Cjibraltar — those great men had a 
 definite object in view. To check and limit the ambition of 
 Louis XI\'., which had threatened the independence of 
 Holland, anil ainu-d at reaping the rich inheritance of Spain, 
 wfui a clear, intelligible, and national object. 'J'lie proud 
 monarch of Ver.saillcs, defeated and hnmljled, was glad to 
 owe his escape from the complete ruin oi" all his jjrojects to
 
 206 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the intrigues of a party whicli quitted the path of glory 
 abroad in order to restore the despotism of the Stuarts at 
 home. 
 
 Neither was the Seven Years' War without its appeal to 
 national sympathies. The courage in adversity, the skill in 
 strategy, the successful defence against Austria, France, 
 and Russia, which have made the name of Frederick the 
 Great immortal, won the admiration of the British people. 
 The contest in America of the sons of England against the 
 ancient rival who sought to bind them in a circle of iron 
 extending from the mouth of the Mississippi to that of the 
 St. Lawrence roused the pride of the nation ; the genius 
 of Chatham inspired, amid the silent devotion of the House 
 of Commons, those efforts which were consecrated by the 
 blood of Wolfe and signalized by the early prowess of 
 Washington. 
 
 But the war of 1793 had no such cause to inspire it, no 
 such definite object to which it was to be directed. 
 
 The execution of Louis XVI. could not be atoned for by 
 torrents of English blood. Prussia having failed in the main 
 purpose of extinguishing the fire of the French Revolution, 
 had no other design than that of robbing Poland of her 
 independence. Pitt was profuse in scattering his subsi- 
 dies, but he could not buy energy and zeal from Austria, 
 because, as Mr. Grenville truly told him, she had not those 
 qualities to sell. Mean rivalries between the two great 
 German Powers, petty advantages to be gained, armies 
 ordered not to fight, negotiations without sincerity — such 
 were the scenes which disgusted Lord Malraesbury, Lord 
 Spencer, and Mr. Grenville. The Empress of Russia, 
 seated on a blood-stained throne, satisfied with the massacre 
 of Praga, the annihilation of Poland, and the indulgence of
 
 CHARLES JASIES FOX. 207 
 
 unbounded licentiousness, gave only invectives and mani- 
 festoes to the cause of law and order. 
 
 But while Pitt had no definite objects to attain, and 
 no sincere allies to assist him, he contrived to exasperate 
 France by supporting the Royalists, and to dissolve the 
 alliance with Prussia by his partiality for Austria. 
 
 With a view to get money for the war without exciting 
 po})ular discontent, Pitt carried on his costly operations on 
 credit, and impaired the finances of the country. He borrowed 
 without stint, thinking every year that the state of their 
 finances must force the French nation to submit. Then, in 
 order to get his loans on better terms in the money-market, 
 he took care that the public creditor should receive for ever 
 the 4 or 5 per cent., or whatever other interest the nation 
 might be forced to pay in a year of penury and distress. 
 This was contrived by borrowing in the three ])er cents at 
 60, instead of borrowing in five per cents at 98. 
 
 The consequence is, that although the three per cents have 
 since risen at times to D-l or 95, the nation has paid not at 
 the rate of 3:^ })er cent., but at the rate of 4 or 5 per cent, 
 or upwards, after fifty years of peace. 
 
 So with regard to paper currency. At the beginning of 
 his war administration, Pitt predicted that France would 
 soon be obliged to make peace on account of her assignats. 
 At the end of the war, France had restored her metallic 
 currency, while England was carrying on her military and 
 naval operations with inconvertible bank jkijht. 
 
 When all these calamities are considered, it is uo wonder 
 to find Fox writing as the sum of iiis opinions : " Pitt was a 
 bad Minister. He is out. I am glad." * 
 
 There were, however, great redeeming fe.itnres in Pitts 
 
 • " CoiTC»i>oii(Jci)ce," vol. iii. p. ;i'-4.
 
 208 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 character as a Minister. I do not reckon among them 
 his brilliancy as an orator, for that brilliancy served only to 
 dazzle and mislead. But his unshaken resolution, his man- 
 ful struggle against increasing perils, his determination to 
 hold aloft the flag of his country, neither dismayed by 
 danger nor perplexed by difficulty, place him, if not in the 
 list of successful Ministers, high in the roll of great men. 
 
 This striking quality it was which made the English people 
 follow him as a leader, and, in spite of reverses, look to 
 him in the hour of danger as their hero and their hope. 
 
 It is curious to observe also how much the war gained in 
 popularity in spite of disasters which might have sunk the 
 hopes of a nation less resolute and less spirited than the 
 English. The insolence of the French Directory, the heat of 
 national rivalry, the excitement of the contest, so far in- 
 flamed the minds of the people that, although the wish for 
 peace was general, the fear of humiliation was the stronger 
 and more prevailing sentiment; thus, until the Government 
 proclaimed peace, the nation was silent.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 209 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 ADDIXOTON ABMIXISTRATION. — MU. GREYS MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE 
 
 NATION. 
 
 AV HEN Fox was once convinced that the rcsi«piatlons 
 were not a juggle, and that Pitt seriously meant to retire, 
 be took a view of the new arrangement difterent from that 
 of his friends : " But, juggle or no jugfjle, what will be the 
 consequences ? This Ministry cannot last, say our friends ; 
 so say not I, unless the public misfortunes should be such as 
 would have equally forced out the others. The King's power 
 is, as we know, great, and, when exerted, in conjunction with 
 his ally, the Church, and, therefore, in the way and upon the 
 points which he likes best, and into which he will enter with 
 the greatest spirit, he will not easily be foiled ; and you may 
 be sure this Ministry is one quite to his heart's content."* 
 
 The King, in approving Mr. Addington's arrangements 
 for till' Ministry, wrote to him: "The King cannot hnd 
 words sufFiciently exjjressive of his Majesty's cordial apj)roba- 
 tion of the whole arrangements which Jus own Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer has wisely, and, his M.ijesty chooses to add, 
 most correctly recommended. "t 
 
 'I'lic King revealed in this manner his joy at liavlii;j^ a 
 
 • " CoiTMjxmilcnce," vol. iii. p. 325. 
 t tStaolioix't '• Life of I'itt," rol. iii. p. 32L 
 VOT , nr. 1'
 
 210 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Minister who had not the brilliant genius and large views of 
 Pitt. In the same spirit, he called Lord Eldon " his own 
 Lord Chancellor." In fact, the Ministry suited him exactly. 
 If he was bigoted, they were bigoted ; if he was narrow- 
 minded, they were narrow-minded ; if his notions were weak, 
 their notions were weak likewise. Of Mr. Addington it was 
 truly said : 
 
 " And but little though he meant, 
 He meant that little well." 
 
 In the same letter to Lord Lauderdale from which I have 
 already quoted, Fox goes on to say : " But what ought to be 
 the conduct of Grey and his friends ? " He resolves this 
 question, both for himself and his party, by approving Mr. 
 Grey's motion on the State of the Nation, and declaring his 
 intention to attend it. 
 
 "Now for myself: I have consented (whether right or 
 wrong, God knows, for I think differently about it every five 
 minutes) to attend Grey's motion on the State of the Nation 
 on Monday, 2nd of March. My ground is specious enough — 
 that having absented myself because the influence of the late 
 Ministers had made the proceedings of the House of Com- 
 mons a farce, I return to put the House to the test whether 
 they will, by an implicit confidence, make themselves the 
 same abject tools of the present Government as they were of 
 the last. The State of the Nation of course involves every- 
 thing, &c." It is because " the State of the Nation of course 
 involves everything," and, among other things, a want of 
 confidence, that it was imprudent in the lovers of peace to ex- 
 press distrust at the very outset of the only possible Ministry 
 from whom peace could be obtained. Any other form of 
 motion would, as a means of obtaining a declaration of policy, 
 have been preferable.
 
 CHARLES JASIES FOX. 211 
 
 Fox ends his letters in these terms : " When we are beat 
 on the State of the Nation, I mean to attend no more ; 
 unless the Catholic question is brought on, and, in that case, 
 upon that only. Do yon think they could have picked out 
 any one fellow in the House of Commons so sure to make a 
 foolish tifjure in this new situation as Addinfrton? I think 
 not."* 
 
 Althouirh this remark might be perfectly true, yet it was 
 also true that Pitt was sure (to use a phrase of his father) to 
 lend Addington his majority to carry on the Government. 
 He could not disown all his former policy. It was, therefore, 
 unwise of Fox and Grey to bring to a test the very question 
 on which they were certiiin to be defeated by the same 
 majority which had supported Titt against them from the 
 very beginning of the war. 
 
 Prudence would have counselled the Whig Opposition, 
 therefore, to have awaited in silence the effects of the change 
 of Ministry. But such was not their course. On the 25th 
 of March, 3Ir. Grey, in a clear argumentative speech, moved 
 for a Committee of the whole House on the State of the 
 Nation, or, in other words, for a vote of want of contidence in 
 the Administration. 
 
 Pitt, who wished to help the new Ministry, and still 
 more to defeat his old opponents, had an easy tas^k in 
 endeavouring to persuade the House of Commons not to 
 depart from the errors which for nine years they had con- 
 tinued to sanction. 
 
 It .seemed, indeed, but poor logic to .siiy that, becau.se Par- 
 liament had waged war against a Jacobin convention which 
 summoned all the nations of lOurope to overthrow their 
 governments, tiiey nuist, therefore, wage war against a 
 
 • ' fill ri*«p'ilr'«"i<'''," Vul. i-' ' ■' >u 
 
 1' 2
 
 212 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 military dictator who had restored order in France, and 
 was at peace with nearly all the sovereigns of the Continent. 
 But that which as argument was worthless was, as an appeal 
 to party pride and party feeling, irresistible. The House 
 of Commons, except under the sense of some great and 
 crushing reverse, was sure not to abandon the leader it had 
 followed and accept the advice it had constantly rejected. 
 
 Pitt was not ashamed, on this occasion, to invent new 
 causes for the war. No more was said of revolutionary fury, 
 of the decree of the 19th of November, of the opening of the 
 Scheldt. We had gone to war, it appeared, for three other 
 objects — viz., the restoration of the Bourbons, the mainte- 
 nance of our internal security, and the preservation of our in- 
 dependence. Adopting this view, Pitt exulted in the thought 
 that although we had not attained the first object, we had 
 been successful in the second and third. But might it not have 
 been asked why those objects had been put to hazard ? Pitt 
 resembled a man who should voluntarily and rashly stake his 
 house and lands on a throw of the dice, and boast exceedingly 
 that, although he had lost some thousands of pounds, he had 
 not been ruined by the venture. What was most remarkable, 
 however, in Pitt's speech was the homage he paid to the abili- 
 ties of Fox. In speaking of the appointment of Lord Hawkes- 
 bury as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, he said : "He 
 was ready to ask gentlemen on the other side if they knew any 
 one among themselves who was superior to his noble friend. 
 Let them give him the answer. He should like to take the 
 opinions of the different individuals on the other side, if it 
 were not a painful thing to put to their modesty, whether 
 any one among them, except one hon. gentleman whose 
 attendance was of late so rare that he might almost be con- 
 sidered as a new member, whose transcendant talents, indeed.
 
 CIIAELES JAMES FOX. 213 
 
 made him an exception to almost any rule in everything that 
 required uncommon powers, but whose conduct was also 
 what ought, generally speaking, to be an exception," &c. 
 
 Again, in speaking of the course pursued by Fox in 
 1782 with reference to the armed neutrality, Pitt said: 
 " It was during the short time, sir, that the hon. gentleman 
 filled the office of Secretary of State, who, from the greatness 
 of his genius, mifiht have been led to those bold attempts 
 which by common minds might be considered rashness — it 
 was durinnr that short period," &:e. 
 
 Pitt vindicated with much dignity and complete justice 
 his retirement from the councils of the Crown when he was un- 
 able to carry a measure which he thought important for the 
 welfare of the country. The distinction which he drew between 
 allowing Roman Catholics to enter Parliament and hold office 
 under the Crown before the union of the Parliaments and 
 afterwards was striking. The measure he proposed was wise ; 
 tlie moment he chose for it was opportune. But the Minister 
 who was permitted to squander millions of treasure, and 
 throw away thousands of lives without an object, was not per- 
 mitted by his Sovereign, by Parliament, or by his party, to 
 carry a great measure of enlightened liberality, of undoubted 
 justice, and of large and beneficial policy. 
 
 Fox rose after Pitt, and taking advantage of the title of a 
 " new member," by which Pitt had designated him, asked leave 
 to avail himself of tin; indulgence which the House usiudly 
 shows to a ])erson of that description. In discussing the 
 question at issue with tlie Nortiiern I'owers, he reduced tiiat 
 quctition to three parts — namely, free i)()ttoms making free 
 goods, the contraband of war, the riuht of .-^carch under 
 convoy. After di.scussing these questions with infinite ai)ility, 
 he refuted Mr. l)inidas'& assertions that the war had been !-uc-
 
 214 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 oessful. But when he oaiuo to the naval part of the war, he 
 said : '• Not one word that I have ever uttered, or that ever 
 eame out of the lips of any friend of mine on this side of the 
 House, has tended, ev^n in the most distant degree, to under- 
 rate the achievements of our tleets ; and I will leave the 
 House to judge whether any pei-sons in it or out of it have 
 dwelt with more rapture upon the triumphs of that branch 
 of the service than we have done. ... It is in the 
 nature of naval tactics that a great deal depends upon the 
 othcei's and men, upon wind and weather ; in land operations, 
 a cjood plan is almost evervthiuir. Yet the merit of the 
 Admiralty is indisputable. It is true there are parts of the 
 administration of Earl Spencer (for whom my personal respect 
 is considerable) not free from blame, particularly what 
 related to the invasion of Ireland : but where the general 
 system has been judicious and prosperous, it would be invi- 
 dious to dwell upon a few erroi*s. ' 
 
 After a masterly analysis of the events of the war and their 
 etfects. Fox said : " These, sir, are some of the internal 
 effects of this war, which both the rioht hon. ircntlemen 
 venture to compare with former contentions against France. 
 \\"e have taken more, they tell us, than even in the Seven 
 Yeai's' War ; and, therefore, this surpasses that in success. 
 Good God I sir, what etiect does a confidence in the votes of 
 this House produce upon the undei*standings of men of 
 abilities ? To talk of this war, and the Seven Yeai-s' \^'ar ! 
 • We have destroyed the commerce of France, we have taken 
 their islands,' say you : but these, I say, were not the objects 
 of the war. If you have destroyed the commerce of France, 
 you have destroyed it at the expense of near three hundred 
 uiillions of debt. If you have taken the French islands, yon 
 have made a bootless capture ; for you are ready enough to
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 215 
 
 restore them as the price of peace. You have taken islands, 
 but you have, at the same time, laid the House of Austria 
 prostrate at the feet of triumphant France. Have you 
 restored monarchy ? Its very hoj)es are entombed for ever. 
 Have you reduced the power of France ? France is 
 aggi-andized beyond the wildest dreams of former ambition. 
 Have you driven her within her ancient frontiers ? She has 
 enlarged herself to the lihine and to the Alps, and added five 
 millions to her population in the centre of Europe. You had 
 all the great States of Europe for your allies again.st France. 
 AVliat is become of them ? All that you have not ruined are 
 your determined enemies. Where are the neutral Powers? 
 Every one of them leagued with this very France for your 
 destruction. Could all this be chance ? No, sir ; it is the 
 true succession of effect to cause. It is the leiritimate issue 
 of your own system. You began in foolishness, and you end 
 in mischief. Tell me one single object of the war that 
 you have obtained ? Tell me one evil that you have not 
 brought upon your country? Yet this House will not inquire. 
 The riirht lion, gentleman (Mr. Dundas) says : ' We have had 
 more difficulties to encounter than any former Government ; 
 for we had constantly thwarting us the imjjlacable monster 
 Jacobinism.' Sir, Jacobinism has in it no property so sure 
 as the right hon. gentleman's system to pro])agate and confirm 
 it. That system has given to Jacobinism life and nutriment, 
 strength and maturity, which it could not have derived from 
 any other source. Bent uj)om cru.-hing every idea of any 
 reform, they resolved to stifle tlie once free genius of the 
 English mind, and suspend .-ome of the most valuable j)arts 
 of the English ('onstitution, rather than yield one jot. 
 
 " Hence their .'idministration is marked, in this country, 
 by a succession of infringements upcjn the dearest rights of
 
 216 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the people — by invasions and rebellions in another country. 
 The parent source of all these disorders is that baneful hn- 
 policy in which both the right hon, gentlemen endeavour to 
 implicate the House." * 
 
 Turning to the description of the new Ministry, which he 
 said he found to be a most unpleasant part of the night's dis- 
 cussion, he spoke thus coldly, but not bitterly, of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer : 
 
 " The late Chancellor of the Exchequer, not, perhaps, 
 quite freely from redundancy, has blended with his pane- 
 gyric of the right hon. gentleman over against me (Mr. 
 Addington) a gaudy picture of the importance of the chair 
 which you, sir, occupy. I agree that the office of Speaker is 
 a high and honourable station. It is certainly the first dig- 
 nity in this House ; and, I suppose, it was merely for the 
 public good that both your predecessors descended from that 
 altitude to inferior places, but happening to be at the same 
 time situations of infinitely more emolument and power. A 
 man, however, may be an excellent Chairman of this House, 
 as the late Speaker undoubtedly was, without being exactly 
 qualified for the office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 At the present moment, this is all that I think it necessary to 
 say with regard to the respectable gentleman whom you, sir, 
 have succeeded." t 
 
 Coming next to the cause of Pitt's resignation, Fox spoke 
 out with his usual boldness in the assertion of a great prin- 
 ciple of freedom : 
 
 " Before I proceed to the conclusion of this part of my 
 subject, I must beg leave to say something upon this much- 
 talkcd-of subject of Catholic emancipation. As to the mere 
 word ' emancipation,' I agree with the right hon. gentleman 
 
 * " Fox's Speeches," vol. vi. p. 440. t Ibid. p. 443.
 
 CTTAriLES JAMES FOX. 217 
 
 (!\rr. Pitt) that the expression is not the best adapted to the 
 case. It is not emancipation in the ordinary meaning of the 
 tenn that the Catholic wants, or that the Government can 
 (rrant ; it is the removal of the civil disabilities that remain, 
 and that remain for no end either of security, of policy, or of 
 prudence — insulting and vexatious distinctions, beneficial to 
 no interest whatever, but the fruitful source of jealousy, dis- 
 cord, and national weakness. The right hon. gentleman 
 talks of the King's reign having been a series of concessions 
 to the Catholics. Sir, the King's reign is marked by no con- 
 cessions which the blameless conduct of the Catholics was not 
 calculated to e.xact from the most unwilling Government in the 
 world. I le talks of what has been given to the Catholics. Sir, 
 you give them nothing, while you deprive them of the right to 
 sit in this House. I know of no political rights which ought 
 not to be common to all the King's subjects, and I am sure 
 that a system of proscription, on account of theological dif- 
 ferences, will for ever be found not more unjust and absurd 
 than pernicious. If this principle needed illustration, Ireland 
 affords it l)eyond the power of controversy. Divided by the 
 Government, it presents a constant temptation to your enemy. 
 Rebellion is the fruit of bad policy, and invasion is encou- 
 raged by di.sunion." * 
 
 Again : " As a right, the right rifjlit hon. gentleman denies 
 the claim of tiie Catholics. lie wouhlgive them nothing as a 
 rigiit ; but he thinks the concession expedient. This, sir, is not 
 my sense of tiie Catholic claim. I would grant it not merely 
 becau.se it is expedient, but because it is just. Those who 
 press the doctrine of virtual representation to the utmost 
 length never ventured to carry it so far as even to j)r(>tend 
 that it extended to tlie privation of tlie (iitholic body. Catho- 
 * " Vox'* Spec'flief," vol. vi. ji lU.
 
 218 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 lies, in my opinion, have rights as well as Protestants. They 
 have both rights conjointly, not resting upon light or frail 
 grounds, but forming the very base and foundation of our 
 civil system ; and the Government which does not acknowledge 
 these rights, the rights of man in the strictest sense of the 
 word (notwithstanding the constant clamour against, and 
 abuse of, that phrase), not as theories and speculations, but as 
 active and living principles, is not, and cannot be, a legitimate 
 Government. 
 
 " The inferences to be drawn from the style of argument 
 which has been used in defence of the duration of these 
 dreadful laws in Ireland furnish a sentence of condemnation 
 against the Government of that country much stronger than 
 any that was ever used by those who so unavailingly raised 
 their voices against a system of terror, of free quarters, of 
 conflagration, and torture. If it be true, as they allege, that 
 treason has tainted that people to the bone — if the poison of 
 Jacobinism, as they call it, pervade the whole mind of the 
 multitude — if disloyalty be so rooted and so universal that 
 military despotism can alone make the country habitable — 
 it would be against the experience of the world that such a 
 wide and deadly disaffection could, or ever did, exist in any 
 nation on the globe except from the faults of its governors. 
 
 " To this country, too — to England — what a contradiction is 
 the conduct of these honourable gentlemen to their ])ro- 
 fessions ! This nation was to reap marvellous blessings from 
 the Union ; but of what benefit is the junction of four or 
 five millions of traitors ? Such, the laws proposed by these 
 honourable gentlemen tell you, the Irish are ; but such, I tell 
 you, they are not. A grosser outrage upon truth, a greater libel 
 upon a generous people, never before was uttered or insinuated. 
 They who can find reason for all this in any supposed de-
 
 CIIAELES JAMES FOX. 219 
 
 pravlty of the Irish totally misunderstand their character. 
 Sir, I love the Irish nation. I know a great deal of that 
 people. I know much of Ireland from having seen it; I know 
 more from private friendship with individuals. The Irish 
 may have their faults, like others. They may have a quick 
 feeling of injury, and not be very patient under it ; but I do 
 affirm that, of all their characteristics, there is not one feature 
 more predominant in every class of the country, from the 
 highest to the lowest order, than gratitude for benefits and 
 sensibility to kindness. Change your system towards that 
 country, and you will find them another sort of men. Let 
 impartiality, justice, and clemency, take place of prejudice, 
 opj)ression, and vengeance, and you will not want the aid of 
 martial law or the terror of military execution."* 
 
 The division was of course adverse to the Whig party. It 
 was a hopeless ta&k to assail a Ministry covered by the broad 
 shield of Titt. There divided : 
 
 For Mr. Grey 105 
 
 Against 21)1 
 
 Majority . . . 18(5 
 
 In a debate in the House of Lords, after two of the new 
 ministers had spoken, the Manpiis of Lansdowne, (formerly 
 Lord Shelburne) said : '" I think we had froni the former 
 Ministry too nmch of ehxinence, and orat(»ry, and ail that 
 sort of thing, and I am glad to see that the two noble lords 
 opposite take quite a dill'erent line." 
 
 * •' .Sj»cech»," vol. vi. ji. -1 17.
 
 220 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 OOKDUCT AMD CORRESPONDENCE OF FOX FROM MR. GRET'S MOTION TO 
 THE PEACE OF AMIENS, 1801. — PEACE OF AMIENS. 
 
 Fox kept his promise that, after Mr. Grey's motion, he would 
 attend no more that Session, except on the question of Mr. 
 Home Tooke's eligibility as a clergyman to a seat in the 
 House of Commons, upon which he took the affirmative 
 side. To an earnest request from his nephew, Lord Hol- 
 land, that he would go to London, he replies in a letter 
 dated — 
 
 "St. Anne's Hill; Sunday, April 19th, 1801. 
 
 " Never did a letter arrive in a worse time, my dear young 
 one, than yours this morning — a sweet westerly wind, a 
 beautiful sun, all the thorns and elms just budding, and the 
 nightingales just beginning to sing, though the blackbirds and 
 thrushes would have been quite sufficient, without the return 
 of those seceders, to have refuted any arguments in your 
 letter. Seriously speaking, I cannot conceive what you mean 
 by everybody agreeing that something may be now done. I 
 beg, at least, not to be included among the holders of that 
 opinion, for, as it appears to me, there never was a moment 
 when all exertion on our part was more certain to be useless, 
 if not worse. Pray, therefore, put a stop to any trouble or 
 expense as soon as possible that you or any one else have 
 been at or are incurring about a house. My present notion
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 221 
 
 is that, except for Tooke's business (which I could not desert 
 without shabbiness) and the May Whig Chib, I shall go to 
 town no more this year. My feeling is this : that notwith- 
 standing nightingales, flowers, literature, history, &c., all 
 which, however, I conceive to be good and substantial reasons 
 for staying here, I would nevertheless go to town if I saw any 
 chance of my going being serviceable to the public, or (which, 
 in my view of things, is exactly the siimc thing) to the party 
 which I love both as a party, and on account of many of the 
 individuals who compose it. I feel myself quite sure that this 
 is not now the case, and that if 1 were to go, the best I could 
 hope for would be that I should do no mischief; and with 
 such a hope only, you will allow that I cannot be expected 
 to make any great sacrifice of my own comforts and enjoy- 
 ments."* 
 
 Ilis correspondence, both on literature and politics, was 
 continued with activity. 
 
 On the 2nd of April, he writes to Fitzpatrlck that he 
 hears the King is so ill again that something " will have to be 
 done," and begs Fitzjjatrick, in case that re})ort is confirmed, 
 to make no delay in coming to him. He adds: "Mrs. A. 
 makes me write this, because she knows how helpless I am 
 in dlflicult circumstances witliout advice." t 
 
 About the same time, he writes to Fitzpatrlck : " Bonaparte 
 Ikls been moderate and wise, and the ])aci(ic character seems 
 to me what he at this time so much affects, that my opinion 
 is, this Ministry, if they will give up the nonsensical neutral 
 question, may have peace with him." J 
 
 Fox was at this time of opinion that those who have any 
 wish to be ever concerned in j)ubllc allalrs ougiit to move 
 
 • " CorrMpondcuce," vol. iii. p. 18"^. 
 t Ibid. p. 332. • J Ibid. p. 334.
 
 222 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 in the Catholic question. " For me, who have no such wish, 
 but quite the contrary, it is another thing ; and, if others do 
 not think of moving it, I shall not urge them to it."* 
 
 When Mr. Grey's father, Sir Charles Grey, was made a 
 Peer, he writes thus to Mr. Grey : " I am very much con- 
 cerned indeed to hear of your father's peerage, more 
 especially as 1 understand it vexes you very much. It is 
 undoubtedly a provoking event; but, according to my notion, 
 the Constitution of the country is declining so rapidly, that 
 the House of Commons has, in a great measure, ceased, 
 and will shortly entirely cease, to be a place of much 
 importance." t 
 
 Such was the singular opinion of Fox as to the state of 
 the Constitution, founded on his exaggerated view of the 
 changes which Pitt had made expressly for temporary objects, 
 and of temporary duration. 
 
 Fox's opinion of the practicability of making peace 
 with the First Consul of France was better founded, and was 
 soon to be remarkably confirmed ; for the administration of 
 Mr. Addington seemed destined to the good fortune which 
 had so generally been wanting to their predecessors. An ex- 
 pedition of Pitt which accident or incapacity had kept for ten 
 months in harbour or at sea landed, in the month of March, 
 in Egypt, and, on the 21st of that month, the British army 
 gained that brilliant victory of x'\boukir, where, the laurel 
 was mingled with the cypress. For, in the full tide of success, 
 their heroic chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby, received a fatal 
 wound. Few men have worn a soldier's uniform with greater 
 honour ; he was a brave and skilful commander, no less dis- 
 tinguished for political wisdom and a humane heart than for 
 military knowledge. In Ireland, he had deplored, and endea- 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 3r)4. f Ibiil. p. .".40.
 
 CIIAELES JAMES FOX. 223 
 
 vourcd to check, the brutal excesses of faction. In Holland 
 and in Kgypt, he u])lield, with judicious boldness and unfail- 
 ing courage, the military re})utation of his country. His 
 victory of Aboukir opened the way for the conquest of Egypt. 
 The Turks hastened to swell the ranks of General Hutchinson, 
 his successor, and, at the end of August, a convention was 
 sijrned by which the French agreed to evacuate Egypt and 
 return to France. 
 
 The news of the victory of Aboukir caused great joy in 
 England ; but, before the subsequent events were known in 
 London, still greater cause of rejoicing had occurred. 
 
 Early in April, Ministers had taken measures to ascertain 
 whether the First Consul would listen to negotiations for 
 peace. The British Government were informed in reply that 
 they might address themselves to M, Otto, who was employed 
 in London in settling a cartel for the exchange of prisoners. 
 From M. Otto they obtained a specious letter declaring the 
 first Consul's love of peace, and demanding a maritime 
 truce, toircther with an immediate and full conununication 
 respecting the terms and preliminaries of peace. The mari- 
 time armistice was declined, but Lord Hawkesbury, wiser 
 than Lord Grenville, at once com])lied with the latter of 
 these demands. He declared that England would give up 
 all her conquests except Martinique, (.'eylon, Malt^i, Trinidad, 
 Toba«.n), ])cmerara, Esscquibo, and Berbice, on condition 
 that the French should evacuate Egypt, that the Cape of 
 ChhA Hope .should be a free port, and the Prince of Orange 
 receive an indenniity. 
 
 These demands were thought excessive, and as a maritime 
 truce wa.s refu.'^;d, the First Consul deemed it jiiiulent to 
 watch tiie course of events in ICgypt before he either insisted 
 on retaining a conquest which he could not keep, t)r con-
 
 224 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 sented to give up what his enemy could not wrest from him. 
 But, at the end of May, M. Otto again addressed Lord 
 Hawkesbury, lamenting that two months had passed without 
 any progress towards peace being made, and again request- 
 ing a communication of the proposed terms. 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury replied that, if Europe could be put 
 back into its former condition, his Majesty would willingly 
 give up all his conquests, but if that could not be, the French 
 Government might allow that the King would be justified 
 in retaining part of his conquests to give security to his 
 dominions, and to serve as a counterpoise to the important 
 acquisitions of France. 
 
 This principle was too reasonable, or, at least, too plausible, 
 to be denied, and, accordingly, all that remained was to 
 weigh the conquests which England proposed to retain, and 
 consider whether they were more than adequate to her 
 present strength, her means of continuing the war, and her 
 political position in the world. In striking this balance with 
 France, the Minister was assisted by the important counsels 
 of Pitt ; and towards the end of September, when the 
 communications were coming to a close, it may be said that 
 the ex-Minister, no longer hampered with Lord Grenville, 
 took into his own hands the conduct of the negotiation. 
 Lord Malmesbury says in his diary : " Pitt counselled and, of 
 course, directed the whole." At length, on the 1st of Octo- 
 ber, the preliminaries of peace were signed in London by 
 Lord Hawkesbury and M. Otto. 
 
 England, by this treaty, gave up Malta, Minorca, Deme- 
 rara, Essequibo, Martinique, the Cape of Good Hope, 
 Pondlcherry, and all other possessions conquered from her 
 enemies, except Trinidad and Ceylon, Egypt was to be 
 restored to the Porte ; Malta to be given back to the Order
 
 CIL\RLES JAMES FOX. 225 
 
 of St. John of Jerusalem, and to be plac^ed under the protec- 
 tion of a third Power ; the Republic of the Seven Islands 
 was to be recognised, and Porto Ferrajo to be evacuated. 
 The Fisheries on the coast of Newfoundland and in the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence wore to be restored to ilieir former 
 state. France was to evacuate Naples and the Euman 
 territory. 
 
 On the other hand, when it is observed that by this peace, 
 France became the acknowledged mistress of Belgium and 
 the left bank of the Rhine directly, and of Holland and Italy 
 indirectly, that she surrounded herself with dependent re- 
 publics and tributary kings, and reigned supreme arbiter of 
 Europe — when it is further considered that an ambitious and 
 restless military dictator was the organ and the director of 
 this vast power, and when it is remembered that the war was 
 undertaken in order to save the independence of Holland, to 
 close the Scheldt, and to curb the ambition of France — 
 one may wonder that Pitt should have prompted, and the 
 House of Connnons have accepted, such a peace. Fox, 
 indeed, seems to have viewed the peace not only as in itself 
 desirable, but as a joyful event, because it recorded the 
 triumph of France in the strufrgle against the attempt of the 
 sovereigns of Europe to impose on her an iulirnal govern- 
 ment by foreign force — an attempt which he justly viewed 
 with the utmost abhorrence. Unfortunately, in the blaze of 
 glorv which surrounded the French ('onsul, I'ox omitted 
 to mark with precision the overwhelming power which 
 France now held, and was to hold, in future, with the assent 
 of EurojH,'. In fact, while we combated ;ui imaginary foe 
 under tiie names of " the contagion of French principles," 
 " tlie overthnnv of social order," " the destruction of all 
 the jH-inciitles of religion and morality," and various other 
 
 Vf'i. nr. Q
 
 226 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 spectres, which, though they had neither flesh nor bone, had 
 affrighted the nation into war, we had unwittingly raised up 
 a real and substantial danger. 
 
 France had, in fact, now become a Power of such vast 
 proportions as to threaten the independence of the remaining 
 States of Europe. 
 
 She was more formidable in 1801 than she had been in 
 1701, when William III. was forging the armour of the 
 Grand Alliance to resist her ambition. It was at this time, 
 however, that Pitt, having gone to war at a wrong time, and 
 squandered resources which he ought to have husbanded, 
 put a pen into the hands of his successors to sign a 
 treaty of peace. Fox, at a crowded public meeting at the 
 Shakespeare Tavern, assembled for the purpose of cele- 
 brating the anniversary of the Westminster election, de- 
 clared " that the peace was glorious to France — glorious to 
 the First Consul. Ought it not to be so ? Ought not 
 glory to be the reward of such a glorious struggle ? 
 France had set an example that would be highly useful 
 to all the nations of the earth, and, above all, to Great 
 Britain."* 
 
 Fox's letters to his private friends disclose still further his 
 opinions. I give three of them in the order in which they 
 appear to have been written : 
 
 TO THE HON. T. MAITLAND. 
 
 " 1801. 
 
 " Dear Maitland, — I am much obliged to you for your two 
 letters, and entirely agree with you that the thing must have 
 happened from some sudden turn here. However it may have 
 happened, it is an excellent thing, and I do not like it any the 
 worse for its being so very triumphant a peace for France, 
 
 * Morning Chronicle, 1801.
 
 CHARLES JAJIES FOX. 227 
 
 who, except Ancona, docs not give up any part of her con- 
 quests. Indemnity for the piist and security for the future 
 are now evidently construed into Ceylon and Trinidad. I 
 do not know why you should consider it, hov. ever, as a mere 
 truce. I hope better. The sense of humiliation in the 
 Government here will certainly be lost hi the extreme; popu- 
 larity of the measure. I expect there never was joy more 
 universal and unfeigned, and this rascnlly people are. quite 
 overjoyed at receiving from Ministei*s what, if tho}' had dared 
 to aiik it, could not have been refused them at almost any 
 period of the war. AVill the ,Uinisters ha\<; the impudence 
 to Siiy that there was any time (much less thai \\lien Bona- 
 parte's offer Wiis refused) when -svc miiiht not have had 
 terms as good ? Bonaparte's triumph is now complete 
 indeed ; and, since there is to be no political liberty in the 
 world, I really believe he is the fittest person to be the 
 master."' * 
 
 TO THE HON. CHARLES GREY. 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill, Octo))er IJth. 
 
 " Dear Grey, — You will probably have learnt from the news- 
 papers that at the Shakespeare I expressed my perfect appro- 
 bation of the peace. I think I could do no otherwise, tiiough, 
 u|K)n this as upon other occasions, I should have been glad if 
 it had been possible to have knov.n your nplnion. J havi*. 
 however, no doubt but that it i.- the language wc ouj>ht all to 
 hold, the (juestion not being between peace now and peace years 
 ago, n(jr even between these terms of peace and any otliers, 
 but simply between this peace, such an it is, and a eontinnatioii 
 of the war. I low Pitt will defend it it i.- dilficult to conceive: 
 but it is universiilly believed he will, ^^'hat indemnity or 
 
 • " CoiTe»i»ondcncc,"' vol. iii. p. S-H. 
 
 02
 
 228 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 security he will find I know not, nor how he can deny that 
 these or better terms were to be had long ago, and, con- 
 sequently, that all the money and lives lost since that period, 
 at least, have been squandered wantonly and wickedly. You 
 will have observed, of course, that France does not give up 
 one acre she possessed before the war or conquered during 
 the course of it. Windham is said to be miserable — Lord 
 Buckingham, 6cc., &c., are much against it ; but whether 
 Lord Grenville is included in this description I have not 
 learned with certainty. I mean to give it my support some 
 one day in the House of Commons, but whether that day 
 shall be the day of the Address will depend, in a great 
 measure, upon your plans. If you mean to be in the House 
 the first day, I will be there, too ; but if you defer your 
 coming till the day the preliminaries are taken into consider- 
 ation, I had rather be there the same day. I am sure 
 you cannot differ materially with me about the line to be 
 taken. 
 
 " The worse the conduct of the late Ministry, the more 
 excusable an inglorious peace, and vice versa. The appro- 
 bation of such a peace as this is the most decided condem- 
 nation of them. With regard to the present men, this 
 should be put home, and that their only defence must consist 
 in the desperate state of things produced by their prede- 
 cessors. In regard to public opinion upon the subject, ray 
 belief is that there never was more genuine and general joy 
 upon any public event. I know that in London, and I heard, 
 too, in Liverpool, there are some who abuse it, but, in 
 general, it is far otherwise. Even those who are most dis- 
 satisfied only say that every gentleman is against it and 
 every blackguard for it. I dare say Pitt has taken, upon 
 the whole, the most judicious line, because, both I and you.
 
 CIIAELES JA^CES FOX. 229 
 
 who do not wish him well, would rather have wished, pro- 
 bably, that he had taken a different one ; but, on the other 
 hand, he must make a figure both ridiculous and odious. 
 Pray write a line. I cannot attend more than one or two 
 days at most ; but, both in the choice of those days, and as 
 far as I can consistently in the line I shall take when I do 
 attend, I wish to be entirely guided by your wishes and 
 opinion. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " C. J. Fox." * 
 
 TO SAME. 
 
 " St. Anne's, October 2-2iul. 
 
 " Dear Grey, — I do not know whether my speech was or was 
 not misrepresented, but I think it very likely that it really was 
 liable to the interpretation you deprecate; and in that respect, no 
 doubt, it was indiscreet ; but you know that of late I have 
 not considered much for myself what in a political view may 
 or may not be judicious. I feel, however, as you do, that 
 the power of France is truly alarming; but the hope of 
 diminishing or restraining that jwwer has been, in my opinion, 
 long f/one by. Nor do 1 think that any arrangement of those 
 point.s which alone were (or, indeed, could be) in discussion 
 during the late negotiation would much have affected that 
 questioa If, for in.stancc, we had retained Martinique, Sta. 
 Lucia, the Cape of Good Hope, Pondicherry, &c., 1 do not 
 think we should have been a whit less in danger from France 
 in time to come. If I were indini-d to cavil at all at the 
 term.s I rather think I should blame the having preferred 
 Trinidad or even (Jeylon to Minorca or Malta, for a port 
 in the Mediterranean is something, I have heard nothing 
 • " Corr«p«U(Jeiia'," vol, iii. p. :J45.
 
 230 THE LITE AND TIMES OF 
 
 more of the probable conduct of individuals since I wrote last. 
 Pitt will support the peace, certainly ; but I do not agree 
 with you that he is bound to do so from his conduct 
 respecting the Lisle negotiation. He has since that time 
 rejected two offers from Bonaparte, at periods when he could 
 not doubt but he might have as good terms as these, and has 
 disclosed that his proposal at Lisle, though sincere, was 
 rather in compliance with the public opinion than from his 
 own ; and (he thinks) the rejection of it by the French was 
 an eseajje on our part. Besides, the French have carried 
 their point, which he stated to be so intolerable, of not nego- 
 tiating concerning any territory annexed to the Republic. 
 I v»^ish, as you do, that the French had shown more spirit in 
 preserving their own liberty ; but that is not, strictly speaking, 
 our affair. The power of the Republic is certainly an evil ; 
 but it is an evil which has been the unavoidable result of the 
 nature of the attack against it. If the war had continued, 
 this evil would probably have become greater, or, at least, 
 our means of resisting upon future occasions would most cer- 
 tainly liave beconie less. 
 
 " I could have been very well content to stay till the day 
 upon the preliminaries, but Fitzpatrick's opinion and yours 
 seeming to be that the first day is the proper one, I shall 
 attend on the Address, but not speak to 7iiahe a debate — only 
 in case one happens to give me an opportunity. I fear, how- 
 ever, that whatever happens, I cannot, with propriety, be 
 absent on the day when the peace makes the regular subject ; 
 and so I shall have two days instead of one, which is in itself 
 bad enough, beside the increased chance of saying indiscreet 
 things, which I feel to be very great ; for the truth is, I am 
 gone something further in hate to the English Government 
 than perhaps you and the rest of my friends are, and certainly
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 231 
 
 further than can with prudence be avowed. Tlie triumph of 
 the French Government over the Enghsh does, in fact, afford 
 me a degree of pleasure which it is very difficult to disguise. 
 1 take for granted Sheridan will 720^ be there, and that if he 
 is, he cannot abstain from abusing the peace. As to the ruin 
 of England being sealed, I do not know how that may be ; 
 but what I am clear in is, that the only chance of her being 
 saved arises from the peace having been made this year ; 
 every evil (and there may be many) which may be attendant 
 on the peace would have been ten times worse upon a peace 
 which had hapj)ened later. As to your coming, if it is incon- 
 venient to you, I am sure 1 have not the face to press it ; but 
 yet I own that, upon the day of the preliminaries, I think 
 you ought to be there, and may hereafter regret your 
 absence."* 
 
 While no one can justify the length to which Fox carried 
 his dislike to his own Government, yet, on the other hand, 
 there is little merit in the undistinguishing patriotism which 
 embraces with ardour every enterprise and every cause which 
 is undertaken or supported by the country in which a man is 
 born. Had Fox been a Spaniard of the sixteenth century, he 
 might, without the blame of posterity, have disa])j)roved of the 
 Inquisition and of tlie cruelties of Pizarro ; or, if of the seven- 
 teenth, he might have felt no joy in the triumphs of the Duke 
 of Alva ; or, had he been a subject of Louis XIV., he 
 might have rejoiced that Holland was not subdued, and 
 he might possibly have lamented the devastation of tlie 
 Palatinate. J'atriotism need not be blind, thou":!! her sii^ht 
 may l>e obscured by her alfectionH. 
 
 Fox was a lover of liberty, of justice, and of the inde- 
 pendence of nations. Like Lord Chatham, he njoiced that 
 
 • " CorreupoudfDcc," vol. iii. j). 347.
 
 232 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 America had resisted ; he was glad of the success of the 
 rebellion in America, and of Bm'goyne's capitulation, and he 
 would have preferred, no doubt, the independence of France, 
 even under Robespierre, to her subjugation under the 
 German Sovereigns or 'her partition among the despotic 
 States of Europe. 
 
 In cherishing these sentiments, he magnified to himself the 
 faults of his own country, and made a wrong estimate of the 
 injuries inflicted by Pitt on the Constitution. 
 
 But the war of 1793, directed as it was to no national 
 object, defended on false pretences, and conducted with impro- 
 vidence and folly, was justly the object of his abhorrence — 
 an abhorrence which seems to me to have been founded on a 
 right appreciation of the interests of England as well as a 
 due regard for the independence of Europe. 
 
 When the peace was announced, Sheridan having heard 
 Mr. Francis say that the peace was a peace everybody was 
 glad of, but nobody proud of, went to the House of Commons 
 and repeated the phrase. He got much credit for the justice 
 of the observation. 
 
 The debates which soon after took place in the two Houses 
 of Parliament upon the preliminaries of peace were very 
 memorable. 
 
 The peace was supported by Pitt and Fox in the House 
 of Commons, and the Duke of Bedford in the House of 
 Lords. It was attacked with much vehemence and elabo- 
 rate argument by Lord Grenville, Earl Temple, Lord Lcveson 
 Gower, and, above all, by Mr. Windham. 
 
 The obvious blot in the treaty was the surrender of both 
 Malta and Minorca. Pitt defended the preference given 
 to Trinidad and Ceylon by the singular reason that we ought 
 not without necessity to mortify France. He confessed that
 
 CHARLES JA^IES FOX. 233 
 
 he had hoped for a restoration of the French monarchy, 
 though he had never insisted upon it. " Tliere were periods 
 during the continuance of the war," he said, '• in which I had 
 hopes of being able to put together the scattered fragments 
 of that great and venerable edifice'; to have restored the 
 exiled nobility of France ; to have restored a Government 
 certainly not free from defects, but built upon sober and 
 regular foundations, instead of that mad system of innovation 
 which threatened, and had nearly accomplished, the destruc- 
 tion of Europe. 
 
 " ' Me si fata meis paterentur duceie vitam 
 Auspiciis, et sponte mea componere cui-as ; 
 Urbom Tiojanam piimuni ilulce.si|ue incorum 
 Iteliquias colerem, I'liami tecta alta maia-icut, 
 Et recidiva manu posuissem Pergama victis.' " 
 
 Pitt, putting himself in the place of a French Royalist, 
 avowed that he should "to his dying day lament that 
 there were not on the part of the other Powers of Europe 
 effort* corresponding to our own for the accomplishment of 
 that great wish." 
 
 Fox took, in many respects, a very different line. He 
 lamented that 3Ialta had not been obtained rather than 
 (■cylon and Trinidad; "Desiring peace most ardently, and 
 thiuiving and liopiiig it may be a lasting one, I still cannot 
 put entirely out of my consideration the possibility of future 
 wars between the two countries. In any such event, surely 
 .Malta would be a more important possession than either 
 ( x*ylon or Trinidad." 
 
 Returning t(j the main (juestion, he said he saw no reason 
 ti) Kupjxi.se tiiat a better peace could have been obtained. The 
 Mini.st<!r», he fiup[)osed, well knew that, by insisting upon 
 Malta or the (.'ajKi, they nni.st have made peace on worse 
 teniu; or have continued the war.
 
 234 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " They have not sought to delude us by the jargon of their 
 predecessors, or by assertions of the French being on the brink 
 of bankruptcy. They had too much good sense to do it." 
 
 Fox said in a later portion of his speech : 
 
 " Sir, there are many persons who think and lament that 
 the peace is a glorious one for France. If the peace be 
 glorious for France without being inglorious to England, it 
 will not give me any concern that it is so. Upon this point, 
 the feelings and opinions of men must depend in a great 
 measure upon their conceptions of the causes of the war. If 
 one of the objects of the war was the restoration of the ancient 
 despotism of France, than which I defy any man to produce 
 in the history of the world a more accursed one — if, I say, 
 that was one of the objects of the war, why then I say it is 
 to me an additional recommendation of the peace, that it 
 has been obtained without the accomplishment of such an 
 object."* 
 
 The most remarkable speech made against the peace was 
 delivered on the Report. It was made by Mr. Windham, 
 who was too ill to attend the debate of the first night. 
 
 Mr. Windham was a man of so quick and subtle an in- 
 tellect, and of such powers of fancy, and at the same time of 
 so eccentric and paradoxical a judgment, that every one was 
 delighted to listen to him as an orator, while few were pre- 
 pared to follow him as a guide. His phrases and allusions 
 were singularly happy. In opposing proposals of reform at a 
 time when the people were quiet, he compared the country to 
 the valetudinarian in the Spectator who had every symptom 
 of the gout except pain. But when the people were growing 
 eager for reform, he cried, with equal felicity of illustration : 
 " Who would repair his house in the hurricane season ? " 
 
 * " Parliamentary History," vol, xsxvi. p. 72-6.
 
 CHARLES JA5IES FOX. 235 
 
 Describing the conquests of the French Ivcpuhlicans, he had 
 said: "They march over Europe, somotinies their principles 
 making way for their arms, sometimes their arms making 
 way for their principles, sometimes, like a chain-shot, moving 
 both together." 
 
 Endowed with a thoughtful and expressive countenance, 
 with a tall and striking figure, his attitude and his action in 
 speaking carefully studied, he was fitted to make a great 
 impression on a jjopular assembly. 
 
 Mr. ^Vind]lam, on the Report upon the Address, said : 
 " Notwithstanding some lofty talk which we heard of dignity 
 and firmness, and which I shall be glad to see realized, and 
 a happy quotation expressive of the same sentiments from 
 my right hon. friend (Mr. Pitt) not now present, the real 
 amount of what was said seems to be little more than this : 
 that France has, to be sure, the power of destroying us, but 
 that we hope she will not have the indination ; that we arc 
 under the ])aw of the lion, but that he n'.ay ha])pen not to be 
 hungry, and, instead of making a meal of us, may turn round 
 in his den and go to sleep. This is not stated in so many 
 words ; but it will be difficult to show that it is not the fair 
 result of the arjrument." After exhibitinjr at lennth the 
 enormous sacrifices we had made on the biises apj)arently of 
 the statuH q\io for England and the uti jyossidetia for France, 
 Mr. \\ indiiam sunnned up: "Such is the gi*and iiiid c()ui])re"> 
 hcnsive circle to whicii the new Roman I'jupirc may be soon 
 expected to spread now that peace has removed all obstiicles 
 and opened to her a Siife and easy pa.ssiiije into tiie three 
 remaining quarters of th(; globe." l\lr. Windham then ad- 
 verted to tlie fav(jurite topic of consolation and of hojie : 
 "This is the idea that, from some cause or other, from some 
 combination of pjissions and events, audi aa no philosophy
 
 236 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 can explain and no history probably furnish an example of, 
 the progress of the Revolution will stop where it is ; and that 
 Bonaparte, like another Pyrrhus, or, rather, like that adviser 
 of Pyrrhus whose advice was not taken, instead of proceed- 
 ing to the conquest of new worlds, will be willing to sit down, 
 contented in the enjoyment of those which he has already. 
 
 " Sir, the great objection to this hope, to say nothing of 
 ,its baseness, is its utter extravagance. On what possible 
 ground do we believe this ? Is it in the general nature of 
 ambition ? Is it in the nature of French ambition ? Does it 
 happen commonly to those, whether nations or individuals, 
 who are seized with a spirit of aggrandizement and acquisi- 
 tion, that they are inclined rather to count what they possess 
 than to look forward to what yet remains to be acquired ? 
 If we examine the French Revolution, and trace it directly to 
 its causes, we shall find that the scheme of universal empire 
 was from the beginning that which was looked to as the real 
 consummation of its labours ; the object first in view, though 
 last to be accom.plished ; the primum mobile that originally 
 set it in motion and has since guided and governed all its 
 movements."* 
 
 However erroneous this estimate of the French Revo- 
 lution, it must be allowed that Mr. Windham judged the 
 character of Napoleon better than either Pitt or Fox. 
 The young Octavius aspired to the conquest of Europe, 
 and was uneasy till he could attempt to realize his ambitious 
 hopes. Like Swedish Charles, of him it might be said : 
 
 " ' A frame of adamant, a soul of fire, 
 
 No dangers fright him, and no labours tire; 
 O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain, 
 Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain ; 
 
 • ■ • • k 
 
 * " Parliamentary History," vol. xxxvi. p. 103.
 
 CPIAEI.es JAilES FOX. 237 
 
 Behold surrounding kiiisp their powers combine, 
 
 And one cipitulate, and one resi£;u ; 
 
 Peace courts his hand, but spreads lier chaims in vain ; 
 
 'Think nothinf; gamed,' he cries, 'till nouglit remain; 
 
 On Moscow's w:dls let Gallic standards fly, 
 
 And all be mine beneath the I'okr sky.' " 
 
 Such was the history of Europe from 1801 to 1814. It 
 is possible, had Pitt been at the helm, that respect for his 
 abilities and a sense of his vifrilant precaution might have 
 kept in check the mighty conqueror. It is possible also 
 that, had Fox presided over the Foreign Atlairs of this 
 country during the peace of Amiens, relations founded on 
 nuitual esteem might have sprung up between France and 
 England, and grown into a lasting friendship. But Mr. 
 Addington, too weak to inspire respect, too much imbued 
 with prejudice to cultivate frankly the confidence of a great 
 man and a great nation, could neither avert war by firmness, 
 nor consolidate peace by mastery over the passions of Par- 
 liament and the people. When the })eace was discussed in 
 the House of Lords, Lord Grenville deprecated its terms 
 and distrusted its duration in the same spirit which Mr. 
 Windham had evinced in the House of Commons ; but he 
 was sharjjly called to task by the Duke of Bedford, whose 
 8j)eech IS thus reported : 
 
 " The Duke of Bedf(jrd said that the preliminaries should 
 have his supp(jrt. \Vith regard to the war which I\Iinisters 
 had just jiut an end to, the noble lord who had arraigned 
 the jjreliminaries in terms of such severity might recollect 
 that it was owing to the ill conduct of it that an inaderjuate 
 |)cace was now made. It could not be forgotten that he 
 ind his colleagues had unifonnly bi-en humbled by every 
 turn of ill-fortune, and ele\ated beyond bounds by the 
 return of succe-ss. In the one situation, they had eonde-
 
 238 THE LIFE AND TBIES OP 
 
 scended to hold the most abject language, and, in the other, 
 they had assumed a tone of arrogance and insult. If it 
 were not at the expense of the country, what a triumph 
 miarht not he and his friends feel at the fulfilment of their 
 predictions, that a war so misconducted would surely end in 
 an unequal and disgraceful peace ! It was painful to him to 
 allude to matters so often discussed, nor would he have done 
 so had he not been compelled to it by the speech of the 
 noble lord, who appeared to consider his own p-oject in 
 1797 so highly preferable to the present preliminaries, with- 
 out at all taking into his consideration the expense of the war 
 for the last four years, and the victories the French Republic 
 had obtained on the Continent within that period, which, 
 notwithstanding the extraordinary success of our arras, had 
 placed the French Republic, if possible, in a higher situation 
 than that in which it stood in 1797. He did no more than 
 act consistently with the language he had held for years in 
 declaring his thorough approbation of the peace, unequal as 
 it was, and disgraceful as it might be. He entertained a 
 lively hope, from what he had heard from the noble Secretary 
 of State, that the King's present servants would conduct 
 themselves on principles of more equanimity and less violence 
 than their predecessors ; that they would not be forward to 
 show humiliation and abjectness to the strong, and pride 
 and disdain to the weak. He returned them his thanks for 
 having made the peace, and he trusted that they would follow 
 it up by a full restoration of the Constitution to the people, 
 and an immediate repeal of those statutes which had originated 
 in childish alarm and unfounded apprehension of dangers 
 that never existed but in the minds of his Majesty's late 
 Ministers." 
 
 Thus unsatisfactory was the peace, thus uncertain was the
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX- 239 
 
 prospect of its continuance. It could only be justified by 
 reflectincr on the fatal errors of Pitt and his colleasfues 
 during the war ; it could only be maintained by a degree of 
 wisdom, temper, and self-respect which Mr. Addington and 
 his colleagues were far from possessing.
 
 240 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 DEATH OF THE DUKE OP BEDFpKD. 
 
 On tlie 2nd of March, 1802, the Duke of Bedford died. 
 The immediate cause of his death was a rupture. The calm- 
 ness and clearness with which he dictated his last dispositions, 
 while suffering the most dreadful agonies, was stated by Dr. 
 Ker, of Northampton, to surpass anything he had ever wit- 
 nessed. The Duke of Bedford had been, during the revo- 
 lutionary war, a steady supporter of Fox. Having been 
 invited, before its commencement, to a meeting at Burlington 
 House, where the Duke of Portland had assembled some of 
 the chiefs of the Whig party, he asked, before the business 
 commenced, whether Fox was expected. Upon being told he 
 was not expected, the Duke of Bedford said : " Then I am 
 sure I have no business here ;" and taking up his hat, left the 
 house. 
 
 His conduct in subscribing 100,000/. towards the ex- 
 penses of a war of which he disapproved, caused great surprise 
 to the Ministers. But it was perfectly consistent to support 
 the exertions of his country against a foreign enemy while 
 he deprecated the policy which made those exertions 
 necessary ; nor is there any part of his parliamentary career, 
 excepting only his remarks on Mr. Burke's pension, which, in 
 my opinion, gives his relations and his country any cause for
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 241 
 
 regret. He attributed to the support given to the American 
 patriots by Louis XVI. much of the impulse which hurrie'd 
 on the Revolution ;* and he rightly, in my opinion, con- 
 demned the war. On all other points, Fox's speech is his 
 best eulogium. 
 
 Fox's speech, indeed, is not in his usual style, nor in 
 the style in which he most shone — that of arirument and 
 contention ; but it is nevertheless a splendid example of 
 oratory, and would have made a reputation for any other 
 speaker in Parliament. It is remarkable, also, for this cir- 
 cumstance : that it is the only speech Fox ever wrote out for 
 the press, or even corrected. 
 
 On the 29th of July, 1802, Fox set out for France. The 
 party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Fox, the Honorable St. 
 Andrew St. John (afterwards Lord St. John), and Mr. Trotter, 
 a young Irishman, already mentioned, who had been attracted 
 by the fame of Fox. After sleeping one night at Lord 
 Thanet's, the party embarked at Dover, and landing al 
 Calais, slept at Quilliac's Hotel, and proceeded the next day 
 by St. Omer's and Cassel to Lisle. 
 
 At Calais, Arthur O'Connor dined with Fox. At Lisle, 
 a ])ublic dinner was given to him, and peace between the 
 two nations was enthusiastically toasted. Fox and his party 
 then passed through Ghent and Antwerp, admiring as they 
 went along the richness of the country and the comfort of 
 the houses. Mr. Trotter was reading at this time the eighth 
 and ninth books of the "/Fneid," and Fox was delighted 
 
 • " Wlitn l-'miicc took jiart with llic United SL-itt-s of America, to weiikcn the 
 fKJwer of Grc-at Britain, the King waa prevailed wiiJi to i.ssuc a proclamation, in 
 which he »tntol in xub^tiinoe Uiat the poplc in Ilriti.fh America were not in poo- 
 ncH^ion of th.it degree of freedom which nil mankind were entitle*! to by nature. 
 Wftik man ! to iiiippoiu! hiit own mibj'-cU would not apply Uie sentiment to theiu- 
 •ehoi!" — "Diaiy of G. liotc," vol. i. p. 41. 
 
 VOL. III. l:
 
 242 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to hear the passages relating to Pallas and Evander 
 read out to him by his young companion. Every picture 
 which appealed to the affections and the domestic feelings 
 had a charm for a statesman whose heart was neither har- 
 dened by political conflict nor corrupted by the pursuits 
 and passions of the world. The prayer of Evander that he 
 might see his son again, and that, if that fortune was not 
 reserved for him, he might die at once, appeared to him 
 beyond measure beautiful and pathetic : 
 
 " Si visurus eum vivo, et venturus in unum ; 
 Vitam oro : patiar quemvis durare laborem. 
 Sin aliquem infandum casum, Fovtuna, minaris ; 
 Nunc 6, nunc liceat cvudelem abrumpeve vitam, 
 Dum curce ambiguaj, dum spes incerta futuri, 
 Dum te, care piier, mea sera et sola voluptas, 
 Complexu teneo : giavior ne nuntius aures 
 Vulneret." 
 
 So likewise, in the Ninth Book, he dwelt on the grief of the 
 mother of Euryalus: 
 
 " Hunc ego te, Euryale, aspicio ? tune ilia senectee 
 Sera meae requies potuisti linqueie solam, 
 Crudelis ? nee te sub tanta pericula missum, 
 Aftliri extremum miserse data copia matri ? 
 Heu, terra ignota, canibus data prseda Latinis 
 Alitibusque jaces ! nee te tua funera mater 
 Produxi, pressive oculos, aut vulncra lavi, 
 Veste tegeus ;" 
 
 The episode of Nisus and Euryalus was one of the passages 
 of Virgil which he most admired. " The tenderness of Mr. 
 Fox's heart," says Mr. Trotter, " manifested itself by his 
 always dwelling, in poetry, with peculiar pleasure upon do- 
 mestic and affecting traits of character, when happily pour- 
 trayed by the author." 
 
 * " Memoirs," p. 123.
 
 CHARLES JAIklES FOX. 243 
 
 Upon visiting the Hague, he was much shocked at a 
 picture of the massacre of the De Witts — an historical 
 event which had given him the saddest impression. " It was 
 quite distressing to him," says Mr. Trotter, " to speak upon 
 the catastrophe of the De \Vitts. His countenance was full 
 of horror at sight of the memorable picture, and the soul of 
 the sorrowing patriot spoke melancholy things in his coun- 
 tenance at the moment. There was, in truth, nothing more 
 remarkable in this great man than an extreme tenderness of 
 nature, which powerfully impelled him to abhor and to avoid 
 everything cruel and sanguinary ; whilst there was also a 
 decision and grandeur of mind in him prompting the boldest 
 resolves and most instantaneous modes of action."* 
 
 The journey and the reading of the "jEncid " were now 
 resumed. He repeated more than once — 
 
 Or 
 
 " Pallas, Evander, in ipsis 
 Omuia sunt oculis," &c. &c. 
 
 " Turn sic pauca refert : Ut te, fortissime Teucriim, 
 Accipio agnoscoque libens !" &c. &c. 
 
 Fox observed, with truth, tliat there was a tincture of 
 melancholy in Virgil which shows itself in all his works. 
 
 The eleventh and twelfth books were finished by the time 
 that the party arrived at Brussels. BaiTas, the ex-director, 
 was living at Brussels, but Fox showed no curiosity to see 
 him. 
 
 (Jn th"' 17th, the little ])arty left Brussels, and with the 
 help of Tom Jones and Ariosto, contrived to pass the time 
 during the slow and tedious journey to I'arls. 
 
 One of the great attractions of Paris to Fox was the 
 
 ♦ "McmoirH," \>.i)\. 
 
 IX 2
 
 244 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Theatre Frangais, and he went to see "Andromaque " and 
 " Pbe'dre " with great dehght 
 
 Mademoiselle Duchesnois was then the chief tragic actress 
 on the French stage. Her face was not handsome nor the ex- 
 pression of her countenance very striking, but her voice was 
 one of the most touching ever heard ; and when, in "Phedre " 
 she says to the nurse, " C'est toi qui I'as nomm^," the 
 effect was extraordinary. Fox considered the " Phedre " of 
 Racine in many respects an improvement upon Euripides, 
 and was very far indeed from undervaluing the great master- 
 pieces of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire. 
 
 Fox had an exquisite taste for painting no less than 
 for poetry, and he took great delight in seeing the Gallery 
 of the Louvre, where the First Consul had collected from 
 Italy, by right of conquest, the greatest modern works of 
 sculpture and of painting. The St. Peter the Martyr, by 
 Titian, the St. Jerome of Dominichino, the Transfiguration 
 of Raphael, the Descent from the Cross and Crucifixion of 
 Rubens, were among the pictures which most attracted the 
 attention and admiration of Fox, " With the St. Jerome of 
 Dominichino," says Mr. Trotter, " Mr. Fox was never 
 wearied. It was the object of the museum which most fixed 
 him. Often has Mr. Fox stood admiring this noble pro- 
 duction ; often and often has he returned to view it."* 
 
 On the usual day of the week fixed for the reception of 
 foreigners by the Consuls, Fox attended the Levdc. It 
 is asserted by Mr. Trotter that when the name was pro- 
 nounced by the English Minister, the First Consul showed con- 
 siderable emotion, and, addressing the statesman before him, 
 said : ' Ah, Monsieur Fox, I have heard with pleasure of your 
 
 * "Memoirs," p. 212,
 
 CIL\I{LES JAMES FOX. 245 
 
 arrival. I have much wished to see you. I have lono- ad- 
 mired in you the orator and friend of his country, who, in con- 
 stantly raising his voice for ]5eace, consulted his country's best 
 interests — those of Europe and of mankind. The two great 
 nations of Europe require peace ; they have nothing to fear ; 
 tliey ought to understand and apjjreciate each other. In 
 you, Monsieur Fox, I see with much satisfaction that great 
 statesman who recommended peace because there was no just 
 object of war — who siiw Europe desolated to no j)ur])ose, 
 and who strugirled for its relief."* 
 
 Fox, who disliked compliments, and was always embar- 
 rassed by praise addressed to himself, said little or nothing 
 in reply. 
 
 A week later, according to the custom of the Consular 
 Court, Fox dined with Napoleon, and a good deal of con- 
 versation passed between them, especially on the subject of 
 the Concordat.-f 
 
 Fox's chief occupation at Paris was making researches 
 in the Archives, for the purposes of his " History of the Kevo- 
 lution of 1(j88." With this object, he read and copied most 
 industriously, for several hours a day, the correspondence of 
 Barillon. Mr. Trotter siiys : "On the fourth day after his 
 arrival in Paris, he commenced his labours ; the w orthy 
 and rc.-pectiible Lord St. John, Mr. Adair, lately Ambas- 
 sador at Constcintinojilc, closely attaching himself to Mr. 
 Fox, and di.^-posed to foreign and diplomatic rcircarches, 
 and myself, accomjianicd and regularly attended I\Ir. 
 Fox to the French Archives every day, from eleven till 
 three." 
 
 "lie read and transcribed himself with alacrity and good 
 
 • Trotter : " Momt.irK," p. 2G'i. 
 f I.ord IIollaii<r« " Koiei^ti Ii<.'tiiiiii!)cenccii."
 
 246 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 humour, and exacted no trouble from others in which he did 
 not himself fully participate,"* 
 
 His society at Paris consisted chiefly of the persons whom 
 he had known in former days. One day he was visited by 
 Koskiusko, with whom he sympathized on the fall of Poland. 
 
 Fox also paid a visit in the country to La Fayette, 
 the honest and sincere, though not always the judicious, 
 champion of liberty, both in France and America. M. de 
 La Fayette's family consisted of his wife, his son and daughter- 
 in-law, and two daughters. They lived in the most retired 
 manner, La Fayette having at this time withdrawn from all 
 political pursuits, and devoted himself to agriculture and the 
 pleasures of the country. 
 
 The chateau of La Grange was old and spacious, the family 
 of La Fayette happy in their simple mode of life. 
 
 The following letters were, at various times, written by Fox 
 to Mr. Trotter : 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I received by Tuesday's coach your pamph- 
 let upon the Union, and your verses, for which Mrs. F. particu- 
 larly desires me to thank you. We both like them very much. 
 I think you put your objections to the Union entirely upon 
 the right grounds ; whether there is spirit in Ireland to act 
 up to your principles, is another question. I do not know 
 whether you ever heard that it is a common observation that 
 Irish orators are generally too figurative in their language for 
 the English taste. Perhaps I think parts of your pamphlet no 
 exception to this observation ; but this is a fault easily mended- 
 
 " As to Italian, I am sure, from what you have said, that 
 you are quite lar advanced enough to make a master an un- 
 necessary trouble and expense ; and therefore it is no excuse 
 
 * " Memoirs," pp. 220 and 222.
 
 CIIAELES JA5IES FOX. 247 
 
 for your not coming, especially as it is a study in which I 
 can give you, with pleasure, any assistance you could wish. 
 In German, the case is, to be sure, quite different, as I 
 do not know a word of it, nor have any German books ; of 
 Italian, you know we have plenty. 
 
 "I am sure I need not tell you that whenever you do 
 come, you will be welcome. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 "C. J. Fox. 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill, Thursday." 
 
 " I know of no better, nor, indeed, sciirce of any other life 
 of Cicero, than Middleton's. lie is ccrt<iinly very partial to 
 him, but, upon the whole, I think Cicero was a good man. 
 The salutary effect of the burning of his houses, which you 
 mention, is, indeed, too evident. I do not think quite so ill 
 of his poem upon Caesar as you do, because I presume he 
 only flattered him upon the points where he really deserved 
 praise. And as to his flatteries of him after he was Dictator, 
 in his speeches for Ligarius and Marcellus, I not only excuse, 
 but justify, and even commend them, as they were employed 
 for the best purjioses, in favour of old friends, both to him- 
 self and to the Republic. Nay, I think that his manner of 
 recommending to Caesjir (in the pro INIarcello) the restora- 
 tion of the Republic is even bold and spirited. Alter all, he 
 certainly was a man to be warped from what was right either 
 by fear or vanity ; but his faults seem so clearly to have been 
 infirmities, rather than bad principles or bad passions, that I 
 cannot but like him, and, in a «:reat niejisure, esteem him, 
 to<j. The ()j)cnness with whicli, in his ])rivate letters, he con- 
 fesses iiim.self to Im; ashanu'd t)f part of his conduct, has been 
 taken great advantiige of by detractors, as an aggravation, 
 whereas I think it a great extenuation of his faults. 1 ought
 
 2-i8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to caution you against trusting to the translations in Middle- 
 ton ; they are all vile, and many of them unfaithful. 
 
 " If your sister does not understand Latin, you should 
 translate them for her yourself. I do assure you, my dear 
 sir, it always gives Mrs. F. and me great pleasure to hear 
 from you, and especially when it is to inform us that you are 
 
 well and happy. 
 
 "Yours ever, 
 
 " C. J. F." 
 
 " My deae Sik, — I am quite scandalized at having so long 
 delayed answering your letters, but I put it off, as I am apt to 
 do everything, from day to day, till Christmas ; and on that 
 day, Mrs. F. was taken very seriously ill with a fever, and 
 sore throat of the inflammatory kind. The violence of the 
 disorder was over this day se'nnight ; but though she has been 
 mending ever since, she is still weak. However, she may 
 now be called, comparatively speaking, quite well ; and I did 
 not like to write till I could tell you that she was so. I hope 
 that you go on with your Greek, and long to know whether 
 you are as fond of the ' Odyssey ' as I am, as also what pro- 
 gress you have made in the other poets. The Plutarchus 
 whom you ask after is, I believe, the same Plutarch who 
 wrote the lives, and who certainly was of Chaeronea. At 
 least, I never heard of any other author of that name, and he 
 wrote many philosophical works. 
 
 " I am very truly, 
 
 " My dear Sir, yours ever, 
 
 "C. J. Fox. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — You made Mrs, F. and me very happy 
 by letting us know you had had so pleasant a tour, and that
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 249 
 
 your sister and youi-self were so well after your fatigues ; 
 tbougli we both think your walks, on some days, must have 
 been too long. I am not sorry that Mrs. F., who is very busy 
 to-day, has commissioned me to answer your letter for her, 
 as it gives me an opportunity of mentioning something to 
 you which I have had in my head some time. We are, as 
 you know, going abroad soon, chiefly on account of some 
 State papers which are at Paris, and which it is necessary for 
 me, with a view to my history, to inspect carefully ; but we 
 also think of taking in our way a tour through Flanders to 
 Spa. It has sometimes occurred to me that this would not 
 be a bad opportunity for you to gratify a curiosity, which 
 you can scarcely be without, of seeing something on the 
 Continent, and Paris particularly. Wc have a place in our 
 carriage, and of course you would be our guest when at Spa, 
 Paris, &c. I am sure it will be an additional motive with 
 you to know that, besides the pleasure of your company, 
 your assistance in examining and extracting from the papers 
 at Paris would be materially useful to me ; but I would by 
 no means have this consideration weigh with you, unless the 
 plan is otherwise suitable and agreeable to you. I cannot 
 yet determine our ])recise time of setting out, as it depends 
 upon some business not altogether in my own power ; but, 1 
 should think, not sooner than the 15th nor later than the 
 30th of next month, and 1 hope to be back about Michael- 
 mas. I need not say that, if you do think of coming with 
 us, with respect to a week or two, we should adaj)t imr time 
 to yours ; only it is so great an object with me to be at home 
 very early in October, if not in September, that 1 cannot 
 put off our dejjarture long. If I hear anything within these 
 few days (which is not unlikely) wliicli may make me more 
 able to fix what time will be most convenient to me, I will
 
 250 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 let you know without waiting for your answer. I think you 
 were in great luck to have had fine weather on your journeys, 
 for we have had a great deal of bad here, though not very 
 lately. You never told me how you liked the last half of 
 the ' Odyssey ;' I think the simplicity of all the part with the 
 swineherd, &c., is delightful, though some persons account it 
 too low. Did you observe in one passage that the suitors 
 have exactly the Scotch second-sight f 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " C. J. Fox. 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill, Thursday. 
 
 « (Post Mark, July 5th, 1802)." 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I received yesterday your letter of the 
 
 28th,which seems to have been a good while upon the road. We 
 
 are very happy at the thoughts of your accompanying us, and I 
 
 make no doubt that we shall have a pleasant tour. Do not 
 
 by any means hurry yourself, as I think the 18th or 19th of 
 
 the month will be the earliest day on which we possibly can 
 
 set out ; but 1 will write again on Tuesday (the day of my 
 
 election) from London, by which time I may be able to tell 
 
 you something more certain, and at any rate you will not be 
 
 too late by waiting for that letter. Mrs. F. desires to be 
 
 kindly remembered. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " C. J. Fox. 
 
 "St. Anne's Hill, 4th July." 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I had intended to write yesterday, think- 
 ing I should have no opposition here, and that of course I coul 
 tell you, with some certainty, the day of our setting out ; but 
 there is an opposition, which, though foolish and contemptible 
 to the last degree, may occasion the poll to be protracted, which 
 leaves me in great uncertainty. At all events, the 21st is
 
 CllAKLES JAMKS FOX. 251 
 
 the earliest day I can think of, even upon the supposition 
 that this business is over this week. If it lasts, our journey 
 cannot take place till the 29th or 30th. However, I 
 will write to you again to-morrow or next day. Write 
 a line directed to St. Anne's Hill ; or set out, and make 
 up your mind to the chance of being kept some days in 
 this vile place at St. Anne's. I know you would not 
 mind it. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 *'C. J. Fox. 
 
 " Shakespeaie Taveiii, Covent Garden, 7th July," 
 
 Fox . . 501 
 "Numbers ^ Gardner . 401 
 Graham . 193" 
 
 ^Ir. Trotter having left Paris before Fox and his party, 
 the following letters were addressed to him : 
 
 " Paris, October 27th. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — ]Mrs. Fox has had two letters from you — 
 one from Dover, which was longer coming tl)an any letter 
 ever was, and one from Chester — and desires me to thank 
 you for her, though she has no excuse that I know of, except 
 idleness, for not doing so herself She has had another bad 
 cold, with rheuniatii^m, but is, thank God, nearly well. We 
 do not wonder at your finding the difference between French 
 and Kngli.-h manners in casual accjuaintance very great, 
 and 1 (Innl)t much whether we have great superiority in 
 more intimate connections to compensate our inferiority in 
 this respect You remember, no doubt, (.'owper's character of 
 US in the ' Ta-^k ;' it is excellent. 
 
 " I do not think we have s(.'en anything worth mentioning 
 since you went, or, rather, since Mrs. F. wrote to you after
 
 252 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 her presentation ; only we were one day at Raincy, formerly 
 the Duke of Orleans's, which, though in a state of neglect, 
 is still very beautiful. We have seen ]\Iadame Duchesnois 
 again, in Roxane, in Bajazet, and either the part suited her 
 better than the others, or she is very much improved. My 
 work is finished, and we stay now only in expectation of my 
 brother, who writes word that he will be here the 2nd of 
 November. We shall, of course, stay some days with him, 
 and set out, I think, the 7th. 
 
 " I have made visits to your friends, the consuls, and dined 
 with Le Brun. He seems heavy ; but if he is the author, 
 as they say he is, of the (Chancellor Maupeou's addresses 
 to the Parliament at the end of Louis XV.'s reign, it 
 must be his situation that has stupified him, for they are 
 very good indeed. As you had a curiosity about an over- 
 turn, it is very well it was satisfied at so cheap a rate. We 
 shall be very glad to hear that your mode of travelling has 
 been attended with no worse consequences. I suppose you 
 will now go in earnest to Imv. I do not know much of the 
 matter, but I suspect that a regular attendance (and with 
 attention) to the courts, is still more important than any 
 reading whatever. You, of course, read Blackstone over and 
 over again ; and if so, pray tell me whether you agree with 
 me in thinking his style of English the very best among our 
 modern writers — always easy and intelligible, far more 
 correct than Hume, and less studied and made-up than 
 Robertson, I hope soon to hear you are got safe to Dublin. 
 Direct your next to St. Anne's Hill, where we hope to be by 
 the 13th of next month. I find the baronet and Grattan are 
 both in England, so I have no message to send to your 
 country. We have just begun the Roman comique, and 
 have already found the original of several of Fielding's
 
 CHARLES JAilES FOX. 253 
 
 bloocly noses, &c., which made you so angry, ^^'c are just 
 going to ])ay a visit to the 3Iuseum. 
 
 " Your affectionate friends, 
 
 " C. J. Fox, 
 " E. Fox. 
 
 " Hotel de Richelieu, 28th October." 
 
 " ^Iy DEAii Sir, — I heard yesterday, for the first time, a 
 report that you had been very unwell ; pray lose no time in 
 vTiting me a line, either to contradict the report or to say 
 that you are recovered. I know you will excuse my having 
 been so long without writing, on the score of the constant 
 business which I had in London, and which you know me 
 enough to know is not very agreeable to my nature. 
 
 " I have now been here a little more than three weeks, 
 and hope soon to get again to my Greek and my History, 
 but hitherto have had too many visitors to have much leisure. 
 I have read ' Ij)higenia in Aulis,' since I last wrote, and think 
 much more highly of it than I did on the first reading. The 
 scene where tlie quarrel and reconciliation between the 
 brothers is has always been blamed, on account of the too 
 quick change of mind in Menelaus ; but I like it very nuich, 
 and there is something in the maimer of it that j)uts me in 
 mind of Brutus and Cassius, in Shakespeare. We have had 
 no very good weather ; but this place has been in great 
 beauty — greater, if po.s.sible, than ever. 
 
 " Is there any chance of your coming to England ? If 
 there is, you kncjw we exi)ect and insist that you come 
 directly hither. I hope that, with the excej)tioM of a few 
 occasional visits of two (jr three days, I shall be liere with 
 little inteiTuj)tiou till the meeting of Parliament. Mrs. F«)x 
 desires me to say everything that is kind for her. She
 
 254 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 says she has been too busy to write ; and the truth is that 
 the company we have had here has entirely taken up her 
 time. Pray lose no time in writing. 
 
 " Yours .ever affectionately, 
 
 " C. J. Fox. 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill, Tuesday." 
 
 " P.S. I am sure it will give you pleasure to hear that 
 Grattan's success in the H. of C. was complete, and acknow- 
 ledged even by those who had entertained great hopes of 
 his failure, 
 
 " I do not know what interest your relations have in the 
 county of Down, nor what you have with them ; but if their 
 interest could be got in favour of Mr. Meade, I should be 
 very happy. If you should hear how the election is going 
 on, I should be obliged to you if you would mention it." 
 
 Fox left Paris on the 11th of November, 1802, and 
 after visiting M. Charles Lameth on the road, reached his 
 home, without passing through London, on the 19th of the 
 same month. 
 
 The letters written by Fox, after his return from France, 
 to his nephew. Lord Holland, show his mind to have been 
 about equally divided between literature and politics : 
 
 "November 21st, 1802, 
 
 " My dear Young One,— After our enfracrement of re- 
 gularity in our future correspondence, it has turned out 
 that we were hardly ever so long before without writing 
 to one another ; but, besides that at Paris I really had 
 no time, t waited in constant expectation of hearing some- 
 thing of your intended projects. Not a line of yours since 
 you left Tours had reached Paris when Heft it on the 11th 
 of this month, and though Mrs. F. had a letter from Bor-
 
 CUAELES JAMES FOX. 255 
 
 deaux and xVdair one from Toulouse, from Lady Holland, 
 there was not in either any information of your intentions, 
 whether for Spain or for Italy. I now begin on your birth-day, 
 and mean to write everv fortnight or three weeks at least. 
 ^\'e left Paris on the 11th, and went to Charles Lameth's, 
 where we stayed only one night. It is an excellent house, and a 
 very pretty situation, and he is arranging the place upon a 
 largish scale a TAnglaise. How far he will succeed remains 
 to be seen ; the lying of the ground certainly favours his plan. 
 We got to Calais the 14th, crossed the 15th, in the night — 
 a good passage — and got home on the 17th without going 
 through London. I have certainly seldom spent time plea- 
 siuiter than at Paris, but yet I never in my life felt such 
 delight in returning home. ' Hie amor, hxc ixitria est ;' 
 mind, I mean the liic and the lixc in a very confined sense. 
 Indeed, I have little or nothing to tell you of my life in Paris. 
 The sight of Lafayette and his family, and the perfect attach- 
 ment of them all to him, and of him to them, was very charm- 
 ing. The only new acquaintance I made worth mentioning 
 were Livingston — who, though deaf, is far the most agreeable 
 American 1 ever conversed with, besides being a very well- 
 informed and sensible man — and Perthier, with whom, from 
 shooting together, I became very intimate. I like him very 
 much, and if I had not been too ignorant concerning the 
 camj)aigiis to know the proper questions to ask, I might be 
 sufficiently informcMl to write a history of them. He seems 
 U) like being (juestioned, and answers with the greatest 
 frankness and readiness. I ought, j)erhaps, too, to mention 
 Villoisoii, the great Grecian, if it is only for his volubility, 
 which exceeds all belief (Iraham, the judge here, and evi-n 
 every I'renchnian y«>u have ever heard, are slow in com- 
 j)aria(>n of him ; and what is remarkable is, tliat uotwith-
 
 256 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 standing his speed, he speaks very distinctly. It is well he 
 knows a great deal, for at the rate he goes a moderate stock 
 would run out in half an hour. I do not reckon Lord Henry 
 Petty, because I have been speaking of foreigners only, but 
 never did I see a young man I liked half so much. What- 
 ever disappointments Lansdowne may have had in public life, 
 and of a still more sensible kind in Lord Wycombe, he must 
 be very unreasonable if he does not consider them all com- 
 pensated in Lord Henry. We met Lord Whitworth near 
 Amiens, and I believe, as well as I hope, that there will be 
 peace ; but, by all accounts, the nonsense that has been talked 
 in this country exceeds even past times — not that I believe 
 the wish for war is at all general, but all the newspapers 
 uniting in a cry for it has the appearance of public opinion, 
 an appearance only, I am satisfied. I shall go to town for 
 the Address on Tuesday — not with any hope of dissuading the 
 warlike, but for the chance of being of some use in encou- 
 raging those who are said to be pacific, especially the IMinisters. 
 I am told I shall be as much abused for pacific language 
 now as I was ten years ago ; but as I am in Parliament, I 
 must not blink such a question. With all the noise there is, 
 it is difficult for those who most wish war to find a pretence 
 for it. To make use of Switzerland for that purpose is not 
 only a base hypocrisy, but one which nobody will or can 
 believe, for not only Poland, &c., prove that such are not the 
 causes of war with us, but it is evident to all men that we 
 have no means of protecting the Swiss, or even assisting them 
 in the smallest degree, in the present state of things. I do 
 not yet know what to make of this cursed plot of Despard 
 and his associates to seduce soldiers, &c. I hear the Ministry 
 mean to do what is right, and send the persons accused to 
 immediate ti'ial. I hope, and, indeed, I believe, that the in-
 
 CHARLES JABIES FOX. 257 
 
 tention of assassination which is imputed to these criminals 
 is not founded. It is one of the points in our national cha- 
 racter on which we may with justice pride ourselves that 
 assassination is not one of the crimes which it occurs to Ensr- 
 lishmen to commit in almost any circumstances. I believe 
 the first commitments upon this business took place Wed- 
 nesday or Thursday, and nothinii is now ])ublicly known further 
 than what I have mentioned. The numbers said to be con- 
 cerned are, as usual, stated very differently, but I believe, 
 besides Despard, there are thirty or thereabouts apprehended. 
 Pray let me know as soon as you have determined whether 
 or not you are likely to go to Madrid. Don Pedro de Kon- 
 quillo's correspondence with this Court from 1G85 to 1688, 
 both inclusive, would be most valuable to me, and if the 
 copyintr of it would not cost more than £100, 1 would will- 
 ingly be at the expense. But if you or anybody I could 
 trust were to read it, and direct what extracts should be 
 made, a great proportion both of trouble and expense might 
 be saved. I saw Mdlle. Duchesnois again in Phedre, just 
 before I left Paris, and thought her a good deal improved, 
 though still unequal. I saw her also in Koxane in 'Pajazet,' 
 which I tiiink by far her best part. I saw La Fond once or 
 twice, and like him better than Talma. In ' Tancrede,' I 
 really think him very good, especially in the good part of 
 Tancrede, which is the third act, and perhaps that act 
 only." 
 
 "St. Anne's Hill, December 19tli, 1802. 
 
 " As to myself, my studies of all kinds have been nuieh 
 interrupted, as you will have guessed from newspaj)ers, by 
 politics, ' iterum merrfor eivilihus tindis ; ' but it shall be for 
 a very short time, 1 swear ; only, whih; there is luipe of con- 
 tributing to jjruvent war, I feel myself in u manner bouud. 
 
 VOL. III. 8
 
 258 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 I mentioned in my last how I was threatened in case I spoke 
 warmly for peace, and if those threats were not realized, it 
 was not for want of inclination in the warriors. ' Apologist 
 of France,' ' agent of the First Consul,' ' no dislike of the 
 power of France,' were dealt about pretty w^ell both in news- 
 papers and in the House ; but they would not do, for the real 
 wish for peace is such (and, indeed, I had always some hope 
 that it would be so, notwithstanding the clamour), that I was 
 popular both in and out of doors to the last degree, and in 
 the House particularly, if I am any judge. I do not think, 
 for many years, certainly, not since the Russian business, I 
 ever had the House so much with me while I was speaking. 
 To say, as those inclined to flatter me will say, that I have 
 done anything considerable for peace, is more than is true ; 
 but it is true that, by speaking a pacific language more 
 decisively than others dared to do, and by that language 
 being well received, I have been the means of showing that 
 the real sentiments of people are strongly for peace ; and it is 
 very important that this should be known. By letter, of 
 course, I shouM not touch upon any more secret parts of 
 politics, even if I had, which I have not, anything material 
 to communicate to you. Pitt is generally believed to be 
 friendly to Addington and for peace ; but yet the warriors 
 are continually calling for him to return ; and therefore, I 
 think, he will find himself obliged after Christmas to say 
 something pretty decisive, or to make his retirement (for a 
 time, at least) a complete secession. Canning and his clique, 
 as well as the Grenvilles, keep no terms with the Ministry ; 
 and what terms they can keep with Pitt, if he supports 
 Ministers handsomely, remains to be seen. Sheridan made 
 a very foolish speech, if a speech full of wit can be with 
 propriety so called, upon the Army Estimates, of which all
 
 CHARLES JA:MES FOX. 259 
 
 who wish hhn ill arc a& fond as I, who wish hiin well, am 
 vexed at it. He will, however, I do not doubt, be still right 
 in the end. In the House of Lords, you will easily conceive 
 that Lord Grenville — I mean in point of debate only, how- 
 ever — is very powerful, and I think there never was a time 
 when your absence was so unlucky, for there seems to be 
 nothing on the peace side but the (Chancellor. So much for 
 politics, only I may add that rise of stocks and all other 
 public circumstances look as one would wish them for peace. 
 If I have my fears, it is only from a suspicion of a want of 
 courage in Ministers to speak what they really think, and if 
 they should Jong continue to be afraid to speak bold pacific 
 language, ill humours may arise, and war begin without any 
 real wish for it in either Government. I have begun my 
 work airain, but have had very little time for it. For idle 
 moments, I am chiefly reading the old favourites, Euripides 
 and Spenser, and admire more every day, especially the 
 former. I repeat what, I believe, I once said to you before : 
 that if a man's object is public speaking, Euripides ought to 
 be his constant study scarcely less than Homer himself. 
 Apropos to the latter, what do you think is meant by the 
 cliain in the Eighth Book of tiie ' Iliad ?' Clark quotes Plato, 
 for its meaning the sun, and Pope translates the two words 
 
 aeiprjv -ypvcr^lriv — 
 
 " * Our golden evpilasting chain, 
 Whose strong embrace holds hvnveti, and earth, utid miiin.' 
 
 Pope has, tf)o, I believe, a note upon it .nid its meaning. 
 Now, my opinion is that nothing is meant but the literal 
 sense of the words — not our golden chain, or >//y, ^v., or 
 even the &c. ; for there is no article, but simjjly Jnjdter, 
 stating his snperior strength, says, Try ; take a golden chain, 
 and hang it so and so, and pull, and I'll show you what I'll 
 
 8 2
 
 260 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 do. Pray tell me your opinion. I am particularly anxious 
 to defend mine, because I think it one of Homer's peculiar 
 qualities that he is able to produce the sublime to at least as 
 high a degree as any other poet, without ever resorting to 
 the mysterious, the obscure, or unintelligible, and merely 
 by images and thoughts which human senses and common 
 human understandings are capable of examining and com- 
 prehending. By the way, you should tell me, as I do you, 
 what books you are readingj with a little criticism, if it is 
 
 ever so little." 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 "C.J. F" 
 
 " St. Anne's Hill, January 1st, 1803. 
 
 "1 am convinced the Ministers mean peace, and while 
 they do so, and that question continues in agitation, they 
 ought to be supported. The conduct of France in the Swiss 
 business is no doubt very disgusting, but there is no remedy. 
 As to more or less decency with respect to the points which 
 they take up, it is what the war party are no wise solicitous 
 about, but yet, I think, they have thought other points fitter 
 for their management than that of Switzerland. Upon the 
 arrangement of the German Indemnities they lay most 
 stress, which, I dare say, you think as I do of no consequence 
 whatever. Indeed, I think Bonaparte quite in the right in 
 that affair. I do not wonder the Morning Post frightened 
 you. When I left Paris, everybody there was frightened, and 
 even here such a consent of newspapers made some impres- 
 sion ; but I have every day more and more reason to think 
 the wish for peace is warm and general, only there is some 
 pleasure to many people to hear the Consul well railed at. 
 You know, the English are what is called a high-spirited 
 people. I should indeed be glad if Lord Henry were' to
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 201 
 
 make a figure, aiul, indeed, I have but little doubt that he 
 will ; only ray political career, which I hope will not last 
 more than a few weeks or months at most, may be over 
 before that happens. There have been two young speakers, 
 Kinnaird, and Lord Cowper's brother — by what I hear, the 
 latter the most promising. I have seen Roscoe's pamphlet, 
 and a poor one it is, insipid to the last degree, but well in- 
 tended. I hope you will succeed in your embassy from him, 
 and I promise myself great pleasure in reading I.eo X. 
 I am only afraid he will not praise Ariosto enough. We 
 have had people here lately, and I have neither written nor 
 read, except a little Homer and Euripides at chance 
 moments. I see Cowper translates aeipiiv 'xpvaelrjv the 
 chain, but leaves the question in doubt, only quotes in a 
 note a supposition of its being a chain of love — quite non- 
 sense, which he seems inclined to approve. 
 
 Everybody seems to think that peace is more and more 
 safe ; but yet what you say of ambiguous menaces, which is 
 applicable to both sides, bad blood, &c., is very true, and till 
 a language more friendly is adopted on both sides, there can 
 be no safety. This is what I will work at as well as I can. 
 
 " Petitions, when men are persuaded that the Ministers are 
 already pacific, would not, in your judgment or mine, be im- 
 proper; but — what is more to the ])urpose — they would be 
 impracticable. 
 
 "There is a report in the papers, I hope a false «)iii\ that 
 J5onaj)arte is to be Emj)eror of the Gauls. 1 am not one of 
 those who think names signify nothing." 
 
 "St. Aniie'd Hill, Jaim.iiy ^41)1, 1803. 
 " .My l.iilliliiy (54). 
 
 ''I write, my dear yoimg niic, heciuise my three weeks are 
 up, though 1 have no letter liom you, and nothing new to
 
 262 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tell you from this country. The same wishes for peace con- 
 tinue (I believe) on both sides of the water, and the same 
 perseverance in language most calculated to bring on war. 
 However, I say as Pallas in Homer, A. v. 210 ; and surely 
 she was wise : 
 
 " ' 'AAA' aye A7J7' epiSos, fir]Se |i^os sKkso X^'-P'-' 
 'AAA' ^Toi i-weffiv fxkv oveidLcrov, ws eaerai Trep.'* 
 
 and I am sure we might say, in answer to the Consul, as 
 Hector does, T, v. 432 : 
 
 ffdcpa oiSa Kcil avrhs 
 'Hfiey KepTO/xlas 7]S' aicrvXa, fivdiiffaadaL.f 
 
 Those who are for war might quote yEneas's speech, in the 
 same book of the ' Iliad,' from v. 244 to the end ; and, indeed, 
 we peaceable men might quote them properly enough, if it 
 were not for the conclusion, let us figlit. Pitt has been in 
 town, and it is said Addington is satisfied with him ; but it 
 is said, too, that he returns to Bath. This is difficult to 
 reconcile. Dundas, whom they have just made a peer, says 
 he shall stay away, as he cannot support, and does not like to 
 oppose, Ministers. Since Parliament, parties, Ministers, and 
 oppositions have existed, was there ever anything like all 
 this ? And if with all this, together with their own unac- 
 countable conduct, the Ministry can stand (and I have no 
 doubt but it can, and will), what is, or, rather, what is not, the 
 power of the crown ? 
 
 " Knight agrees with me that there is no allegory in the 
 golden chain ; but he does not go the whole length — that the 
 
 * " The force of keen reproaches let him feel, 
 
 But sheathe obedient thy revenging steel." — Pope. 
 f " Hector, undaunted, thus : ' Such words employ 
 To one that dreads thee, some unwarlilve boy.' 
 Such we could give, defying and defied ; 
 Shun intercourse of obloquy and pride!" — PoPE.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 263 
 
 meaiiinn: is take a chain — and he supposes there was such a 
 piece of furniture lying about in Olympus. I feel, on the 
 other hand, quite sure I am right. You are pretty fellows ; 
 take a chain and let us try, is the true translation. I do 
 not know whether I had looked at Cowper's ' Homer ' when 
 I wrote hist ; I have not had it long, and what little I have 
 read I cannot approve. \\ e have read the first volume of 
 Madame de Stiiel's ' Delphine.' It is heavy, but mends as 
 vou ffo on. I thought, at one time, I should have given it 
 up. 1 have been reading (not a new favourite, you will say) 
 the fourth ' ^-Encid,' and marking every passage I do not like 
 in it. Pray, if ever the fancy should take you to do the same, 
 make memorandums of it, that I may see whether we hit 
 upon the same passages. I have also marked all that I know 
 to be taken either from Homer. ApoUonius, or others, 
 and wlien all is told, it is incredible what a quantity of excel- 
 lence, all original, remains. There are more little careless- 
 nesses, or what we used to call hotches, than many persons 
 who have taken Virgil's character upon credit would imagine. 
 Did he intend to make yEneas as odious as he appears in 
 it ? I suppose not, and yet it is incredibly well done, if we 
 could >uppose the affirmative ; and I do not know whether 
 the effect is not, upon the whole, better than if we could 
 either have admired or ])ltied him. Dido has us all to her- 
 self."
 
 264 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 UNEASY PERIOD BET^VEEN THE CONCLrSION AND THE RrPTUEE OF THE 
 
 PEACE OF AMIENS. COREESPOXDENCE OF PITT AND LORD CHATHAM, FOX 
 
 AND GREY. — THE KING's MESSAGE. 
 
 The period which elapsed between the signature of the 
 Treaty of Amiens and the renewal of war was one of great 
 uneasiness — full of doubts and fears, of mistrust scarcely con- 
 cealed, and of preparations for war amid professions of peace. 
 
 Napoleon, it can hardly be questioned, had signed the 
 treaty with sincerity, and meant at first to abide by it. 
 But what he meant by the phrase of abiding by the treaty 
 was not the meaning of Addington, or of Pitt, or of the 
 British nation. He meant to be undisputed master of the 
 Continent of Europe, to change the disposition of territories 
 and the form of government of various countries at his 
 pleasure, and to impose silence on all who might feel alarmed 
 or indignant at the violence of his acts and the insolence of 
 his languao^e. 
 
 The Ministry, divided between their wishes to prolong the 
 peace they had made and their fear of rousing national indig- 
 nation, had no decided policy, and turned helplessly to 
 Pitt to furnish them with ideas and prescribe a policy. 
 
 The oracle was not willing to give forth its responses. 
 Like the sibyl in the Sixth Book of the " ^neid," he required 
 compulsion before he would point out a way of safety to
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 265 
 
 those who :^ubnli^;sively waited for bis ins])iration. In plain 
 terms, at the beginning of 1803, Pitt refused to go to 
 town, expressed dissatisfaction with Addington's finance, and 
 even hinted opposition on that ground. But when pressed by 
 his brother, Lord Cliatliam, who was himself one of tho 
 Cabinet, he wrote the two following remarkable letters : 
 
 " Walmer Castle, Sunday, Februaiy 27, 1803. 
 
 " 'My dear Brother, — The very interesting state of 
 things you describe, and the wish you express to see me, 
 would be more than suflBcient to determine me immediately 
 to come for a few days to town, if by doing so I could have 
 the satisfaction of talking over the subject with you as fully 
 as you wish, without exposing myself to being drawn into 
 consultations with others, which I really do not think, under 
 the circumstances, would be fit or desirable. 
 
 " The bent of my opinion, on a general view of the question 
 before you, you may easily guess. It certainly bears strongly 
 one way ; and if 1 were under the necessity of forming a 
 decision, and acting upon it. much as I feel the difiiculties 
 which in either event the country will have to encounter, I 
 believe I should have but little hesitation in making the 
 ojition. liut the propriety of any line to be adopted is so 
 blended with the consideration of the measures by which it 
 is to be followed uj), and with the modes of executing them, 
 that I should feel it nnich more dillicult to judge what it 
 would be prudent and right for others to determine, and I 
 should be very sorry that any weight given to my opinion 
 should influence a decision so imj)ortant in its conseijueuccs 
 to those who are to form it, and to the public. 
 
 " I can, how(!ver, have no scruple in stating to you, in con- 
 fidence, and for yourtudf only, whatever occurs to me, if it
 
 266 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 can give any satisfaction to your mind, or in the smallest 
 degree assist you in forming your own judgment. I will, 
 therefore, endeavour to write to you more at large to-morrow 
 than I should have time to do now, having been prevented 
 by different interruptions from beginning my letter till near 
 the time of the post going out. 
 
 '' Ever, my dear brother, &c., 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 « Walmer Castle, February 28, 1803. 
 
 "My dear Brothee, — I will now endeavour to state to 
 you the chief considerations which present themselves to me 
 on the important question now at issue. They are partly 
 those on which I conceive Government has hitherto acted in 
 its discussions on the subject of Malta, and partly those which 
 are suggested by the recent proofs of Bonaparte's views in 
 that quarter. It must, I think, have been generally felt 
 that, after going as far as we did in concession in the pre- 
 liminary and definitive treaties, we were peculiarly bound to 
 insist on the full benefit of the articles contained in them, 
 and that where they might be found not to admit of literal 
 execution, we could not be expected to acquiesce in any new 
 arrangement that was not at least equally advantageous to 
 us. This principle was strengthened by all the subsequent 
 conduct of Bonaparte since the peace, which was such as on 
 former occasions would of itself have been thoucjht fresh 
 cause of actual war, and which at least justified and required 
 additional jealousy and precaution in settling any point which 
 might come into discussion ; and the reasoning applied 
 peculiarly to Malta, both as it was an object in so many 
 ways important, and one with respect to which we had so 
 much reason to suspect Bonaparte's designs. If the question
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 2G7 
 
 had rested here, and, under merely these ch'cumstances, 
 Bonaparte had brought forward his present demand for our 
 evacuating it before any satisfactory arrangement was formed 
 for its security, such a demand would have appeared even 
 then sufiBciently extravagant, and such as we could not com- 
 ply with, either honourably or safely. The step would seem 
 tantamount to an absolute surrender of tlie island into the 
 hands of France, under an admission that the terms stipu- 
 lated by the definitive treaty could not be executed, and 
 after a fruitless attempt by a negotiation known to be 
 dei)euding for many months to obtain some new security. 
 
 " But humiliating and disgraceful as our situation would 
 have been on this supposition, the case seems now to be still 
 stronger. This demand is now brought forward under cir- 
 cumstances which no longer leave us to reason about the 
 nature of Bonaparte's further intentions in the East, but after 
 what I consider as a public and authentic account of his 
 determination to avail himself of the first moment in his 
 jiower to regain possession both of Egypt and the Venetian 
 Islands. I, of course, refer to Seba^tiani's report — a state- 
 ]>ii]M'V which never could have been published at all, much 
 lt'.-~ in the Moniteur, nor ever have been left uncontradicted, 
 if it were not both genuine and conformable to Bonaparte's 
 j)lans, and if he did not (for some reason or other) wish to 
 proclaim those plans beforehand to tiie world. To choose 
 such a moment for urging his present demand aj)pears to me 
 only a proof of the iieight to which he already carries his 
 in.Mjlcnce, and his hope (»f being able to dictate without re- 
 ■^istance ; and if he succeeds in this attempt, it is imj)ossibJe 
 to doubt that he will proceed to realize; the designs which he 
 h.xs amiouiiccd. W'c must therefore expect, if we now con- 
 cede U) him, to be obliireil in a short time afterwards to
 
 268 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 acquiesce in his seizure both of Egypt and the Seven Islands, 
 and in all the dangers which would result from it; or we 
 must then embark in the contest, having in the interval, 
 with our eyes open, consented to abandon the best means of 
 security for ourselves, and of annoyance to the enemy. On 
 this view of the subject, I certainly can hardly avoid con- 
 cludinof that immediate and certain war would be a less evil 
 than such disgraceful and dangerous concession. 
 
 " I do not, however, hold it as certain that war would be 
 the necessary consequence. There may be still some chance 
 that a vigorous and firm line adopted by Government, if 
 aided by early and public declarations of full support from 
 Parliament and the country, might enable us to carry our 
 point without recurring to extremities. On this chance, 
 however, I am by no means disposed to rely, though, in look- 
 ing to possibilities, I do not put it wholly out of the question. 
 In forming a decision, I should wish to consider the alterna- 
 tive as concession or immediate war. I have already stated 
 the chief arguments which weigh with me against concession. 
 For it, I conceive, little can be urged, but on a supposition of 
 the impossibility, or, at least, the difficulty and uncertainty, of 
 our being able now to meet the contest with adequate exer- 
 tions, and the hope that, by yielding now, we may be better 
 prepared for it before it becomes absolutely unavoidable. 
 I confess myself that I could not rest much on the hope of 
 our being comparatively better prepared, as, if we encourage 
 the enemy by our acquiescence at present, I fear we shall be 
 driven to fight for some vital interest, or, perhaps, for our 
 independence, within a shorter interval than could enable us 
 to gain in point of resources anything that would at all 
 counterbalance the fresh advantages which will have been 
 obtained by France.
 
 CHAm.E? JAMES FOX. 269 
 
 " With respect, however, to our present means, I own that 
 I feel great anxiety. After the large establishments of this 
 year, and so many months for extraordinary preparation, I 
 cannot help hoping that, in point of military and naval force, 
 we should beffin the war in more strength than we have done 
 on any former occasion. The greatest object of my anxiety 
 is our finance, on which everything must so much depend. I 
 do not, however, after full reflection, doubt the suflficiency of 
 the country to provide for the expenses of seven or ten years' 
 war, without imposing burdens that would materially entrench 
 on the comforts of the great body of the people, or ultimately 
 affect our prosperity and credit. But I am convinced this 
 can only be done by meeting at once the whole extent of our 
 difficulties, and by raising within the year a still larger pro- 
 ])ortion of the supplies than was done even in the last four 
 years of the late war. On this plan, I have no doubt that 
 taxes may be found to answer all the purposes I have men- 
 tioned, and to prevent an accumulation of debt in the course 
 of the war which must otherwise entail permanent burdens to 
 an amount greater by many millions. But notwithstanding 
 tlie clear ultimate advantage and economy of such a system, 
 it certainly would require, in the first instiince, an exertion 
 w hich at first view would startle and alarm, and which cannot 
 be eHectually made without a. firm determination on the jiart 
 of (government, and without a real sense, both in the Bar- 
 liament and in the public, of the necessity of niakiiig it. 
 Bjcsides the renewal of the Income Tax (which. I fear, is ren- 
 dered more difficult than its first inij)ositioii), an addition of 
 many millions to our permanent taxes in the very first year is 
 essential to the succe.ss of any such ])lan as 1 refer to. The 
 difficultv of such an undertaking 1 certainly most strongly 
 feel. A determination on Addingtou's yiwi to attenij)t it and
 
 270 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 carry it through, I cannot help doubting after what I have 
 observed in his measures of finance in the present year ; and 
 if any less efficient system is resorted to, I certainly see little 
 chance of any advantageous or honourable issue out of the 
 contest, unless any lucky accident, such as we have no right 
 to count upon, should speedily terminate it in our favour. 
 
 " On the whole, you will see from what I have said that, if 
 it is determined in the event of war to make the exertions 
 that appear to be necessary, and it is thought practicable "to 
 carry them through, I should think war, with all its difficul- 
 ties, preferable to acquiescence. On the other supposition, I 
 hardly know how to choose between alternatives each so preg- 
 nant with the greatest mischief and danger. I have troubled 
 you with a very long detail, which I know not whether you 
 will find at all useful in considering this question, but I was 
 unwilling to withhold anything which has occurred to my own 
 mind as material. I must only repeat my request, for reasons 
 I stated yesterday, that you will consider what I have said as 
 
 for yourself only." 
 
 " Ever, my dear brother, &c., 
 
 " W. P."* 
 
 It is impossible to believe that Lord Chatham kept these 
 letters to himself. If he did not give or send them to Mr. 
 Addington, he must have communicated fully the advice 
 vouchsafed to a Minister so anxious to listen to wisdom, and 
 to learn the sentiments of the great man of whom he was the 
 feeble successor. 
 
 On the 2nd of March, Pitt wrote another letter to Lord 
 Chatham expressing satisfaction that their opinions so nearly 
 agreed, and recommending that no time should be lost in 
 putting in readiness whatever means we possessed. These 
 
 * " Stanhope's Life of Pitt," vol. iv. p. 4, et seq.
 
 CHARLES JAMKS VOX. 1*71 
 
 letters show how much more carefully, both in a military and 
 in a financial view, Pitt prepared for the war of 1803, than 
 he had done for that of ITi'o. 
 
 Mr. Addington, thus inspired, began to make warlike pre- 
 parations, and on being asked by Lord Malmesbury, whom he 
 met on the 9th of March, whether the new course of vi<''our 
 which the Government had adopted was approved by Pitt, 
 lie answered, without hesitiition, that it was. In fact, it 
 was impossible for Lord Chatham to communicate to Pitt 
 the details of the despatches, and to receive his views in 
 answer, without making those views known to his colleafrues. 
 Thus, we know that Pitt was the adviser, or, rather, author, 
 of the peace of Amiens, and that he was also the adviser of 
 the rupture of that peace. 
 
 Addington was now in high spirits. In this temper, he 
 carried to the House of Commons a messaofc from the Kinir, 
 announcing considerable military preparations in the ports of 
 France and Holland, and declaring that he (the King) judged 
 it expedient to adoi)t additional measures of precaution. 
 Loyal assurances of sujjport were agreed to next day in both 
 I louses. 
 
 But there was a question of vast importance to which 
 Addinji'ton, in his brave but unfounded confidence in his 
 own capacity, had not suificiently adverted. Englishmen 
 bejjan to ask themselves : If we are going to war with an 
 enlar<:ed and more powerful I'rance, commanding the 
 rc'sourees of Belgium, Holland, and Northern Itidy, and 
 ajrainst veteran troops led by the victor of Montenotte, 
 Castiglione, L(jdi, and Marengo — a chief of nu(juestioned 
 and aa yet unfathomed genius — have we a ^linister at the 
 li(;ad of our afi'airs ecpial to such a wrestling mutch, and 
 likely to throw .such an adversiiry ?
 
 272 THE LITE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The answer to this question was not far to seek. The 
 Minister was a man of average understanding, equal to the 
 requirements of quiet times, of respectable prejudices, and 
 undoubted courage ; but as Minister for a great emergency, 
 he excited only ridicule and contempt. Little could he 
 withstand the daily epigrams of Canning, and the scarcely 
 more endurable compassion of Sheridan : 
 
 " As London is to Paddington 
 So is Pitt to Addington." 
 
 " When his speeches lag most vilely, 
 Cheer him, cheer him, Brother Hiley ; 
 When his speeches vilely lag. 
 Cheer him, cheer him, Brother Bragge." 
 
 " The Pells for his son, the Pills for himself." 
 
 These and a thousand other arrows which wit squandered 
 upon Addington utterly ruined him in public opinion, and he 
 himself felt at length that, in a case of so much danger, 
 another physician must be called in. But, with his usual 
 imbecility and his usual self-sufficiency, he fancied that he 
 might induce Pitt to accept a place of equal station and 
 importance with himself, putting Lord Chatham at the head 
 of the Government, Indeed, Lord Melville was induced to 
 go. to Walmer Castle to unfold to his old leader this precious 
 scheme ; but Pitt, with just scorn, would not even hear the 
 proposition, and, in speaking of it afterwards to Wilberforce, 
 said, with characteristic sarcasm: "Really, I had not the 
 curiosity to ask what 1 was to be," Yet it would not 
 have become Pitt, in this emergency of his country, to 
 refuse an explanation of his views and intentions. In a 
 conversation lasting during parts of two days, he expressed 
 to Lord Melville his " sentiments with regard to the absolute 
 necessity there is, in the conduct of the affairs of this country.
 
 CHARLES JA^IES FOX. 273 
 
 that there should be an avowed and real 3[inister possessing 
 the chief weight in the Council, and the principal place in the 
 confidence of the King. In that respect, there can be no 
 rivality or division of power." Nor did Pitt disguise his 
 opinion that the person generally called the First ^linister 
 must be himself. Thus were the cobwebs of 2\ddington at 
 once swept away. Hut worse remained behind. 
 
 Addington submitted to the restoration of Pitt as Prime 
 ^[inister, and was content to serve under him as Secretary 
 of State. He sent Mr. Long, one of Pitt's adherents, from 
 Bromley to Walmer, to convey his capitulation. But 
 other counsels were now heard at Walmer : as Mr. Lon"- 
 drove off from the door, he saw Lord Grenvillc drivino- 
 up to it. Lord Grenville's advice to Pitt was fraught with 
 that contempt for Addington which he had always felt and 
 often exj)rcs?ed. lie advised that Pitt should not parley 
 with the Minister as to the formation of the future Govern- 
 ment ; that, he should reply peremptorily, that when the 
 King sent for him, and not before, he would devclopc his 
 plans and name bis colleagues. Thus much, he said, re- 
 garded Pitt's honour and character. AMien l*itt asked 
 in his turn whether Lord Grenvillc and Lord Spencer 
 would consent to be among those c(*lleagues, he laid down 
 two conditions — tiie first, that when Catiiolic Disabilities 
 should be discussed in Parliament, he should be at liberty to 
 express fully his opinion in favour (if their removal ; the 
 second, that he siiould not be pledged in any way to refrain 
 from expres.sing his oj)inion, not ofiensively, but unequivo- 
 ciUy, on the events of the last two years. There was a 
 tliird condition still more galling to Addington — namely, that, 
 although he would so far yield to the exigencies of the time 
 as to consent to sit in the Cabinet with Addington and 
 
 VOL. in. T
 
 274 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Hawkesbury, he could not consent to their holding efficient 
 offices in the State. If the one were to have the Privy Seal 
 and the other the Duchy of Lancaster, he should consider their 
 pretensions fully acknowledged. But he (Lord Grenville) 
 should prefer a wider range, and was of opinion that the 
 fourth party in Parliament, meaning evidently that of Fox, 
 ought, in the perilous circumstances of the time, to be 
 included in a comprehensive administration. 
 
 He did not think that Fox would expect or require that 
 he himself should be included, but he thought that Grey 
 and Moira ought to have seats in the Cabinet, and Tierney 
 a subordinate office. 
 
 Pitt was not pleased, apparently, with the reference to the 
 fourth party ; but in a conversation with Addington, he 
 insisted — (1.) that he should have a direct message from the 
 King ; (2.) that in forming a new Ministry, he should be at 
 liberty to consult with Lord Grenville and Lord Spencer ; 
 (3.) that Mr. Addington should accept some place of dignity, 
 such as the Speakership of the House of Lords. 
 
 There could hardly be a doubt as to the fate of these 
 proposals. The Cabinet, on being consulted, at once rejected 
 them. Addington, for his own part, declared with proper 
 spirit that he would rather retire from office altogether than 
 accept the Speakership of the House of Lords. In this 
 determination, he was no doubt right ; to have accepted such 
 an office of dignified inutility would have been a virtual and 
 ntelligible condemnation of his whole administration. Thus 
 the negotiation ended, and ended not only in failm'e, but in 
 a great abatement of cordiality between the late and actual 
 Prime Minister. " At the beginning of the year," says 
 Lord Stanhope, " Pitt had always subscribed himself to Ad- 
 dington ' Yours affisctionately.' From Bromley Hill, it was
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 270 
 
 ' Yours sincerely ;' from Wycombe Abbey, it grew to ' Dear 
 Sir. your faitliful and obedient servant.' In bis replies, 
 Addinoftou always acted Befjis ad exemplar — that is, exactly 
 conformed in this respect to the varying precedents of Pitt."* 
 
 Fox's letters during the year 1802 give a picture of a 
 statesman so fond of peace that he would not believe that 
 either Bonaparte or Addington wished for war, and still 
 less that this country had any just cause of war. 
 
 In the month of November, 1802, he wTote to Mr. Grey 
 saying that if Pitt joined Grenville, or absented himself, or 
 wished to take a line between war and peace, " but which 
 may be calculated to bring on war, then A'ddington may be 
 really in want of your support, then the support given him 
 may be in every view both useful and honourable." lie 
 even promised on his own part, in such a case, something 
 like regular attendance — but only something like. Grey, 
 however, judged quite differently of the state of affairs. 
 
 In reply to a letter of Fox, in which he had expressed an 
 opinion that Napoleon wished to preserve peace, Grey wrote 
 in December, 1802 : " I confess that everything I have learnt 
 from those sources of ])ublic information which alone are 
 ojjen to me, both during the negotiation and since the con- 
 clusion of peace, seems to me to evince a disposition in the 
 First Consul very unfavourable to sucli an opinion. I do not 
 mean to contend tiiat by any of tiiose open and undisguised 
 acts of ambition l)y wliich he has annexed new dominions to 
 France eitht-r tlie letter of the Treaty of Amiens is violated 
 or that iiH". power of tiiat country is in fact extended. Italy, 
 and Switzerland, and (jlermany, too, were all left at his 
 mercy. But there may be a way of using power so tiireaten- 
 ing and so insulting, Jis, at last, even under the most disadvan- 
 • " Life of Pitt,- vol. iv. p. 30. 
 T 2
 
 276 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 tageous circumstances, to force resistance ; and he appears 
 to me determined to make us drink the cup of our disgrace 
 to the very dregs, to omit no opportunity of studied aggra- 
 vation and insult, and to push us point by point, till at last 
 we shall be compelled to take some measure which may give 
 him a pretext for the hostilities which he meditates." With 
 regard to the opinion that nothing done by Bonaparte 
 hitherto would give us just cause of war, he said: "I think 
 Switzerland would." But he added that he did not think " all 
 or any of them came so near us as to make war necessary." 
 
 These observations appear to me perfectly just, and they 
 made such an impression upon Fox as to induce him to 
 modify his opinions. In answer to Grey's letter, he says : 
 
 " With regard to the Consul, I am very obstinate in my 
 opinion that he meant nothing insulting to England, either 
 in the German or Swiss business. The impertinent para- 
 graph in the Moniteur was of a subsequent date to those 
 transactions, and was the consequence of anger either at our 
 actual or at our intended interference — an anger, by the 
 way, not unmixed with real surprise, which, however imper- 
 tinent it may be, is rather in favour of my opinion that 
 nothing was intended irritating to this country, 
 
 " Perhaps I should go as far as you in considering the Swiss 
 business a just cause of war ; but, on the other hand, I am 
 sure you will agree with me that, in this instance, it would 
 have been nothing but a base and hypocritical pretence which 
 would not have imposed upon one man of sense in Europe ; and 
 that the war, even if successful in general, would terminate in 
 our having Malta, or the Cape, or Cochin, or in anything 
 rather than Swiss liberty or independence. When I said I 
 thought Bonaparte right in the German business, I meant as 
 to manner as well as matter, and that so important a party
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 277 
 
 to the treaty as France was had a ri^ht to insist upon its 
 beinof executed in some reasonable time. But, right or 
 wrong, he could not conceive England interested in the 
 business, as you cannot but remember with what pertinacity 
 both Pitt and the ^Ministers maintained that they had nothing 
 to do with that treaty in any view, and that it was best that 
 they should not. My notion about Bonaparte's politics is 
 this : that when I first went to Paris, he was foolishly sore 
 about our newspapers, but not ill-disposed to the Ministers, 
 and still less to the country. At this time, he was out of 
 humour with Austria, and determined, as I suspect, not to 
 give way a tittle to her. Afterwards, when he suspected 
 (whether truly or falsely) that we should interfere, he began 
 to be terribly afraid of a war which might in France be 
 imputed to his rashness. In consequence of this fear, he did 
 make concessions by no means inconsiderable to Austria, and 
 immediately felt bitter against us, who were the cause of his 
 making them. But as that bitterness (according to my hypo- 
 thesis) arises principally from the fear he has of our driving 
 him into an unpopular war, I do not think it will for the 
 present prevent peace ; nor, if pacific counsels and language 
 are used here, that it is at all likely to be lasting. You 
 may depend ujiun it that commerce, and especially colonial 
 commerce, is now the prinei})al object, and upon those 
 sul)jects they have a stuj/id atlmiration of our systems of the 
 worst kind — slave trade, proliii/itions, protecting duties, &c., 
 &c., S:c. Ilcjwever, bad as their systems may be, France 
 must in some degree recover her commerce, and the more 
 she does, the more will she be afraid of war with l\!ii<:land. 
 ' But what signifies France V lionaparte can do what pleases 
 him, without ccmsulting the nation.' This is not true in any 
 country beyond a certain extent, and 1 feel morally certain
 
 278 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 that Bonaparte and all his friends are of opinion that war 
 with England is the only event that can put his power in 
 peril. An army is a most powerful instrument of govern- 
 ment ; but that it is not in all cases one upon which depend- 
 ence can be had, is proved by the history of every country 
 where very enormous armies are maintained ; and out of the 
 army he cannot expect the approbation of any one individual 
 if he engages in any war with us to which he is not actually 
 driven. Whatever ridicule may be attempted to be thrown 
 upon the title of pacificator, you may be sure that whatever 
 hold he has (perhaps no great matter, neither) upon the 
 people of France, arises from the opinion that he alone could 
 make the peace, and that he will be the best able to maintain 
 it. Now, after I have said all this, I admit the justness of 
 your apprehensions that the hostile language and attitudes 
 (if one must use the new-fangled word) of the two nations 
 may produce war even against the wishes of the two Govern- 
 ments ; and to lessen that danger, as far as I shall at present 
 meddle in politics, shall be my aim."* 
 
 Yet, in spite of Fox's predilections for the First Consul, 
 it is impossible to believe that the publication of the report 
 of Colonel Sebastiani, the insertion in the Annual State- 
 ment that England could not stand alone against France, 
 and the advice, or, rather, command, to Switzerland not to 
 make any treaty with England, can have been other than 
 premeditated insults directed personally by the First Consul 
 for the purpose of provoking England to war. 
 
 In March, 1803, Fox writes thus to Grey : 
 
 " Dear Grey, — I have just received yours of the 15th, 
 and think, if you set out on Thursday, as you propose, you 
 
 * •' Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 379.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 279 
 
 will be time enough. I am happy to think that (excepting 
 in what relates per:jonally to yourself) we are perfectly agreed 
 in everything. Where you supj)ose there is a shade of 
 difference, there is, in foct, none : for what I meant was, not 
 a support of Addington's Ministry (which must depend on 
 further circumstances), but a supj)ort of Addington's accom- 
 modation with France, if he should make one ; and the case, 
 I suppose, in which such support would, in my judgment, be 
 so very becoming to us, and, in some degree, useful to the 
 public, is that of a smart opposition being made, not to him 
 in general, but to the particular convention or act by which 
 these impending discussions shall be terminated, and in con- 
 sequence of which the armament shall cease. You think 
 this would not be the plan of the Grenvilles, &c., and if it is 
 not, I agree with all you Stiy. Whether or not it will be their 
 mode of attack, 1 know not. When I wrote last, I thought 
 it certainly would, and that the prospect of being joined by 
 Sheridan, Moira, Canning, &c., would determine them for 
 that mode. From some little conversation I had yesterday 
 with T. Grenville, as well as from general observation, I 
 begin to doubt it. But probably their detemiination will be 
 influenced by events not yet known, and at any rate it is not 
 in our power to direct it. All this is in c^ise of peace, and I 
 think you do not dilfcr even about the degree of propriety 
 tliere would be in suppf)rting an acconnuodation. It is 
 material that the well-wishers to peace, in the pul)lic at large, 
 should have some authority beyond that of the IMinisters to 
 supj)ort and confirm them in their o|)inioiis. In the event, 
 too, of future opposition, it is surely <tf iiiij)ortanee that a 
 great \yn\y of tho-se who form it should have the reputation of 
 being friends to peace. In the (jtlier, .iikI, ay I still think, 
 far more likely event, I see we ecjually agree, as far as uiy
 
 280 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 judgment can be formed at present. If one is to attend, it 
 would certainly be a great relief to one's mind to allow 
 oneself to abuse Addington's pompous nonsense as it deserves. 
 It really is, on all occasions, both trifling or serious, dis- 
 gusting in point of taste to a degree almost intolerable. As 
 to union of parties in case of war, it is very difficult indeed ; 
 but, if decidedly called for, not perhaps altogether impossible. 
 In that case, however, I should feel myself obliged to entreat 
 your reconsideration of what you seem to have determined 
 in regard to yourself I have not the smallest doubt (I 
 almost wish I could have any) of the sincerity of your 
 determination ; only consider that the circumstances of this 
 world are so variable that an irrevocable resolution is almost 
 a synonymous term for a foolish one.* I have a strong 
 opinion that, if there is a war, you are the only, literally the 
 only, man capable of conducting it. I lay aside all personal 
 prejudices, but I think it completely demonstrated that Pitt, 
 with all his great talents, is wholly unfit for it; indeed, 
 he seems so conscious of it himself, that he leaves the whole 
 management, in such cases, to others. Lord Melville, who, 
 by the way, is now talked of, besides being now old, seems to 
 be the worst hand that ever was employed. Lord Grenville 
 is an able man, but not, I think, for such a purpose ; and 
 Lauderdale, with all his incredible activity, would be less fit 
 for such a task than any other. However, all this speculation 
 is in case of events the chances against which are about 
 ten thousand to one— not against war, but against our having 
 any choice about the conductors of it. As to war or no war, 
 
 * " In qucsto mondo niutabile e leggiero 
 
 Costanza e'spesso il variar pensiero." — Tasso. 
 
 This sentiment of Tasso lias some resemblance to Fox's maxim regarding an 
 irrevocable resolution.
 
 CHARLES JA:MES FOX. 281 
 
 the stocks rose yesterday and the day before, which, as for as 
 it goes, is a good sign ; but my hopes are very faint. . . . 
 
 " You will see that we shall go to war, and be in the 
 wrong in the o])inion of all Europe."* 
 
 About an hour after this letter was written, the King's 
 message respecting the armaments of France was delivered. 
 Addington had secured the support of Pitt, and cared nothing 
 for the opinion of Fox, or any one else. 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 404.
 
 282 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 RENEWAL OF THE WAE WrrH FEAKCE. — GEEAT DEBATE. — 1803. 
 
 Ox the 8tli of March, Mr. Addington brought down a 
 message from the Crown to the House of Commons intima- 
 ting that warlike preparations were making in the ports of 
 France and Holland, and asking the House " to enable his 
 Majesty to adopt such measures as may be necessary to support 
 the honour of his Crown and the essential interest of his 
 people." 
 
 A suitable answer to this message was proposed the next 
 day. It was supported both by Fox and Mr. Windham, 
 but they both complained that all information was withheld. 
 Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Canning likewise supported the 
 address, and it was carried, nemine contradicente. 
 
 On a subsequent day, however, upon a vote for additional 
 seamen, Fox signified to some extent his opinions upon the 
 state of affairs. He said : " If Ministers have conceded too 
 much, or done too little, for the support of the honour of 
 the country, they have incurred a very grave responsibility ; 
 but let not this be laid to the charge of the Treaty of Amiens. 
 If I am fond of that treaty, it is because it was the means of 
 ridding us of incumbrances of the most oppressive kind. 
 Not that it freed us from connection with allies (for allies we 
 had none at the time it was concluded) ; but that it delivered
 
 CHARLES JAJIES FOX. 283 
 
 us from tlie detestable and abominable principles on which 
 the late war was conducted, I do sincerely hope, sir, that 
 we shall hear nothing more of wars undertaken for religion 
 and social order. I .>;peak not disrespectfully of religion, or 
 of the blessings of social order; but I speak of that detestable 
 hypocrisy which held forth these as the ostensible objects of 
 contest, while we were all along fighting for ends of a nature 
 totally opposite. I believe that such hypocrisy is for ever 
 destroyed ; and I trust that as long as a detestation of such 
 base and infamous deception shall be reprob^ited among men, 
 such attempts to impose on a generous people must be held 
 in eternal execration. If, unfortunately, we are to be doomed 
 to a renewal of hostilities, I hope that the object of the war 
 will be clearly and distinctly understood."* 
 
 Again : " Nothing so much dispirits a people called upon 
 to make great exertions as ignorance of the precise object of 
 contest ; and this ignorance was one of the leading causes of 
 the evils which the late calamitous contest entailed on the 
 country. After the experience of those calamities, no one 
 would surely wish to go to war for a light object. On this 
 point, I shall speak in very plain terms. If war be unavoid- 
 able for great national objects, then I am convinced it will be 
 sustained with a corresponding national energy. But, at all 
 events, let that object be fairly and fully defined ; do not let 
 us again involve the country in the same calamities which the 
 want of a specific obj«!ct has already made us so severely 
 
 ex])erienc('."t 
 
 Thus matters proceeded till the month of May, when the 
 negotiation finally broke off. 
 
 On the rjth of May, Lord Whitworth left Paris ; on the 
 16th, a warlike message from the ("rown was sent to raiTia- 
 • " I'arliaincntiirj History," vol, mvi. ji. 1183. t Il>'il. !'• 1184.
 
 284 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 ment. Mr. Grey, in a letter of the following day, thus describes 
 the scene : " You will see in the papers of to-day a melan- 
 choly confirmation of the news I sent you yesterday. We 
 are now actually at war, and we can only say, God send us a 
 safe deliverance, which under such Ministers can hardly be 
 hoped. Hawkesbury, in moving to have the King's Message 
 taken into consideration on Monday next, was absolutely 
 convulsed with fear, and could hardly articulate from the 
 violence of his agitation, and so made the thing quite ridi- 
 culous. Addington appeared in the full dress of the Windsor 
 uniform, and strutted up the House in the midst of a burst of 
 laughter just as the Speaker was reading the Medicine Bill a 
 second time."* 
 
 It must have been on this occasion that Sheridan redoubled 
 the laughter of the House by saying : " The right hon. 
 gentleman who has appeared this evening in the character of 
 a sheep in wolf's clothing," &c. 
 
 In fact, nothing could be more tragical than the occasion, 
 nothing more comical than the chief actor in the tragedy. 
 
 On the 18th of May, war was declared, and on the 23rd 
 and 2Ith occurred one of the most memorable debates which 
 ever took place in the House of Commons. On the first night, 
 Pitt spoke, and on the second, Fox, and both exerted their 
 highest powers. Of Pitt's speech, Lord Malmesbury says : 
 " Pitt's speech last night was the finest he ever made. Never 
 was any speech so cheered, or so incessantly and loudly 
 applauded." But the best account we have of this speech 
 is from a letter of Lord Dudley, then ]\Ir. Ward, to the Rev. 
 E. Copleston (afterwards Bishop of Llandaff") : " Whatever 
 may have been its comparative merits, its effects were 
 astonishing, and, I believe, unequalled. When he came 
 
 " Life of Grey," p. 70. 
 #
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 285 
 
 In, which he did nut till after Lord Ilawkesbury had been 
 speaking nearly an hour, all the attention of the House 
 was withdrawn for some moments from the orator and fixed 
 on him ; and as he walked up to his place, his name was 
 rej)eated aloud by many persons, for want, I imagine, of 
 some other way to express their feelings. Erskine and 
 Whitbread were heard with impatience, and when at the end 
 of a tedious hour and a half, he rose (twenty minutes to eight), 
 there was first a violent and almost universal cry of : ' ]\rr. 
 Pitt ! Mr. IMtt I' He was then cheered before he had uttered 
 a syllable — a mark of approbation which was repeated at 
 almost all the brilliant passages and remarkable sentiments ; 
 and when he sat down (nine), there followed one of the longest, 
 most eager, and most enthusiastic bursts of applause I ever 
 heard in any place on any occasion. As far as I observed, 
 however, it was confiued to the parliamentary ' Hear him ! 
 Hear him !' but it is possible the exclamations in the body of 
 the House might have hindered me from hearing the clapping 
 of hands in the Gallery. This wonderful agitation, you will 
 readily perceive, it would not be fair to ascribe wholly to the 
 superiority of his eloquence on t1ud particular occasion. He 
 was applauded before he spoke, which is alone a sufficient 
 ])roof. ]\ruch must be attributed to his return at such an 
 awful moment to an assembly which he had been accustomed 
 In rule, from which he had been long absent, and in 
 which he had not left a successor; some little, j)erhaps, to his 
 addressing a new parliament, in which there weie many 
 members by wliom he had never or rarely been heard, and 
 who.se curiosity must of course have been raised to the highest 
 pitch. 
 
 " His ])hysi(^il powers are, I am seriously concerned to 
 remark, perceptibly impaired. He exhibits strong marks of
 
 286 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 bad health. Though his voice has not lost any of its depth 
 and harmony, his lungs seem to labour in those prodigious 
 sentences he once thundered forth without effort, and which 
 (to borrow a phrase from your favourite metaphysician, 
 Monboddo) other men have neither the understanding to 
 form nor the vigour to utter." * 
 
 Of the speech itself, Mr. Ward says : 
 
 " Of the object of your inquiry, Mr. Pitt's speech of the 
 23rd, I will not say omne ignotum pro magnijico est, yet I 
 am perfectly convinced that the circumstance of its not being 
 made public has increased the general disposition to do full 
 justice to its merits. More, indeed, than full justice appears 
 to me to have been done to them, at the expense, too, of the 
 author, when it has been said, as it has, that this was the 
 greatest, or among the greatest, of his harangues. No doubt 
 it was perfect as far as it went — i.e., as far as it was intended 
 to go ! ' Bonaparte absorbing the whole power of France ;' 
 ' Egypt consecrated by the heroic blood that had been shed 
 upon it ;' ' the liquid fire of Jacobinical principles desolating 
 the world ;' the merciless sarcasms on the unhappy Erskine, 
 whose speech (remarkable for inextricable confusion both of 
 thought and expression) ' was not, he presumed, designed for 
 a complete and systematic view of the subject,' ' the scruples 
 of whose conscience he was so desirous to dispel,' ' and 
 whose important suffrage he would do so much to obtain ;' 
 and the whole of an electrifying peroration on the necessity 
 and magnitude of our future exertions — all this was as fine 
 as anything he ever uttered. Still, however, it is a sacrifice 
 of memory and judgment to present impressions to pro- 
 nounce it his chef-d'oeuvre. It was not so comprehensive, or 
 so various, or what those who, like me, would rather hear 
 
 * " stanhope's Life of Pitt," vol. iv. p. 49.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 287 
 
 liim for four hours than one, must ho allowed to take into 
 the account, so long as some to which I have listened, 
 and several at the excellence of Mhich I have guessed 
 through a report. For instance, that against peace in 1 800, 
 that for it the following year, that on the murder of the 
 King of France, and that short hut heautiful burst of elo- 
 quence with which he followed Sheridan (on the same side) 
 on the occasion of the mutiny."* 
 
 Of any means of comparison between this and other 
 speeches of Pitt we are, unfortunately, deprived. By some 
 mistake of the Speaker's, strangers were shut out from the 
 Gallery. 
 
 As this occiision was one of the deepest interest to 
 England, to France, and to Europe, and as the course of 
 events from 1803 to 1815 may be said to have flowed from 
 the result of that debate, it is worth while to consider what 
 were the chief arguments used by Pitt in favour of immediate 
 war, and by Fox, not against war, but in favour of a pause 
 before the country was finally committed to hostilities. 
 
 The complaints made of the conduct of France com- 
 prised — 
 
 1. The transaction concerning the German indenmities. 
 
 2. The violence offered to Switzerland. 
 
 '.J. The continuance of the French army in Holland. 
 
 These were quoted by Pitt as symptoms of that system of 
 ambition and encroachment deliberately pursued by France 
 towards other I'owers. 
 
 Next, as immediately affecting ourselves, and bearing tiie 
 character of insult as well as injury, were — 
 
 1. The demands resj»ecting the liberty of the press, and 
 the expulsion of Frencli emigrants. 
 
 • "Slnnhopc't Life of I'itt," vol. iv. |>. 48.
 
 288 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 2. The mission of commercial agents, with the indignity 
 which attended it. 
 
 3. The great point of all upon which the rupture of nego- 
 tiations was based, was the evidence of an intention to invade 
 and seize Egypt, as shown by the publication of Sebas- 
 tiani's report, and the view of the present situation of the 
 Republic, sent by Bonaparte to the Legislative body. To 
 these two documents may be added the language held by 
 the First Consul himself to Lord Whitworth. 
 
 Before adverting to the line of argument adopted by 
 Fox on this occasion, it may be well to remark that the 
 objections taken by him to the war of 1803 rested on a 
 principle entirely different from that on which he had placed 
 his objections to the war of 1793. 
 
 Fox considered the war of 1 793 as a war undertaken in 
 order to prescribe to the French nation what should be the 
 form of their government, and to prevent the diffusion of 
 republican and revolutionary opinions over Europe. In 
 regard to the first object, he thought, with all the best authors 
 on international law, that England had no right to pre- 
 scribe to France what should be her form of government ; 
 and in regard to the second, he thought that, however mis- 
 chievous might be the opinions prevailing in France, opinions 
 could not be changed by force of arms. 
 
 But with respect to the war of 1803, Fox's objections were 
 of a nature entirely different. He did not deny that the 
 First Consul of France had conceived the project of governing 
 all Europe, nor that he ought to be resisted in his attempts 
 to carry out that design, but he thought it a blunder to fix a 
 quarrel upon her entirely for English objects, and especially 
 in a case in which we were not strictly justified. 
 
 These remarks may serve to explain the line of argument
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 289 
 
 adopted by Fox in his great speech of the 24th of May. 
 " I hope," he said, " that 1 shall not be thought to take un- 
 necessiirily nice distinctions when I say that some acts may 
 be done by one country against another which, although in 
 the abstract highly unjust and injurious, are not, nevertheless, 
 acts so directly tending to the injury of a third Power as to 
 amount to a proof of hostile views against that third Power, 
 and therefore to call for its interference ; neither is it neces- 
 sary, on the other hand, that you should be bound by specific 
 treaty to guarantee any particular State against the aggran- 
 dizement of its neighbours, in order to be entitled to interfere 
 for its defence. Undoubtedly you may interfere to oppose 
 such aggrandizement upon the general principles of policy, 
 which include prudence, and upon the first principle which 
 guides States as well as individuals — the principle of self-de- 
 fence. I go farther, and say you are authorized by the rank 
 you hold, and I trust will continue to hold, in the scale of 
 nations to interfere and to prevent injustice and oppression 
 by a great towards a smaller State whenever it is offered. 
 This I take to be a ground of just interference with foreign 
 Powers, regulated always by the prospect of success, and by 
 that jirudence which would abstain from any interference at 
 all when it could only injure the party it was intended to serve." 
 
 Having laid down these ])rincii)les as his guides on the 
 cjuestion before the House of Commons, and turning to 
 the consideration of the Treaty of Amiens, he said : " 'J'he 
 principle on whicii Ik; had supj)orted that treaty was not 
 that the state of Europe, as arranged by its stipulations, 
 was Siitisfactory, not that lie had at the time at which it 
 was made nmch reliance on the good faith, still less on the 
 mod(.'ration, of France, but ujxm a feeling that, under all the 
 circumsU'inces, it was better to take the opportunity which 
 
 VOL. in. u
 
 290 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 then offered itself to put an end to the calamities of war. It 
 was true that we did accept an imperfect security on conclud- 
 ing the Treaty of Amiens." 
 
 He went on to show that perfect security in a treaty could 
 not be hoped for ; all that could be rationally expected was 
 probable security. But he continued : " Did we therefore 
 relinquish our right to interfere in the affairs of Holland? 
 Certainly not ; for independently of general principles, there 
 are express provisions to the contrary in the treaty. Did we 
 relinquish our right to interfere in the affairs of Switzerland ? 
 Certainly not. Or in the affairs of Naples ? or of Turkey ? or 
 in those of any other part of the globe ? Certainly not. 
 That treaty precluded us in no instance from acting upon 
 the system which became a great and generous nation, or 
 from taking any reasonable opportunity that offered for suc- 
 couring the distresses of others, and protecting the smaller 
 States." Having thus cleared the ground in order to lay 
 the foundations of his great argument, Fox proceeded to 
 discuss the general conduct of France since the Treaty of 
 Amiens as applied to German indemnities, to Piedmont, to 
 Switzerland, and to Holland. In regard to the German 
 indemnities, he condemned the conduct of France, but not 
 more than that of all other governments engaged in the 
 transaction. " He had himself always reprobated the system 
 of indemnity and compensation. It was, and could be, no 
 other than a system of common rapine. To take indemnities 
 from the territories of other States by any other authority than 
 that of the rightful possessors was, in one word, robbery." 
 
 With respect to Piedmont, it was at the time of the Treaty 
 of Amiens a part of France ; it belonged to France as effec- 
 tually as Gibraltar belonged to us. 
 
 The question of Switzerland was one of a very different
 
 CHARLES JA5IES FOX. 291 
 
 nature. " The Frencli Government were bound by treaty, as 
 well as by every princi])le of justice, to withdraw their troops 
 from Switzerland, to leave that country to itself, even with 
 the miserable Government which they had established in it, 
 and to respect its indei)endence. During their dominion in 
 that country, they had established a Constitution there utterly 
 repugnant to the principles and opposed to the feelings of 
 the people. The moment their troops were withdrawn, the 
 people of Switzerland, by an insurrection founded on the 
 truest principles of justice, rose and overturned that Constitu- 
 tion, The French Government interposed to restore it, and, 
 bad as the system was, the manner of their interfering to 
 restore it was, if possible, worse. . . . This violent act of 
 injustice on the part of France no man contemplated with 
 more indignation than he did. But what was there to do ? 
 Was it right to go to war about it? His answer would be, 
 j>riind facie, No! lie would not say what circumstances 
 might not have happened to justify our going to war ; indeed 
 he thought the acts of France against Switzerland would have 
 bcena sufficient justification for it if policy had permitted. . . . 
 Under the then peculiarly unfavourable circumstances of 
 Europe, he had a thorough conviction that we cuuld not 
 make such a war with any eff'ect." 
 
 In short. Fox took on the subject of Switzerland nearly tlie 
 same line which had been taken by Pitt. 
 
 In regard to the conduct of France towards Holland, Fox 
 used stronger terms : 
 
 *' It wiLs one of those acts to which, the stronger the wordi 
 iu which it should be described, the more applicable they 
 would be to its guilt. It was an act Xo be ecjuallcd bv 
 nothing but those which j)revailed in countries where a dif- 
 ference of colour seenied to have shut up the lu-urts of ni«n, 
 
 u 2
 
 292 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and extinguished every sentiment of compassion. Were I 
 a master of tlie use of colours," he continued, " I would take 
 the darkest to delineate the conduct of France towards Hol- 
 land. It certainly has been worse treated by her than any 
 other country whatever. Holland has not only suffered all 
 the evils of war, which are considerable, but when peace 
 came, to turn that country, in defiance of a positive treaty 
 with her, into a depot for French troops, for the mere purpose, 
 I sincerely believe, of making the Dutch pay the expense of 
 maintaining them, was an act no less despicable for its mean- 
 ness than hateful for its atrocity."* It was his opinion that it 
 was the duty of Ministers to have remonstrated against the 
 occupation of Holland, and in doing so to have taken the 
 highest ground : 
 
 "A direct and spirited remonstrance on the affairs of 
 Holland specifically, immediately on the arrival of Lord 
 Whitworth at Paris, ought to have been presented to the 
 French Government. This representation should have 
 been made, not privately, not couched in peevish language 
 — such was always beneath the dignity of a great nation, and 
 never could answer any good purpose — but an open, candid, 
 manly remonstrance, in terms fit to be published in every 
 part of the globe as the language of an independent and 
 powerful people. He could not, indeed, undertake to answer 
 positively for the success of such a measure. But it was his 
 firm belief that, if Great Britain had only presented a remon- 
 strance, and had done so without any menace of declaring 
 war in case of refusal, such an endeavour would have had a 
 favourable effect on the affairs of Holland in the general 
 
 * Lord Stanhope, in his account of Fox's speech, says it went "to palliate on 
 many points the policy of the French Government." I confess I do not see much 
 palliation in the language quoted above.
 
 CHARLES JAIHES FOX. 293 
 
 opinion of Europe, and on the subsequent conduct of France 
 herself." 
 
 Fox likewise considered it as " a great reproach to this 
 country not to have seized the very first moment of a good 
 understanding with France to concert measures with her 
 for the extirpation of that dreadful evil, that disgrace to 
 human nature, the slave trade. This he should always lament 
 as a valuable ojiportunity lost on a most interesting and im- 
 portant subject." 
 
 Passing from the head of injuries to that of insults, he 
 said that no one who knew anything of the Constitution of 
 England, or the spirit and temper of its people, could ex- 
 pect that we should condescend even to discuss a proposition 
 with France which had for its object any diminution of the 
 liberty of the press. 
 
 Proceeding next to the demand to send away certain 
 refugees, Fox reprobated it in the strongest terms : 
 
 " To deny any man, be his condition in rank what it miglit, 
 coming from whatever part of the globe, the rights of hospi- 
 tality on account of his ])olitical principles, would be cruel, 
 cowardly, and totally .unworthy of the British character. 
 
 " No man, I believe," he continued, " is more a lover of 
 peace than 1 ani. No one, perhaps — and 1 hope not to be 
 suspected at this time of bearing hard upon ;in mifortunate 
 and falling family, when I say it — no (»iie, jxMhajJS, j)olitieally 
 speakiniT, has less respect than I have for the house of 
 Hourbon ; y<'t I am ready to declare that for that family — nay, 
 f(jr th(! worst prince of that family — I should be ready to draw 
 my rtwonl and go to war, rather than comply with a dcinaiid to 
 withdraw from him the iiospitality to which he had trusted." 
 
 He then adverted to a statement in the newsj)aj)ers that
 
 294 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the First Consul had told the Swiss Deputies to beware of 
 forming any connection with England. 
 
 " If this were true, he had no difficulty in saying that it 
 ought to have been distinctly complained of, and explanation 
 demanded of the French Government. 
 
 " Two other points remained to be considered — one, an ex- 
 pression in the expose of the First Consul to the Legislative 
 body of France, where it was alleged that ' England alone 
 is not able to contend against France.' Either this ex- 
 pression ought to have been treated with silent contempt, 
 or it ought to have been made the ground of an immediate 
 demand for satisfaction. Another point was the report of 
 Colonel Sebastiani, printed in the official Moniteur. In one 
 part of this report, a charge was brought forward against 
 General Stewart, very insulting and very galling to the 
 feelings of a man, especially a soldier. But there was another 
 and more serious charge — a charge against the King's Ministers 
 of giving encouragement to assassination, which assuredly 
 demanded from them the most prompt and vigorous remon- 
 strance to the French Government." 
 
 So far, Fox seems to have accused Ministers of acting with 
 too little vigour rather than too much. Such, in fact, had 
 been their fault. By their silence when they should have 
 spoken, and their weak language when they should have 
 spoken strongly, they had encouraged rather than repressed 
 the arrogance of the First Consul. It was the very way to 
 bring on war. But when he came to Malta, Fox con- 
 demned altogether the refusal to give up that island. He 
 desired the 10th Article of the Treaty of Amiens to be read. 
 lie pointed out that we had bound ourselves to surrender 
 Malta to the Order of St. John when three contingencies 
 should have occurred :
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 295 
 
 1 . "When a Grand Master should have been appointed. 
 
 2. ^^'llen a garrison of Neapolitans should have arrived 
 to take possession of the place. 
 
 3. A\'hen certain Powers should have been invited to 
 guarantee its independence. 
 
 " These conditions have been fulfilled." 
 
 ]\Iinisters by their refusal to execute their engagements, 
 exposed themselves to be involved in an argument which 
 pressed them like the coils of a serpent. Nor did Fox 
 satisfy himself with powerful logic. His ffincy and his wit 
 were in the highest style of eloquent illustration. 
 
 Of ritt he said : " We have heard some splendid philippics 
 on this subject — philippics which Demosthenes himself, were 
 he among us, would have heard with pleasure, and possibly 
 with envy." 
 
 Again : " The right honourable gentleman, when he appears 
 before us in all the gorgeous attire of his eloquence, reminds me 
 of a story which is told of a barbarous prince of ]Morocco, 
 a Muley ]\Ioloch, who never put on his most splendid robes, 
 or appeared in extraordinary pomp, but as a prelude to the 
 raasr^acre of many of his subjects. Now, when I behold 
 splendour much more bright, when I perceive the labours of 
 an elegant and accomplished mind, when I listen to words so 
 choice, and contemplate all the charms of polished elocution, 
 it is well enough for me, sitting in this House, to enjoy the 
 scene, but it gives me most gloomy tidings to convey to my 
 Cfjnstituents in the lobliy." 
 
 The I'irst (Jon.sul had said, in his conversation with Lord 
 Whitwortii, that if lie were forced to go to w;ii-, he should 
 attenij)t the invasion of England, although he knew that the 
 odds were a hundred to one that he and the greater part of 
 hi.s trooiJS would go to the bottom of tlie sea. (jlreat in-
 
 296 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dignation having been excited by this declaration, Fox said : 
 *' This anger put him in mind of his favourite poet, Dry den, 
 who, in the most extravagant passage, in the mo.st extrava- 
 gant of his pieces, and in the mouth of Almanzor, puts a 
 sentiment which appeared to him to out-soar every flight 
 allowable to the wildest fictions of imagination. Almanzor 
 is made to say to his rival : 
 
 " ' Thou shalt not wish her thine ; thou shalt not dare 
 To be so impudent as to despair,' " 
 
 In reference to a phrase of Pitt — that Egypt was a land 
 consecrated by the blood of our soldiers and sailors, and, 
 therefore, could not be relinquished to France — Fox said : 
 
 " What seas should we ever quit, or what territories should 
 we ever surrender, if we were to retain all that had ever 
 witnessed the triumphs of the British army ?" 
 
 The whole weight of Fox's accusation against Ministers 
 was thus finally summed up : 
 
 " What, then, is the result of all this ? Why, that you 
 suffered the opportunity to escape you, and, instead of inter- 
 posing with a generous magnanimity for the protection of 
 Holland — instead of looking to that country — which stood in 
 immediate need of being rescued from the most grievous 
 oppression, in whose favour you might have roused all the 
 indignant sympathies of Europe, and in whose cause you 
 might have hoped for the co-operation, more or less, of the 
 different great Powers of the Continent — you rest the whole 
 quarrel with France on a point of sheer naked British 
 interest — on your possession and occupation of Malta — a 
 point on which no other European State ever feels an inte- 
 rest or entertains a wish in common with yourselves. You 
 have reduced the whole question to such an issue that,
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 297 
 
 except, possibly, the Turks, the value of whose alliance is 
 easily appreciated, no other Power can be induced to come 
 to your aid by the sense of a common interest. You have 
 deprived yourselves of every advantage you would have had 
 from the admiration and from the good-will of mankind, and 
 you have sent your cause into the world stripped of every 
 motive to union of other nations derived either from their 
 interests or their virtues." 
 
 It is clear from this summing-up of his indictment that 
 Fox did not so much oppose war against France as war 
 on the sole ground of Malta, to be commenced by a breach 
 of faith. 
 
 This extraordinary speech of Fox obtained the admiration 
 it so justly deserved. 
 
 Mr. Abbott, the Speaker, says, in his journal : 
 
 " Mr. Fox spoke from ten o'clock till one, and in these 
 three hours delivered a speech of more art, eloquence, wit, 
 and mischief, than I ever remember to have heard from 
 him." 
 
 If we omit the word " mischief," which is tinged with the 
 party colour of Mr. Abbott, we have here a confession that 
 in art, eloquence, and wit. Fox had surpassed himself 
 
 Mr. Grey, who was a follower and admirer of Fox, com- 
 pletes the portrait, lie describes Fox's speech as " the most 
 wonderful disj)lay of wisdom and genius, before which evcry- 
 thintf else shrinks into dust." 
 
 Fox himself, in a letter to his nephew, describes the debate 
 with his usual ta.ste, simplicity, and good-humour : 
 
 " Pitt's speech on the Address was admired very much 
 and very justly. I think it was the be.«t he ever mado in 
 that style ; and there were several circumstances that ren- 
 dered it peculiarly jjonuhir with the House.
 
 298 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " I dare say you have heard puffs enough of my speech 
 upon the Address, so that I need not add my mite ; but the 
 truth is, it was my best."* 
 
 To my judgment, it appears that, as an argument against 
 the course pursued by Addington, Fox's speech was un- 
 answerable. But what v; as that argument ? That Addington 
 had taken the wrong line in his quarrel with France. 
 
 Fox never affirmed that the remonstrance he advised 
 in regard to Holland — the remonstrance upon Sebastiani's 
 report — the remonstrance upon the appointment of spies to 
 inquire into the state of our harbours — would not have led 
 to war. And in dealing with the plea that although one or 
 two insulting notes would not justify war, a long course of 
 insults would do so. Fox, instead of denying the force 
 of the argument, turned round upon Addington, and said 
 that in that case the Minister was not justified in saying the 
 year before that there was no danger of war. 
 
 Thus Fox was, no doubt, entitled to say, in a letter to 
 O'Brien : " Addington, by his folly, has contrived to lay 
 bare the injustice of our cause."* 
 
 But if, passing from the folly of Addington and the con- 
 duct of the negotiation, we ask whether it was possible, in 
 May, 1803, to preserve peace with France, I must own that, 
 in my judgment, it was not. I fully believe that when the 
 First Consul made peace, first with Austria, and afterwards 
 with England, he was ready to try the experiment of a 
 formidable France, governing Switzerland, Holland, and 
 Italy, and at peace with the rest of Europe. He seems to 
 have aimed at the glory of founding a powerful empire, 
 whose strength should not be incompatible with the inde- 
 pendence of England and Russia, and even of Germany. 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 223. f Ibid. vol. iv. p. 9.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 2U9 
 
 But the abuse of the English press, the ill-will of the English 
 Government, and the suspicion of the German sovereigns, con- 
 vinced him that his dream of a Napoleonic dynasty could only 
 be realized, and his power could only be consolidated, by the 
 destruction of British freedom and Continental independence. 
 \Mien this resolution was formed is not clear ; but the insults 
 heaped upon England, her statesmen, and her generals, 
 ap})ear to me to afford a convincing proof that Napoleon 
 intended to enjrafre Enfjland first, and after defeatin<T her, 
 tx) crush the nations of the Continent. 
 
 There was living at Paris at this time M. Gallois, a 
 Frenchman of singularly calm and sober judgment, who 
 was well acquainted with letters and with politics, who knew 
 England and her institutions, who was a member of the 
 Legislative body of France, and who in that character had, at 
 the request of Napoleon, written an eulogium on the ])eace 
 of Amiens in the shape of an official report. Upon the 
 nciir approach of the rupture with England, the First Consul 
 again sent for M. Gallois, and opening the whole case, 
 asked him to write a fresh report, justifying the war, lie 
 first spoke of the j)rofusion of libels published against him in 
 I-^ntdand, and expressed his strong conviction that these 
 libels spoke the sense of the English Ministry, who seemed 
 to be bent on a renewal of hostilities. 
 
 ^^. Gallois, in reply, entreated the First Consul not to 
 be moved by these scurrilous and mendacious publications. 
 I If reminded the ruler of l^ancc that the libels on 
 ]j)u\s X\y. had perished, and iiail left no other trace than 
 the remembrance of tiie irritation they had caused, and the 
 weaknes-s tii«'y had revealed in that powerfid monarch. 
 Coming nioic inimcdiatcly to the j)oint. he said he li.id 
 known libels and caricatures on the Boyal I"'aniily in
 
 300 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 England which the Government were utterly unable to 
 suppress. He could not think that the libels on the First 
 Consul had received any encouraojement from the Eno-lish 
 Government. The First Consul, on hearing these remarks, 
 felt, perhaps, that his own recent and unsettled authority 
 was not to be compared to the legitimate rule of Louis XIY. 
 or to the title of the Royal Family of England, rooted at 
 once in prescription and affection. But, whatever were his 
 motives, he declared to his interlocutor that he felt his power 
 shaken, and that he must seek his safety in a renewal of the 
 war with England and with the Continent. " Mais vous 
 avez des traites," interposed M. Gallois. " Oui — des traites 
 imposes par la force, et acceptes par la peur," was the First 
 Consul's fierce reply. He seemed to have heaped up in his 
 mind every reason which might weigh in favour of a warlike 
 resolution. " Le soldat s'use dans la vie civile," he gave 
 as a motive for immediate war. He had likewise considered 
 all the chances of war. "I cannot make France stronger," 
 he said, " but I can weaken her enemies." I find in the 
 " Reminiscences of Lord Holland " the relation of a conver- 
 sation between the First Consul and M. Gallois, in which 
 similar sentiments are expressed, and which, no doubt, was 
 the same. I give this relation in Lord Holland's own words : 
 '•' He made the Treaty of Amiens as an experiment, and 
 the scurrility of our newspapers, the coldness, jealousy, and 
 obvious estrangement of our Cabinet, convinced him that the 
 experiment had failed. He employed one of the best pens 
 in France, M. Gallois, to draw up the report on the peace 
 of Amiens, in which the articles were justified, and the 
 advantages of the peace earnestly impressed on the Legisla- 
 ture. When Lord Whitworth left Paris on the rupture, 
 Napoleon sent again for Gallois, and exclaimed : ' Eh bien !
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 301 
 
 rAnjrleterre veut absoluiiiont la "uerro. Ello la vent.' He 
 then laid before M. Gallois the whole negotiation, and 
 pressed him to give his opinion. ' England,' said Gallois, 
 ' might have done more to preserve peace, but France has 
 not done all she might to obtain it.' To that remark, the 
 Chief Consul answered that he had already des})atched 
 another messenger to catch Lord Wiiitworth, and ' de faire 
 cette derniere tentative.' But after vaunting and proving 
 his efforts for peace, and after acknowledging that peace, or, 
 at least, the utmost endeavours to preserve it, had been 
 necessary for France, he added with em])hasis, but with 
 gaiety : ' Mais entin, je vous dis, I'Angleterre veut la guerre. 
 File I'aura, et quant a moi, j'en suis ravi.' Pressed to 
 explain a feeling apparently so inconsistent with his profes- 
 sions, he entered into a long, curious, and luminous exposition 
 of his policy. ' If,' said he, ' the Powers of Europe had been 
 willing to let France and her new institutions subside into a 
 tranquil and free government, if they could have borne de 
 bonne foi to cultivate the relations of amity with her and her 
 dependencies in Holland and Italy, she might have cherished 
 the arts of peace, improved her internal condition, and sat 
 down contented with the j)rospects of liberty and prosperity 
 before her ; but exj)erience of peace for one year with 
 I'^Dgland, and for more with the other Powers, has confirmed 
 my apprehensions and proved it to be hopeless. They never 
 meant J'rance to be unmolested. But I'rance, who would 
 be hereafter unequal, is just now fully equal to contend with 
 them all to advanta<:e.' ' How so?' .said Gallois. ' \\\\\ not 
 some years (jf jieace add to the resources of France? W ill 
 not the beiiclicial effects of thcjse changes of which wo iiave 
 hithiTto jtcrceived litth; but the shock be gradually i^ensible 
 in the increasing riches and pow cr of this great people ?'
 
 302 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 " ' Granted,' replied Bonaparte ; ' but riches and prosperity 
 for the purposes 1 am contemplating may not be altogether 
 the instruments best adapted to the end : d'ailleurs, I'armee ! 
 les generaux !' He described the latter as at that moment 
 flushed with success, inured to fatigue, with fortunes half 
 made, in all the vigour of life and ardour of aspiring 
 ambition. A few years' repose, during which they must be 
 courted and enriched by the Government, would damp their 
 ardour and impair their capacity for war, and yet leave 
 them, their descendants, representatives, or favourites, with 
 pretensions to influence and command, difficult and perhaps 
 unjust to elude. In such a state, the country would be 
 unequal to the sort of contest he was then contemplating ; 
 for the great Powers of the Continent must not merely be 
 humbled — they must be broken, shattered, and dismembered. 
 In their present condition, they had the will, and they 
 would, after a short peace, have the power, to combine to 
 wrest from France the fruits of her victories, and, possibly, 
 to blast all her prospects by a counter-revolution. He then 
 developed his whole system at great length and in detail. 
 To Gallois it seemed vast and well combined — his views 
 comprehensive, if not just, his arguments ingenious and 
 striking, and his knowledge almost miraculous. He pursued 
 the system he then described wil;h little variation, till his 
 marriage with the Archduchess of Austria."*- 
 
 Supposing this conversation to be the same which M. 
 Gallois related to me, I gather from the whole narrative that 
 not very long after the signature of the definitive Treaty of 
 Peace with England, Napoleon, urged by the impatience 
 of his nature, by his consciousness of vast military superi- 
 oTity, and by a conviction that neither England nor the 
 
 * " Lo! J Holland's Keminiscences," pp. 230-4-.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 303 
 
 Continent meant to maintain peace a moment after their 
 shattered strenprth should be restored, fully determined upon 
 a renewal of hostilities. Endued, moreover, with consum- 
 mate jrenius for war, he had the same delight in it that a 
 skilful shot has in a day's shootiufi, a good chess-player in a 
 game at chess. Upon my mentioning to him at Elba, where 
 I had an audience of him at Christmas, 1814, that the Duke 
 of \VeUington had been so long engaged in war that he 
 miirht find it difficult to take an interest in other pursuits, he 
 replied quicklv : '■'■Ehhienl cest un grand jeu! helle occu- 
 imtion !" Hence, if I am right in my conjecture, the insult- 
 ing report of General Sebastiani ; hence the peremptory 
 demand for !Malta ; hence the effort rather to put England 
 in the wrong, in appearance, than to pursue a pacific course 
 in realitv. According to M. Thiers, while his whole conduct 
 tended to war, he was fully aware of the suspicion with which 
 his policy was viewed, and was fond of re))eating : " England 
 must be put completely in the wrong."'* To the same 
 author (^f. Thiers) we are indebted for the confe.-^sion that, 
 in spite of Napoleon's success in putting England in the 
 wrong, the nations of the Continent, led by a sure instinct, 
 symi)athized with England and not witli Erance. They 
 knew too well where their danger lay to wish success to the 
 mighty captain who had already shown his jiower, his skill, 
 and his want of moderation. 
 
 The unhappy blunders of ^\i: Addington left that Minister 
 no choice between a violation of the plain and distinct en- 
 gatrement of the Treaty of Amiens, and the surrender to an 
 encroaching and insolent J *ower of a fortress, which in case 
 of war must prove to be one of the main bulwarks in the 
 defensive system of Great IJrit^iin. 
 
 • •' II faut que I'AngKlcrrc nit tout 1« tort«."
 
 304 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 Fox, in his speech on the peace of Amiens, had attached 
 great importance to Minorca and Malta, unwisely surrendered 
 in that treaty. 
 
 Pitt, with a want of foresight not uncommon to him, 
 had not understood their value, and when he perceived it, 
 there was no way of repairing the blunder but by war. Still, 
 if George III., after concluding peace, would have accepted 
 either Pitt or Fox as his Prime Minister, it is very possible 
 that peace might have been maintained. Pitt would have 
 inspired the respect, Fox would have acquired the confidence, 
 of France.
 
 CUAELES JAMES FOX. 305 
 
 CHArXER LXIV. 
 
 MR. rOTTEK's MOTION. — FOX AT ST. AXNE'S UILL. 
 
 Next, after the decision of the main question of peace 
 and war, came a question brought on by Mr. Potter, of a 
 vote of want of confidence in the ]\Iinisters, on the ground of 
 their ])revious mismanagement. Fox wished to support 
 tlii* motion, but his party wouhl not agree to do so. Pitt 
 took the singularly ill-judged course of moving the order 
 of the day. But the [Ministers rightly argued that tlie Govcrn- 
 Tiient in office, at the bciiinniufj of an arduous war. nmst 
 cither be supjiorted or dismissed. To leave them in otHce and 
 to put aside the question of confidence in their capacity, would 
 have been unjust to the (;lovernment and fatal to the country. 
 Tiie House felt strongly the justice of this appeal. Accord- 
 ingly, when Pitf s motion was put, there were for it 50, and 
 ajrainst it SS'.i. Vox and his friends then left the House, 
 wiien there appeared for Colonel Potter's motion 34, against 
 it 275. 
 
 The King expressed much pleasure at the result, "as these 
 events prove the real 8<!nsc of the House of Commons, and 
 that Parliament means supj)ort to the executive power, not to 
 faction." The only thing really proved was, that neither 
 I'ox nor Pitt was jjrepared to as-crt the constitutional 
 doctrine, that in a great crisis great abilities were required. 
 VOL. HI. X
 
 306 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Fox saw the evil, and deplored it. " It is indeed 
 lamentable," he wrote to his nephew ; " but the whole secret 
 of the affair is in my old quotation — Vuolsi eosi cold, dove si 
 puote Cid die si vuole."*f Fox soon after consoled him- 
 self by going into the country. In a letter of the 6th of June 
 to his nephew, who had written to him from Granada, he 
 says : " We are now here for good ; and beautiful and de- 
 lightful it is beyond measure. The nightingales have almost 
 done ; but the singing of the other birds, the verdure, the 
 flowers, the lights and shades of this April-like weather, make 
 the scene from this window such that I do not envy the 
 orange trees, &c., of your Southern climates." | 
 
 * "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 221. 
 
 t The words of Virgil to Minos, in the Fifth Canto of Dante's " Inferno." 
 
 I " Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 224.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 307 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 
 STATE OF PAKTIES. — DISSOLUTION OF MR. ADDINGTON'S MINISTRY. — VWT 
 FORMS A MINISTRY ON A NARROW BASIS. 
 
 When, in ITTiT, tlic Duke of Newcastle attempted to carry 
 on war aaainst France, with Sir Tiiomas Eobinson as leader 
 of the House of Commons, Pitt said to Fox: "The Duke 
 of Newcastle might as well send his jack-boot to lead 
 us." In a short time, he and Fox so worried, laughed 
 at, spoke at, and spoke down the Ministry, that after a brief 
 trial of another chief, the Duke of Newcastle was compelled 
 to take Pitt for his Secretary of State, and Fox for his 
 Paymaster of the Forces, From this time, hardly a ripple of 
 opposition checked the triumphant course of the vessel of 
 the State till the period when Ceorge III. ascended ti»e 
 throne. Lord Grenvillc and his friends were anxious that 
 Pitt and Fox should take the same course in 1803 wliich 
 I'itt and Fox had taken in 17.j7, and there is good reason to 
 believe that similar consequences would have followed. 
 
 The Addington of 18013 was no more fit to lead than the 
 Iiobin.son of 17.01). Put the Pitt of 180;{ was a very different 
 man from tlie Pitt of 1757, and the King of 1803 was a very 
 different man from George II. wiio, in the first days of Iub 
 reign, had given up the Minister of his ])redilection, and had 
 been content to consult the welfare of his country and the 
 spirit of the Constitution. 
 
 X 2
 
 308 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Lord Grcnville and his brothers, Mr. Windham, Lord 
 FitzwUham, and Lord Spencer, were anxious to form a 
 junction with Fox based on two principles of action — the 
 first that the Government which then existed was manifestly 
 incapable of carrying on the public business in such a manner 
 as the crisis required ; and, secondly, that if the occasion 
 should arise of forming a new Government, the wishes and 
 endeavours of all who meant well to the country should be 
 directed to the establishment of an Administration compre- 
 hending as large a proportion as possible of the weight, 
 talents, and character to be found in public men of all descrip- 
 tions, and without any exclusions. But Pitt would not listen 
 to the first condition. 
 
 On the 10th of January, Lord Grenville having met Pitt 
 in London, writes to Lord Buckingham: "I came here 
 yesterday to meet the person to whom I wrote. . . . The 
 same ideas prevail, and nearly the same course will be 
 pursued : the most decided hatred and contempt of those 
 who have done so much to provoke both ; views of middle 
 lines and managements and delicacies ou Von se perd." * 
 
 Soon after this, Lord Grenville and his friends intimated 
 to Fox, through Mr. Grenville, the brother of Lord Gren- 
 ville, and the old friend of Fox, their wish to join with him 
 in a systematic opposition to Mr. Addington. 
 
 Nothing could be more open than the conduct of Lord 
 Grenville and Fox in this transaction. Equally clear, but 
 singularly unwise, was the line taken by Pitt. He utterly 
 refused any concert for the purpose of systematic opposi- 
 tion. He left Lord Grenville and his friends to pursue their 
 own course. Presently the case became still more compli- 
 cated by a serious' illness of the King. 
 
 ■^ ''Courts and C;ibinets, George III.,'' vol. iii. p. 34.
 
 CHAKLES JAMES FOX. 300 
 
 On the 10th of February, Pitt stated to Lord ^Fahnes- 
 l)ury that, viewing the difficulties and dangers arising from a 
 probability of invasion, the dangerous illness of the King, 
 and the state of parties, he had given each of these dangers 
 due and serious attention, had weighed them in his mind 
 maturely and leisurely, in order that he might determine 
 safely and calmly on such a line of conduct as became him, 
 and which he might never be sorry for. 
 
 " That he would never make the turning out of the Ad- 
 ministration the object of his endeavours ; that though some 
 of his best friends had united themselves avowedly for that 
 purj)ose with Fox, yet he had rejected, and would unifonnly 
 reject, any overture which might be made to him to become 
 a party to such a system. 
 
 " That in all simple and plain questions, it was his resolu- 
 tion to support Government ; but when Government omitted 
 anything he thought the state of the country required to be 
 done, or did it weakly and inefficiently, he then should de- 
 liver his sentiments clearly and distinctly, but not even then 
 in a spirit of opposition, since he would never do it till he had 
 ascertained Government would persist in what he condemned, 
 and not adopt what he thought essentially necessary," 
 
 But he added: "If ^linisters should want to resign and 
 give up their places, he should look upon it as right and a 
 duty to contribute towards forming a new Administration l)y 
 any means in his power, and this duty would be a jiara- 
 mount one if the King should call upon him for his services."* 
 
 In considering the course taken in a very difficult crisis 
 of public adairs by three men so eminent aa l"ox. Tilt, 
 and Ford Grenville, it is a satisfaction to be abU' tn pro- 
 nounce that there is no reason to attribute to any one of 
 • " Uiary of Lord MalrawLury ;*' '• Li!e of I'itt."
 
 310 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 them any other motives than those which are consistent with 
 the highest integrity and the purest patriotism. It is a just 
 ground of national pride to reflect that, whatever may have 
 been the errors of judgment, whatever the want of foresight, 
 or the sway of prejudice in certain minds, no great political 
 party in England was at this period of her history led by 
 men undeserving of full confidence in their public spirit and 
 personal integrity. 
 
 If, however, passing from questions of character, we con- 
 sider the wisdom of certain maxims of conduct, it will be 
 difficult to justify the political views of Pitt. The safe 
 working of our political system depends on the opinion of 
 the House of Commons, that the Ministers of the Crown de- 
 serve their confidence. To say that the Sovereign may 
 appoint, by virtue of the prerogative, men wanting in ability 
 or knowledge, and that the House of Commons, whatever 
 may be the dangers of the country, is bound to support them, 
 would be to strike at the root of our Constitution. Much, 
 perhaps the greater part, of our national policy must be left 
 to the direction of the executive Government. To permit 
 that direction to remain in the hands of silly, foolish, and 
 empty men would be a want of national wisdom. To call 
 upon the Crown to place the public affairs under the guidance 
 of men in whom the House of Commons can have confidence 
 is the necessary privilege of that House ; to allow a certain 
 discretion to men who enjoy that confidence is a necessity 
 of constitutional monarchy. But, in the opinion of Fox, 
 Lord Grenville, and Pitt alike, Mr. Addington was in- 
 capable of conducting public affairs wisely and successfully. 
 The offer of the Speakership of the House of Lords to 
 Mr. Addington was a sufficient proof of Pitt's opinion on 
 this head. In his conversation with Lord Grenville, he
 
 CUARLES JAMES FOX. 311 
 
 showed openly his contempt of the men who governed. The 
 dansfers of the country were inmiinent. " In this awful 
 situation," said Mr. Francis, " whether I advert to some who 
 are present or io otliers who are absent, the melancholy and 
 astonishing fact is that, from the Councils and Government of 
 the country, at such a moment as this, all the eminent abili- 
 ties of England are excluded. In fair weather, a moderate 
 sliare of skill may be sufficient. In the storm that seems to 
 be coming, other pilots should be provided." 
 
 The natural course seemed to be to propose a resolution 
 that the existing Administration had not the confidence of the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 This Pitt would not do. But what is strange is, that 
 he seems to have thought that pointing out the omissions 
 and rebukinjr the weakness of lAIinisters in their several de- 
 {jartments, was a less interference with the prerogative of the 
 Oown than carrying a vote of want of confidence ; whereas 
 the continual prompting, inquiring, stimulating, and suggest- 
 ing to the several Ministers what they should do or leave 
 undone, was not only a far less constitutional, but also a less 
 efficient, and, at the same time, a more offensive, interference 
 with the prerogative than that of insisting upon a change of 
 Ministry, and then granting confidence where confidence was 
 due. 
 
 Accordingly, this special doctrine of Pitt, ])rofessed 
 and acted upon by him in l.SO,'}, and till May, 1804, has 
 shared the fate of the sj)ecial doctrine on the subject of dis- 
 solution held by Pox and l^nrke in 178-1 : it has been 
 abandoned, and the opp site rule has prevailed. It is 
 generally admitted that Ministers of the Crown must possess 
 the confidence of the House of Commons. 
 
 Pitt himself, indeed, alter a short trial, was obliged
 
 312 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to abandon as untenable the theory he had embraced. But 
 before we proceed to the contests and the debates which led 
 to the resignation of Mr. Addington, it will be well to listen 
 to the language of Fox upon this state of affairs. The 
 earliest notice I find in Fox's letters of the proposal of the 
 Grenvilles is in a letter to his oldest and most intimate 
 friend, Fitzpatrick. To him he says in a letter, on the 27th 
 of January, 1804 : 
 
 " I have a message by our old friend T. Grenville from 
 his family and friends, stating their wish to co-operate with 
 me (and friends, of course) in a systematic opposition, for the 
 purpose of destroying the Doctor's* Administration, and of 
 substituting in its place one upon the most comprehensive 
 basis possible. The first object (first, in point of time) is to 
 oppose the bill which Ministers are to bring in on the volun- 
 teer business, and to propose a general system of arming the 
 people upon the principles I approve, reducing the militia to 
 its old quantum, putting an end to bidding for substitutes, 
 &c., v.'ith many details which I am to see. When I say this 
 is the first in point of time, I ought to observe that so it 
 appears to me, for theij stated a doubt whether some inquiry 
 relative to the 23rd of July, to be moved by some friends of 
 ours, might not precede everything. 1 mention this to show 
 that there is no point of precedence as to wliich wing should 
 begin the attacks. But to return. Some inquiry into the 
 management of foreign politics is also suggested, and more 
 particularly if the war with Spain takes place, of which I 
 much doubt. Ireland and the Catholics are left to my judg- 
 ment. Upon their connection with Pitt, I understand them 
 to be quite explicit ; that it is over, and that his opinions are 
 no further to be considered or looked to than in a pru- 
 
 * i.e., Mr. Addington's.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 31 
 
 o 
 
 dential view, with respect to the questions in which he might 
 or not join us, P. and Lord G. have had full explanations. 
 The same proposal was made to him as is now made to me. 
 Ilis answer was that the present 3Iinistry are weak and 
 inadequate to the crisis ; that their dismission will be a 
 benefit to the country ; that in case of such an event, an 
 Administration shouid.be formed upon the broadest possible 
 basis; that if his Majesty were on such an occasion to send 
 for him, he should think it right to endeavour to compre- 
 hend in the arrangement all parties, and even those who had 
 been most hostile to him (N.fJ. : this tallies exactly with 
 what we heard before) ; that in many points he would 
 support the new Opposition if it took place, but that he was 
 determined n^t to eniiafi-e either with Ministers or their 
 opponents systematically. In short, he could not be what is 
 called 171 oppoaition. He hinted, too, that these nuMi might 
 probably die of their own weakness — an opinion too absurd, I 
 think, for him to entertain seriously. The truth seems to be 
 that he cannot give up the hope of being in some way accept- 
 able at Court ; like Sancho, he cannot quite give up his hopes 
 of the island, in which, however, he has no faith whatever."* 
 As to his answer, he says in this and a subsequent letter : 
 " My answer was, that I tiiought with them uj)on all the 
 subjects discussed, and that I felt no repugnance to agree to 
 the proposal — at least, in some degree — but that I nmst 
 have some days bef(jre I could answer. Now, what is your 
 advice? If Grey would couk^ to town, to stay and engage 
 heartily (of which if he would come, I have no doubt), per- 
 haps it would be right to .«ay yes ; perhaps it is right even 
 now. ]>ut the inconvenience is terrible, for to do the thing 
 thoroughly without a stay in London is impossible ; and then 
 • " CoirwponJemo," vol. iv. j>. l.j.
 
 314 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 expense, interruption to history, &c., &c , where, after all, 
 there is no chance of success. It is very hard to encounter 
 all this. Suppose I were to answer that I will give them all 
 occasional help in my power, but that I cannot alter my 
 plan of life so as to give a regular attendance in Parliament, 
 and that I am afraid Grey can hardly be induced to come 
 up. I must finish now, though I have omitted several cir- 
 cumstances, and among others a very important one — that 
 our old friend sees the possibility, nay, the probability, that 
 if we succeed in ousting the Doctor, P. may return to power, 
 and after having proposed terms in vain to some of the oppo- 
 sition, may put himself at the head of the present Adminis- 
 tration, or one like it ; and this is admitted to be an objection 
 to the plan. I do not feel this so much as he does, but many 
 others will." 
 
 TO SAME. 
 
 "January 28th, 1804. 
 
 " I was interrupted in my letter yesterday, and have an 
 opportunity of sending this to London ; so I will add a little 
 supplement, the most material part of which is to say, pray 
 come as soon as you can. Mrs. F. says I should say nothing 
 but co7ne, come, come, and she would say it down on her knees. 
 You know, she thinks there is no adviser but you. Pray, by 
 return of post, say when you come exactly. I should have 
 mentioned yesterday that our friend was very distinct as to 
 the persons who were parties to the proposal — i.e., all of his 
 own name and family, Lord Spencer, Windliam, &c. He 
 had seen Carlisle, and he was much for it, and thought he 
 could answer for Morpeth. Of Fitzwilliam, of course there 
 could be no doubt. He knew nothing of Canning or Lord 
 Granville,* but rather guessed that Lord Stafford would hang 
 
 * Loid GiaiiviUe Leveson Gower, afterwards Eail Granville.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 315 
 
 off with Pitt ; of Lord Melville he knows no more than we 
 
 do. He thinks that if Pitt offored to stay in without 
 
 Catholic emancipation (and, hy what 1 hear of Charles 
 
 Longs panij)hlet, that {/ is now a certainty), he concealed the 
 
 circumstance from all his colleagues, except Dundas. I hear 
 
 Cobbett asserts this positively. ^ on and L you know, always 
 
 suspected some concealment ; but such a circunittance as 
 
 this, and concealed from Lord Gienville, too! quel homme ! 
 
 Adieu ; write and come. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " C. J. Fox." 
 
 In a subsequent letter of the 24th of February, he says : 
 " I suppose the system of sliding, as you call it, into a 
 junction, must be adopted, but you must recollect that one 
 great advantage is lost by that method. I mean that it puts 
 an end to that decisive disconnection with Pitt, which the 
 other mode would nail. Besides, in cases where he joins 
 them (as I suppose he will in the course of the Volunteer 
 Bill), they will appear rather jfollowing him than us. Put it 
 cannot be helped ; whatever prejudice Plumer and other 
 good men may have, surely they u)ust sec that, in case of 
 Junction, we have so very decisively the lead in the House of 
 Conunons, that there can be no doubt upon that point."* 
 
 On the 2oth of February, he says to the same correspon- 
 dent : "I shall be in town on Monday, and at the House, 
 though there will be j)robaljly notliing to do there. 1 hojjc 
 I shall see Lord Grenvilie on Tuesday, and then I shall be able 
 to tell my friends (pretty unreasonable friends they are) some- 
 tiung of the matter. I have a letter from AVhitbread, and it 
 will probably be as he wishes ; hut do not you see that by 
 
 • " CorrwiponJeiKo," vol. iv. p. 2'2.
 
 316 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 this mode the objection (which others lay more stress on than 
 I do) of Pitt's taking advantage gains tenfold strength ? 
 He can in this case (if the King will let him) come in with 
 just as many or as few of his old colleagues as he chooses, 
 and they will have no motive to withhold them from following 
 him. If a real junction had taken place, he must be driven 
 to the alternative of coming in with the present men or not 
 at all. That there should be some divisions and debates pre- 
 vious to any regular junction may be right, but if it does not 
 take place no good can be done — ' Nor if it does,' you may 
 answer, and I cannot easily reply ; but one likes to have done 
 for the best." 
 
 When Fox saw Lord Grenville, he was much satisfied with 
 him. " A very direct man," was his remark ; and in Fox's 
 mouth there could be no higher eulogy. 
 
 While Fitzpatrick was Fox's most intimate friend, 
 Grey was the adviser upon whom he most relied for par- 
 liamentary aid. To him he wrote on the 29th of Janu- 
 ary, 1801: "I have had a direct communication (wholly 
 unsought by me) from that part of the Opposition which 
 sits at the bar end of the House to the following effect. 
 That it is their wish to join with us in a systematic opposition 
 for the purpose of removing the Ministry, and substituting one 
 on the broadest possible basis. Stowe and all his appendages, 
 Lord Spencer, and Windham, are the proposers ; of Carlisle 
 and others, they have no doubt ; and Fitzwilliam, as you 
 know, is eager for such a plan. There was an openness and 
 appearance of cordiality in the manner of making the propo- 
 sal that much pleases me. Upon the subject of Pitt there 
 was no reserve ; it was stated that he, for himself, peremp- 
 torily refused to enter into anything that could be called 
 opposition, and that a full explanation had taken place
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 317 
 
 between Lord Grenville and him upon that pohit. The 
 result of this explanation was, that all political connection 
 was broken off, and that if the proposed plan took place, no 
 consideration was to be had of Pitt or his opinions at all, 
 except as far as, in a prudential view, one might sometimes 
 shape a question for the purpose of availing ourselves of his 
 support, as one would of any other individual". It was ad- 
 mitted, too, that Pitt's plan might be to let the Doctor fall, 
 and then to avail himself of the merit of not having been in 
 opposition, in order to make himself the most acceptable 
 person to succeed him. It was admitted further that this was 
 an objection to the plan ; but it is one, I believe, which 
 neither you nor 1 much regard, "\^'ith respect to the Irish 
 question, it would be left to my judgment ; but a most im- 
 portant question will, it is said, come on innnediately, in 
 which, at any rate, we shall join. I mean the revision of the 
 volunteer system, and, in general, of our military force. The 
 Ministers, it is said, intend to bring in a declaratory bill to 
 confirm the xXttorney-General's opinion, and condemn Ers- 
 kine's. This I do not believe ; but they will certainly bring 
 in some bill to assimilate volunteers more to regular forces, 
 and thereby to increase the incredible burthen of them to the 
 country. The new Opposition will, if we concur (and perhaps 
 whether we do or notj, bring forward a ])lan which appears 
 to me to be a good one, but which 1 cannot detail on paper. 
 The general drift is to follow in general Windham'tj ideas 
 and mine in regard to arming en masse, to diminish the 
 militia, to eidist regular soldiers for terms of years, to put an 
 end to bidding for substitutes, &c., &i\ My answer was that 
 I must consult friends before I come to any determination, 
 and ])articularly you. 1 own I lean very nnidi to such a 
 junction ; but, then, what they say is true — that it is idle to
 
 318 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 look for the full effect of it unless both you and I attend. The 
 inconvenience of this to both of us is certainly very great, 
 but is it not, perhaps, right to sacrifice our convenience ? 
 
 " Pray think this well over, and answer me upon this as 
 well as the other points of this letter. My only doubt is 
 between the two following answers — first, a direct yes ; 
 second, that though I approve the plan, I do not see sufficient 
 prospect of real good to make me give that sort of attention 
 to public affairs which is inconsistent with my private com- 
 fort ; but they will occasionally have my support, and espe- 
 cially in this volunteer business."* 
 
 Two further letters will elucidate Fox's opinions at this 
 time. 
 
 On the 15th of February, 1804, he writes to Grey from 
 Albemarle Street : " I received your second letter just as I 
 was leaving St. Anne's yesterday. I am sorry Lauderdale's 
 opinion is so strong as you describe it, though all I have 
 done is telling them that I have every inclination to act with 
 them ; but I think it would be better to agree first in public, 
 and so let the thing come on naturally, rather than by any 
 compact. But it is useless to trouble you with more upon 
 this matter at present, as a new scene arises. The King is as 
 ill as in the worst moments of 1788. I think I know this, and 
 the bulletin, indeed, does not deny it ; ' much indisposed ' yes- 
 terday, and ' mucli the same ' to-day. Some are of opinion 
 that his dissolution is certain and near, but though this is the 
 general belief, I do not know that it is so well grounded as 
 that of his derangement.' If this had not been the case, I 
 would have pressed you very much to come for Monday or 
 Tuesday se'nnight, when a motion was to have been for a 
 committee to consider of volunteers, army, militia, &c. The 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 449.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 319 
 
 uothinfjncss of the present bill would have made this a very 
 advantageous question ; but noio I suppose all attention to all 
 questions will be suspended. You know that an inquiry into 
 the 23rd of July is to be moved on Monday by Sir .1. \\'rot- 
 tesley, a Pittite ; yet I hear from good authority Pitt will 
 not be there, though he is in town. Probivbly, however, this 
 motion, with all others, will be postponed. It is curious to 
 see how long these men, at such a time, a time, as they say, 
 of impending invasion, will venture to go on without leo-al 
 authority. Tlie Doctor acquainted the Prince of the Kino-'s 
 illness the day before yesterday, but did not state it, I believe, 
 to be so bad as it then was, much less as it 7iow is. In some 
 shape we must have to act, and therefore if you can come, 
 for God's &ike do ; only wait for to-morrow's post, when I 
 may be able to tell you more, though I am not certain. I 
 wish for Lauderdale almost as much as for you ; but will he 
 leave his book ? Whitbread, I hear, made an excellent 
 speech on Wednesday. I was kept at home by Mrs. Pox's 
 being very ill indeed — not dangerously, indeed, after the first 
 day, but in dreadful pain from a bilious attack ; and I iiad 
 neither heart nor composure to write to you or Lauderdale, 
 or, indeed, to do anything, till Sunday, and then I thought I 
 might as well i)Ut it off till I got there. Tell Lauderdale 
 this if you see him, for his letter certaiidy required an answer. 
 Make up your mind to be what you must be, if things take a 
 turn that I think not iinj>robable. I will give every assis- 
 tance, but you must be at the head."* 
 
 On the 28tli of March, he writes : '* The division on Pitt's 
 Motion, did, I own, surprise me — not so much on account of 
 our numbers as of theirs ; and it is a strong proof how far 
 leai thun any foriniT House the present is influenced by 
 
 • " Co-re»p()tuicncc," vol. iii. p. 453.
 
 320 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 debate, for it was decidedly in favour, if not of the question, 
 at least of the Admiralty. Pitt's opening was vile, and even 
 in his reply, though some of the declamatory parts of it were 
 good, did very little. The Doctor gave out, and so did some 
 of his friends for him, that he saw the combination against 
 him was too strong, and that he should give up. I never 
 believed him, and if what is reported is true — that he' is 
 offering Erskine to be Attorney-General, and forming other 
 arrangements of the like nature — it seems out of the question. 
 To propose to a man to come into an Administration who are 
 just about to resign, would rather exceed even the Doctor's 
 mode of proceeding. The decision of conduct which you 
 wish will not, I think, take place with regard to Sheridan ; 
 with regard to Erskine and the Duke of Norfolk, it will. 
 Sheridan was a good deal badgered at Parsloe, and looked 
 in his most sheepish and down manner. What was his 
 motive for attending there I know not, unless he had hopes 
 of some support which failed him. Our meeting was small, 
 but very good in point of zeal. Coke made a warm speech, 
 which gave great satisfaction, and even those who did not 
 quite stomach our junction, if such it can be called, with the 
 Grenvilles, were as eager against the Ministers as could be 
 wished. With respect to future business, my intention is to 
 bring forward several questions after Easter, in some of 
 which Pitt will (speaking of him, one must always say, 
 ' I helieve,') support me — in others, not. I had meant, if I 
 had not had your letter to-day, to put off writing to you for 
 a few days, till I had something more arranged in regard to 
 these measures than I yet have, and till I had received some 
 communications from London ; but as I have begun, I must 
 go on. Russian IMediation, Ireland, and Military Defence, 
 are the three general points I thought of. On the last of
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 321 
 
 these three oiHij, I expect Pitt's active support ; but on the 
 others he may not, possibly, interfere. You know his sort of 
 hydrophobia upon the Cathohc question ; but my motion 
 mii^ht, I think, be simply directed to the necessity of inquiry 
 in consequence of martial law, &c., as well as the new fact, 
 brought out on Wrottesley's Motion, of Lord Ilardwicke 
 havin«r applied iu vain for extraordinary powers. To the 
 Russian business, I hear, there is some particular objection^ 
 on account of some supposed transaction now pending, of 
 which I know nothing, but am inquiring. It is very much 
 the wish of Canning, &c., that we should begin, at least, 
 with the motion which Pitt will support, they thinking it a 
 great object, with a view to public effect, that he should 
 appear in all his strength in support of the motion made by 
 me. I say, let him show how much he strengthens us, and 
 welcome ; but let us show that without him we are not 
 inconsiderable ; and this, I think, if proper pains are taken, 
 we might show. You will perceive by all this how very 
 desirable every ])ossible attendance is, and that for weeks at 
 the very least. I do not push the consequence at present, 
 but 1 fear I must shortly. If you are here, you will, of 
 course, make such of the motions as you like yourself. I 
 cannot yet fix, but I fear we cannot open the campaign later 
 than the IGth of April, as Parliament meets again on the 5th. 
 Pitt is, I believe, as far as temj)er goes, completely exaspe- 
 rated against the present men, and consequently desirous 
 of making, conjointly with us, as strong an Opposition as 
 possible ; but then, again, his views are so narrow, .uid his 
 fear of connnitting himself against the Court and its corrupt 
 interests meets him so at every turn, that he cannot act likt' 
 a man. Ixjrd Camden's, Lord ( 'iistlereagh's, and Lord 
 Carrington's influence with him i.s, I take; it, all nonsense ; 
 VOL. III. i'
 
 322 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 but the Court ! the Court ! He cannot bear to give up his 
 hopes there,* and upon this principle, wishes to narrow every 
 question of opposition, so as to be pledged to nothing but 
 the insulated questions or questions of detail. This is a sad 
 state of things ; but forcing even him in is an inroad on 
 royal power, and as such, good, come what may afterwards. 
 I am told Lord St, Vincent is very angry with us who voted 
 for the motion. He ought to be angry with those who 
 advised him to resist the production of the papers, for if he 
 had taken the other course, Pitt must have moved the 
 address, and the division would have been triumphant for Lord 
 St. Vincent."t 
 
 To explain this letter, it is necessary to state that Pitt 
 had, in pursuance of his own peculiar notion of public duty, 
 moved on the 15th of March for certain papers, preparatory to 
 an inquiry into the naval administration of Earl St. Vincent. 
 
 It was clear that Mr. Addington could not give up 
 his First Lord of the Admiralty as a victim. But Fox 
 thought that the papers should have been given, and the 
 censure that was to follow resisted. He accordingly voted 
 for the m.otion for papers. Mr. Sheridan opposed it, and 
 Pitt, in his reply, made some remarks, not in very good 
 taste, upon Mr. Sheridan's red face. On the division, the 
 numbers were — 
 
 For the motion 130 
 
 Against 201 
 
 'o' 
 
 Majority . 71 
 
 Pitt, soon after thii3, seems to have made up his mind 
 
 * " A peep into the Closet iiitoxieatcs him," was said by Burke, of Pitt's father 
 t "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 455. 
 
 »
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 323 
 
 that the 3Iiiiistry ought not to remain, and he even deter- 
 mined to dechire this opinion in rarlianient. In a letter 
 to Lord Melville, written on the 2!)th of March, he says, 
 on the supposition of the King's recovery : 
 
 " In that event, I am strongly confirmed in the opinion that 
 the present Government cannot last for any length of time, 
 and still more so in the full conviction that every week for 
 which its existence may be protracted will be attended with 
 increased danger to the country. I have, therefore, satisfied 
 myself that the time is near at hand at which, if a change 
 does not originate from the Ministers themselves, or from the 
 King, I can no longer be justified in not publicly declaring 
 ray opinion, and endeavouring, by parliamentary measures, to 
 give it crtcct."* 
 
 Thus Pitt at length determined upon the only course con- 
 sistent with his position and his duty to his country. lie 
 resolved, at the same time, that if he were asked by the 
 King to form an Administration, he would advise the King 
 to admit both Fox and Lord Grenville as members of a 
 Ministry competent to direct affjiirs in a great crisis ; but 
 that if the King should insist upon the exclusion of I'ox, 
 he would give up this plan of comprehension, and be con- 
 tent with a narrow basis. Those who knew Pitt's inten- 
 tion could easily foresee the result. Pitt was a nuich 
 greater statesman tiian the King. J[e had wide and ex- 
 tensive views (tf {jolicy, which the King had not ; he 
 was a master (jf ancient and modern literature, which 
 the Kiiit: was not ; he could, at any moment, wield all 
 the strength, and (li»j)lay all the grace, of the English 
 language, while the King coidd not ])ut togetiier two 
 sentences without faults in grammar. But in the resources of 
 • "Stanhope's Life of I'itt," vol. iv, ]., 11.'. 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 skill and subtlety, and of what is commonly called kingcraft, 
 the King was infinitely superior to Pitt. From the com- 
 mencement of his reign, he had practised on the states- 
 men of the greatest fame and popularity. He had defeated 
 Pitt by appealing to George Grenville and the Duke of 
 Bedford ; he had got rid of G. Grenville by calling in 
 Lord Rockingham ; he had supplanted Lord Rockingham 
 by calling upon Lord Chatham ; upon Lord Chatham's 
 failure, he had supplied his loss by making a tool of Lord 
 North ; and, lastly, he had defeated the coalition of Fox and 
 North by calling upon the younger Pitt. Then, again, as to 
 measures, he had baffled the plans of Pitt the elder, which 
 would have pacified America, and the large and liberal views 
 of Pitt the younger, which would have given peace to Ireland, 
 by the intimate knowledge of men and of the national 
 character, which gave him a mastery over the greatest and 
 brightest of his subjects. 
 
 The King, in any crisis of this kind, also derived great 
 strength from two circumstances — one, the respectable stead- 
 iness of his domestic life, and the other, the sympathy of his 
 subjects with the most bigoted and most prejudiced of his 
 opinions. If the King thought that the American rebels 
 must be put down, so also thought his people ; if the King 
 was determined to exclude the Roman Catholics from 
 Parliament and from office, his people applauded his con- 
 scientious attachment to the principles of our Protestant 
 Constitution. 
 
 It is observed by Lord Grenville, in one of his private 
 letters, that George III. always knew when he must give 
 way. It was obvious that at this time Addington could 
 not long be upheld by the royal arm, and the King's object 
 was to admit Pitt, without colleagues of capacity, as the head
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 325 
 
 of a narrow Government. But before the King would con- 
 sent to listen to any terms of capitulation, or to abandon 
 the pilot who could not weather the storm, more par- 
 liamentary debate and more private communications were 
 necessiiry. 
 
 In a letter of the 11th of April, Pitt mentions to Lord 
 Melville, among those who would be ready to abandon 
 Addington on a proper occasion (or convenient opportunity, 
 we might add), the Chancellor (Lord Eldon), the Duke of 
 Portland, Lord Chatham, Lord Castlereagh, and others. 
 
 On the 5th of April, Parliament met again, after the Easter 
 recess, and on the IGth, on the motion respecting the Irish 
 Militia, both Fox and Pitt having spoken against the measure 
 as inadequate, Ministers had a majority of only twenty-one. 
 After the division, Addington sent a message to Pitt to ask 
 whether he would, through any conmion friend, or in any 
 other way, communicate to him his views on the present state 
 of affairs. Pitt's answer was that, neither through any com- 
 mon friend nor in any other way, would he impart to Mr. 
 Addington his views on the present state of affairs, but that 
 if the King ciiose to send him a message through any j)erson 
 with whom he could properly communicate, he would state to 
 that person his views of the present state of public affairs. 
 Addington, therefore, advised the King to send such a 
 message, and Lord Eldon (the Chancellor) was entrusted by 
 the King with a message to Pitt. 
 
 It is desirable, in view of the im])ending fall of Addington, 
 to make clear the relation to each otlirr of the diliercnt 
 parties who had at sundry times, and on sej)arate occasions, 
 co-(jj)erated against Addington. 
 
 It was admitU.'d on all hands that i'itt w;is in no way 
 pledged to Fox. FoX was the first to admit Pitt's entin;
 
 326 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 fi'eedom from any engagement to him. With regard to the 
 Grenvilles, they had offered to Fox a complete union of 
 parties, but, although Fox was in favour of an acceptance 
 of these overtures, his friends had objected to anything more 
 than concert on particular motions. 
 
 Fox seems to have been anxious, in a spirit of fairness, 
 to make this clear, as we may judge from the following 
 extract of a letter of Mr, Thomas Grenville of the 6th of 
 ]May : 
 
 " Charles Street, May 6th, 1 804. 
 
 " Dear Chaeles, — T do not find your letter to-night till 
 it is too late so to answer it as that you can hear from me 
 before to-morrow morning. I will lose no time in com- 
 municating to my brother, to Lord Spencer, and to Windham, 
 the sentiments which you wish them to know that you enter- 
 tain respecting them, more especially because I consider that 
 declaration from you in this moment as a valuable and 
 honourable testimony of that fair and open and manly 
 character which so much distinguishes you. It is true that 
 the persons whom you name are unfettered by engagement. 
 It is honourable in you to take this moment to declare that 
 you consider them to be so, and it is gratifying to me to feel 
 confident that (in the case of such an offer as you describe), 
 their conduct will show the sincerity of the principles which 
 they have avowed." * 
 
 Parliamentary proceedings advanced step by step with 
 private communications. 
 
 On the 23rd of April, Fox moved to refer the several 
 bills for the defence of the country to a committee of the 
 whole House. Pitt, in an able speech, supported the motion. 
 At four in the morning, the House divided : 
 
 * " Correspondence," vol. iv. p. Tjo.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 327 
 
 For the motion . 256 
 
 Against 204 
 
 ^Fajority for Ministers . . • . 52 
 
 The concurrence of Fox, I'itt, the Grenvilles, AVindhara, 
 Grev, and even AVilberforcc in this vote of want of confi- 
 dence was more decisive than the numbers. Addington 
 still hesitated, but on the 25th, Pitt, in a speech of great 
 power, opposed going into committee on the Army of Re- 
 serve Suspension Bill. Fox supported Pitt. The numbers 
 were — 
 
 For Ministers 240 
 
 Against 203 
 
 The majority had thus diminished by !(!, the minority only 
 by one. 
 
 On the 26th, Addington, considering that attacks thus 
 renewed could not be met successfully by diminishing forces, 
 resolved to resign, and in an audience of the King, declared his 
 intention. The King received the announcement with great 
 concern, and proposed to the favourite to dissolve Farliament, 
 or take any other step by which the ^Ministry might be 
 maintained in power. 
 
 (Jn the 27th, a most importiint letter from Pitt was de- 
 livered to the King by the (Chancellor. 
 
 In this letter, Pitt unociuivocally declared to the King 
 that "an observation of twelve months of the diflerent mea- 
 sures which have been suggested or adopted by (jovernment, 
 and of the mode in which they have b(!en executed, has at 
 length impressed me with a full conviction that, while the 
 Administration remains in its jjresent shape, and ])articnlarly 
 under tlu! direction of tiie ])erson now holding the chief place 
 in it, every attempt to j)rovide adetpiately and eli'ectuallv lor
 
 328 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the public defence, and for meeting the extraordinary and 
 unprecedented efforts of the enemy, will be fruitless." Pitt 
 went on to say that " the same causes would prevent the 
 success of any attempt to take advantage of a favourable 
 conjuncture to establish such a co-operation abroad as might 
 rescue the Continent from the miserable and abject situation 
 to which it is now reduced." 
 
 This letter was of course very distasteful to the King. But 
 a letter to the Chancellor, of May the 2nd, asking for an 
 audience, and giving an outline of the proposals he should 
 submit to the Crown, was still more repugnant to the King's 
 rooted prejudices. Pitt fairly and fully pointed out in 
 this letter " a very general desire that all the abilities and 
 resources of the country should be exerted in meeting its 
 present danger ; and in pursuit of this object, all the points 
 of difference, however great and important, which at a former 
 period prevailed in this country, seem to all practical purpose 
 to be superseded." 
 
 Pitt went on to say that " he should ask the King's 
 permission to converse both with Lord Grenville and Fox, 
 though he confessed that, if the King should feel insuperable 
 objections to any part of his proposal, however he might regret 
 his Majesty's decision, he should feel bound to acquiesce in it." 
 
 Surely it was not necessary to declare beforehand that he did 
 not mean to persist in proposals which he thought it his public 
 duty to make, and thus prepare for a retreat before the battle. 
 
 The King's answer is so curious that it is worth giving entire : 
 
 " Queen's Palace, May 5, 1804. 
 
 " The King has, through the channel of the Lord Chancellor, 
 expressed to Mr. Pitt his approbation of that gentleman's 
 sentiments of personal attachment to his Majesty, and his 
 ardent desire to support any measure that may be conducive
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 329 
 
 to the real interest of the King or his Royal Family ; but, at 
 the same time, it Ciinnot but be lamented that Mr. Pitt should 
 have taken so rooted a dislike to a gentleman who has the 
 greatest claim to approbation from his King and his country 
 for his most diligent and able discharge of his duties of 
 Speaker of the House of Commons for twelve years, and of 
 his still more handsomely coming forward (when ]Mr. Pitt and 
 some of his colleagues resigned their employments) to support 
 his King and country when the most ill-digested and danger- 
 ous proposition was brought forward by the enemies of the 
 Established Church. His j\Iajesty has too good an opinion of 
 ]\Ir. Pitt to think he could have given his countenance to 
 such a measure had he weighed its tendency with that atten- 
 tion which a man of his judgment should call forth when the 
 subject under consideration is of so serious a nature ; but the 
 King knows how strongly the then two Secretaries of State who 
 resigned at that period had allied themselves to the Koman 
 Catholics. The former,* by his private correspondence with 
 a former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, f showed that he was 
 become the follower of all the wild ideas of 3Ir. Burke ; and 
 the other,! from obstinacy, his usual director. 
 
 " Tlie King can never ff)rget the wound that was intended 
 at the palladium of our Church Establishment, the Test Act, 
 and the indelicacy, not to call it worse, of wanting to forego 
 
 • Mr. Dundaj). 
 
 t The rcfcronce seems here to be to Lord Westmoreland, and to the period of 1 793 
 and 1794, Mr. IJosc, in re))orting his long conversation with the Kinjj at Wey- 
 mouth, in i^eptcmlK-r, 1804, siiys : " I am |K?rsiuKle<l his Mnji-sty iVlt uncnniforfably 
 on the siihJMrt of the li-tters his lord.ship (Melville) wrote to Lord Westmoreland 
 relative to the question of Catholic emancipation, while the l.itter wns Loi^ 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, which letteru hiit Majesty told nic I.onl Westmoreland had 
 ■hown to him, kwpinj; them, with the others he had received on the same point, 
 bound up in a volume." — " iJiarJes," vol. ii. j). 1G4. 
 
 J Lord Grenville.
 
 330 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 his solemn Coronation Oath. He therefore here avows that 
 he shall not be satisfied unless Mr. Pitt makes as strong 
 assurances of his determination to support that wise law as 
 Mr. Pitt in so clear a manner stated in 1796 in the House 
 of Commons — viz., that the smallest alteration of that law 
 would be a death-wound to the British Constitution. 
 
 " The whole tenour of Mr. Fox's conduct since he quitted 
 his seat at the Board of Treasury, when under age, and more 
 particularly at the Whig Club and other factious meetings, 
 rendered his expulsion from the Privy Council indispensable, 
 and obliges the King to express his astonishment that Mr. 
 Pitt should one moment harbour the thought of bringing such 
 a man before his royal notice. To prevent the repetition of 
 it, the King declares that if Mr. Pitt persists in such an idea, 
 or in proposing to consult Lord Grenville, his Majesty will 
 have to deplore that he cannot avail himself of the ability of 
 Mr. Pitt with necessary restrictions. These points being 
 understood, his JMajesty does not object to Mr. Pitt's forming 
 such a plan for conducting the public business as may under 
 all circumstances appear to be eligible ; but should Mr. Pitt 
 unfortunately find himself unable to undertake what is here 
 proposed, the King will in that case call for the assistance of 
 such men as are truly attached to our happy Constitution, 
 and not seekers of improvements which, to all dispassionate 
 men, must appear to tend to the destruction of that noble 
 fabric which is the pride of all thinking minds and the envy 
 of all foreign nations. 
 
 " The King thinks it but just to his present servants to 
 express his trust that, as far as the public service will permit, 
 he may have the benefit of their further services. 
 
 "George R."* 
 
 * " Life of Pitt," A'ol. iv. App. p. viii.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 331 
 
 In reply to this intemperate letter, Pitt asked once more 
 for an audience. But lie airain declared his wiHiiifrness 
 to acquiesce in the exclusion of Fox, and again professed 
 his resolution to prevent, as far as was in his power, any 
 agitation of the Catholic question. 
 
 The Kinjr wrote on the 5th to Lord Eldon, that he 
 doubted whether Pitt would choose to have a personal in- 
 terview, or " whether he will not rather prepare another 
 essay, containing as many empty words and little infor- 
 mation as the one he had before transmitted." 
 
 But on the 7th, the King saw Pitt, and becoming con- 
 vinced that Addington could not be kept from sinking, 
 even when propped up by the royal arm it was evidently 
 his object to get Pitt back, with as few colleagues of 
 large views and superior talents as possible. Accord- 
 iiiirly. he emjjloycd all his powers both of cajolery and 
 of obstinacy. " I must congratulate your i\[ajesty," said 
 Pitt, "on looking better now than on your recovery 
 from your last illness," alluding to the spring of 1801. 
 "That is not to be wondered at," replied the King. "I 
 was then on the point of parting with an old friend ; I am 
 now about to regain one." 
 
 The skill and promptitude of this flattering answer could 
 ncjt be surpassed, and went far to secure a victory over his 
 j)0werful hubjec-t. 
 
 In the rest of the conversation, the King was absolute and 
 determined. "Never," said Pitt, "in any conversation J 
 have had with the King in my life has he so baffled me." 
 
 Yet no one had a right to doubt Pitt's sincerity. Indeed, 
 he prevailed so far as to obtain the King's consent to ad- 
 mit tiie Grenvillcs and some of the friend- of I'ox. lint 
 I'ox liimself was pnjscribed, with a brand (»ii liis nanic.
 
 332 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The King, impatient to proclaim his triumph, wrote im- 
 mediately to Addlngton, with a view, no doubt, to make 
 his sentence of ostracism public : " Mr. Fox is excluded by 
 the express command of the King to Mr. Pitt."* 
 
 The consequences could hardly be doubtful. Fox him- 
 self, indeed, having received a communication from Pitt 
 through Lord Grenville, declared at once that he had ex- 
 pected his exclusion by the King ; that, at his age, he was 
 not ambitious of office, but that he had many followers 
 attached to him, and he should be glad that some of them 
 should hold office under Pitt.t 
 
 But Fox's friends, led by Mr. Grey, could not, as 
 men of honour, acquiesce for a moment in the public stigma 
 which the King had affixed upon their honest and courageous 
 chief. They met at Carlton House the same evening, and 
 unanimously agreed not to accept office if Fox were ex- 
 cluded. The Grenvilles, also, though not bound either 
 by engagement or party connection, were too honourable 
 and high-minded to acquiesce in the royal proscription. 
 They met the same evening at Camelford House, where 
 Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Windham, followed 
 by the rest of their friends, declared their adherence to the 
 plan of a comprehensive Administration. In a letter to Pitt, 
 dated on the 8th of May, and evidently intended as the 
 manifesto of his party, Lord Grenville declared his sentiments. 
 
 The following are the grounds upon which the refusal of 
 office are placed in this letter : 
 
 " It is unnecessary to dwell on the mischiefs which have 
 already resulted from placing the great offices of Government 
 
 * " Life of Sidmouth," vol. ii. p. 288, beginning: " The King has this instant 
 concluded," &c. 
 
 t " Stanhope's Life of Pitt," vol. iv. p. 172.
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 333 
 
 in weak and incapable hands. We see no hope of any effectual 
 remedy for these mischiefs but by uniting in the public service 
 ' as large a proportion as possible of the weight, talents, and 
 character to be found in public men of all descriptions, and 
 without any exceptions.' This opinion I have already had 
 occasion to express to you in the same words, and we have for 
 some time been publicly acting in conformity to it ; nor can 
 we, while we remain impressed with that persuasion, concur 
 in defeating an object for which the circumstances of the 
 present times afford at once so strong an inducement and 
 so favourable an occasion. 
 
 " An opportunity now offers such as this country has 
 seldom seen for giving to its Government, in a moment 
 of peculiar difficulty, the full benefit of the service of all 
 those who, by the public voice and sentiment, are judged 
 most capable of contributing to its ])rosperity and safety. 
 The wishes of the public on this subject are completely in 
 unison with its interests, and the advantages which, not this 
 country alone, but all Europe and the whole civilized world, 
 mitrht derive from the establishment of such an Administra- 
 tion at ?uch a crisis, would probably have exceeded the most 
 sanguine expectations. 
 
 " We are certainly not ignorant of the difficulties which 
 might have obstructed the iinal accomplishment of such an 
 object, however earnestly pursued ; but wiicn, in the very 
 fir.-t instance, all trial of it is precluded, and when this 
 denial is made the condition (jf all subsequent arrangements, 
 we cannot but feel that there are no motives, of whatever 
 de8<Til)tion, which could justify our taking an active part in 
 the establiahment of a system so adverse to our deliberate 
 and declared opinion.s."* 
 
 ♦ '• Vox'i CorrenKjuJence," vol. iv. |>. ')'>, unj elsewhere.
 
 334 
 
 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Pitt, who could not fail to be touched with the mao-- 
 nanimity of Fox's conduct, and who could hardly be surprised 
 that Fox's friends chose not to take advantage of his generous 
 self-denial, was deeply hurt at, and keenly resented, Lord 
 Grenville's determination. Lord Eldon has recorded this 
 resentment in his private papers : " I recollect Mr. Pitt 
 saying, with some indignation, he would teach that proud 
 man that, in the service and with the confidence of the Kino-, 
 he could do without him, though he thought his health was 
 such that it would cost him his life." 
 
 Pitt was not mistaken : the effort cost him his life. We 
 may well ask, for what was this sacrifice made ? 
 
 The answer must be that, when Pitt had conquered 
 Addington in the Commons, he was himself conquered by 
 the King in the closet, and that, unfortunately for himself 
 and his country, he abandoned the path of the Constitution, 
 and sacrificed his own opinions to the personal aversions and 
 bigoted prejudices of the King. The consequences may be 
 easily discerned by comparing the Ministry which Pitt had 
 projected with that which he actually formed : 
 
 First Lord of the Treasury- 
 Secretaries of State . .< 
 
 President of Council 
 Lord Privy Seal . 
 Admiralty . . . 
 Chancellor of Duchy 
 Board of Control . 
 Lord Steward . . 
 Board of Trade . . 
 Secretary for Ireland 
 Secretary at War . , 
 
 As intended by Pitt. As formed by Pitt. 
 
 Mr. Pitt Mr. Pitt. 
 
 ]\Ir. Fox Lord Harrowby. 
 
 Lord Melville Lord Camden. 
 
 Lord Fitzvvilliam . . . Lord Hawkesbury. 
 
 Lord Greuville .... Duke of Portland. 
 
 Duke of Portland . . . Lord Westmoreland. 
 
 Lord Spencer Lord Melville. 
 
 IMr. Windham Lord Mulgrave. 
 
 Lord Castlereagh . . . Lord Castlereagh. 
 
 Lord Camden 
 
 Lord Harrowby .... 
 
 Mr. Canning 
 
 Mr. Grey Mr. Dundas. 
 
 But it is not merely in the comparison of men to fill the
 
 I 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 335 
 
 offices of State that the ditierence is to be perceived. The 
 union of Pitt, Fox, Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer, Grey, 
 and Windham in the Cabinet would have given a vigour 
 to our efforts at home, and a weight to our Councils 
 abroad, which could not otherwise be obtained. ]-*itt had 
 truly judged that all the questions which had divided 
 statesmen from 1793 to 1801 had given way to the para- 
 mount questions : How was England to be saved from 
 destruction? I low was Europe to be delivered from 
 oppression ? In this task, Pitt, Fox, and their followers 
 were willing to combine. The prejudices and personal 
 animosity of the King defeated the project. Some excuse 
 has been made for the King on the ground of his paternal 
 feelings. It has been said : " He complained of the great 
 Whig statesman, not merely as a sovereign, but as a father. 
 To the example of Mr. Fox he imputed both the lavish 
 waste and the loose amours of the Prince of Wales." " To 
 the precepts of Fox he imputed the Prince's politics, so 
 directly in opposition to the King's."* 
 
 But the Prince of Wales did not need the example of Fox 
 to countenance the lavish waste and the loose amours to 
 which he was by nature prone, and from which he was by 
 education not restrained. In fact. Fox had nothing lo do 
 either with his extravagance or his amours. As to Fox's 
 political precepts, the Prince of Wales had never followed 
 the teachings of Fox during the French War. So that 
 although 
 
 " The whi!>ix}r tli.it to greatness still too nciir 
 Pvi'lia])« yet vibrate:* on tlie Sovereign's e;ir," 
 
 it wa.s in reality the pride of the S()verci<rn, and not tlic 
 resentment of the father, which proscribed I'ux. in Ls()0, 
 
 • Lord JstAiihoiic'-s " Life of I'itt,"
 
 336 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the King made no objection whatever to Lord Grenville's 
 doing that which he had not permitted to Pitt in 1804. 
 For he knew that Lord Grenville would be firm where Pitt 
 was obsequious. 
 
 There is something very sad in the position of Pitt in 
 May, 1804. In 1800, he had conceived a great and large 
 plan, by which Ireland might have been induced to give her 
 heart as well as her hand to Great Britain. In 1804, he had 
 projected a comprehensive union of parties in one Adminis- 
 tration. But neither as to measures nor as to men was he 
 permitted to follow the bent of his own genius. Cabined 
 and confined by the narrow spirit and strong will of the King, 
 he laboured on from May, 1804, to January, 1806 — little more 
 than a year and a half of painful troubled life. Had he 
 adhered to his better judgment, it is probable that Austerlitz 
 would never have happened, and that his own life would 
 have been spared for some years longer. Most assuredly 
 his political reputation would not have suffered if he had 
 consulted the interests of his country rather than the will of 
 the King*
 
 CHARLES JAIMES FOX. 337 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 W.VK. — PLANS OF NAPOLEON. — VICTORY OF TRAFALGAR. 
 
 The history of Pitt's last Administration, though illus- 
 trated by the great victory of Trafalgar, is a melancholy 
 one. Failing in health, he was repeatedly compelled by the 
 claims of public business to give up the rest and the journeys 
 to Bath which were necessary to repair his waste of strength. 
 Deprived of the assistance of his former colleagues. Lord 
 Grenvillc, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Windham, he was com- 
 pelled by an accidental fall of Lord Harrowby to forego the 
 aid of the cultivated talents and acute mind of that accom- 
 plished statesman,* Lord Melville, his only efficient col- 
 league, a man of singular energy, sense, and capacity for 
 business, was wrenched from his side by the discovery that 
 he had violated an Act of Parliament, and apj)ro])riated to 
 other j)urposes the moneys entrusted to him as Treasurer 
 of tiie Navy. The vote of the House of Commons condenni- 
 ing I>ord ^lelville gave to Pitt a Jiang from which he probably 
 never recovered. When the vote w;is declared, he pressed 
 hia hat upon his brow, and the tears fell down his checks.! 
 
 * Lord MiilpTive mippliod the j)lnoe of I,oi<l Harrowhy. Coming in one day to 
 I'itfi lireikfaht, he rfmarkoU v.itli nurpriMs a liiokcu i'gg-»poon. " Have yoii not 
 I." Mild Lilly Ui^lor Stiinlu»|ie, " tiiat Mr. I'itt ^omctimes ii*^ vtry sh|,'ht 
 iiiHtniinrnU to i-flkt hi.'j ends?"—" Life of I'ltt," vol. iv. p. 87, 
 t "Life of Pitt," vol. iv. 
 
 VOL. III. y-
 
 338 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The plan of Napoleon, now Emperor of the French, for 
 the invasion of England was conceived with all the ability of 
 a consummate master of the art of war. Napoleon saw very 
 clearly that if his flotilla and gun-brigs carrying 60,000 
 men should attempt to cross the Channel, they would be sunk, 
 disabled, and dispersed by the naval forces of England. To 
 provide against the disaster and meet the difficulty thus fore- 
 seen, the great warrior projected a plan for uniting his 
 various squadrons from different ports, and obtaining for a 
 short time, perhaps for only twenty-four hours, the command 
 of the Channel. In 1804, he prepared to accomplish his 
 object by sending the fleet from Toulon to raise the blockade 
 of Brest and Rochefort, and, collecting their squadrons, to 
 appear at once with the whole force between Boulogne and 
 Dover. The death of his favourite admiral deranged this 
 plan for a time. 
 
 In 1805, the Emperor conceived a still larger and wider 
 plan. 
 
 Admiral Villeneuve was ordered to sail to the West 
 Indies, and when it might be expected the English fleet 
 would follow, to return rapidly back and relieve the blockaded 
 ports, as in the former year. The war between England and 
 Spain gave Napoleon the further advantage of the aid of 
 the Spanish fleets. 
 
 It is not pleasant to contemplate how near Napoleon 
 was to the attainment of at least the first part of his 
 object. 
 
 On the 30th of March, Villeneuve sailed from Toulon, and 
 taking with him, from Cadiz, Admiral Gravina, with some 
 Spanish ships, cast anchor at Martinique on the 24th of May. 
 Here he was joined by Missiessy, from Rochefort, but not by 
 Ganteaurae, wno had been unable to escape from Brest.
 
 CILVELES JAMES FOX. 339 
 
 Nelson, learning Villeneuve's departure, followed him to 
 the West Indies, whither he supposed him to have gone. 
 
 On the 9th of June, Villeneuve set sail, on his return to 
 Europe, with twenty sail of the line. On the 22nd of July, 
 otf Cape Finisterre, he met Sir Robert Calder with fifteen. 
 Two Spanish ships struck their flags to the English fleet, 
 but on the next day, the action was not renewed, and the 
 hostile fleets parted — Villeneuve to Corunna and Ferrol, 
 Calder for the English coast. The insignificance of this 
 result excited great indignation in England, Nelson, on his 
 ])art, returning to Europe, arrived at Gibraltar on the 19th of 
 July. Finding the enemy had not passed the Straits, he set 
 off" for the Irish coast, but not meeting with the French fleet 
 there, he joined Admiral Cornwallis ofl^ Brest on the 15th of 
 August. 
 
 At the end of July, Villeneuve was at Ferrol, where he 
 found nine ships of the line, raising his force to twenty-nine 
 sail of the line ; he found also pressing orders from Napoleon 
 to sail at once to Brest, and relieve Ganteaumc from the 
 blockade of Cornwallis. Had Villeneuve executed these 
 orders, Cornwallis must in all probability have retired before 
 the superior force of the Allies, and Villeneuve, with between 
 thirty and forty sail of the line, would have obtained the com- 
 mand of the Channel. Invasion of England might then have 
 become at leaot possible. 
 
 On the 4th of August, Napoleon wrote to Dccrcs, his 
 Minister of ^larine: 
 
 "Tiie English do not' know what is hanging over their 
 head.'. If we can be ma.sters but for twelve hours, TAnyle- 
 terre a v<'cu." 
 
 But Villeneuve was unecjual to the immense responsibility 
 with which he had been charged. Eirly in August, he left 
 
 z 2
 
 340 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Ferrol, and, distrusting his strength, sailed for Cadiz to 
 obtain fresh reinforcements. On the 15th of August, Nelson 
 joined Cornwallis, and being appointed to command the 
 whole fleet, he arrived off Cadiz on the 29th of September, 
 and blockaded the French and Spanish fleets. 
 
 On the 21st of October, he defeated the enemy, with the 
 loss of nineteen sail of the line to the combined, fleet, while 
 the victory was rendered mournful to England by the death 
 of Nelson himself. 
 
 A greater admiral than Nelson never adorned the naval 
 service of England. Sagacious and skilful in his plans, 
 daring and prompt in their execution, he spread terror 
 wherever he went, and by his name alone intimidated the 
 enemies of his country. 
 
 On the day of the battle, he appeared in full uniform, with 
 the star of the Bath on his breast. A great believer in the 
 saying that every bullet has its billet, he replied many years 
 before to a lady who had advised him not to expose his 
 person so recklessly, as he was wont to do : " The bullet 
 that kills me will have on it, ' Horatio Nelson, his with 
 speed.' " 
 
 Fox, Math the rest of England, greatly rejoiced at the 
 victory, and deeply lamented. the loss of Nelson. Fox wrote 
 to Lord Holland : 
 
 "It is a great event, and by its solid as well as brilliant 
 advantages, far more than compensates for the temporary 
 relief which it will certainly affbrd to Pitt in his dis- 
 tress. I am very sorry for poor Nelson, and though his 
 conduct at Naples was atrocious, I believe he was at bottom 
 a good man," &c.* 
 
 Fox highly valued the great admiral, and admired his 
 
 * " Corvespondence," vol. iv. p. 121,
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 341 
 
 energ\% hi? skill, and his simplicity of character, though he 
 distrusted his political judgment. 
 
 At no time during the French revolutionary war did 
 England incur so great a danger as at the period when 
 Villeneuve executed so weakly the bold plan of the mighty 
 Emperor. But Napoleon's eagle eye swept over the whole 
 horizon, and, regardless of the enemy who had escaped, pre- 
 pared to transfix at one fell swoop the quarry still within his 
 reach.
 
 342 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LXVII. 
 
 PITT'S KENEWED policy of coalitions. — TREATY OF PETERSBUKG. — ULM, 
 VIENNA, AUSTEKLITZ. — TREATY OF PRESBURG. 
 
 We have seen how, in the first fervour of the revolutionary 
 war, the energy of the French people gave them the victory 
 over the combined forces of the Allies, and how Pitt tried 
 in vain by prodigal subsidies to awaken an energy and 
 vicrour in Austria which had no existence in the Councils of 
 that empire. 
 
 In 1804, he had to contend with France in a new form. 
 The Republican fury no longer existed ; in its place was a des- 
 potic chief of surpassing military talents, great in war, great 
 in administration, who had restored the national Christian 
 worship, and had given to the people a new code framed by 
 the hands of learned Royalist and Republican lawyers, com- 
 bining the elements of the old laws of France with the 
 lights of modern science. 
 
 While thus amending the laws. Napoleon took care, by 
 revoking the most cruel of the measures devised against the 
 emigrants, and by conciliatory conduct towards all parties, to 
 unite the whole nation in his favour. In the latter days of 
 the Directory, he had said to a private friend : " Ces gens-ci 
 ont gouverne par V esprit de coterie ;' ilfaut gouverner par 
 Vesprit national^ Thus inspired. Napoleon had at his
 
 CHARLES J^iMES FOX. 343 
 
 command nil the resources of France. He could raise her 
 armies to almost any amount, and he could direct them, with 
 the skill of a Hannibal or a Caesar, to the most vulnerable 
 points in the bodies of his Continental rivals. 
 
 But while Napoleon had so many resources for war, 
 he was not averse to peace. In June, 1804, Fox and 
 Grey communicated to Pitt an overture they had received 
 from Mr. Livingstone, American ^Minister at Paris, who 
 had communicated with j\r. de Talleyrand and received 
 from him a project of a treaty of peace. Holland and 
 Switzerland were to be evacuated by France ; Malta to be 
 delivered to Russia. Some months afterwards, M. Novosilt- 
 zotF brought from Russia a project of mediation. But Pitt 
 would not hear either of the French project or the Russian. 
 He had on his side nothing to give but those large sub- 
 sidies by which he had formerly enabled Prussia to stifle 
 the last breath of Polish nationality, and Austria to absorb 
 the Republic of A'enice. Preferring, therefore, schemes of 
 war which had repeatedly failed to plans of peace, which, 
 based on the guarantee of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, 
 might h>ave aflorded, if not indemnity for the past, a fair 
 hojie of security for the future, he began again to scatter 
 subsidies and to organize defeat. Tiie first Sovereign with 
 whom the Minister succeeded in forming a treaty was the 
 Emperor of liussia. On the 11th of April, 1805, a treaty 
 was signed at Petersburg by Lord Cranville Leveson, on the 
 part of Kn<jland, by I'rince Adam Czartoryski and M. 
 Novosiltzoff, on the ])art of Russia. 
 
 Tiie evacuation of Hanover and the north of Ciermany, ou 
 the one hand, of Piedmont and tlic whole of Italv, on the 
 otiiyr, with the independence of ilollaiid and Switzerland, 
 were the declared oltjects of this treaty. England w;us to
 
 344 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 furnish not only troops and ships, but subsidies in money. 
 Other Powers of Europe, especially Austria and Prussia, 
 were to be invited to join for these purposes in a general 
 European league. Pitt, having so far succeeded, endea- 
 voured, subsidy in hand, to procure the co-operation of the 
 other Powers. 
 
 Thus attracted, the Emperor of Austria, on the 9th of 
 August, acceded at St. Petersburg to the treaty of England 
 and Russia, demanding at the same time a grant of three 
 millions sterling. 
 
 Pitt then, in the same spirit, sent orders to offer sub- 
 sidies to Prussia for her adherence to the new coalition. 
 But the eagle watched his movements. 
 
 When Napoleon heard that Villeneuve had gone to 
 Cadiz, he expressed in mutterings and abrupt questions his 
 rage at the defeat of what he called the best and most certain 
 of success of all the projects he had ever devised. But, 
 speedily recovering from his transport of rage, he dictated 
 to Daru, the historian of Venice, then the chief clerk of his 
 War Office, a series of combinations by which the various 
 corps of his Grand Army were to be assembled from different 
 parts of France, and to arrive on a fixed day in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Danube. 
 
 On the 2nd of September, the Emperor left Boulogne, and 
 on the 26th, he was at Strasburg. General Mack, on the 8th 
 of September, had crossed the Inn, and had posted himself at 
 Ulm. 
 
 Napoleon told his troops that he had now more need of 
 their legs than of their arms. By a series of marches some- 
 what resembling Marlborough's march before the battle of 
 Blenheim, Napoleon placed his army between Ulm g.nd 
 Vienna, and, in a few^ days, forced Mack to surrender. On
 
 CHAKLES JA:MES FOX. 345 
 
 the 19th of October, the capitulation was signed, and on the 
 20th, the day before the battle of Trafalgar, j\Jack marched 
 out of Ulm at the head of thirty thousand good troops, who 
 laid down their arms in presence of Napoleon. 
 
 The Emperor of the French, following up this blow, re- 
 placed his ally, the Elector of Bavaria, in his palace at 
 Munich, and marching onwards, his vanguard entered Vienna 
 on the 13th of November. 
 
 On the 2nd of December was fought the great battle of 
 Austerlitz, in which Napoleon, with consummate skill, drew 
 on the enemy to attack his centre, and then falling upon 
 them with vigour and masterly combination, drove Austrians 
 and Russians in confusion before him. The loss of the 
 Allies was said to be fifteen thousand killed and wounded, 
 twenty thousand prisoners, one hundred and eighty pieces of 
 cannon taken. 
 
 This decisive victory was followed, on the 25th of Decem- 
 ber, by the peace of Prcsburg. By this treaty, Venice w^as 
 yielded to the kingdom of Italy, and the Tyrol to Bavaria. 
 The Emperor of Russia retired discomfited to his own 
 dominions. 
 
 Such was the end of the l;d)our of Pitt to form a new 
 Coalition. Fox had ])redicte(l the issue of this im])ru- 
 dent attcni])t. In a letter to his nephew of the 24tli of 
 July, 1804, he says: "Prussia without Austria would be 
 worse than nothing, and the latter, in her present state, 
 could only bo a burthen upon us, and possibly — nay, 
 proljably — furnish means of aggrandizing both I'rancc and 
 Prussia. . . . It is (juite vexatious to hear of such 
 folly. Austria, with all her weakness, is the only efiectual 
 barrier to look to in bett(!r times against France — at 
 least, 80 tliese politicians say ; and yet they would, in the
 
 346 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 most disadvantageous moment, and not called upon by any 
 actual aggression on the part of France, risk her total 
 annihilation."* Ulm, Austerlitz, and Presburg could be no 
 surprise to Fox. How the blow told on the shattered health 
 of Pitt we shall see in the next chapter. 
 
 It must be said, however, that until some one nation of the 
 Continent should take a real interest in contesting the su- 
 prerae dominion of France, there was no hope for Europe. 
 
 While the French marched as conquerors over the soil of 
 Germany, they were everywhere received by the people as 
 friends and comrades. The hospitality of their German 
 hosts was celebrated and thankfully remembered by the sol- 
 diers of Napoleon. Neither Austerlitz nor Jena embittered 
 the friendly relations of the victors and the vanquished. 
 
 But until the nations should be prepared to fight for their 
 independence, there was little hope for the Sovereigns and 
 armies of the Continent. It required all the energies of 
 the people of Europe to contend with success against a 
 Sovereign who was more than a match for all the Courts 
 whose alliance Pitt had purchased at so extravagant a price. 
 
 * " Correspoudenue," vol. iv, p. 58.
 
 CIIAELES JAMES FOX. 347 
 
 CHAPTER LXVIII. 
 
 DOMESTIC POUTICS OF ENGLAND. — DECAY AND DEATU OF JIR. riTT. 
 
 The formation of Pitt's second Administration, in 1804, 
 left all political parties in a state of uneasy distrust and 
 vague expectation. Sheridan, Erskiue, and Tierney, had 
 broken off from the small party of whose constancy and 
 union, under Fox, that great leader had so much reason 
 to be proud. "There are but forty of them," said Lord 
 Thurlow, " but there is not one of them who is not ready to 
 be hanged for Fox." 
 
 On the other hand. Lord Castlercagh and Lord llawkes- 
 bury had been for a time led away from their old leader, and 
 had followed a separate standard. IMr. Canning was so little 
 of their mind that he declared himself ready to resign, if a 
 reconciliation took place with Addington. Addington some- 
 times returned to his old chief, and sometimes relied on 
 his following of country genthmien, who felt great confidence 
 in his want of brilliancy, and resented Pitt's attachment to 
 his old friend Dundas and to his young friend Canning. 
 Addington might well say of his party : 
 
 " They think we're honest, for they know we're dull." 
 
 Fox iiad no objection to a coalition of ])arties, provided 
 there were a general exclusion of mediocrities, and no other 
 exclusion whatever. Af other times, he declared he would
 
 348 THE LIFE AND .TIMES OF 
 
 never serve under Pitt, and that he trusted to Pitt's assump- 
 tion of superiority to put an end to any negotiation for a 
 combination of parties. In a letter to Grey, he says: "I 
 presume the intention is to put us in the wrong in the 
 opinions of as many people as possible, and in this way, if 
 Pitt were to manage dextrously, I fear he might have some 
 success. I have strong dependence, however, upon his 
 temper and character, and suspect he will be more anxious 
 to keep himself clear of the imputation of what I should call 
 modesty and humiliation than to fix upon us that of un- 
 reasonableness." 
 
 In this estimate of Pitt, he was not mistaken. But, in fact, 
 after leading in the Cabinet and the House of Commons for 
 many years, it would have been real humiliation for Pitt, if 
 Grey, or Fitzwilliam, or Moira, or Lord Grenville, had been 
 placed at the head of a new Administration. 
 
 Pitt always contended that the First Minister should be 
 the statesman in actual possession of the confidence of the 
 Crown and of the House of Commons, and in this maxim, 
 it appears to me, he was not mistaken. 
 
 Fox, on the other hand, cared only for the Foreign Office, 
 and was quite ready to be second, provided a man like Lord 
 Fitzwilliam were his nominal superior. 
 
 Mr. Rose, a most shrewd observer, long and warmly 
 attached to Pitt, was strongly in favour of immediate coali- 
 tion, thinking that, if the junction were delayed, and Fox 
 were to enter office, at the head of a combined party, led 
 by Fox, Grenville, and Addington, the chief influence in 
 such a Ministry must belong to Fox, and not to Pitt. This 
 was no doubt true, and Pitt, who probably viewed the 
 matter in the same light, besought his Sovereign to allow 
 him to make an overture to Lord Grenville and Fox at this
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 349 
 
 time. P>ut the will which ruled the destinies of England 
 was not propitious. 
 
 At the end of September, 1801, Mr. Hose was at Wey- 
 mouth. The King spoke to him of his late and his present 
 Ministry. He said the change of Lord Ilawkesbury for Lord 
 Harrowby was a most useful one ; that Lord Ilawkesbury 
 was utterly unfit for the situation ; that however Foreign 
 Ministers might differ in other points, their dislike to, and 
 contempt for, Lord Ilawkesbury was unanimous ; that Lord 
 Ilawkesbury always approached him with a vacant kind of 
 grin, and had hardly anything business-like to say to 
 him. 
 
 Tims ill disposed towards Lord Hawkesbury, the King, 
 according: to Mr. Rose, reserved his veto for Fox alone. 
 " His Majesty added" (after stating some particulars) " that 
 he had taken a positive determination not to admit Mr. Fox 
 into his Councils, even at the hazard of a civil war."* 
 
 In January, 180G, the King, without a moment's pause, 
 admitted Fox into his Councils. But he had then no other 
 resource. 
 
 In September, 180."), Pitt went to Cuffnells, on his way 
 from Weymouth. He told Mr. Hose that he considered he 
 could dispose of the offices of Lord Camden, Lord Castle- 
 rcagh, Lord ]Mulgrave, Lord Barham, Lord Harrowby, and 
 Lord Hardwicke, besides minor situations. But when he 
 went to Weymouth and .saw the King, he met with an abso- 
 lute rejection of all his proposals. 
 
 The King told Mr. Rose he would not take a single 
 individual of the Opposition, observing, in a manner that 
 precluded re])ly, "that he could not trust them, and they 
 could have no confidence in him." 
 
 * " l»)ariM» of 0. lU«f," vol. ji. p. 160-7.
 
 350 THE LIFE AND TBIES OF 
 
 Such was the conduct of the King to his favourite Minister, 
 who, beset with difficulties and dangers, foreign and domestic, 
 was still only too ready to sacrifice his life and his country 
 to please his unreasoning master. Mr. Rose thought the 
 increased obstinacy of the King on this point was owing to 
 the influence of Lord Hawkesbury. Possibly Lord Hawkes- 
 bury had heard a whisper of Fox's proposed exclusion of 
 mediocrities, and saw too clearly the consequence. Had 
 Pitt succeeded in his proposals, it is probable that Fox 
 would have been persuaded by his friends to accept 
 the Foreign Office; that Lord Grenville would have been 
 President of the Council, Lord Spencer First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, Mr. Windham Secretary of State, and Mr. Grey 
 Secretary at War. Pitt seems to have formed the same 
 estimate which had been formed by Fox of Mr. Grey's 
 peculiar fitness for conducting the war. 
 
 Pitt returned from Weymouth, however, dispirited, out 
 of health, and almost overwhelmed by a burden which his 
 Sovereign refused to lighten. 
 
 Pitt spent the greater part of October at Walmer Castle, 
 planning expeditions against the French coast. But, dining 
 in London on the 2nd of November, rumours arrived of the 
 disaster at Ulm, and the report was repeated by Lord 
 Malmesbury to Pitt, who sat next him. " Don't believe a 
 word of it ; it is all a fiction," answered Pitt, almost peevishly, 
 and so loud as to be heard by all who were near him. The 
 next day, Pitt and Lord jMulgrave went to Lord Malmesbury 
 with a Dutch newspaper, in which the capitulation of Ulm 
 was inserted at length. As neither of them understood 
 Dutch, they asked Lord Malmesbury to translate it for them. 
 Lord Malmesbury adds : " I observed-but too clearly the 
 effect it had on Pitt, though he did his utmost to conceal it.
 
 CHARLES JAJIES FOX. C51 
 
 This was the last time I saw him. The visit has loft an 
 indelible impression on my mind, as his manner and look 
 were not his own, and gave me, in spite of myself, a fore- 
 bodinfj- of the loss with which we were threatened."* On 
 the 9th of November, Pitt attended the dinner at Gnildhall 
 on Lord flavor's Day. The Lord jMayor proposed Pitt's 
 health, as the saviour of Europe. Pitt replied nearly in 
 these words : " I return you many thanks for the honour you 
 have done me, but Europe is not to be saved by any single 
 man. England has saved herself by her own exertions, and 
 will, as I trust, save Europe by her example." He then sat 
 down. The Duke of Wellington, who heard the speech, 
 said afterwards : " He was scarcely up two minutes, yet 
 nothing could be more perfect." The Duke of Wellington 
 met him in the same month at Lord Camden's, at the 
 Wilderness, and gave to Lord Stanhope many years after- 
 wards this account of him : " I think he did not seem ill 
 in the November previous. He was extremely lively and in 
 good spirits. It is true that he was hj way of being an 
 invalid at that time. A great deal was always said about 
 his takinir his rides, for he used then to ride eighteen or 
 twenty miles a day. ... At dinner, iMr. I'itt drank little 
 wine, but it was at that time the fashion to sup, and he then 
 took a great deal of ])ort-wine and water."! 
 
 I have heard from others who met him at Lord Abercorn's, 
 at tlie Priory, that, besides the wine he drank at dinner, he 
 used to drink as nmcii as a bottle of port-wine with water 
 at supper. I have heard also from j)ersons intimate with 
 Pitt that during his later years, when he had any great 
 exertion to make in the House of Commons, Sir Walter 
 
 • " Miilm'iiliiiry'H Dinn-," vol. iv. 
 
 f " .Slaiilio|ic'» i.ife of Titt," vol. iv. p. 340-7.
 
 352 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Farquhar prepared him for it by administering some strong 
 cordial to keep up his strength. The bodily fatigue and 
 mental excitement of directing the foreign policy, the 
 finances, and the military measures of a great war, were 
 too much for a body already enfeebled by many years of 
 official and parliamentary labour. But the fatal blow was 
 yet to come. 
 
 Mr. Eose says in his " Diary " : " Although he was sometimes 
 indisposed (seldom, indeed, for a long interval without taking 
 cordial medicines) he was, when at Cuffnells in September 
 last, and when I left him at Weymouth in the same month, 
 apparently as well, or nearly so, as I ever saw him. And 
 •from all I heard, there was no failure in his health till the 
 beginning of December, when, more from precaution than 
 from any other cause, he was advised to go to Bath, some 
 symptoms of the gout having appeared. The waters there 
 almost immediately threw the gout into his right foot, and 
 soon after into the left ; but on receiving the account of the 
 armistice, after the battle of Austerlitz, the gout quitted the 
 extremities, and he fell into a debility which continually 
 increased till it deprived the world of a man who appeared 
 to have been born to save it." * 
 
 Lord Stanhope's account is not very different. He says 
 that Mr. Wilberforce, though he never saw Pitt after the 
 battle of Austerlitz, used to speak of " the Austerlitz look." 
 But nothing is more authentic than a statement put in v^rit- 
 ing by Lord Stanhope's father, then Lord Mahon, who 
 was frequently an inmate in the house of Pitt, his uncle. 
 " The immediate cause of his death was the battle of Auster- 
 litz. I dined with him the day before his departure for 
 Bath, when I found him in his usual spirits ; and on inquir- 
 
 * " Diary of G. Rose," vol. ii. p. 235.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. Soo 
 
 ing after his health, 1 learnt from those about him that he 
 had some flying gout, which it was hoped might become a 
 regular tit. Such was, indeed, the effect of the Bath waters ; 
 but after he received the despatches containing the account 
 of that most disastrous battle, he desired a map to be brought 
 to him and to be left alone. His reflections were so j)ainful 
 that the gout was repelled, and attacked some vital 
 organ."* 
 
 As Parliament was ordered to meet on the 20th of Janu- 
 ary, Pitt set out from Bath on the 9th to reach his villa at 
 Putney. The day before the journey, he said emphatically 
 to Lord Melville : •' I wish the King may not live to repent, 
 and sooner than he thinks, the rejection of the advice which I 
 pressed on him at Weymouth." 
 
 On his arrival at Putney, a journey which took him three 
 days, Lady Hester was greatly shocked at his wasted 
 appearance and hollow tone of voice. This was on the 
 11th of January, nine days before the day tixed for the 
 meeting of Parliament. On Tuesday, the 1-lth, he saw 
 Ivord Welle<ley, and spoke to him with lively joy at his 
 return from India, and with spirits as high as ever. Never- 
 theless, Lord Wellesley thus recorded his impression of his 
 appearance : 
 
 " Notwithstanding ]\[r. Pitt's kindness and cheerfulness, 1 
 saw that the hand of death was fixed upon hini. This melan- 
 choly truth was not known or l)elieve:l by citiier his friends 
 or oiiponents. ... I warned Lord (jrenville of !\Ir. 
 Pitt's aj)proaching death. He received the fatal intelligence 
 with the utmost feeling, in an agony of tears, and immedi- 
 ately determined that all hostility in Parliament should be 
 suijpended." 
 
 • " l-lc- Ol I'm," Tol. IV. \>. cJj. 
 
 VOL. 111. - -^
 
 354 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Such, also, was the decision of Fox. On the 21st, 
 there was a meeting of a few of the principal persons of the 
 Opposition at Fox's house. 
 
 " Fox stated to them that he thought it impossible that 
 they could enter into the discussion. He could not while he 
 had the idea that Pitt was in extremities — mentem mortalia 
 tangu7it."* 
 
 On the 22nd, the Bishop of Lincoln, one of the most 
 attached friends of Pitt, informed him of his danger. He 
 then prepared to administer the sacrament to him, but 
 Pitt said he had not strength to go through. The Bishop 
 then desired to pray with him ; upon which Pitt asked Sir 
 Walter Farquhar how long he thought he might hold out. 
 Sir Walter said he could not say he might not recover. Upon 
 which, apparently regardless of so insincere an answer, he 
 turned to the Bishop and said: " He had, as he feared was 
 the case with many others, neglected prayer too much to 
 allow him to hope it could be very efficacious nowT 
 
 He, however, joined the Bishop in prayer with his hands 
 clasped, with much earnestness. He said : " I throw my- 
 self entirely upon the mercy of God through the merits of 
 Christ." He also at this time spoke of the innocency of his 
 life as giving him hope of mercy. During that night, his 
 mind frequently wandered. About half-past two, he ceased 
 moaning. James Stanhope, his nephew, who was watching, 
 says : " Shortly afterwards, with a much clearer voice than he 
 spoke in before, and in a tone I never shall forget, he ex- 
 claimed : 'Oh, my country! how I leave my country!' 
 From that time, he never spoke or moved, and at half-past 
 four, expired without a groan or struggle."! 
 
 * " Life of Horner," Jan. 22, 1806. 
 t « Life of Pitt," voL iv. p. 382.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 355 
 
 There is somethini: in the death of Pitt, at the time at 
 which it happened and in the circumstances attending it, 
 peculiarly mournful. 
 
 He had governed England with a power of which there 
 have been few examples. I'or twenty years and upwards, he 
 was First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer. Ilis oratory was magnificent ; his power of trans- 
 actinir business unequalled. He had the entire confidence of 
 the King ; he had the enthusiastic support of the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 A\'ith all this power, his greatest measure, his French 
 W ar, must be pronounced a failure. He had formed 
 three coalitions on the Continent, he had given to the 
 framing of them the whole resources of his mind, he had 
 lavished upon them, when framed, the treasures accunm- 
 lated by an industrious people in the enjoyment of liberty 
 and commerce ; yet they had ail failed, and the disas- 
 trous termination of the latest of his combinations was 
 the immediate cause of his death. It was not given to 
 him to see the reaction ; ^'imiera and Oporto, Salamanca 
 and \'ittoria, Leipsig and ^\ aterloo, were hidden from his 
 eyes. 
 
 I.<'t us add to thus cat^dogue of misfortunes that Pitt's 
 most eminent friend, the statesman who had conducted the 
 military afi'airs of the country in his first Administration, and 
 who had prepared the fleet for the glories of Trafalgai- 
 during his second, had been impeached by the House of 
 Conmions, and his tlisgracc had drawn from Pitt tears 
 of agony and pain. So nmcli did Pitt feel the jjolitical 
 dauifcr of further attacks in Parliament on this subject, 
 that he is biiid to have remarked to Mr. lluskisson : " Wo 
 might get over th(.' battle <jf Austerlitz : we cannot get 
 
 ^ *\ «■
 
 356 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 over the Tenth Report. Such is the nature of English- 
 men !"* 
 
 Gloomy indeed were the circumstances of defeat and 
 isolation which surrounded Pitt's last hours. 
 
 If, passing from the failure of his foreign policy and the 
 disgrace of his most intimate friend and most able colleague, 
 we consider his general policy, we shall have still more 
 reason to wonder that a Minister powerful beyond example 
 should have accomplished so little. Except the commercial 
 treaty with France and the union with Ireland, no great acts 
 of policy are associated with his name. The first of these 
 measures was soon interrupted by the war with France ; the 
 second was deprived of the healing influence it might have 
 produced if Pitt had been allowed to connect with it a 
 participation of the Roman Catholic body in the rights 
 and privileges of Englishmen. Commercial restrictions and 
 religious disabilities were the system which prevailed after 
 Pitt's death, as before his accession to power. Pitt, as 
 Lord Harrowby often assured me, professed Whig prin- 
 ciples. This I can v/ell belic^ve. He for several years 
 endeavoured to promote reform in Parliament ; he incurred 
 the loss of office in an attempt (o admit Roman Catholics 
 and. Dissenters to Parliament and to office ; he spoke elo- 
 quently for the abolition of the slave trade ; he endeavoured 
 to find a substitute for tithes ; he agreed with Adam Smith 
 in his theory of political economy. But all these enlightened 
 views were blasted ; all progress arrested ; the slave trade 
 continued to flourish, Parliamentary Reform was rejected, 
 reliffious disabilities were maintained, because the wise and 
 liberal views of the Minister were thwarted by the Sove- 
 reign whom he obeyed but too implicitly, and by the Tory 
 
 * From Lord Holland.
 
 CHARLES JAJIES FOX. 357 
 
 party which professed to follow him, but in reality forced 
 him into the path which Lord North had trod before 
 him. 
 
 The unhappy years 1783 and 1784 destroyed at the same 
 time Fox's prospects of office and Pitt's power of doinjr 
 good. Shorn of his beams, Pitt's Tory adherents, as Mr. 
 Canning truly said, worshipped him only in his eclipse. It 
 is a melancholy example of great talents, combined with 
 great power and great integrity, perverted to the injury of 
 mankind. 
 
 If we look for the cause of Pitt's power to do mischief 
 and inability to do good, we must attribute it chiefly to his 
 unhappy decision in regard to the French Revolution. Had 
 he pursued the course he evidently intended in 17U2 — 
 had he remaiiicd neutral and unmoved amid the horrors 
 of the Reign of Terror — he would have spared his country 
 a vast expenditure of money, and a great waste of life 
 Had he framed a wise plan of mediation, as he seems in 
 December, 1792, to have j)rojected, he might have pre- 
 vented or shortened the war on the Continent, and have 
 spared Europe the sufferings and devastations of a protracted 
 strugf:le. 
 
 Ijut when he determined upon taking an active part in the 
 war, he exposed the weak corrupt monarchies of the Conti- 
 nent to a contest with a nation wild in its enthusiiism, 
 maddened by the att«Mnpt to bind it, and burning to give its 
 blood and trea.>^ure in defence of its independence. 
 
 Unless a similar enthuftiasm could be roused in !I(j1- 
 land, (iermany, and Spain, such an attcmjjt was sure to 
 cost millions without result, ;nnl t(j add to the power of 
 France. 
 
 Two excuses have been put forward to palliate, if not to
 
 858 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 justify, this great and irreparable error — one by Lord 
 Macaulay, the other by Sir Archibald Alison. 
 
 Lord Macaulay's plea is, that Pitt was only a tall man in 
 a crowd, )vho was forced on by those behind him. But a 
 tall man in a crowd has no alternative but that of going 
 on or being trampled upon and crushed, whereas Pitt had 
 the obvious resource of telling his Sovereign and Parlia- 
 ment that he was ready to resign his office, but not to under- 
 take a war he disapproved. The nation might still have 
 refused peace, but Pitt would not have had the reproach of 
 having lent his arm to tear down the olive branch. 
 
 The other defence — that of Sir Archibald Alison — is, that 
 if we had not gone to war with France, our own Constitution 
 would have been in danger from democratic innovations. 
 But surely the Parliament and the Crown w^uld have been 
 able to check any pernicious change or seditious movement 
 without making^ war on a neifyhbouring nation which had 
 committed no aggression upon us. For the plea that France 
 was the first to proclaim war is evidently a quibbling evasion 
 of the question. At that time, Pitt had made up his mind, 
 and had already declared that he thought war with France 
 justifiable and even necessary. Had the French not pro- 
 claimed war, England would have done so. 
 
 A few remarks as to the powers of his mind and the leading 
 traits of his character shall conclude the sketch. 
 
 He was a great orator ; master of a stately, correct, and 
 dignified style ; methodical in his arguments, brilliant in his 
 declamation, bitter in his scorn, with a clear and powerful 
 voice, eager and energetic action, moving his hearers at will 
 to anger, to pity, to the highest pitch of patriotism, to the 
 most fervid glow of indignation. He was a good classical 
 scholar, well acquainted with English literature, and able,
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 359 
 
 without premeditation, to express his thoughts, or those of 
 others, in the most happy hinsjuage. As an instance of his 
 knowledjro of Greek, it may be mentioned that one day, when 
 Lord Ilarrowby and Lord Grenville were waiting for Pitt to 
 go out riding, they lit upon a passage in Thucydides which 
 neither of them could construe. I'itt came down-stairs and 
 read it otf to them in English at once. 
 
 Of the qualities of his character, one of the highest was 
 his boldness. Amid all the difficulties of war, of mutiny in 
 the navy, of party conflict, of financial distress, his fortitude 
 never failed. But above all the rest was his integrity. I 
 speak of tlie great motives of public duty and private 
 honour which always animated him. Be his mistakes what 
 they mifrht. he was a great man, conspicuous to his own 
 age, dear to his friends, a pure, conscientious, unsullied 
 statesman. 
 
 In order to fill up some of the deficiencies of the sketch, I 
 propose to quote in this place the opinions of two men who 
 knew him well, the ^Farquis Wellesley and Mr. George 
 Rose. Lord Wellesley, himself an accomplished scholar, 
 says of Pitt : 
 
 " lie was perfectly accomplished in classical literature, 
 both Latin and Greek. The accuracy and strength of his 
 memory surpassed every example which I have observed ; 
 but the intrinsic vigour of his understanding carried him far 
 beyond the mere recollection of the jjrcat models of an- 
 tiquity in oratory, ])oetry, history, ami philosoj)hy. lie had 
 drawn their essence into his own thoughts and language ; 
 and, with astonishing facility, lie apjjUed the whole sj)irit 
 of anc'icnt learning to his daily use. Tliose studies were his 
 constant dcliiilit and resort. At Ilolwood, in Kent, his 
 favourite residence, and at Walmer Castle, his apaitments
 
 3G0 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 were strewn with Latin and Greek classics ; and his conver- 
 sation with those friends who delighted in similar studies 
 frequently turned on that most attractive branch of litera- 
 ture ; but he was so adverse to pedantry or affectation of 
 superior knowledge, that he carefully abstained from such 
 topics in the presence of those who could not take pleasure 
 in them. In these pursuits, his constant and congenial com- 
 panion was Lord Grenville, who has often declared to me that 
 Mr. Pitt was the best Greek scholar he ever conversed 
 with. 
 
 " Mr. Pitt was also as complete a master of all English 
 literature as he was undoubtedly of the English language. 
 He amply possessed every resource which could enliven 
 retirement. No person had a more exquisite sense of the 
 beauties of the country. He took the greatest delight in his 
 residence at Holwood, which he enlarged and improved (it 
 may be truly said) with his own hands. Often have I seen 
 him working in his woods and gardens with his labourers for 
 whole days together, undergoing considerable bodily fatigue, 
 and with so much eagerness and assiduity, that you would 
 suppose the cultivation of his villa to be the principal occupa- 
 tion of his life. He was very fond of exercise on horseback, 
 and when in the country frequently joined the hounds of his 
 neighbourhood, both at Holwood and Walmer Castle. At 
 the latter place, he lived most hospitably, entertaining all his 
 neighbours, as well as the officers of the neighbouring garri- 
 sons and of the ships in the Downs; and he was most 
 attentive to his duties of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, 
 which called him frequently to Dover, and sometimes to the 
 other ports. 
 
 " But, in all places and at all times, his constant delight was 
 society. There he shone with a degree of calm and steady
 
 CHAULKS JAMES FOX. 301 
 
 lustre which often astonished me move than his most splendid 
 efforts in Parliament. His manners were perfectly plain, 
 without any afiectation. Not only Mas he without pre- 
 sumption, or arrogance, or any air of authority, but he 
 seemed utterly unconscious of his own superiority, and much 
 more disposed to listen than to talk. He never betrayed any 
 £ym])tom of anxiety to usurp the lead or to display his own 
 powers, but rather inclined to draw forth others, and to take 
 merely an equal share in the general conversation ; then he 
 plunged heedlessly into the mirth of the hour, with no other 
 care than to promote'the general good-humour and happiness 
 of the comi)any. His wit was quick and ready, but it was 
 rather lively than sharp, and never envenomed with the least 
 taint of malignity ; so that instead of exciting admiration or 
 terror, it was an additional ingredient in the common enjoy- 
 ment. He was endowed beyond any man of his time whom 
 1 knew with a gay heart and a social spirit. 
 
 " ^Vith these qualities, he was the life and soul of his own 
 society. His ap])earance dispelled all care; his brow was 
 never clouded, even in the severest public trials, and joy, and 
 hope, and confidence beamed from his countenance in every 
 crisis of difficulty and danger. He was a most affectionate, 
 indulgent, and benevolent friend, and so easy of access that 
 all his acquaintance in any embarrassment would rather 
 resort to him for advice than to any person who might be 
 suppo.sed to have more leisure. His heart was always at 
 leisure to receire tlie connnunications df iiis IViciids, and 
 always open to give the best advice in the most gentle and 
 pleasant manner. I cannot resist tiie conclusion tiiat a pure 
 and clear conscience must have been the original source of 
 such unifcjrm cheerfulness and gaiety of spirit."* Mr. Rose, 
 • " l)iaric« and Currc)i|)ouJcucc of 0. lioBO," vol. ii. p. 229.
 
 362 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 giving an account of his own reflections on his return home 
 from his attendance on the funeral, says : " On my return to 
 my own house, I indulged myself with what has been very 
 frequently the occupation of my mind during the past five 
 weeks, and will not unfrequently employ it during the re- 
 mainder of my life, the reflection on the character and 
 talents of my deceased friend, and the loss I have sustained 
 in his death, banishing entirely every consideration of an 
 interested nature. His talents ; the quickness of his per- 
 ception, almost intuitive : his discerning judgment ; the firm- 
 ness of his mind, which secured to him the fullest advantage 
 of that discernment in cases of the extremest public dangers 
 and calamities, such as, indeed, had never occurred since the 
 Revolution — namely, the democratical exertions, prepared to 
 be supported by an immense armed force, influenced by 
 meetings, public and private, of those of the most dangerous 
 principles and active minds, as well as by libels of a treason- 
 able nature ; the mutiny of the fleet ; the stoppage of the 
 banks ; famine in the country ; invasion threatened by an 
 immense force of the enemy, brought down to their coast, 
 opposite to ours, with ships collected sufficient to transport 
 them. In short, no danger (however great) ever dismayed 
 him or deprived him of the advantages resulting from the 
 quickness of his conception. A certain shyness or reserve 
 with persons he had little or no acquaintance with, and his 
 genera] carriage (walking remarkably upright), were by many 
 mistaken for pride, of which he had as little as almost any gen- 
 tleman I ever knew : for in families, or with people with whom 
 he was acquainted, his address and manner were the easiest 
 and most pleasant possible — his temper, as I before observed, 
 the sweetest I think I ever knew ; on no occasion ruffled by 
 any dangers, difficulties, or unpleasant occurrences, except in
 
 CIIAELES JAIklES FOX. 363 
 
 the House of Commons, whore uiiclouhtedly he sometimes, 
 under considerable provocation, gave vent to his feelings ; 
 and when he did, it was with wonderful etlect, for his eloquence 
 was tremendous as well as persuasive. Few could know him 
 as well as myself. From Christmas, 1783, to the time of 
 his dissolution, I was in constant habits of the warmest affec- 
 tion and friendship, as well as of business, with him. Hardly 
 three days passed without my seeing him throughout that 
 period, except during the five or six weeks in the summer, 
 and the three weeks at Christmas, which I used to spend at 
 Cufnells in the year, lie hardly ever had the slightest 
 thought about himself ; his mind was wholly occupied with 
 his country. His most uncommon share of good-nature 
 occasioned his giving way sometimes to solicitations he should 
 have resisted, especially with regard to peerages, of which he 
 was liberal to a most unfortunate extent ; but so far from 
 gaining j)olitical strength thereby, I am perfectly sure he 
 suffered by them, for it frequently happened that an enemy 
 was chosen in the room of the newly-created peer. In the 
 administration of finances, and in the management of the 
 public purse, it is not possible any one could be more entirely 
 pure and disinterested. He abolished all contracts whatever, 
 all purchases by commission, all private distributions of loan, 
 and every other species of money influence ; which was, in 
 truth, at mv solicit;iti<)n. He abolished also the sinecure 
 euiployinents in the (Justoms, numerous and valuable. He 
 establi.shed a Sinking Fund in the year 17S(), when the 
 finances were in so wretched a st^ite, that no other man 
 would have entertained a iliouyhl of the kind, which anu)unts 
 now to inor(! than eight millions a year, and whieh in no 
 puljlic exigency would he allow to be touched. 'J'lie.se are 
 only some of his internal arrangements and mea.'^ures of
 
 364 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 domestic policy. In foreign politics, he was intelligent, able, 
 and indefatigable. I have heard several of the foreign 
 Ministers say they would rather discuss intricate matters 
 with him than with any other man they ever knew — parti- 
 cularly Count Woronzow, who, I verily believe, laments his 
 loss most deeply. The last union of Austria and Sweden 
 with Russia, in which Prussia had actually undertaken to 
 join, was accomplished absolutely by himself, and would have 
 saved Europe, almost to a certainty, if it had not been de- 
 feated by the conduct of those who were entrusted with the 
 command of the Austrian armies. The effect of these mis- 
 carriages has been already truly stated to have occasioned 
 his death. Other points in his character may occur to me ; 
 if they do, I shall note them. A more amiable one, upon the 
 whole, no man can leave behind him."* 
 
 There is one part of Mr. Pitt's conduct for which, it seems 
 to me, he has been overpraised, and another for which he has 
 been unjustly blamed. The praise given to him for dis- 
 interestedness seems to me over-charged. He had, from the 
 time that he was made Warden of the Cinque Ports, more 
 than 10,000Z. a year of official salary. That he might have 
 lived as a bachelor on this income cannot well be denied. 
 That he neglected his private affairs, and allowed himself to 
 be cheated by his servants, may well be excused in a man 
 so loaded with public cares ; but it can hardly be a matter of 
 panegyric. 
 
 On the other hand, he has been blamed for his failure to 
 patronise and reward men of letters. But it may be doubted 
 whether the patronage of letters is a part of the proper 
 functions of a government. 
 
 Augustus and Cardinal Richelieu favoured letters, but 
 
 * "Diaries and Correspondence of G. Rose," vol. ii. p. 258,
 
 CIIAKLES JAMES FOX. 305 
 
 they did so for political ends : they subsidized in order to 
 subdue, they courted in order to corruj)t. Lorenzo de 
 Medici, it is true, also patronised poets and philosophers, 
 but he was himself a man of letters, ^and favoured from 
 atlection as well as policy what Machiavel calls a '" nobile 
 ozio." 
 
 Louis XIV. patronised letters; but Racine and Boileau 
 suffered detriment — Boileau from his fulsome flattery, and 
 Racine from incurring the displeasure, of the Grand Mo- 
 narque. 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, a man of letters in old age, or in 
 poverty, may derive advantage from a discriminating patron- 
 age. But is it always discriminating ? Pope, who was not 
 pensioned, says : 
 
 " Tlie hero Willi.im, and the martyr Charles, 
 This knighted Bhickmore and that pensioned Quarles." 
 
 Swift, disparaging Young, says : 
 
 " And Young must torture his invention 
 To flatter knaves, or lose his pension." 
 
 Thus his character suffered, while his income was improved. 
 
 The independence of the literary character is in itself a 
 distinction ; no »nie can imagine that Burns raised his posi- 
 tion by accepting a j)lace in tlie Excise, or that Cowper 
 would have been a haj)pier man had he lived upon a 
 pension. 
 
 Pitt was ready with tho.'^e retorts in conversation which 
 are the marks of a (luick and lively wit. I{!vi'ry one has 
 lieard of the colonel of volunteers who repeatedly insisted 
 aa a condition of his offer of service, *' Mind, wi- are not to 
 iro out of the countrv, Mr. I'itt! we are not to go out of 
 the country." " lOxccpt, J suppose," .siid the ."Minister, 
 coldly, " in the ca.-.e of actual invasion." 'I'lie Duchess of
 
 366 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Gordon, upon her return to London, said to the Minister : 
 " Have you been talking as much nonsense as usual, 
 Mr. Pitt ?" " I am not sure about that," he replied, " but 
 I think that since I last saw your grace, I have not heard 
 so much." 
 
 A translation which Lord Harrowby repeated to me, 
 and which has been published by the Editor of iVIr. Rogers's 
 " Reminiscences " shows his command of the English lan- 
 guage. Some one mentioned a sentence in the Essay " De 
 Oratore," attributed to Tacitus :* " Magna eloquentia, 
 sicut flamma, materia aliter et motibus excitatur, et urendo 
 clarescit." One of the company said it was untranslateable. 
 "By no means," said Pitt, and at once proceeded : " It is of 
 eloquence as of a flame ; it requires matter to feed it, motion 
 to excite it, and it brightens as it burns," The best way to 
 test the merit of this translation is to compare it with 
 that of Murphy : " The true spirit of eloquence, like 
 an intense fire, is kept alive by fresh materials ; every new 
 commotion gives it vigour, and in proportion as it burns, it 
 expands and brightens to a purer flame." f 
 
 Here, indeed, is a flame which is quite buried under the 
 heavy materials which Mr. Murphy has heaped upon it. 
 In the mouth of Pitt, the English language attained all 
 the force and precision of which it is capable. It is said 
 that Fox, in speaking of his oratory, observed : " I never 
 want a word, but Mr. Pitt always has at command the right 
 word." 
 
 An instance may be given of this curiosa felicitas. When 
 replying to a motion of Fox, which had been weakly seconded 
 by Erskine, Pitt said : " The hon. and learned gentleman 
 
 * " De Omtore," s. 36. 
 
 f Murphy's Translation of Tacitus, vol. iv. p. 171.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 307 
 
 who seconded the ri<rlit lion, gentleman, attenuating/ the 
 thread of his discourse, " <S:c. 
 
 In eloquence, as an orator, he was probahly superior to 
 his father, Lord Chatham ; in wisdom, as a statesman, far 
 inferior.
 
 o 
 
 6S THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 CHAPTER LXIX. 
 
 fox's conduct in Pitt's last illness. — new ministry. — the il[,ness and 
 
 death of fox. 
 
 Fox had never felt personal enmity to Pitt. In his 
 familiar letters, he was wont to pour out his thoughts 
 hastily ; hence they often contain passages and phrases 
 which are inconsistent with his more matured expressions, 
 and with his deliberate acts. Thus, although he often wrote 
 to his nephew as if his rival were devoid of high and noble 
 feelings, his willingness to place the best of his party under 
 the guidance of Pitt, as his colleagues and subordinates, 
 shows that he justly estimated the patriotism and integrity of 
 that great man. 
 
 But, on the death of Pitt, Fox, although willing to forget 
 all animosity, could hardly agree to vote for a monument 
 which his admirers insisted should be erected to the memory 
 of the late Minister. He spoke, on this occasion, with good 
 taste, and, what is more, with good feeling. " If," he said, 
 " the mark of public respect were such as did not compromise 
 my public duty in the compliance, no person would join in 
 it more cheerfully and eagerly than I would. But it is a dif- 
 ferent thing to be called upon to confer honours upon Mr. Pitt 
 as an ' excellent statesman.' It cannot be expected that I 
 should so far forget the principles 1 have uniformly professed
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 369 
 
 as to subscribe to the condemnation of those principles by 
 agreeing to the motion before the House." 
 
 Tlie motion was airried by '2bS votes against 80 ; such 
 being the uiajority of the House of Commons which con- 
 sidered Pitt ''an excellent statesman." His remaininfj 
 colleagues, however, were by no means so confident of their 
 talents and influence as to imagine they could carry on 
 the Government Although invited by the King to do so, 
 they assembled only to confess their inability to undertake so 
 great a task. Lord Hawkesbury, however, ohtained the 
 sinecure of \Varden of the (^inque Ports, with a salary 
 of 4000/. a year, which had been held by Pitt. When 
 Lord Hawkesbury and his colleagues declined the King's 
 offer, the King sent for Lord Grenville, and entrusted him 
 with the tiisk of forming an Administration. Lord Grenville 
 said that the first person he should consult would be Fox. 
 The King replied : " I understand it to be so, and I meant it 
 to be so." 
 
 In the new ^linistry, I^rd Grenville held the office of 
 First Lord of tlie Treasury, and Lord Henry Petty that 
 of Chancellor of the Exchequer. ]\)X became Foreign 
 ►Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons ; Mr. Grey, 
 First I^rd of the Admiralty ; T^ord Spencer, Home Secre- 
 tary ; Mr. W'indliam, Secretary of State for War and Colo- 
 nies; Lord Fitzwilliani. I'ri'sidrnt of the Council. Mr. 
 Sheridan was made Trea.^^urer of the Navy, in j)la('e of .Mr. 
 Canning; and General J'it/j)atrick, Secretary at War. 
 
 Fox, who had been ready to join with Adilington 
 when he left Pitt, had urged his entrance into the Cabinet. 
 It would have been far hettcr to have made no overtures to 
 Lord Sidmoutli. id- wa.s a known enemy to the Catholic 
 claiiii.-^, and was sure to leave the Ministry if anything were 
 
 VOL. in. 2 li
 
 370 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 proposed in their favour. Mr. Canning said : " The Doctor 
 is like the measles — everybody has him once." Lord Sid- 
 mouth wished to bring Lord Buckinghamshire with him, but 
 Fox refused his consent. He agreed, however, to admit 
 Lord Ellenborough to sit in the Cabinet. This nomina- 
 tion was unfortunate. It had been intended to give Lord 
 Ellenborough the Great Seal, and to make Erskine Chief 
 Justice— an arrangement which would have given great satis- 
 faction to the public, to whom Erskine's brilliant eloquence 
 and thorough knowledge of the practice of the common law 
 were sufficiently known. But Lord Ellenborough refused 
 the Great Seal ; it was given to Erskine, and Lord Chief 
 Justice Ellenborough joined the Cabinet. Fox said he 
 had never had a case more easy to defend than this appoint- 
 ment of Ellenborough. It is true that in theory the Chief 
 Judge in the Common Law Courts is no more an unfit 
 member of a Cabinet than the Chief Judge in the Courts of 
 Equity. Indeed, criminal prosecutions are less connected in 
 general with party interests than suits in Chancery. But the 
 public were used to the one arrangement, and not to the 
 other. It is true, also, that Lord Mansfield was for many 
 years (from 1759 to 176o) at once Chief Justice and a 
 member of the Cabinet Council. But the fact was little 
 known, and the public had grown, in 1806, far more critical ; 
 so that the admission of Lord Ellenborough was a mistake 
 which ought to have been avoided. The question was 
 brought on on the 3rd of March, by Mr. Spencer Stanhope, 
 and, after an able speech from Fox, the House divided. 
 
 For Ministers 222 
 
 Against 04 
 
 Majority . . . . 158
 
 • CHAELES JAMES FOX. 371 
 
 There were three questions upon which Fox felt p^reat 
 anxiety. These were, the Catholic question, the question 
 of jieace with France, and the question of the slave trade. 
 The ground taken hy Fox on the Catholic question was 
 that, for the sake of the question itself, it was desirable not 
 to present the petition in the current year. He thought that, 
 if it were supported by him, as it certainly must have been, 
 the fall of the Ministry and the formation of an avowed anti- 
 Catholic ^linistry might follow. His views on this subject 
 are clearly explained in a letter to Mr. Ryan, an extract 
 from which I here insert : 
 
 " With resj^ect to the question you put about the presen- 
 tation of a Catholic petition this year, I have consulted with 
 our friends, who all agree in thinking that, for the interest 
 of the cause, such a measure ought to be deferred to 
 another Session. Pleasures are actually taking, by the re- 
 moval of Lord Rcdesdale, ^Ir. Foster, and others, to show 
 the go(jd intentions of the ^Ministry towards your body. 
 Steps still more important will i)e taken to manifest our 
 disposition : liy doing for the Catholics all that is consistent 
 with existing bad laws, by giving them in substance what 
 they have now only iu words — a right to be in the army, 
 to be corpcjrators, &c., &c. ; by a change of Justices of the 
 Peace, whose conduct has been notoriously oppressive — I 
 hope, too, by some arrangement about tithes; and. in line, 
 by giving you all the shan* in the government of your 
 country that we can give. Th(; eli'ect of these measines will 
 be partly to make the Catholicd of the lower orders more 
 (c(»nt»'nted), ])artly to enable them to come with ailtUtional 
 weight and strength wIhmi they again assert tiicir claims. 
 I then-fore strongly recommend susjM'uding the petition for 
 a time. If, however, it BJionld, notwithstanding our wishes, 
 
 2 li 2
 
 o 
 
 72 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 he presented, I will support it with all my power ; hut the 
 divisions of last year, and the opinions which have been in- 
 dustriously propagated in this country, make me despair 
 of success, unless we could have active assistance from a 
 quarter in which to look for passive acquiescence is per- 
 haps more than we can reasonably expect. If we are beat, 
 which we certainly shall be, and if the fall of our Ministry 
 should follow, which may be the case, you run the risk of a 
 Ministry being formed on the avowed principle of defeating 
 your claims, and you thus would put all hope further off 
 
 than ever. 
 
 "I am, with great regard, 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 " C. J. Fox."* 
 
 Had the Catholic petition been presented in both Houses, 
 it is clear that both Fox and Lord Grenville would have 
 supported its prayer. It is uncertain how George III. would 
 have borne such conduct on the part of his Ministers, but it 
 is clear the motions would have been defeated, and, for 
 the interests of the Catholics, the course pointed out by 
 Fox seems to have been the best. Had he lived till the 
 Regency, it is probable that the Catholic claims would have 
 been granted. 
 
 The advantages which would have been derived from the 
 admission of Roman Catholics to the Legislature and to 
 office before the termination of the war, and before the 
 threats, both loud and deep, which were uttered in Ireland in 
 the year 1828, would have been great and solid benefits. A 
 concession in 1812 would probably have been as fertile in 
 
 * •' Memoirs of the Wliig Party," vol. i. p. 214.
 
 CIIAULES JAMES FOX. 373 
 
 loyalty and gratitude on the j);nt of the Catholic body as 
 the concession proposed by Pitt in 1800. 
 
 In 1828, the concession was made to menace, and was 
 followed by a dangerous agitation for the repeal of the Union. 
 
 The question of peace was ever uppermost in the mind 
 of Fox. But, at the end of 1805, he almost despaired. 
 Writing to Lord Holland, he says, "As to pacific language, 
 which is your ])hrase, I own I doubt very much whether this 
 is a time, even for us, (exclusive of new friends,) to hold out 
 that there is much chance of obtaining any tolerable peace 
 just now,"* Yet an opening which occurred soon after he 
 came into office induced him again to think it jjossihle to 
 conclude peace with France. 
 
 The negotiations be^an in this manner : On the 20th of 
 February, Fox wrote to M. de Talleyrand that a strange 
 circumstance had occurred, which he thought it his duty, as a 
 man of honour, to communicate ; and he therefore proceeded 
 to relate the fact just as it had liaj)pene(l : "Some days 
 ago, a person I did not know announced to me that he had 
 just disembarked at Gravesend without a passport, and he 
 asked me to send him one, as he came recently from Paris 
 and had things to tell me which would give me ])leasure. I 
 conversed with him quite alone in my room, when, after some 
 discourse of little consequence, this scoundrel had the audacity 
 to tell me that, in order to traiujuillize all crowned heads, it 
 was nccessiry to put to death the head of the French nation, 
 and that for this purpose a house had hecu hired at Passy, 
 where, without risk, and with certainty, tliis (letest4d)le |)roject 
 mi^rht be cxecutetl. ... I am not ashamed to own to 
 you, who know me, that my confusion wjis extreme at finding 
 myself in conversation with an avowed a.-<sjissin. In conse- 
 • "Corrwpondinco," vol. iv. p, 124.
 
 374 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 quence of this confusion, I ordered him instantly to leave 
 the room, giving instructions at the same time to the police 
 officer who guarded him to make him leave the kingdom as 
 soon as possible. After having reflected more calmly on 
 what I had done, I perceived the fault I had committed, in 
 letting him go before I had informed you, and I had him 
 detained. . . . Our laws do not permit < us to detain 
 him long, but he will not leave the kingdom before you will 
 have had time to take precautions. . . . He called him- 
 self Guillot de la Gervilliere, but I think this must be an 
 assumed name. He had not a scrap of paper to show me, 
 and at first I did him the honour to take him for a spy." 
 To this letter, M.de Talleyrand replied in the following terms : 
 " Sir, — I have placed your excellency's letter in the hands 
 of his Majesty. His first words after reading it were : ' I 
 recognise here the principles of honour and virtue which 
 have always distinguished Mr. Fox.' He added : ' Thank 
 him on my behalf, and tell him that, whether the policy of 
 his Sovereio^n obliofes us to remain long at war with each 
 other, or whether a contest so needless to humanity is des- 
 tined to end at as early a period as the two nations ought to 
 wish, I rejoice at the altered character which by this step the 
 war has already assumed, and which is the presage of what 
 one may expect from a Cabinet whose principles I am glad 
 to estimate by those of Mr. Fox — one of the men best fitted 
 to appreciate what is noble and what is truly great.' I will 
 not permit myself, sir, to add anything to the expressions of 
 his Imperial and Royal Majesty." 
 
 In another letter. Prince Talleyrand sent to Fox an 
 abstract of the Emperor's speech, which was favourable to 
 pacific overtures. In reply. Fox, in a letter of the 26th 
 of March, expressed a wish for a negotiation for peace, but
 
 (JUAKLES JAilES FOX. 375 
 
 said that England could not nesrlcct the interests of her 
 Allies ; that she found herself united with l\u?sia by engage- 
 ments so strict that she could not treat, much less conclude 
 anything, but in concert with the Emperor Alexander. They 
 might, however, arrange provisionally some of the principal 
 points, lie added that the English nation was that which 
 sutforod least from the war, but they felt for the ills which 
 atllicted other countries. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand's answer was, to all appearance, most 
 friendly and pacific, lie said that France desired none of 
 the possessions of England ; that England might remain 
 mistress of the sea, and France would have to deal as well 
 as she could with Continent^d nations equal to her in the 
 number of their armies and in resources. This, however, 
 was but a covert way of excluding England from the Con- 
 tinent, and this pur])0.-c Fox at once perceived. It was 
 in vain, therefore, that M, de Talleyrand displayed all the 
 subtleties and artifices of his renowned dij)lomatic skill to 
 conceal the real point of the question. Fox again stated, 
 that we were bound to Russia by treaty, and that we must 
 either treat together with her or provisionally, with a view to 
 her entering at a later period into the negotiation. On the 
 other points, Fox at once agreed with M. de Talleyrand. 
 
 The Emperor had pretended that Entrland wished to in- 
 terfere in the internal affairs of France, and to dictate to 
 her a Treaty of Commerce ])n'judicial tc» French industry. 
 To these remarks, Fox replies: "If what your excel- 
 lency says resf)ecting domestic affairs relates to j)olitical 
 affairs, an answer is scarcely recpiisite. We do not interfere 
 in sucli concerns in time of war — much le.^s shall we do so in 
 time of peace ; and notliing can be further iVoni tiie ideas 
 which prevail here tiian any wi.sh either tn int'-rfrre with
 
 376 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 respect to the internal regulations which you may judge 
 proper for the management of your Customs duties and the 
 support of your commercial rights, or to offer insult to your 
 flag. As to a Treaty of Commerce, England supposes that 
 she has no greater interest in desiring it than other nations. 
 There are many who think that such a treaty between Great 
 Britain and France would be equally beneficial to the two 
 contracting parties ; but this is a question upon which each 
 Government must decide according to its own ideas, and the 
 party rejecting it gives no offence, and is in no way respon- 
 sible to the party proposing it." 
 
 M. de Talleyrand had professed the strongest opinion on 
 the part of the Emperor in favour of the integrity and abso- 
 lute independence of the Ottoman Empire. On this point. 
 Fox replies : " As to what relates to the integrity and inde- 
 pendence of the Ottoman Empire, no difficulty can present 
 itself, these objects being equally clear to all the parties 
 interested in the present discussion."* 
 
 In this plain and straightforward language, M. de Talley- 
 rand could find no scope for his ingenuity ; and for a time it 
 seemed as if the negotiation would split upon this rock. 
 
 In a letter to the Duke of Bedford, of April the 26th, 
 Fox says : " All negotiation with France is now, I under- 
 stand, at an end. We insisted on negotiating jointly with 
 Russia; they on a separate negotiation. The difference 
 between us, therefore, is plain and intelligible, but nothing 
 of this ought yet to be mentioned publicly. You will be 
 happy to hear that it occasioned no difference, or even shade 
 of difference, in the Cabinet."! 
 
 Napoleon, however, gave way ; and upon a promise on his 
 
 * " Papers presented to Parliament," 180G. " Parliamentary Debates," vol. viii . 
 p. 92. See also State Papers published by the Government of France, 
 •f "Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 13G.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. o77 
 
 part that tlie interests of the Kings's Allies should be fully 
 considered, Lord Yarmouth was entrusted with full powers. 
 
 Lord Yarmouth, w ho was anxious to make peace, produced 
 liis full powers prematurely ; upon which. Lord Lauderdale 
 was sent to Paris, with Dugald Stewart as his Secretary. M. 
 de Talleyrand was not well pleased with these appointments, 
 and said to his friends: "On nous envoie un ambassadeur 
 Jacobin avec un secretaire philoso])he." 
 
 The difficulty, however, lay not in these appointments, but 
 in the grasping and devouring- ambition of Xai)oleon. 
 
 Fox, who blamed Lord Yarmouth for producing his 
 full powers, as an act likely to encourage the exorbitant 
 pretensions of the Emperor of the French, found his fore- 
 sight justified. Na})oleon insisted not only on retaining 
 Naples, but on adding Sicily to the vassal kingdom he 
 had set up. Then Fox, in speaking to his nephew. Lord 
 Holland, who had imagined that an equivalent might be 
 found for the King of the Two Sicilies in Sardinia or South 
 America, said : " No, no ; bad as the Queen and Court 
 of Naj)les are, we can, in honour, do nothing without 
 their full and ho7id jide consent ; but even exclusive of 
 that consideration, and of the great inijjortiince of Sicily, 
 which you, young one, very much underrate, it is not so 
 much the value of the point in dispute as the manner in 
 which the French fly from their word that disheartens me. 
 It is not Sicily, but the shutHing insincere way in which thoy 
 act, that shows me they are playin<f a false game ; and in 
 that ca^e it would be very imprudent to nuike any concessions 
 which by possibility could be thought inconsistent with our 
 honour, or could furnish our Allies with a j)lauhible jiri-tence 
 for suspecting, rejiroaching, or deserting us." 
 
 While Fox's mind was thus firm and unshaken, hij body
 
 378 THE LIFE AND TBIES OF 
 
 was yielding to the inroads of disease. He had, from his first 
 entrance into the Ministry, conceived a plan for transferring 
 the Foreign Office to his nephew, Lord Holland, and re- 
 maining in the Cabinet without office. He spoke of this plan 
 with his usual complacency, benevolence, and affection. When 
 he found his illness more serious than he had supposed, he 
 said to his nephew : " If this continues — and though I don't 
 fear any immediate danger, I begin to see it is a longer and 
 more serious matter than I apprehended — I must have more 
 quiet than with my place I ought to have, and put the plan 
 I spoke to you about sooner in execution than I intended. 
 But don't think me selfish, young one ; the slave trade and 
 peace are two such glorious things, I can't give them up, 
 even to you. If I can manage them, I will then retire."* 
 
 But such plans were not destined to be realized. His 
 anxiety for the abolition of the slave trade induced him to 
 continue his attendance in Parliament longer than the advice 
 of his friends or even his own judgment approved. But the 
 triumph was not to be his. 
 
 In 1804, he had gone to Cheltenham for the benefit of the 
 waters.t No one suspected at that time that he had any serious 
 malady. Lord Lauderdale, whose father had died of dropsy, 
 was the first person who called the attention of Fox's friends 
 to the swelling of his legs and the falling-oft" about his neck 
 and chest. Dr. Vaughan (afterwards Sir Henry Halford) 
 and Mr. Hawkins, the surgeon, were called in soon after, 
 and pronounced the disease to be dropsy. Mrs. Fox became 
 alarmed. Yet, as I have said, although the House of Com- 
 mons fatigued him, he was so anxious on the subject of the 
 
 * " Memoirs of the Whig Tarty," vol. i. p. 249. 
 
 t Being at that time with my father at Cheltenham, I had the opportunity ot 
 mnking such acquaintance with him as a boy can make with a statesman.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 379 
 
 slave trade that he would not discontinue his attendance. In 
 June, his illness increased, and after a time, he left off at- 
 tending public business, and Mr. Grey framed the answers to 
 Lord I^iuderdale's despatches. 
 
 The water in his legs becoming troublesome, he was re- 
 lieved by tajiping. After the puncture had been made, he 
 desired Lord Holland to come into the room, and conversed 
 cheerfully during the operation. lie became after this time 
 very weak and drowsy, but he liked to be read to, and Lord 
 Ilolhuid and his sister, Miss Fox, performed this task. He 
 desired Lord Holland to inform him when tiiere was 
 any danger. He said: "-Wc are neither of us children, 
 and it would be ridiculous to conceal anything.' He gave 
 directions where to tind his will. The situation and feelings of 
 Mrs. Fox seemed to be the chief, and, indeed, the only occu- 
 pation of his mind when his will was brought to him, and 
 whenever he spoke of the probability of his disease termi- 
 nating fatally. He could speak of nothing regarding her 
 without strong and sensible emotion. He gave directions 
 concerning a provision for her after his death. He had 
 hardly finished what he had got to say upon this subject, when 
 he broke off and abruptly said : " N(j\v change the subject, 
 or read me the Eighth Book of Virgil." Lord Holland did 
 so, and thus records his recollections : " 1 Ic made nie read 
 the finest verses twice over, spoke nf tln'ir merits and com- 
 pared them with passjiges in other parts with all his usual 
 acutcncss, taste, memory and vivacity." 
 
 Mr. Trotter, who had been for a time his private secretary, 
 arrived from Ireland just before his illness iL^sumed a formid- 
 able slia])e. 
 
 For some days after the oj)eration of tap|(ing, he scenu'd to 
 revive. Ur took one or two airings, and in a few days he
 
 380 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 was removed to Chiswick. " The weather was fine, and the 
 garden through which he was wheeled, and the pictures, and 
 large apartments of that magnificent villa, seemed to refresh 
 his spirits. A remark of Bacon, quoted in the 'Spectator,' 
 that poetry, sculpture, painting, and all the arts of imitation, 
 relieve and soothe the mind in sickness, while other occupa- 
 tions fatigue and harass, struck him exceedingly. He ap- 
 plied it, no doubt, to his ow^n situation, and after some reflec- 
 tion, he observed that he could not see the reason, but ac- 
 knowledged the truth, of it. He found the employment of the 
 mind in the contemplation of a landscape or the perusal of a 
 poem refreshing ; and all other exertion in business, private 
 or public, irksome."* 
 
 On the morning of the 7th of September, he grew much 
 worse, and Mrs. Fox sent for Lord Holland to Chiswick, 
 which he did not quit till Fox's death. AYith his mind 
 full of his wife's situation, he said to his nephew : " You have 
 done quite right ; you will not forget poor Liz. What will 
 become of her ?" 
 
 Lord Holland, having already twice warned his uncle of 
 his danger, wished now to keep up his spirits. Thus he re- 
 marked : "In spite of what I then said to you, ^ dahit Deus 
 his quoqiie finem.'' " " Aye," said Fox, with a smile ; " but 
 'Jlnem,' young one, may have two senses."! 
 
 The persons who were staying with him in the house, or 
 visiting him frequently, were, Mrs. Fox, Miss Fox, Miss 
 Willoughby, Lady Holland, General Fitzpatrick, Lord 
 Robert Spencer, Lord Fitzwilliam, Lord John Townshend, 
 and his medical attendants. Dr. Moseley and Mr. Hawkins. 
 Mr. Trotter read to him at night — often, he relates, till three 
 in the morning. He read Virgil, Dryden, and Johnson's 
 
 * " Memoirs of Whig Party," vol. i. p. 26G. t Ibid. p. 268.
 
 CIIAELES JAMES FOX. 381 
 
 "Lives of the Poets." A\hon ^Iv. Trotter, In roadin"-. 
 criticised Johnson, Fox always took his part. In early life, 
 he had defended the grant of a pens^ion to Johnson in the 
 House of Commons, and Johnson always gratefully remem- 
 bered the part he then took. In the height of the clamour 
 against the Coalition, Dr. Johnson had said : " I am for the 
 King against Fox ; hut I am for Fox against Pitt." 
 
 Fox's defence of Jt)hn<()n at this time shows that the 
 kindly feeling between the great Tory philosopher and the 
 feri'id AVhig orator ceased only with life. 
 
 Lord Holland read to his uncle, during this last illness, a 
 manuscript of the " Parish Register " of Crabbe. Some parts 
 Fox made him read twice. He remarked several jias- 
 sages as exquisitely beautiful, and objected to some few, 
 which Crabbe. on hearing his objections, altered before ])ub- 
 lication. He said more than once that it was a very pretty 
 poem ; that Crabbe's condition in the world had improved 
 since he wrote " The \'illage," and his view of life and man- 
 kind had imj)roved likewise. He was ])articularly struck 
 with the description of the substantial hap])iness of the far- 
 mer's wife. It is singular that Crabbe's poetry should have 
 been corrected by Johnson, jjraised by Burke, and have occu- 
 pied the minds of Fox and \\'alter Scott when they were 
 dying.* 
 
 After the conversation with Lord Hulland which 1 have 
 related a j)a;_n' or two hack, tlie termination aj)j)roached 
 rapidly. ^\v>. I'ox, who had a strong sense of r('li<.rion, 
 wished to have j)rayers read at his bedside. At her desire, 
 'Mr. l»o»iverie, a sen.silile and friendly clergyman, stood 
 behind the curtain, ar.d in an audihle voice read the prayers 
 of the Church. I 'ox remained unusually (piiet. Towards 
 
 • " Life of .Sir Waller .S«ott," by I.ocklmrt.
 
 382 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the end of the prayers, Mrs. Fox knelt on the bed, and 
 joined his hands, which he seemed faintly to close with a 
 smile of ineffable goodness. " Whatever it betokened," says 
 Lord Holland, " it was a smile of serenity and goodness 
 such as would have proceeded at that moment only from a 
 disinterested and benevolent heart — from a being loved and 
 beloved by all that approached him." 
 
 During the whole of the 13th of September, his state was 
 manifestly hopeless. The last words which he uttered with 
 any distinctness were, " I die happy," and " Liz " (the 
 name by which he always called his wife). 
 
 About six o'clock in the evening of the 13th of Septem- 
 ber, he expired without a groan, and with a serene and placid 
 countenance, " which seemed," says Lord Holland, '' even 
 after death to represent the benevolent spirit w^hich had ani- 
 mated it." 
 
 " If," continues Lord Holland, " a consciousness of being 
 beloved and almost adored by all who approached him 
 could administer consolation in the hour of death, no man 
 could with more reason or propriety have closed his career 
 with the exclamation of ' I die happy,' for no man ever 
 deserved or obtained that consolation more certainly than 
 Mr. Fox."* 
 
 * " Memoirs of Whig Party," vol. i. p. 273.
 
 CIL\ELES J.UIES FOX. 3S3 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 CHAIIACTEB OP FOX. — SKETCH OF HISTORY OP ECnOPE TILL 1814. 
 
 Upon hearing of the death of Fox, the King said to his 
 danghter, the Princess Mary, afterwards Duchess of (Jlou- 
 cester : " I never thought I should have regretted the death 
 of Mr. Fox so much as I do."* 
 
 In bringing this work to a close, it has appeared to me 
 not out of i)lace to delineat«^ some traits of Fox's character 
 as a man, an orator, and a statesman, and to notice very 
 briefly the termination of that struggle with France in the 
 course of which his voice had been so often heard. 
 
 (Jharlcs James Fox was born on the 2 1th of January, 
 174J>. At an early age, his mother described him as " dread- 
 fully passionate." When he was between nine and ten. he 
 went to Eton, and remained there six years. Soon alter he 
 had entered the sixth form, he was taken away and sent to 
 Oxford. He was very much .<j)oilt by his father, who 
 indulged all his inclinations. Nevertheless, he studied hard 
 at Oxford, and says of himself wjien there: "I did not 
 exjKJct my life would be so plea.sant as I find it ; Imt I really 
 think, to a man who reads a great deal, there cannot be a 
 more agreeable place." ( )f mathematics Ik? savs : " I 
 believe they are useful, and 1 am bure they are enterUiin- 
 
 • The late Ducli«si of <ilotic«tcr nKdirMl iiic of tUis fuel.
 
 384: THE LIFE AND TEMES OF 
 
 ing." When he was yet young, Lord Mansfield said of liim, 
 as it is reported : " That is Charles Fox, old Henry Fox's 
 son, with twice his parts, and half his sagacity." When he 
 came into the v\ui Id, having strong passions and an over- 
 indulgent father, who laughed at his scruples and his shame, 
 he fell into a course of gambling, extravagance, and licen- 
 tiousness, ever to be deplored, injurious to his moral cha- 
 racter, and seriously impairing his reputation with the 
 public. Thus, when, in 1774, being then twenty-five years of 
 age. Lord North turned him out of office, and he adopted 
 the politics of Opposition, the country gave him little 
 credit for patriotism or love of liberty. Yet his character 
 was gradually forming ; he was learning, as he said after- 
 wards on a memorable occasion, more from Burke than he 
 had ever learnt from books, and his quickness of intellect 
 and warmth of heart soon induced him to adopt just and 
 large views with respect to the American War. 
 
 Fox's nature fitted him for a quiet and easy mode of 
 life. He was without envy or malignity ; he loved the 
 most simple pleasures; he was kind to every one. Upon 
 the subject of religion, the only direct testimony I find is a 
 paragraph in the "Memoirs of Mr. Trotter/' who bears 
 this testimony : " I recollect being present at a conversation 
 in Stable Yard, when Mr. Robertson* and, I think, Lord Grey 
 were in the room, when the immortality of the soul was 
 touched upon. Mr. Fox, then very ill, spoke upon it with 
 that seriousness and earnestness for demonstration which 
 marked him on all weighty subjects. I perceived no disposi- 
 tion to express any arrogant doubts, but, on the contrary, 
 that humble and modest tone which, upon so awful a topic, 
 
 * Mr. Trotter says Robertson, but it was, perhaps, Mr. RoUerton, llien in tJie 
 Foreign Office.
 
 CILSJILES JAiTES FOX. 385 
 
 becomes all men.'"* In another passage, Mr. Trotter says : 
 "He never meddled with abstruse and mysterious j)oints in 
 religion. In death, he resigned himself to his Creator with 
 unparalleled ailmness and magnanimity. ''| 
 
 As an orator, Fox was, as Burke says, " the most 
 brilliant and accomplished debater that the world ever saw." 
 '• He declaimed argument," says Horace Walpole. The 
 testimony of some of the most eminent men who frequently 
 heard Fox speak in Parliament will give us the best idea 
 that can now be formed of the character of his eloquence. 
 Lord Erskine, for instance, after saying that to ask his 
 opinion of the nature and character of Fox's eloquence is, in 
 other words, to ask him what is the nature and practical cha- 
 racter of elocjuence itself when applied to the transactions of 
 British government and law, thus proceeds : " This extraor- 
 dinary person, then, in rising generally to speak, had evidently 
 no more premeditated the particular language he should em- 
 ploy, nor frequently the illustrations and images by which he 
 should discuss and enforce his subject, than he had contem- 
 plated the hour he was to die ; and his exalted merit as a 
 debater in Parliament did not, therefore, consist in the 
 length, variety, or roundness of his jjcriods, but in the truth 
 and vigour of his conceptions ; in the depth and extent of iiis 
 information ; in the retentive powers of his memory, which 
 enaliled him to keej) in constant view not only all he had for- 
 merly read and reflected on, but everything s«iid at the 
 moment, and even at other times, by the various j)ersons 
 whose arguments he was to answer; in the faculty of 
 spreading out liis matter so clearly to the giasj) of his own 
 mind as t(i render it impossible he ."should ever fail in llic 
 utmost clearnes-j and distinctness to others ; in the exuberant 
 • " Memoin of Vox," p. 47(i. f H^'J- -l^l- 
 
 vol.. HI. L' C
 
 386 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 fertility of his invention, which spontaneously brought forth 
 his ideas at the moment in every possible shape, by which 
 the understanding- might sit in the most accurate judgment 
 upon them ; whilst, instead of seeking afterwards to enforce 
 them by cold premeditated illustrations or by episodes 
 which, however beautiful, only distract attention, he was 
 accustomed to repass his subject, not methodically, but in the 
 most unforeseen and fascinating review, enlightening every 
 part of it, and binding even his adversaries in a kind of spell, 
 for the moment, of involuntary assent. The reader must 
 certainly not expect to be so carried away by the sketches 
 now before me. Short-hand alone, secured, too, at the 
 moment, against the numerous imperfections inseparable 
 from following the career of so rapid and vehement an elocu- 
 tion, could have perpetuated their lustre and effect ; but still 
 the correct, and often the animated, substance remains, which 
 preserves from oblivion more that is worthy of preservation 
 than by such means would apply to almost any other speaker 
 in the world. Eloquence, which consists more in the dexte- 
 rous structure of periods, and in the powers and harmony of 
 delivery, than in the extraordinary vigour of the understand- 
 ing, may be compared to a human body, not so much sur- 
 passing the dimensions of ordinary nature, as remarkable for 
 the beauty and symmetry of its parts. If the short-hand 
 writer, like the statuary or painter, has made no memorial 
 of such an orator, little is left to distinguish him, but, in 
 the most imperfect relics of Fox's speeches, the hones of a 
 giant are to he discovered. This will be found more particu- 
 larly to apply to his speeches upon sudden and unforeseen 
 occasions, when certainly nothing could be more interesting 
 nor extraordinary than to witness, as I have often done, the 
 mighty and unprepared efforts of his mind, when he had to
 
 CHAELES JAMES FOX. 387 
 
 encounter with the arguments of some profound reasoner, 
 who had deeply considered his subject, and arranged it with 
 all possible art, to preserve its parts unbroken.* To hear him 
 begin on such occasions, without method, without any kind vi 
 exertion, without the smallest impulse from the desire of dis- 
 tinction or triumph, and animated only by the honest sense 
 of duty, an audience who knew him not would have ex- 
 pected but little success from the conflict : as little as a 
 traveller in the East, whilst trembling at a butlalo in the wild 
 vigour of his well-protected strength, would have looked to 
 liis immediate destruction when he saw the boa moving slowly , 
 and inertly towards him on the grass. But Fox, unlike the 
 serpent in everything but his strength, always taking his sta- 
 tion in some fixed invulnerable principle, soon surrounded and 
 entangled his adversary, disjointing every member of his dis- 
 course, and strangling him in the irresistible folds of truth."! 
 Sir James Mackintosh, who had also frequently heard him, 
 says of him : " He disliked political conversation, and never 
 willingly took any part in it. To speak of him justly as an 
 orator would require a long essay. Everywhere natural, he 
 carried into public something of that simple and negligent 
 exterior which belonged to him in private. When he began 
 to speak, a common observer might have thought him awk- 
 ward, and even a consummate judge could only have been 
 struck with the cxquijiite justness of his ideas, and the trans- 
 parent simplicity of his manners; but no sooner had he 
 spoken for souk! time than he was changed into another 
 being. He forgot himself and everything around iiim ; he 
 thought only of his subject. His genius warmed and kindled 
 
 • Thin prolmbly nlliiilcs to a ^cnt t|>ec<:b of Sir W. Grant, to which Fox rppliod 
 at the mofiK-nt with wondorful efl'ecl. 
 t *' Kox'k Spwrchcs," vol. i.' p. xiii. 
 
 2c2
 
 388 THE LIFE AND TBIES OF 
 
 as he went on ; he darted fire into his audience ; torrents of 
 impetuous and irresistible eloquence swept along their feel- 
 ings and convictions. He certainly possessed, above all 
 moderns, that union of reason, simplicity, and vehemence 
 which formed the prince of orators. He was the most Demos- 
 thenean speaker since Demosthenes." * Lord Brougham 
 has criticised this comparison of Fox to Demosthenes, and 
 in some respects with justice. For while Fox, in the sim- 
 plicity and vehemence of his reasoning, might bear comparison 
 with Demosthenes, his speeches as a whole show more dis- 
 tinctly perhaps than those of any other speaker the diflerence 
 between Greek and British oratory. A speech of Demos- 
 thenes resembles a beautiful Greek temple ; it is composed of 
 reasoning, of elegant diction, of appeals to the patriotism 
 and public spirit of his hearers, all of the same pure 
 material. We admire the purity, the harmony, the unity 
 and grace of the structure. A speech of Fox resembles 
 rather a cathedral of Gothic architecture. The strength 
 of the buttresses, the grandeur of the arches, the painted 
 glass, the fretted aisles, the multiplied and fanciful orna- 
 ments, fill the mind with admiration and delight. Take, 
 for instance, the great speech on the rupture of the 
 peace of Amiens. The general doctrines on the right of 
 interposition against an overbearing power, and the examples 
 of Switzerland and Holland, might well have found their 
 counterpart in a speech of Demosthenes against Philip ; but 
 when we come to the illustrations — Muley Muloch in his 
 scarlet robe, Almanzor in a play of Dryden, and the various 
 allusions to classical literature, and to Demosthenes himself 
 — we see how great is the distance between the finished per- 
 formance of the Greek orator and the vast and various 
 
 * " Characters of Fox," vol. i. p. 1 G2.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 389 
 
 topics of the British statesman. Fox was rapid in his 
 delivery, raising his voice, at times almost screaming, in his 
 emotion, but still pressing his argument, and keeping in view 
 his object Pitt used to say that, when he thought that he 
 had himself done better than usual, he found Fox in reply 
 surpass his ordinary vigour, and exceed the best of his 
 former etlbrts. W'ilberforce is reported to have declared 
 himself always convinced for the moment by Pitt or by Fox, 
 and inclined to give the palui to that one of these two 
 orators who had last spoken. Fox, with great powers, had 
 likewise great defects ; his action was ungraceful, and he 
 frequently recurred to a topic on which he had already 
 dwelt, lie said himself that the best rule for a young 
 speaker was contained in some lines of the " Odyssey " 
 which Homer has put into the mouth of Minerva. This is 
 the passage in the Third Book of the " Odyssey " to which he 
 referred : 
 
 Trjy 5 ' ai TTjAe/niX"^ ircirvv/jifvos avriov ijC5a. 
 
 " MeWop, ireij T'&f>' tw, iroHs t' &p irpoairTv^ojj.ai. avrSv; 
 OuSe ri irw fjLvQoicn TmnipTijxai irvKivolai- 
 AiSdis S' ail viov &vSpa yefiairepov i^(p4f(T0ai." 
 Thv 5' avTf irpoaefiTTf 6(0. 'Y\avKoi'irLS 'AdriUT]. 
 
 " Tr]\fnax\ iAAa niv avrhs iv\ (ppfcrl afj<Ti forjcrets, 
 ''AAAo Si Kol Saifj.ooi' inroQi\atrai." 
 
 To whom Telemadius discreet replied: 
 
 " Ah, Mentor, how can I admire, how greet, 
 
 A chiel like him, unpractised !ls I am 
 
 In manage<l plira».'? Shame hids the youth beware 
 
 How he iitcosts the man of many years." 
 
 But him the Goddess answer'd, azure-eyed : 
 
 " Telemachus, thou wilt in part thyself 
 
 Kit «|m'it1i (Ii-vIkp, and llwiv'n will give the rest." 
 
 Cowi'Kit's "Odvhskv," 1'.. III. V. xxxii. 
 
 Of Fox's character Jis a .statesman, we nnist now spiak.
 
 390 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 While very young, he was disposed to adopt in the 
 House of Commons those defects of roughness and inso- 
 lence which had done so much injury to his father in 
 public estimation. His early dismissal from office by Lord 
 North led him to revise his politics ; he early placed himself 
 under the tuition of Burke, and learnt the lessons of true 
 Whisfo'ism. Lord Chatham had more than once declared 
 that the resistance of America was founded on Whig princi- 
 ples. " This resistance to your arbitrary system of taxation," 
 he said, " might have been foreseen. It was obvious from 
 the nature of things, and of mankind; above all, from the 
 Whiggish spirit flourishing in that country."* In a subse- 
 quent speech. Lord Chatham said : " The glorious spirit of 
 Whiggism animates three millions in America, who prefer 
 poverty with liberty to gilded chains and sordid affluence, and 
 who will die in defence of their rights as freemen. What 
 shall oppose this spirit, aided by the congenial flame glowing 
 in the breast of every Whig in England ? " &c.'\ 
 
 The Whig party at this time was the party of Lord 
 Rockingham, and Fox infused into that party a vigour and 
 energy which they had until that time never known. 
 
 Li February, 1775, he moved an amendment to an address 
 of Lord North, and, according to the testimony of Gibbon, 
 " taking the vast compass of the question before us, dis- 
 covered powers for regular debate which neither his fi-iends 
 hoped nor his enemies dreaded.":}: At the opening of the 
 Session, in October, 1776, he supported a motion of Lord 
 John Cavendish which aimed at putting an end to the war 
 in America. But, on the 10th of April, 1778, going further 
 in his views of concession, he supported a motion of Mr. Powys 
 
 * "Chatham Conespondence," vol. \v. p. 382. f Il^id. 401. 
 
 J Miscellaneous Works, vol. i. p. 489.
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 391 
 
 for empowering commissioners to treat on the basis of the 
 independence of America. In supporting this motion, he 
 declared that he thought it impossible from our situation as 
 well as from the nature of the object for us ever to regain 
 the dependency of America. He stated broadly that, in 
 his opinion, we should probably secure a greater portion of 
 the trade of America by a perpetual alliance than by a 
 nominal dependence. 
 
 In the summer of this year (1778), he received an overture 
 from Lord North which would have opened the way to the 
 independence of America. Lord North, together with 
 Lords Suffolk, Dartmouth, Sandwich, and Gower, with, 
 perhaps, some others, were ready to retire. Lord Weymouth 
 was proposed as the head of the Treasury ; Mr. Thurlow to 
 be Chancellor ; Lord Rockingham, with the Duke of Rich- 
 mond, Fox, Lord John Cavendish, or, if Lord Rocking- 
 ham desired it, Lord Shelburne, Lord Camden, and the 
 Duke of Grafton, to fill the vacant offices. The troops were 
 to be withdrawn from North America. It is clear that if 
 this proposal had been accepted, offensive war on the Conti- 
 nent of North America would have ceased in 1778, and the 
 vote of tile House of Commons of 1782 would have been 
 unnecessary. Writing in support of this proposal to Lord 
 Rockingham, Fox says: "The very circumstance which, 
 in your opinion, would have rendered tiie arrangement weak, 
 I considered means of strength and stability, because it has 
 always been, and, I believe, always will be, that ])ower, 
 whether over a people or a king, gained by gentle means, by 
 the goodwill of tiie person to be governed, and, above all, 
 by degrecH, rather than by a sudden exertion of strength, is 
 in it.s nature more dural)le and firm tlian any advant-ige that 
 can be gained l)y contrary means." It is sinLTular tliat
 
 392 THE LIFE A^D TBIES OF 
 
 Fox should have held this opinion hi 1778 and so greatly 
 have departed from it in 1783, and that the Duke of Rich- 
 mond, who controverted this opinion in 1778, should have 
 adopted it in 1783. Lord Weymouth was personally 
 agreeahle to the King. He was in favour of stopping the 
 American War in 1778, and is said to have been against 
 interfering in the internal concerns of France in 1793. 
 
 Nothing could be more injurious to the Whig party, 
 nothing more fatal to the character, the power, and the repu- 
 tation of Fox himself, than the ominous Coalition. If 
 it is true that Lord North, the Prime Minister of the 
 American War, had not that odious and contemptible cha- 
 racter which had been attributed to him by Fox in his 
 speeches, it was no less the truth that he w^as a sincere 
 Tory in principle, and had shown himself in office to be a 
 weak and incapable Minister. The immediate purpose of the 
 Coalition — namely, the censure of the peace which Lord 
 Shelburne had concluded with France and with America — was 
 almost worse than the Coalition itself. The great object of 
 national interest at that time was to recognise the inde- 
 pendence of Amei'ica, and to break up the alliance be- 
 tween France, Spain, and the United States. This Lord 
 Shelburne had accomplished. 
 
 When the American War was put a stop to by the vote of 
 the House of Commons, those who had been the opponents of 
 that ruinous war should have been the Ministers — that is to 
 say. Lord Rockingham, Lord Shelburne, the Dukes of 
 Richmond and Portland, Lord Camden, Burke, Fox, 
 Pitt, and Sheridan, should have been in office ; and Lord 
 North, Lord Gower, Mr. Dundas, and Lord Stormont 
 in Opposition. Unfortunately, the dissensions of the Whigs 
 and the fatal Coalition broke up these natural alliances.
 
 CILVllLES J-UIES FOX. 393 
 
 Lord North and Lord Stormont acted with Fox ; LoikI 
 Gower tind 3[r. Dinidas with Pitt, Thus, while Fox bore 
 all the odium of joining Lord North, the principles of 
 the Tory party which led to that war were represented by 
 Lord Gower and 3Ir. Dundas, and animated the victorious 
 Ministry of Pitt. On questions of Parliamentary Reform 
 and Abolition of Slave Trade, the colleagues of Pitt led 
 a triumphant majority, even against Pitt himself; and 
 on questions of the repeal of intolerant laws, the Administra- 
 tion was purely Tory. 
 
 The India Bill, though not a bad measure in itself, bore on 
 its front the character of a design to subject the Crown to a 
 party, which was fatal to its success. Had the Whigs been 
 represented by Lord Shelburne as Prime Minister, with Fox 
 as Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of 
 Commons, and l*itt as Chancellor of the Exchequer, a general 
 election must have confirmed their power. x\ general elec- 
 tion in 1784 destroyed the Coalition. 
 
 Fox's opposition to the Commercial Treaty with France of 
 1780 was unwise; his resistance to the Regency Bill of 
 1788 was rash, intemperate, and unbecoming. He adopted 
 too readily on that occasion the violent language of Burke. 
 
 But tlu'se errors and many others were infinitely out- 
 weighed by Fox's resolute and persevering resistance to 
 the war of 17'J3, which deluged Europe with blood, and ob- 
 structed all lil>eral progress for nearly forty years. 
 
 In a former ])art of this work, I have given at some length 
 the arguments for and against the war of 17U3.* 
 
 It is unnecessary to repeat these arguments. But it may be 
 useful to atiitv in precise terms the policy recouiniciidcd by Fox. 
 The French nation, in attenipting to change a pure des- 
 • Vol. ii. c. 32, p. 290.
 
 ?,94 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 potism into a constitutional monarchy, had lost their road. 
 Their King, with the best intentions, had helped them to go 
 astray. He had been wanting both in wisdom and in good 
 faith. He had encouraged the American Revolution, and 
 when La Fayette returned to Paris, vehement for liberty, 
 and equality, and the rights of man, the Queen of France 
 had gone out to meet him and brought him back to Paris 
 in her own carriage. The Court having fanned the flame, 
 the Revolution made progress, and then the Court, instead 
 of confiding to Mirabeau the formation of a Ministry, had 
 sought, by buying him and other popular leaders, to induce 
 them to betray in private the cause they supported in public. 
 When these measures, marked with duplicity and folly, utterly 
 failed, the King attempted to leave France, to disavow his 
 acts, and to throw himself' on the support of foreign Powers. 
 
 This conduct exasperated the French people, and drove 
 them into a state of frenzy, of which suspicion against every 
 party and a furious thirst for blood were the chief symptoms. 
 
 It was at this moment, when calmness and prudence were 
 above all things required, that the Continental Powers sent an 
 army to invade France, threatening the National Guards 
 with the punishment of death as rebels if they attempted 
 to defend their country against foreign troops, and declaring 
 that all the members of the National Assembly, of the 
 Departments, of the Municipalities, and others whom it might 
 concern, should be personally responsible to their Imperial 
 and Royal Majesties for all events that might occur, on pain 
 of losing their heads by sentence of court-martial. 
 
 A more atrocious case of interference in the internal con- 
 cerns of a foreign nation has never occurred. A greater 
 calamity than the success of such interference cannot well be 
 conceived. The National Assembly of France, after the
 
 CII-VRLES JAMES FOX. 395 
 
 defeat of the Prussian army, which attempted to carry into 
 execution this horrible menace, threatened, in their turn, 
 the governments of foreign countries by a promise of assist- 
 ing insurgents who should aspire to overthrow their rulers. 
 France proclaimed a Republic, and deposed the King. 
 
 In these critical circumstances, the policy put forth and 
 repeatedly urged u})()n Parliament by Fox was con- 
 sistent, rational, and j)rudent. lie advised that England 
 should mediate. The terms he proposed were, that the 
 Allies should renounce all intention of interfering in the 
 internal concerns of France. He thought that, on this con- 
 dition, the decree of the 19th of November ought to be 
 repealed. He thought that France ought to refrain from any 
 aggression on her neighbours, and that the French Republic 
 ought to be recognised. The navigation of the Scheldt and 
 the indemnities for the (jerman States ought, he was of 
 opinion, to be made matters of compromise. 
 
 When, however, in the progress of hostilities, the Low 
 Countries liad been overrun by the French arms, Fox, 
 quoting an opinion of De Witt, advised that no attempt 
 should be made to recover Belgium, but that France should 
 be bound not to attemj)t any further conquest. 
 
 On these terms. Fox thought that peace might have been 
 preserved to Europe. In December, 171)2, terms somewhat 
 similar were sketched by Pitt in a despatch to the Court 
 of Russia, but were never acted upon. Possibly neither the 
 French Republic nor the Allies might at fust have assented to 
 a treaty of peace on these conditions. Fmt, at all events, 
 England woidd have declared a policy worthy of her fame, 
 in conformity with international law, and tlu* rights of in- 
 dependent nations. 
 
 For there is n<i principle of i\\r. Law of Nations more in-
 
 396 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 disputable than the right of each nation to regulate its own 
 
 internal government. 
 
 Fox was at the same time a strong supporter of the 
 doctrine that England had an interest in all the concerns of 
 the Continent — first, because it was for her benefit as a 
 commercial nation, that the Continent should be in the enjoy- 
 ment of peace, and next, because the overthrow of the balance 
 of power would threaten her independence. 
 
 On questions of domestic policy, the opinions of Fox 
 have for the most part been ratified by the decisions of 
 Parliament ; those which have not been will probably be 
 confirmed by future events. Fox at an early period 
 declared his opposition to the Test and Corporation Acts. 
 Those acts have been repealed. He also condemned from 
 the beginning to the end of his parliamentary life the dis- 
 abilities imposed upon the Roman Catholics. Parliament, 
 under the guidance of the Tory party, long maintained these 
 disabilities, but in 1829 the long-desired relief was given. 
 
 The language of Fox on the subject of Ireland was always 
 peculiarly strong and vehement ; he, like Mr. Burke, detested 
 the rule of a " miserable monopolizing minority." He hated 
 the corruption and the intolerance of that 7nagnum latro- 
 cinium which, having kept the Irish in bondage, goaded 
 them into rebellion, in order to stifle their reasonable peti- 
 tions and quench their rightful requests in blood. Not 
 only Burke, not only Fox, not only Lord Fitzwilliam, not 
 only Mr. Grattan, but that gallant and upright soldier. Sir 
 Ralph Abercromby, who went to Ireland as commander-in- 
 chief of the army, quite unconnected with any political 
 party, saw, like Burke and Fox, the injustice of the existing 
 tyranny. As a soldier, he could not avoid perceiving that 
 the sway of military license was ruinous to the disci])line of
 
 CHARLES J.VMES FOX. 31)7 
 
 the army. As a man of sense and feeling-, his mind revolted 
 against the magnum lairocinium. Here is the impartial 
 judgment which such a man formed of the state of Ireland in 
 January, 1799: "Long observation has convinced me that 
 all vour misfortunes, that all the evils with which vou are 
 threatened, proceed from the illiberal, |;he unjust, and the 
 unwise conduct of England. Your Legislature and your 
 Executive Government partake, of course, of the vices flow- 
 ing from the wretched system of English domination. The 
 vices of the Government ail'ect the manners of the people. 
 If I find a peasantry cunning, deceitful, lazy, and vindictive, 
 1 cannot attribute it without impiety to the hand of God ; it 
 must come from the iron hand of man. Although the French 
 Revolution and Jacobin principles may be the immediate 
 cause of the events which have lately taken place in Ireland, 
 yet the remote and ultimate cause must be derived from its 
 true origin — the op])i-ession of centuries. Do not imagine 
 that I am weak enough to imag-ine that a few effusions of 
 lenity or benevolence are to soften or subdue the minds of a 
 people burdened by oppression ; it will require the wisest 
 system you can devise, and length of time, to effect 
 it."* To the same purjwrt was the reply of Fox in 1801 to 
 those who alleged that the people of Ireland were disaffected.! 
 Much has been done since ISOl to remove the oj)pression of 
 centuries. J>ut ''the wisest system that can be devised" 
 has still to be discovered. 
 
 Tiie sum of the whole character of Fox as a statesman 
 is, that he was an ardent, consistent, and thorough lover 
 of lil)erty. W hether in France or in America, whether 
 in Ireland or in iingland, whether with reference to the 
 I'rotestatJt or the Konian (.'atholic, whether to he ajtplled to 
 • " Mcmoii-s of .Sir H. AbcrcroinbT," p. I'JO. f Sec ante, p, 21f.
 
 398 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the white or the black man, the main and ruling passion of 
 Fox's life was a love of liberty. For her cause, he was an 
 orator ; for her cause, be was a statesman. He gave his life 
 to the defence of English freedom ; he hastened his death 
 by his exertions to abolish the African slave trade. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott, wishing no doubt to do justice to 
 Fox, has in fact cast a most undeserved reproach on his 
 memory. He has written, as if in praise : " Record that 
 Fox a Briton died," thus implying that, unless he sup- 
 ported the views of the Tory party against France, he was 
 not worthy of the name of Briton. But the whole passage is 
 beautiful : 
 
 " For talents mourn, untimely lost 
 When best employed and wanted most ; 
 Mourn genius high, and lore profound, 
 And wit that loved to play, not wound ; 
 And all the reasoning powers divine, 
 To penetrate, resolve, combine ; 
 And feelings keen, and fancy's glow — 
 They sleep witli him who sleeps below ; 
 And if thou mourn'st, they could not save 
 From error him who owns this grave. 
 Be every harsher thought suppressed. 
 And sacred be the last long rest ! 
 Here, where the end of earthly things 
 Lays heroes, patriots, bards, and kings ; 
 Where stiff the hand and still the tongue 
 Of those who fought, and spoke, and sung ; 
 Here, where the fretted aisles prolong 
 The distant notes of holy song, 
 As if some angel spoke again, 
 All peace on earth, good-will to men ; 
 If ever from an English heart, 
 here let prejudice depart, 
 And, partial feeling cast aside, 
 Eeeord that Fox a Briton died ! 
 When Europe crouched to France's yoke, 
 And Austria bent, and Prussia broke, 
 And the firm Russian's purpose brave 
 Was barter'd by a timorous slave.
 
 LllAltLKS JAMES FOX. 399 
 
 F.'eu tlien disliouom's jwace lie spui-ned. 
 The suUietl olive -bnuicli letuniej, 
 t<too<l lor his country's glory fast, 
 Aud uailed her colours to the mait." 
 
 It is evident that while Scott's purj)ose was manihus dare 
 liUa pleiiis, his words imply that Tux was only a i)atriot 
 when he rejected peace with Trance. This is a very low 
 view of patriotism. Fox thought, in 1793 an^ 1803, that 
 the name and reputation of England — and, with her name 
 and reputation, her interest — would best be supported by an 
 honest endeavour to continue in peace with France. It 
 may be thought that he was wrong in o})inion, and that 
 Pitt was right. But those who think he was wronjr ouo-ht to 
 admit that, having ample means of judgment, he was right to 
 act according to his convictions, and did not forfeit his 
 character of a Briton on that account. Those who think he 
 was right will ever revere him for defending the cause of 
 humanity, justice, and peace, against a prevailing but un- 
 founded clamour. 
 
 Among the occupations of Fox during the Secession, his 
 mind was employed in writing a history of the devolution of 
 1G88. lie did not give his whole time, nor did he give 
 unremitting attention to this task : his business was politics ; 
 his j.'leasure was in Greek and Latin poetry. But he brought 
 to the work an anxious spirit of inquiry, a large and en- 
 lightened judgment, and a love of trutii and justice which 
 ought, above all things, to animate the historian. An ancient 
 writer, speaking of Salhist, censures him very justly for being 
 rather a rhetorician tliaii an historian. This fault Fox was 
 anxious to avoid, lie was solicitous to distinguish iiis work 
 as much as possible from the fervid out|)ourings of the orator 
 He left only a fragment, but in tiiat IVagment the reader 
 may perceive the honesty of his research, and may observe,
 
 400 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 not without admiration, how an intense love of freedom 
 pierces through the severe simplicity of the style which he 
 had adopted. Macaulay has since given to the world, in a 
 work which posterity will admire and preserve, the complete 
 history of the Revolution of 1688 ; but those who wish to 
 learn how a great statesman judged the reigns of Charles II., 
 and his brother James, will do well to study the fragment 
 of Fox. 
 
 Fox opposed the first French war ; he disapproved of the 
 mode of commencing the second ; but when once commenced, 
 he only desired that it should be carried on with adequate 
 means, and to a successful end. 
 
 Before concluding this work, therefore, it may be useful 
 to mark, in a few pages, the vast difference in object, in 
 spirit, and in result, between the first and the second revo- 
 lutionary wars. In the first war, ended by the peace of 
 Amiens, the sovereigns of Europe attempted to punish the 
 French people for changing their constitution in a manner 
 which those sovereigns did not approve. The attempt was 
 made languidly and feebly ; it was resisted by the French 
 people with passion, with enthusiasm, with military skill, with 
 political revolution. The peace of Amiens saw Europe at 
 the feet of France. 
 
 In the second French war, a great military chief, created 
 emperor, because in Roman fashion, 
 
 " The conquering soldier, red with unfelt wounds, 
 Salutes his general so " * 
 
 attempted to model all the nations of Europe to his own 
 standard. His motto was " Every thing should be done for 
 the people ; nothing by the people." Nations at the summit 
 of civilization were denied, under pain of death, all freedom 
 
 * Dryden's " All for Love."
 
 CHARLES JAMES FOX. 401 
 
 of thought and of expression ; nations in the depth of ig-no- 
 rance were ordered to adopt, under the threat of conquest 
 and military execution, the material changes made by the 
 National Assembly at the outset of the French Revolution. 
 
 For several years, the unequalled talent of Napoleon, and 
 the spirit of his admirable army, gave this scheme an appa- 
 rent prospect of success : Hamburg was no longer German ; 
 Florence was no longer Italian ; Austria was humbled ; 
 Prussia was prostrated.. After a series of splendid victories, 
 the Emperor Napoleon met the Emperor Alexander of Russia 
 at Erfurt. In undisputed supremacy, they gave the Danu- 
 bian Principalities to Russia, Spain to a brother of the 
 Emperor of the French, and made, in Jtheir plenitude of 
 power, other assignments of the territories of Europe. 
 Thiers, the able historian, observes that none of the arrange- 
 ments then made were finally carried into effect. How so ? 
 The Emperor Napoleon, after the peace of Tilsit, had more 
 power than any sovereign had enjoyed since the decline of the 
 Roman Empire. He had more genius for war, and greater 
 talents for legislation and civil administration, than had been 
 combined in any man since Julius Caesar. But he had two 
 wants : he wanted sympathy with human feelings, and he 
 wanted moderation. He put to death the Due d't^nghien 
 without the slightest justification ; he shot the bookseller 
 I'ulm on a tyrant's plea. He thus raised against him tiie con- 
 science of all the higher and middle classes of Europe. His 
 want of moderation was equally flagrant The extravagant 
 design of sealing up the whole continent of ICurope against 
 I'^nglish manufactures and commerce, tiie march of G00,000 
 men into Russia, betrayed the spirit of a gambler, rather than 
 that of a sovereign and a statesman, and alarmed all nations, 
 i'he first example of resistance, however, was given by Spain. 
 VOL. III. li |»
 
 402 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Spain had been from the time of the peace made by Godoy 
 the humble instrument of France. But Napoleon, not con- 
 tented with this vassalage, sought to degrade the Spanish 
 nation, and to this degradation they refused to submit. 
 
 In Spain, the whole power of administration had been 
 in the hands of Godoy. At his crowded levees were to be 
 seen the highest ecclesiastics and the most infamous harlots. 
 The patronage of the State was sold to the highest bidder ; 
 office and rank, the honour of women, and the dignities of 
 the Church, were the subjects of a disgraceful barter. 
 
 The monopoly of land in the hands of the Church and 
 the aristocracy ; the frivolous habits of the grandees ; the de- 
 clining state of the army and navy ; the absence of all spirit, 
 of all life, of all integrity, in the Court and the governing 
 classes made Spain apparently a ready victim or a hopeful 
 pupil. Napoleon determined to introduce into Spain what the 
 French call the principles of 1789 — to abolish the monopoly 
 of land, to divide the estates of the clergy and the nobility, 
 to put an end to religious intolerance and civil disability. 
 
 But with these improvements he coupled the deposition of 
 the reigning family, and taking advantage of a popular out- 
 break, and a dispute between the King and the Prince of 
 Asturias, he summoned these two worthless rivals to Bayonne, 
 where he forced them both to abdicate, and caused his 
 brother Joseph to be acknowledged King of Spain by a 
 body of mock representatives of that country. 
 
 Thus far successful, and having a French garrison at 
 Madrid, under the command of Joachim Murat, his brother- 
 in-law, he ordered, without a doubt of his orders being at 
 once obeyed, that the rest of the Royal Family should be sent 
 to Bayonne. But Napoleon knew nothing of the character 
 of the Spanish nation. The surface of the ground was
 
 cnArjj:s james fox. 40.", 
 
 tainted, but the deep soil beneath was ricli in virtue, strong 
 in pride, fertile in patriotic sentiment. Thus, when the mules 
 were harnessed to the royal carriages, the people of Madiid 
 broke out at once into a desperate, hopeless, but heroic 
 resistance. The names of Daoiz and Valverde, two officers 
 of artillery, who lost their lives in the combat of the 2Md 
 of May, are preserved in the grateful memory of the Spanish 
 people. The news of this unsuccessful resistance, and of the 
 military executions N\hich followed it, was carried, as it were, 
 by an electric shock, over the whole of Spain, and everywhere 
 inspired a similar spirit. 
 
 The Spaniards knew nothing of the forces of the Emperor 
 Napoleon ; they cared nothing for Charles IV. and his 
 rebellious son ; but they felt that their independence as a 
 nation was menaced, and they determined to rise in its 
 defence. The war which was carried on by virtue of this 
 determination was of the most cruel, the most ferocious, the 
 most fanatical nature. 
 
 If a rrench soldier lay down to assuage his thirst by a 
 drink of water from a well, he was thrown head foremost to 
 the bottom by the woman who showed him where he might 
 find water. If a Frenchman straggled from his regiment on 
 the road, he was cut off by the peasantry, and hung by the 
 road-side. If he joined his coraj)anions at a wine-house in 
 tlie evening, he ran a risk of having his throat cut, and being 
 thrown into the nearest river. If an oHicer was quartered 
 in a village, he could only defend himself by putting out sen- 
 tinels and erecting barricades. If he made a march with a 
 few companions, he might be cut off by a guerilla informed of 
 his route, and of the passes where he might be surprised. 
 
 Such waa tin; remgrsi'less war of the Sjiaiii.^li j)eoj)le 
 against their invaders. In this manner, the 300,000 soldiers
 
 404 THE LIFE AKD TIMES OF CHAELES JAMES FOX. 
 
 of Napoleon were reduced to a number which the genius 
 of Wellington was able to meet, to vanquish, and to expel. 
 
 The Russians bore invasion with scarcely more calmness 
 than the Spaniards ; the people resented the attempt to sub- 
 due them, and their national spirit drove out the great host 
 which reached Moscow only to leave it. Animated by their 
 example, the Germans, the Dutch, and the Italians vindi- 
 cated their nationality, and Europe was saved from conquest 
 and servile dependence. But in the second French War, as 
 in the first, it was proved that lavish subsidies to Austria and 
 Prussia, unaided by popular enthusiasm, bought only defeat 
 and humiliation, while the rapid and effective equipment of 
 British fleets was rewarded by the victory of Trafalgar and the 
 undisputed supremacy of the seas for the remainder of the war. 
 
 Thus, in the first war, the French nation had defeated the 
 kings of Europe ; in the second, the nations of Europe de- 
 feated the Emperor of the French. But in neither case did 
 France and the nations of Europe obtain liberty. France, 
 in the first war, fell into anarchy, and then embraced 
 despotism as a refuge. After the close of the second, the 
 monarchs assembled at Vienna combined to deprive their 
 subjects of that freedom to which they were so justly en- 
 titled. Half a century has since elapsed, but a love of 
 liberty and a spirit of moderation are still required to secure 
 to Europe the enjoyment of order, freedom, and peace. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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