'^y^'Tf.yyf^'f. t^-^^ .-^^-^x. ^^ "^^'^ ". , * .,**y^^^^'^- \0[bcLXG 33 / ENGLISH PREMIERS. VOL. I. ENGLISH PREMIERS FROM SIR ROBERT WALPOLE TO SIR ROBERT PEEL. JOHN CHARLES EARLE, B.A. OXON. IN TWO VOLUMES, VOL. I. LONDON : CHAPMAN AND HaIl, 193, PICCADILLY. 1871. * (Ihe right of translation is reserved.') PEEFACE. The following papers have already appeared in a monthly- magazine, but many additions have since been made, together -with a few verbal alterations. It has been the aim of the -writer to blend history, biography, and comment in a way which might not be unpleasing, and to avoid above all things overcharging the portraits of the premiers with details. He willingly leaves to those who are more enterprising the task of -writing their entire lives with elaborate precision, content if he can only succeed in drawing sketches which will be both popular and exact. He has no fear as regards the principles advocated in these pages, being deeply conscious of a most hearty sympathy with all that is truly Liberal and wisely Conservative. He believes the safety, happiness, and progress of society in this country to be indissolubly bound up with the conflict of political parties and the freedom of religious exertion ; and though the lives of English premiers have an intrinsic interest in a literary point of view, their highest value is derived from the vi PREFACE. comment which they supply on the complex and elastic character of the British Constitution. No prime minister has left that Constitution precisely what he found it, nor can any since Walpole be named under whom it has not been visibly improved and adapted to an advanced condition of the people. Eeligion and morality, science, order, and contentment have pre vailed in England during the last century and a half, just in proportion as our institutions have been developed in a popular direction, and modified in favour of ci-vil and religious equality in the eye of the law. The time was when the good of mankind required a more stringent exercise of political power than would now be either fit or endurable ; for barbarous and ill- instructed populations need restraints, which are worse than useless when applied to more educated and ci-vilised masses. If society were nearer perfection than it is likely to be for a long while to come, the force of public opinion alone would put do-wn all public abuses. But we ought not to censure governments too severely because they have not made more rapid advance and more prompt concessions to those who have demanded religious and political immunities. They coidd not do so with impunity until they were assured that those who accepted such privileges would concur -with them in the principle that, in these latter times, true liberty can exist only within such limits as leave others free, and that it implies, therefore, in all cases mutual toleration and mutual PREFACE, sacrifice of convenience and temporary advantage. If, for example, the rulers of this country delayed during many years to grant Roman Catholic Emancipation, and allowed it at last to be wrung from them only by agitation and by threats, it was doubtless because they feared that Catholics had not yet unlearned those exclusive principles of civil and ecclesiastical rule which Queen Mary put in force and which Louis XIV. revived. May it be long before any such attempts are renewed either on the one side or on the other ; for there is nothing in the pages of history more hateful than the endeavour of one set of thinkers to trample down another set by pains and penalties, force and violence. "Whatever be the motives by which such persecutors are actuated, their conduct is utterly detestable and radically irreligious : and the administrations of such statesmen as Walpole, Stanhope, Fox, Grey, and Peel, were signal protests against their continuance or adoption. It would be easy to imagine a system in which unity of religion should be maintained by common consent ; but in the state in which society has been in England during the last three centu ries, it would be impossible to buQd laws on such a basis without manifest injustice to various portions of the community. Kensixgto:* Pahk, Decemler, 1870. EIEST TABLE OE ENGLISH PEEMIEES, Feom SIE EOBEET WALPOLE to SIE EOBEET PEEL, With the Dates of their taking Office aa Prime Ministers,* Took Office 1. Sir Eobert Walpole, afterwards Earl op Orpord October . 1715 2. GrENEBAL, Earl Stanhopb .... April . 1717 3. Earl op Sunderland 1718 4. Sir Egbert Walpole, again .1721 6. Sir Spencer Compton, Earl op Wilmington, with Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl Q-RANViLLE, as Secretary of State . . February 2 . 1742 6. Henry Pelhah August . 1743 7. PuLTENET, Earl op Bath, with Lord Gran ville (Carteret) Feb. 10 to 12 . 1746 8. Duke op Newcastle April . 1754 9. Duke op Devonshire, -with Pitt, afterwards Earl OP Chatham, as Secretary of State . November 6 . 1756 10. Duke op Newcastle, again, -with Pitt, after wards Eabl op Chatham, as Secretary of State June 29 . 1757 11. Earl op Bute May 29 . 1762 12. G-EORGE Grenville May 8 , 1763 13. MAsauis OP Rockingham .... July 13 . 1765 14. Duke op Grapton, -with the Earl op Chatham as Lord Privy Seal August 2 . 1766 15. Lord North, afterwards Earl op Guilford . February 6 . 1770 * It is not possihle, in every case, to give the precise day on which the several premiers hecame prime ministers. FIRST TABLE OF ENGLISH PREMIERS. 16 17. 18. 19. 20.21. 22.23. 24.25. 26.27. 28.29. 30. 31.32.33. Marquis op Rockingham, again, with Charles James Fox as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Earl op Shelburne, afterwards Marquis op Lansdowne, with Pitt as Chancellor of the Exchequer . ...... Duke op Portland, -with Fox and Lord North as Secretaries of State William Pitt Henry Addington, afterwards -Viscount Sid MOUTH . ... William Pitt, again .... Earl Giienville, with Fox as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Duke op Portland, again Hon. Spencer Perceval Earl op Liverpool .... Gj:orge Canning Viscount Goderioh, afterwards Earl oi Eipon Duke op Wellington, January 8 ; arrange. ments completed .... Earl Grey Viscount Melbourne .... Sir Robert Peel Viscount Melbourne, again . Sir Eobert Peel, again Took Office March 30 . 1782 July 4 . 1782 April 2 . 1783 December 19 . 1783 March 17 . 1801 May 12 . 1804 February 7 . 1806 March 19 . 1807 September . 1809 June 8 1812 April 12 . 1827 August 8 .1827 January 23 . 1828 November 18 . 1830 July . 1834 December 9 . 1834 April 8 .1835 August 30 . 1841 SECOND TABLE OF ENGLISH PEEMIEES, From SIE EOBERT WALPOLE to SIR ROBERT PEEL. With the Bates of their Birth and Death, 1, Sir Robert Walpole, afterwards Earl OP Orpord 2. James, Earl Stanhope .... 3. Charles Spencer, Earl op Sunderland 4. John Carteret, Earl Granville* 5. Henry Pelham 6. William Pulteney, Earl of Bath 7. Thomas Holles Pelham, Duke op New castle 8. Duke of Devonshire .... 9. William Pitt, Earl op Chatham 10. John Stuart, Earl op Bute 11. George Grenville .... 12. Charles Watson Wentworth, Mar quis OP EOCKINGHAM 13. Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke op Grafton 14. Frederick Lord North, afterwards Earl op Guilford .... 15. William Petty, Earl of Shelburne, and afterwards Marquis op Lans downe Bom Died 1676 . March 18, 1745 1673 , , February 5, 1721 1674 , April 19, 1721 1690 . J-une 2, 1763 1696 . March 6, 1754 1682 . June 8, 1764 1694 . Novemher 17; , 1768 1720 . October 2, 1764 1708 . May 11, ¦ 1778 1713 . March 10, 1792 1712 . . November 13, ,1770 1730 . July 1, 1782 1735 . March 14, 1811 1732 . August 5, 1792 1737 . May 7, 1805 * The Earl of Wilmington is omitted here for the reason given at pages 82, 83 of vol. i. SECOND TABLE OF ENGLISH PREMIERS, Bom Died 16. Duke op Portland .... 1738 . October 30, 1809 17. Charles James Fox .... 1749 . September 13, 1806 18. William Pitt 1759 . January 23, 1806 19. Henry Addington, afterwards Viscount Sidmouth 1756 . February 15, 1844 20. William Wyndham, Lord Grenville 1769 . January 12, 1834 21. Hon. Spencer Perceval . . . 1762 . May 11, 1812 22. Eobert Banks Jenkinson, Lord Hawkes- BURY, and Earl op Liverpool . . 1770 . December 4, 1828 23. Georqe Canning 1770 . August 8, 1827 24. Frederick John Robinson, Viscount GoDERicH, afterwards Earl op Eipon 1782. 'January 28, 1859 25. Arthur Wellesley, Duke op Wel lington 1769 . September 14, 1852 26. Charles Grey, Lord Howick, and Earl Grey 1764 . July 17, 1845 27. William Lamb, Viscoitnt Melbourne . 1779 . November 24, 1848 28. Sir Egbert Peel, Baronet . . . 1788 . July 2, 1850 CONTENTS OF THE FIEST VOLUME. I. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. PAGE Importance of the period over which his life spread ... 3 Why this series begios with him 5 His early years 6 Why it is better for British Catholics that the Stuart cause failed . 7 Walpole opposed to religious persecution 8 The peace of Utrecht. Walpole in the Opposition .... 9 His imprisonment, and rise to power under George I. . . 9 — 11 The RebeUion of 1715 11 The Septennial Act 12 Cabals at court. Walpole resigns 13, 14 Is succeeded hy General Stanhope 14 He opposes Simderland's Peerage Bill 16 Sunderland becomes premier ....... .17 Character of Stanhope and Sunderland respectively . . . 18,19 The South Sea Bubble 20, 21 Sir Robert Walpole encourages Free Trade 22 His tax on the estates of Roman Catholics 23 Lord Stanhope's offer of indulgence to Roman Catholics . . 23 Walpole's conduct towards Bishop Atterhury .... "24 His honours and his enemies 24 Rivalry bet-ween Walpole and Bolingbroke 26 Queen Caroline's friendship for him 26 His private character 27 — 30 Account of Baron Ripperda 30 — 32 The Duke of Newcastle, To-wnshend, Lord Waldegrave, and Pulteney 32 — 35 Walpole burnt in effigy . 36,37 Tactics of the Opposition under Walpole's administration . . 37 Strickland, Bishop of Namur 38 Walpole's difference with King George II 38, 39 n. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. Walpole's tolerant measures 43 Dread of invasion by the Stuarts 44, 46 Licentiousness of the stage 46, 47 Charles Lamb on the comedies of this period 47 The Prince of Wales and his friends 48, 49 Queen Caroline and Bishop Butler 50, 51 CONTENTS, The Q,ueen's death Walpole's second marriage .... Quarrel between Spain and England The seceders from the House .... Eeporters excluded from the House of Commons Walpole yields to the clamour for -war -with Spain Charges brought against him .... Bolingbroke foremost among his opponents Walpole on " Patriots "... . . He negotiates with the Pretender . Tenacity -with which he clung to ofEoe His defeat .... ... Is succeeded by Carteret The " Drunken Administration "... Charaeter of Carteret ..... What Lady Hervey said of him The BiU of Indemnity . . . Lord Orford consulted by the King -when out of office The Page of the back-stairs .... Henry Pelham supplants Carteret . Lord Orford's illness and death. His character 52 53, o4 5558 5758 59 59, 60616263 6465 64—66 6667 68 70- III. HENEY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. Henry and Thomas Pelham Duke of Newcastle's lavish expenditure . . . . Henry Pelham's rise. His intended duel. His valiint defence of Walpole . . .... Carteret's talents ...... George II. at Dettingen Maria Theresa and the Elector of Bavaria Henry Pelham succeeds_WUmington as First Lord of the Trea sury ....... Character of the Earl of Wilmington Pelham counteracts Carteret's influence .... Pitt versus Carteret ....... Invasion of Prince Charles Edward Pelham's step in the direction of Free Trade . Carteret's fall ¦ . The two Pelhams, and how the King behaved to them Horace Walpole, and his spleen against them . The famous '45 . _ Supineness of the ministry Prince Charles Edward advances towards London . The Prince's defeat Lord Granville's new Cabinet The " Short-lived administration " . 'The Duke of Cumberland's victory .... Lord Lovat's coffin-plate The debates reported in the Gentleman's Magazi)ie , LordChesterfield, Viceroy of Ireland, is appointed Secretary of State . 80 . 8080 81, 82 . 82 . 84 . 85 85,86 85 8687 88,89 89 90 92929293 94-9696—99 . 97 . 98 . 100 100, 101 101 CONTENTS, PAGE Hereditary jurisdictions in Scotland ...... 102 George II. and the Bishopric of Osnabuig .... 104, 105 Duke of Newcastle described. His oddities . . . 105, 106 Pelham's scanty attainments ........ 107 Prince Charles Edward and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . . 1G8 The Prince of W ales joins the Opposition 109 The intrigues of Leicester House 109 Benefits of Free Trade 110,111 Cabals in the mimstry ......... 112 The Dukes of Ne-wcastle and Bedford 112,113 The Bloomsbury Gang ......... 113 The Whig OUgarchy .113 Death of the Prince of Wales 114 The Gregorian Calendar .115 Prince George and his tutors 116 — 119 Lord Gran-viUe ence more President of the Council . . . . 119 Pelham's indulgence to-ward the Jews 119 The Census. Clandestine mairiages. The Eiitish Mustun,. Men of letters in Pelham's time . . . 121,122 Pelham's retreat .......... 123 His death and his successor, the Duke of Nevcai- tie . . 124 Horace Walpole's account of the Duke otDe^oiiihiie . . 125 IT. THE EAEL OF CHATHAM AND LORD EU^E. Birth of WilUam Pitt .... His education and early life He joins the " Patriots " . The Patriots described . • . . Pitt's eloquence He is dismissed from military service His memorable retort .... The part he took against Sir Eobert Walpole His great mistakes ..... His vigorous assaults .... He is obnoxious to the King . Pitt in office and out of office . Position of Ne-wcastle on the death of Pelham Horace Walpole's account of him He tempts Pitt Pitt's marriage Pitt declaims against Hanover Admiral Byng ..... Pitt is made Secretary of State -whUe the Duke of Devonshire is First Lord of the Tieasuiy The nuptials of Pitt and Ne-wcastle . The King applies to Lord Waldegrave . Newcastle under Mrs. Pitt's bed-clothes . Fox's place in the Dew Cabinet Pitt in concert -with Frederick of Prussia Success of Biitish£arms . - t. • Pitt' s popularity . 129 . 130 . 131 . 131 . 132 [132,133 . 134 . 135 . 135 136,137137,138 1,138, 139 . 140 . 140 142, 14 3 . 143 143, 144 144, 145 147 145149 . 149 149, 150 . 160 . 161 162, 163 . 163 CONTENTS. PAGB Torpor of poUtical parties 165 Death of George II. ..,..-... 166 Accession of his grandson, George III. ...... 156 Lord Bute is made a cabinet minister ...... 187 Character of Lord Bute • . 157, 158 What Pitt did to humble France 159 George GrenviUe's attitude towards Pitt 160 Pitt in retirement .......... 162 His £3,000 a year 162 Lord Mayor's Day in 1761 162, 163 Tbe Grub Street rhymers 164 Newcastle is forced to retire by Lord Bute ..... 165 His chagrin, and subsequent rise above water .... 165, 166 SmoUett's description of him 166, 167 T. CHATHAM, GEENTILLE, AND EOCKINGHAM. PoUoy of Bute and the King 171, 172 Bute's disdainful manners 173 The symbolic jack-boot 174 Bribery practised by Bute and Fox 175 The Duke of Devonshire out of favour 176 His death and character 176 Pitt's protest against the treaty of peace 177 Incapacity of Sir Francis Dashwood 178 The "Gentle Shepherd" 179 Bute retires, April, 1763 179 George GrenviUe succeeds 179, 180 His favourite doctrine 180 His procedure against WUkes 181 Pitt espouses the cause of WUkes under certain limitations . 181, 182 WUkes's arrest declared iUegal in the Common Pleas . . . 181 The result in the House of Commons 182 Decline and faU of the Grenville administration . . . .183 Horace Walpole on Charles Townshend 185 Death of Sir WiUiam Pynsent 186 The odious Stamp Act 186 Proposed exclusion of the Princess-mother from the regency . 186, 187 Negotiations with Pitt 187 The imperious ministers and their royal master . . . .188 Lord Eockingham becomes premier 189 Is supported by Edmund Burke 190 Value of Burke's adhesion 191 Distress caused by the Stamp Act 192 Three opinions respecting the Stamp Act .... 192, 193 George III.'s private -views on the subject 193 Lord CUve and Chatham 194 Eockingham proposes repealing the Stamp Act ... 195 " The King's friends " 196 General warrants abolished 198 Lord Albemarle on the Eockingham administration . . . 198 Pitt aUied with " the King's friends " 198, 199 CONTENTS. PAGE The Duke of Grafton and Charles Townshend . . . 199, 200 Chatham's " faU up-stairs " 201,202 His insufferable hauteur 203 His disordered mind 205 He retires to Bath 206 Charles To-wnshend's arrogance 206 Chatham resigns, and his nerves are restored ..... 208 Weakness of the Grafton ministry 208 Chatham pleads again for Wilkes and for the Americans . 209 — 211 Lord Camden espouses Wilkes's cause, and loses the Great Seal 211 George GrenviUe's death 211 Chatham's speech in January, 1775, and BiU of Conciliation presented in February of the same year .... 212, 213 His last speech 215 His death ..... 216 In what his glory consists . . . . . . . .217 Horace Walpole ou Chatham 217 Tl. LOED NOETH. Lord North's antecedents 221 Lord Camden's retirement from the Grafton ministry . . .221 The WUkes affair . . . _ . _ 222 The government's irritating coloniarpolicy • . . . 223,224 Lord Nprth on subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles . . . 225 The Dissenting schoolmasters- 226 The exploits of Lord Clive 227 Charges against him 228 Decision of the House 229 Lord North's policy in the West . . . _ . . • . 229 That policy the cause of the American insurrection .... 230 The Duke of Grafton recants his errors 232 Character of Washington 233, 234 Johnson's " Taxation no Tyranny " ...... 235 Franklin on the American War 236 Lady Charlotte Lindsay and Edmund Burke on the Premier's good quaUties • ... 237 Lord North's confidence of success in the struggle . . . .238 The declaration of independence 238, 239 Character of Franklin ' ^o^ Successes of the British troops 239 Successes of the colonists . . 241, 242 Retirement of Lord North • 243 Unusual ferment in the year 1779 ¦.•.•.• • .244 WUliam III. urged to intolerance against his -will .... 245 Sir George Savile's bUl for repealing 10 & 11 WiUiam III. . . 246 Horace Walpole quoted „.o ocl Lord George Gordon and his not 248—250 One-sided liberty oW o-5 Miseries of Ireland . . • \, -^ ¦ ' ' ' ^^^'i'tt The wish of Lord North's heart to reheve them . . . . 2Si VOL. I. * CONTENTS. page DecUne of his star 254 His humour ... 255 Burke on Economical Eeform .... ... 256 Goldsmith's description of him .... . 266 Lord North's overthrow 257 The Duke of Grafton and Nancy Parsons 258 The King and Lord North .268 Mrs. Comely's masquerade 258 Lord Rockingham's administration, March, 1782 . . 259 Lord Shelbume's administration, July, 1782 . . . 259 Duke of Portland's administration, April, 1783 . . 259 TIL CHARLES JAMES FOX. Sources of history of the premiers 263 Fox's birth and chUdhood 264 His studies . . 265 — 267 Interview -with Toltaire ... 268 His early politics 269 His passion for gambling .... .... 270 His change in poUtics 270, 271 His rise in importance as a debater 272, 273 The treaty between France and the United States .... 275 Lord North -wishes to retire 275 Lord Chatham -wiU not enter the cabinet unless on his own terms 276 The King and the people 276, 277 North and Fox not so far apart as was generaUy supposed . 278 Fox and the Duke of Richmond advocate universal suffrage . . 278 Fox turns rioter 279 George III.'s dislike of Fox .... ... 280 Lord North resigns ... 281 Chancellor Thurlow 281 Lord Rockingham's second administration, 1782 .... 282 Pox and George Sel-wyn at Brookes's ... . . 284 Lord Shelburne's administration, 1782 285 His line of poUtics 285 Charles James Fox wiU not act -with Shelburne .... 285 WUliam Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer . ... 286 Bums on Charles James Fox . . . ... 287 The " infamous coaUtion " . . 288 Pitt refuses to become prime minister ...... 289 Fox and North Secretaries of State 289 The King changes his opinion of Fox in some respects . . . 290 Misrule in India. CUve and Hastings 291 — 293 Defeat of Fox's India BUI 294 Resignation of Fox 295 The Mince-pie administration 295 Impeachment of Warren Hastings 296 Summing-up by Fox . ¦ 298 Line taken by Pitt and Fox respectively on the regency question 298, 299 CONTENTS. Lord Brougham's opinion ParaUel between Fox and Bolingbroke . Fox's assertion respecting Mrs. Fitzherbert Fox's letters during Pitt's supremacy His opinions on the French Revolution PAGE . :i99 299—300 . 301 . 302 . 303 Till. CHARLES JAMES FOX [Concluded). Rupture bet-ween Fox and Burke . . .... 307 Their difft-rent notions of govemment ...... 308 Proposals for coaUtion between Pitt and Fox 309 Fox entertains hopes of WUberforce's joining the Opposition altogether ........... 310 Fox's secession from debates 311 He marries Mrs. Armistead . ... 312 His letters to Lord Holland . . ... 312, 313 His views on Catholic disabUities . . . . . . .313 Rev. Eobert HaU and Thomas Moore on Charles James Fox . . 314 Fox's reasons for opposing the war . .... 317 Why Pitt resigned in 1801 ... . . . 319 Fox's opinion of Addington . . 321 His visit to Paris in 1802 321 Fox's fears of invasion . 322 The "fuss about acknowledging" Bonaparte as Emperor . 323, 324 Fox is proposed to the King as minister by Pitt .... 325 The King's objections to him 325, 326 His feelings on attaining power at last ... . 327 His declining health . . 328 His zeal for the conclusion of peace and abolition of slavery . . 329 He refuses a peerage 329 His fondness for novels, Crabbe' s Tales, and Tirgil . . . .330 He goes to Chiswick to die 331 His death .... 331 He is regretted by George III . 331 Walter Scott's lines on Pitt and Fox . . . .332 SIE EOBEET WALPOLE. " Now comes the man who has for verse no ear. For lore no reverence, and for wit no fear ; Bm-ly and bluff, in St. John's vacant place. The land's new leader lifts his jovial face. Alas ! poor Nine — a dreary time for you ! King George the First, Sir Robert Walpole too ! Sir Robert waits ; — those shrewd coarse features scan. How strong- the sense, how English is the man ! " Lord Lytton, " St. Stephen's," I. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. rriHE life of Sir Robert "Walpole ranges over a long and most important period of English history. He -was born in 1676, when " the merry monarch " held his dissolute court at Whitehall, and in his boyhood James II. forfeited the sceptre he had so injudiciously wielded. At Eton he was the comrade of Bolingbroke ; and soon after attaining his majority he was returned to Parliament, under William III., broke down in his maiden speech, and then steadily rose to fame as a debater. He filled many offices of trust under Godolphin, the prime minister of Queen Anne ; was impeached for corruption, com mitted to the Tower, regarded as a Whig martyr, visited in prison by Marlborough, Somers, and Grodolphin, in whose brilliant and effective administration he had shared, and was liberated in the following year with all the iclai of one who had suffered unjustly. He re-entered Parlia ment with fresh energy, and proved a most dexterous debater. His calmness and self-command were astonish ing ; but when he rose to be premier, under George I., his policy of bribery was bitterly and ceaselessly de- ENGLISH PREMIERS. nounced. He had great defects as a statesman and great merits. He was the butt of one party, the idol of another, and a century has hardly sufficed to cool the judgment of his partisans and his foes. He was a Whig, and, as /Lord Dover calls him, " the glory of the Whigs " in his own time : he would be the scandal of the Tories in ours, for his most liberal ideas would fall far short of the liberalism of a high Tory in these days. He was supreme in the cabinet, would suffer no contradiction, and fought his battles single-handed. Macaulay said that a fair portrait of him still remained to be drawn, and that, when drawn, it would be equally unlike the one by Coxe and that by Smollett. Perhaps Lord Macaulay's own estimate of him is all that is needed, for it is formed with rare discrimination and strict impartiality.* He obtained the condemnation of Bolingbroke and Oxford; retired from office in his forty-first year ; became the leader of a formidable opposition ; was recalled to power .four years later, and then governed England during fifteen years of the reign of George II. ; fell at last by the coalition of / parties agreed in nothing but hatred of his policy ; was /created Earl of Orford, and died in the year in which the Stuarts were finally defeated, and all the clouds that lowered upon the house of Hanover were "in the deep bosom of the ocean buried." It is evident at a glance that the life of such a man must be full of interest, and have no inconsiderable bear- * See his " Essays," vol. i. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, ing on the present political and social condition of the country. He brings before us in a prominent light the figure of an English premier such as the Revolution of 1688 has made him ; not the mere agent of his royal master's pleasure, but the impersonation of a parliamen tary majority, advising and even controlling the sove reign, and responsible to the legislature for his ministerial acts. Whether guiding public opinion, or led by it, the premier represents the 'nation more faithfully than the crowned head, and, when gifted with a powerful under standing, makes a deeper impression on his age than the sovereign whom he serves. Robert Walpole was, in fact, what every succeeding prime minister has been — the 'great body of the people in the council-chamber of the king — the real ruler for the time being, though not wearing the insignia of royalty. It is for this reason that I have begun the present series with him,* because he seems to inaugurate a new; era in our parliamentary history, and also because, under his administration, the unity of cabinets became more decided, and the cabals which had disgraced preceding reigns happily disap peared. From his time, moreover, the First Lord of the /Ti-easury has been generally considered pr^me minister, though, previously to 1721, the chief authority was often held by a Secretary of State. Robert's earlier days could have given no presage of * " EngUsh Premiers " first appeared in a Monthly Review, in the years 1866—7. ENGLISH PREMIERS, his subsequent wealth. His father, though he possessed "£2,000 a year Norfolk sterling," would pass three months and ten days in town in the winter without spending more than £64 Is, 6d,, and little thought that what maintained him a whole session would scarce serve one of his grandsons to buy fans and "japan" for prin cesses at Florence. At Eton, Robert was considered a scholar of quick, parts, and he picked up at least enough bad Latin to converse afterwards with George I., who knew no more of English than his minister did of German. But even as a boy Robert's chief talent lay in speaking; and when he entered King's College, Cam bridge, in his twentieth year, his political bias was well known. "We must take care to save this young man," said Dr. Brady, his Tory physician, when he was seized with the small-pox, " or we shall be accused of having pur posely neglected him, because he is so violent a Whig." His twenty-fourth year was marked by three events, — he married the daughter of Sir John Shorter,' the Lord Mayor ; inherited the paternal estate by his father's death ; and was elected member of parliament for Castle Rising. Launched on the sea of politics and fashion, Walpole soon displayed great activity. He sat on various com mittees, diligently mastered every question that presented itself, and supported the oath of abjuration by which the " Prince of Wales " was excluded from the throne by a SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, majority of one only (188 to 187). King William gave his assent to the bill containing it with his dying breath, and the adherents of the Stuarts called it his " cursed legacy."* But the ways of Providence are inscrutable. The curse has been turned into a blessing, and, by a slower but far surer process than the restoration of the fallen dynasty, the penal laws have been gradually sus pended, the disabilities of British Catholics removed, and their Church has, with some drawbacks, been placed at last in a free and honourable position. If the crown had been set on the head of James III. or Charles IIL, there is much reason to fear that the event would have proved a calamity rather than a gain to the Catholic cause. Civil war would probably have desolated the land, and a violent Protestant reaction would have trodden into the dust all the after-growth of the ancient faith.f The Stuatt princes have many claims to our chivalrous attach ment, but it must be confessed that they were very im perfectly acquainted with the political principles by which alone England can be governed. J . Walpole's talents now drew on him the attention of Lord Godolphin and the hero of Blenheim. He was appointed successively Councillor to the Lord High Admiral, Secretary at War, and Treasurer to the Navy. He managed the proceedings against Dr. Sacheverel for * He died March 8, 1702. t See Kev. Arthur O'Leary's "Loyalty Asserted;" "Lifeof A. O'Leary," by Buckley, p. 69. X See Horace Walpole, "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 286-7. ENGLISH PREMIERS, his anti-Whig sermon in 1709, but he did so officially, to oblige Godolphin ; and, like Queen Anne herself, enter tained in private feelings favourable to the accused. His speech and pamphlet on the occasion show clearly that, though firmly opposed to the Stuart dynasty, he had no wish for religious persecution, and thought Sacheverel's suspension for three years was as much and more than the Tory parson deserved. He had respect to the mob too, which was clearly on the Doctor's side,* and he must have learned from the prime minister many a lesson of political pliancy. Godolphin, as Macaulay says, "was zealous for no government and useful to every govern ment." He had prospered alike under James II. and William III. ; and he had voted for a Regency though he passed for a Whig. By the intrigues of Mrs. Masham, a lady of the bed chamber, the influence of the Duchess of Marlborough at court was undermined ; and the Whig administration of Godolphin and the great duke being supplanted by Harley, afterwards Lord Oxford, Walpole retired into the Opposition, and spurned every offer of accommo dation made to him by the new favourite. " Make a safe and honourable peace," he replied to his numerous overtures ; " preserve the Protestant succession, and you will have no opposition." In 1713 Harley and St. John did make peace, but their opponents . thought it neither safe nor honourable. Lord Stanhope calls it " the shame- * CortiMU Magazine, " Mobs," June, 1867. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, ful peace of Utrecht," the " consummation of wickedness and weakness," by which "subserviency to France became our leading principle of policy." * But there are other historians no less sagacious than Lord Stanhope, who, without admiring either Harley or St. John, think the peace they concluded was a benefit to England and a blessing to Europe at large.f Meanwhile Walpole fell into trouble. He was accused of venality and corruption in forage contracts made by him in Scotland as Secretary at War, expelled the House of Commons, and lodged in the Tower. The Tory administration was too strong for him. Oxford and Bolingbroke, J with their Jacobite leanings, were in the royal favour. But Walpole was a Whig on principle — a Whig in the sense then attached to the word. His convictions and his heart were on the side of the Protestant succession and the honour of his country as opposed to France. Powerful men strove beside him in the Opposition — in the House of Peers, Somers, Cowper, and Halifax ; in the Commons, General Stanhope. Yet he fell. Such reverses often promote the rise of eminent men. Walpole defended himself in a manner satisfactory to his friends, and his prison apart ment had the appearance of a crowded levee. He was regarded as a victim of party rancour, a popular ballad * " History," vol. i. 6. Anno 1713. t The matter is ably discussed by Mr. Thomas Macnight in his " Life of Bolingbroke."X Made Secretary of State, September, 1710. ENGLISH PREMIERS, was sung in his praise, and his future triumph was con fidently predicted. Released from prison with a damaged fortune, Wal pole visited Godolphin in his last illness at St. Alban's. " If you forsake that young man," said the dying states man to the Duchess of Marlborough, " I will appear to you and reproach you for your conduct, if souls are permitted to return to earth from the grave." And here it may be mentioned that when Sir Richard Steele was persecuted by the court party for his pamphlet called the " Crisis," and stood as a culprit at the bar of the Commons, it was his good fortune to have Walpole and Stanhope at his side, while Addison sat near and prompted him on occasion. In the ensuing debate, Walpole exerted all his powers to show that Steele was attacked only because he was the advocate of the Pro testant succession, that the succession was wounded through his sides, and that his punishment would prove it to be in danger.* Walpole now used all his efforts to weaken the influ ence of Mrs. Masham, who encouraged the Queen in her wish to bequeath the crown to James III. ; of Harley, who had allowed a communication with the court of St. Germain's ; and of Bolingbroke, who was believed and known to be still more favourable than Harley to the Jacobites. Harley, indeed, was dismissed from office for his lukewarmness by his royal mistress; and five days * Coxe's " Life of Walpole," vol. i. p. 44. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, after she herself expired.* The way was now fast open ing for Walpole's rise ; and when George I., immediately after his arrival, exchanged the Tory administration for one composed almost entirely of Whigs, Lord Townshend, hvho was considered as prime minister, and Walpole — ¦ now Paymaster of the Forces — were the chief agents in its formation.f One of their first acts was to impeach the late ministers. J Walpole was chairman of the Com mittee of Secrecy appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into their conduct. He too drew up the report, and the impeachment followed. Bolingbroke and Ormond fled, and were attainted. The former put him self immediately in communication with the Pretender, and became his Secretary of State. Harley, Earl of Oxford, defended himself bravely, and, though he was confined two years in the Tower, was ultimately pro nounced innocent. In the meantime the Earl of Mar set up the standard of James III. in Scotland,§ and was routed by Argyle at Dumblane. || The Chevalier of St. George appeared in Scotland himself shortly after the doubtful battle of Sheriff-muir,^ but his arms were not destined to meet » August 1, 1714. t Lord Stanhope's "History of England," vol. i. p. 103. J See Transactions in Scotland in 1716 and 1745, vol. i. pp. 142 — 210. § September 6, 1715 ; Transactions in Scotland, vol. i. p. 231. 11 November 13, 1716. H December 22, 1715. Letter of James to Bolingbroke ; Klose's " Me- moii's of Prince Charles Stuai-t," vol. i. p. 74. ENGLISH PREMIERS. with success. A certain infatuation attended the counsels of the house of Stuart, and their own imprudence con stantly strengthened their enemies' hands. Walpole's activity in forwarding supplies and answering all inqui ries so increased his reputation that in October, 1715, he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury and Chan cellor of the Exchequer. Sixty thousand pounds were offered him, as he stated in the House of Commons, to save the life of Lord Derwentwater ; but this he refused. His fortune was made, and power was dearer to him than wealth. Though unusually lenient, he was loud in his demands for the execution of "rebels and parricides," forgetting, it would seem, that clemency and, amnesties are often more powerful deterrents than severe punish ment. A serious illness, brought on by over-exertion of mind and body, reminded him in his fortieth year of the uncertain tenure by which he grasped his honours ; but he recovered, to the joy of his party ; and many Whig poets, among whom was Rowe the dramatist, celebrated his return to health. The Septennial Act next marked his administration.* It substituted a new parliament every seven instead of every three years ; and long experience has proved it to be the happy medium between too rare and too frequent changes. It is recorded of Johnson that he hated it,t and this alone is something in its praise. * Lord Stanhope, vol. i. ch. -vi. t Macaulay's " Biographies," page 91. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 13 It gives to the House of Commons a certain stability, powers of combination, and independence which it could not have 'if it were of shorter duration. The repeal of the restraining clause in the Act of Settlement was to Walpole a matter of regret. He would have thought it better to tie the Hanoverian sovereign by the leg, and not allow him to run away from his kingdom when he pleased, and leave the Prince of Wales (of whom, by the way, he was very jealous) guardian of the realm. Many inconveniences resulted from the head of the state being so far removed from the members. The house of Hanover was not yet so firmly established, neither were its enemies so completely subdued, as to allow of its chief representati-ve abandoning his court at Whitehall, and hiding himself in the summer-houses of German gardens. The people liked to see their king, though he was a foreigner ; and court balls and levees were as precious to the tradespeople of London as to the votaries of fashion passing their seasons in town. With all Walpole's success, he foresaw " storms in the air;" and they did not "blow over," as he predicted. The cabinet was divided. Sunderland, Halifax, Notting ham, and Marlborough were sour with discontent, and the German junto, with (Von Schulenburg) the Duchess of Kendal, and (Kilmanseck) Lady Darlington, at its head, governed the King, and by their venality and avarice caused endless trouble to his most trustworthy ministers. 1 4 ENGLISH PREMIERS. Walpole remonstrated against these abuses, but George I. replied with a smile, " I suppose you are also paid for your recommendations." His fall, indeed, was ' at hand ; but he had time to conclude a treaty with France, which was negotiated by his brother Horace. Its leading fea ture was an engagement on the part of England to sup port the succession of the Regent in case of Louis XY.'s dying without issue, on condition that France should cease to give encouragement to the Stuart claims. But what services could secure a minister in those days from the influence of cabals at court ? The King was led to believe that Townshend and his allies were exalting the Prince of Wales to the detriment of the father's authority, and Townshend was displaced, to his own and Walpole's intense indignation. His hot temper and imperious ways had made him obnoxious to George I.'s displeasure. "The King will not bear him,"* wrote Stanhope, " be the consequence what it will." Once again the royal countenance beamed upon Towns hend propitiously on the beach at Margate, and he was persuaded to accept the Lord- Lieutenancy of Ireland ; but it was clear that others were in the royal favour, and Walpole, then First Lord of the Treasury, resigned, and was succeeded by General (afterwards Lord) Stanhope. The King pressed him to remain in office ; returned him the seals, it is said, no less than ten times ; and at last saw his ablest minister retire, firm in his resolution, but * Letter to Robert Walpole, December 16, 1716. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 15 moved to tears. From that moment — April, 1717 — he became the leader of a vigorous opposition. When he resigned his post, Walpole was in the midst of a favourite scheme for reducing the national debt. It amounted to fifty millions, and the average interest paid was seven per cent. He had proposed borrowing £600,000, bearing interest at only four per cent., and applying all savings to the reduction of the national debt by means of a general sinking-fund. It was con tracting a new debt to get rid of an old one, and could have no other effect than that of withdrawing still more capital from the work of production and the wages of the labouring classes.* But when thrown into the ranks of the Opposition, Walpole did not rise above personal con siderations, but spoke and voted against almost every measure, financial or not, introduced by government. What he had formerly advocated was now his mortal aversion, and what he had denounced he now supported. f Neither regard for his own consistency nor for the public interest restrained him. So factious was he that he leagued with Wyndham, Shippen, Bromley, and other decided Jacobites. Even thus he all but managed the House of Commons ; and he accepted as praise what was said of him as a reproach, that " he seemed to be perfect master of some secret magic." The power of genius, especially in debate and finance, * See Mill's " PoUtical Economy," Book i. chap. v. § 8. t Lord Stanhope, vol. i. p. 264. 1 6 ENGLISH PREMIERS, is always magical ; and Walpole never exerted it with greater effect than in the speech he delivered against Sunderland's Peerage Bill. He had right on his side. That measure would have subverted the British Con stitution. By creating a large number of new peers it would have strengthened the hands of the existing ministry, as a fresh creation of peers always does ; but this would have been its least important result.' By limiting thenceforward the number of peers, it would have deprived the King of one of his most essential prerogatives, and have put it into the power of the House of Lords to offer a compact resistance to the wishes both of the monarch and the nation. It would have made it impossible for Lord Grey to pass the Reform Bill in 1832, for it was only through fear of being swamped that the Peers consented to that measure. Had Sunderland's bill passed, no king or minister could have threatened a new creation. The overthrow of this short-sighted and unconstitutional plan was mainly owing to Walpole's determined opposition, and to his masterly speech in the House of Commons, the substance of which has been collected from memoranda in his own hand writing.* " Among the Romans," he said, " the Temple of Fame was placed behind the Temple of Yirtue, to denote that there was no coming to the Temple of Fame but through that of Yirtue. But if this bill is passed into law, one * Lord Stanhope, vol. i. ch. x. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 17 of the most powerful incentives to virtue would be taken away, since there would be no arriving at honour but through the winding-sheet of an old decrepit lord, or the grave of an extinct noble family : a policy very different from that glorious and enlightened nation, who made it their pride to hold out to the world illustrious examples of merited elevation — ' Patere honoris scirent ut cuncti viam.' " There are two Latin quotations in the paragraph im mediately following ; and it is evident that Walpole, though not a literary man, thought it his bounden duty to interlard his speeches with scraps from the poets and philosophers of that " glorious and enlightened " people whom he extolled far above the advocates of the Peerage Bill. In 1718, when General Stanhope was raised to an earldom, he resigned the place he had held as Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Treasury. In lieu of these, and that he might the better counteract the designs of Cardinal Alberoni, he accepted the post of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, which the Earl of Sunderland vacated in otder to become premier in Stan hope's stead.* In the same year the gentle Addison retired from the service of the State to pursuits morg congenial to his classic taste. In Downing Street he was a trifler, at St. Stephen's a mute. In the foUowing year he was to breathe his last at Holland House, in Kensington, * Lord Stanhope's History, vol. i. p. 298. VOL. 1. C 1 8 ENGLISH PREMIERS. A little before Queen Anne's death. Stanhope had offered a strenuous but ineffectual resistance to the Schism Act, which happily never came into operation. It was, as regards Dissenters, one of the most oppressive and odious measures that ever defiled the Statute Book, and when Stanhope came into power, he did all he could to abolish it and the Test Act too. His success was only partial, for, I regret to say, that Walpole and his friends warmly opposed him.* In his foreign policy Stanhope was happier than Walpole, and in several particulars he showed himself possessed of sound wisdom and shrewd forecast. Both before and after Queen Anne's decease, he vigorously combated the designs of the Jacobites, hung constantly on the heels of Harley and the more traitorous Bolingbroke, contributed powerfully to the settlement of the crown on the Elector of Hanover, and then with the true instincts of a Whig, endeavoured to limit the royal prerogatives by withdrawing from the sovereign the power of dismissing officers in the army without a trial by court-martial. His grand mistake was in supporting Sunderland's -views respecting the Peerage Bill ; and in this matter Walpole very properly resisted his measure, and finally overthrew it. In the South Sea speculation, however, Stanhope had the > advantage over Walpole, since he laudably abstained from taking any part in it. He displayed on several occa sions a high degree of integrity and disinterestedness. But * Lord Stanhope's History, vol. i. p. 329. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 19 he died at the early age of forty-seven,* and thus removed one obstacle to Walpole's ascendancy. For little more than two months the Earl of Sunderland continued at the head of the government, debarring Walpole from the pre eminence to which he was entitled,! and countenancing the delusion which that statesman (though he had gained by it) was destined to expose. Charles, Earl of Sunderland, was son of Robert, earl of the same title, and prime minister under James II. , whom he resembled in weakness and treachery. Charles's politics, unlike those of his father, inclined to popular rights. Lord Stanhope says he " carried his love of them to the very verge of republican doctrine." He had served under Queen Anne as Secretary of State till June, 1710, and no one felt any doubt of his talent or success. On being dismissed from office, he refused a pension of £3,000 a year for life, declaring, with rare generosity, that "if he could not have the honour of serving his country, he would not plunder it." Swift, though his enemy, acknowledged his learning, and it is recorded to his credit that, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, he chose " all the chief and most of the other judges and bishops too " out of the natives rather than the English. During the Walpole and Townshend administration he held the office of Lord Privy Seal with a seat in the cabinet, but had little real influence. It is a pity that he had not sagacity enough to perceive what a delusion * Febmary 5, 1721. t Smyth's Lectures, u. p. 334. ENGLISH PREMIERS, and a snare the South Sea Bubble would prove. But it was well for the court and the ministers that some of them were losers by the affair, for if all had gained by it, as Walpole did, the people would have torn them to pieces. The next era to be recorded in Walpole's life — from 1720 to 1721 — was marked by his restoring the public credit, which the famous South-Sea scheme had so seri ously damaged. The South-Sea Company had already traded largely on the credulity of Englishmen. The con tagion of Law's Mississippi scheme spread from Paris to London. "Fleets of jewels," islands fertile with the fruit of endless summers, and the mines of Mexico and Potosi sparkling -with inexhaustible wealth, were seen in vision through the haze of the wide waters of the Atlantic. The company offered to liquidate the national debt. A lower rate of interest than before was to be paid, and subscriptions to the scheme itself were invited under government patronage. In an evil hour the minis ters consented to this proposal. Walpole resisted it, re-entered office as Pajnnaster of the Forces,* reconciled the jealous King to the Prince of Wales, and was soon fixed upon as the only person capable of healing the wounds inflicted on the public credit by the South-Sea Company's frenzy and fraud. At this instance, also, Townshend allowed himself to be named President of the Council. Even Walpole's opposition to the Peerage Bill * Lord Stanhope, vol. i. p. 366. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. was relaxed, for the ministry fully intended to bring it forward again. The whole nation was mad with stock-jobbing. Every day some new commercial bubble was blown. South-Sea shares were sold for ten times what they had cost, large fortunes were made by the more wily, and then the crash came. Thousands of families were " wrecked on a reef of visionary gold," and reduced to beggary in an hour. The King was very desponding, and but for Walpole's pru dence and moderation, he and the Prince of Wales, who had allowed himself to be made Governor of the Copper Company, might have found their position anything but easy. As a private individual, however. Sir Robert did not scruple to speculate in South-Sea stock, and sell out greatly to his advantage. A thousand per cent, was the price at which he was fortunate enough to sell his shares. Guy, the bookseller, followed his lead, and to the fortune he gained we owe the hospital that bears his name.* Lord Pembroke also profited by his example to a large amount. To remedy the terrible distress produced by the bursting of the great bubble, Walpole brought in a fresh bill. He remitted five of the seven millions and a half which the South-Sea directors had agreed to pay the public, and subsequently yielded the remaining two. He * " Shadows of the Old Booksellers," by Charles Knight. The refer ences in the "English Premiers" are not always made to authorities. They often point to passages in other books where the facts recorded, or opinions expressed in the text, are to be found at greater length, and are placed in an interesting point of -view. ENGLISH PREMIERS, cleared their encumbrances partly with the forfeited estates, maintained the credit of their bonds, and paid thirty- three per cent, of the capital to the proprietors, thus dealing justice as far as possible to all parties, and retrieving the ill effects of the calamity.* In 1721, Stanhope and Sunderland f being dead, Wal pole was again placed at the head of affairs, and gave a generous impulse to the system of Free Trade. He found commerce and manufactures hampered in all their efforts. Importation, of needful commodities had been shackled by all sorts of petty duties, and exportation had been made equally difficult. One hundred and six articles of British manufacture were, therefore, by Walpole's recommenda tion, allowed to be exported, and thirty-six articles of raw material to be imported, duty-free. Bounties and premiums were granted to the importers of naval stores from our possessions in North America. A minister who conferred such substantial boons on his country was not the man to be lightly set aside ; and when Sunderland, who envied his popularity, had, on one occasion, requested the King to make him Postmaster- General for life, and thus put an end to his parliamentary career, George replied : " I parted with him once against my inclination, and I will never part with him again as long as he is willing to serve me." The tax laid by one of Walpole's bills on the estates of * Lord Stanhope, vol. u. pp. 23-4. t The Earl of Sunderland died AprU 19, 1721. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 23 Catholics, and subsequently extended to all non-jurors, lies open to severe censure. The same may be said of a bill passed in 1716, one clause of which provided that all "Papists" who enlisted in his majesty's service should be effectually punished. That they had, by favouring the revolt of 1715, caused great alarm and subjected the nation to heavy expenses is most true ; but such reprisals did not prevent the outbreak of 1745. They rather in creased disaffection. A policy of conciliation might have been more successful. Lord Stanhope, indeed, four years before, had set a good ex-ample in this respect. He had made offers of indulgence to Catholics, which Lord Mahon in his history calls " the earliest germ of Roman Catholic emancipation," on conditions, to be submitted to the Pope, requiring sworn allegiance to the reigning family. This overture proved abortive from a variety of causes. The time was not yet come in which ecclesiastical authority could recognise as indisputable the claim of the Hano verian dynasty to the sceptre of these isles. But I mark with satisfaction every step towards that mutual tolera tion in which alone liberty consists. When the hopes of the Jacobites revived in 1721, and fears were entertained of an insurrection, Bishop Atter- bury was suspected of correspondence with the exiled family, arrested, and sent to the Tower. Lord Cadogan proposed that he should there be flung to the lions, and some others, equally merciful, were eager to pass an act for cutting off his head. But Walpole was always averse 24 ENGLISH PREMIERS, to blood, and to his moderation and wisdom Atterhury owed his life. He was only deprived of his mitre, and banished for life, while it was made a penal offence to correspond with him without the royal permission. Walpole's honours grew thick upon him. His son was raised to the peerage, and he was himself created a Knight of the Bath and of the Garter. It was a theme hardly worthy of him who in the " Night Thoughts " hymned the glory of the starry universe, yet Dr. Young sung of it in the poem called " The Instalment." The shades of departed knights were invited to attend ; Godolphin -was to place the star on Sir Robert's breast, Burleigh to fasten the plume on his head, and another to throw the crimson mantle over his shoulder ; others were to gird the sword on his thigh, or circle his waist with the diamond girdle ; while King Edward was to own that — " Since first he fixed the race, None pressed fair gloi-y -with a s-wifter pace." Like all public men in those days, Walpole had many thorns in his side. His love of power was such, that he could brook no rival. By not inviting the opulent Pulteney to take office, he turned him into a bitter oppo nent and ally of Bolingbroke. Being jealous of Carteret's influence with the King, his great learning, and his fluent German, he caused him to be dismissed, and drove him into the ranks of the Opposition. He quarrelled with Townshend, his friend and kinsman ; and though, through the influence of the Duchess of Kendal, he com- SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, plied with the wishes of George I., and supported the bill which cancelled Bolingbroke's attainder, he not only failed to make him a friend, but became the object of his sharpest invective. But he would not so easily expose himself to the hatred of a people. When Ireland was convulsed with rage at the introduction of Wood's copper coinage, he wisely yielded to the agitation, and would not attempt to enforce so innocuous a measure by the use of arms. In Scotland he employed Lord Hay to repress the tumults that arose out of resistance to the malt-tax ; and though he acted with vigour, his moderation also was worthy of praise. The Treaty of Hanover, which was concluded in 1725, was not altogether approved by Wal pole. It united England, France, and Prussia in a defensive alliance against Spain, Russia, and the Emperor of Germany ; and though Walpole supported it, he objected to Portugal not being included among the contracting parties, and to the large sums required to gain over Sweden. It was supposed to be unfavourable to Stuart designs in England, and this redeemed its defects in Walpole's sight. By his wise negotiations war with Austria and Spain was averted: He dreaded the interruption of our com merce with the Spaniards, and believed, with almost all English statesmen, that a pacific policy is best for our national interests. The time may come when nations will prefer peace from yet higher motives ; but in the meanwhile it is well if, for worldly advantage, they beat their swords into ploughshares, and settle their differences 26 ENGLISH PREMIERS, by diplomacy rather than on battle-plains. The intrigues of Bolingbroke and the Duchess of Kendal to supplant Walpole were interrupted by the death of George I., which took place in June, 1727. His majesty was then sixty-seven years old. He had wisely "let England govern herself," and had proved "a prudent, quiet, selfish potentate, going his own way, managing his o-wn affairs, and understanding his own interests remarkably well.* The rivalry between his prime minister and Bolingbroke began at school, and ended only with death. It was sharpened by all the energies of their vigorous minds no less than by ambition and vindictive feelings. Even at this day they seem to be wrestling together on the graphic pages of Horace Walpole, the great states man's youngest son.f On the accession of George IL, Pulteney and Boling broke used all their influence to disparage this able minister, and Walpole himself expected to be dismissed. But he had a friend at court, and no less a one than Queen Caroline herself Her influence in the King's councils was considerable ; and though she rose, as if to retire, when the minister entered, she often remained in the apartment by the King's desire, just as if she had not settled the business beforehand in a private conference with the premier himself. % She was fond of * Thackeray's " Four Georges," Lect. i. t See " Reign of King George IL," vol. i. p. 225. X Horace Walpole's " Memoirs of the Court of George IL," vol. i. p. 179, note. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 27 power, but had the tact never to give her opinion before it was asked, and to do so then with great modesty. She looked very complacently on Walpole's pacific measures ; and the minister, as minister, became a decided favourite. By declining to pay court to Mrs. Howard, the Queen's rival,* he secured her majesty's esteem ; and by readily consenting to the King's wish to put Sir Spencer Comp ton (afterwards Earl of Wilmington) at the head of affairs, he retained office himself, and was soon reinstated in more than all his former dignity. Caroline of course expected a reward, and received it in the form of a join ture of £100,000 in case of her surviving the King. George I. had told her one day in chapel that Walpole could change stones into gold, and so it proved. His majesty unfortunately could not be bought ; so Wal pole suffered many inconveniences through his inflexible disposition, and often appeared faithless to his promises in consequence of George II. refusing to bestow places and honours on persons to whom they had been pledged. But all unprejudiced men, all who were not his rivals nor had personal grievances to lay to his charge, were no less sensible than the nation at large of his political worth. I say political — for his private character does not seem to have attained a higher moral tone than that of the court profligates around him. Lord Chesterfield accused him of ambition to be thought a gallant without meriting the honour. Yice had become so fashionable, * Afterwards Countess of Suffolk. " Walpoliana," vol. i. cii. 28 ENGLISH PREMIERS, that many who inclined to sober living were ashamed to be virtuous. Royal mistresses were universally flattered, and riches and titles were heaped upon them. The theatre was what Congreve and Dryden had made it — a school of immorality, where indecency clothed itself in the attractions of verse. The tide of corruption was met by no strong resistance in the Church ; while the court, by its example, encouraged the progress of evil. The true standard of morals, as well as that of faith, was lost, and the statesman who should have adopted a high moral tone would, in all probability, have been insincere. Natural religion and natural virtues were all that could be expected ; and it was a happy circumstance when even these were not obliterated. Savage used to say of Wal pole, that the whole range of his mind was from obscenity to politics, and from politics to obscenity. Perhaps the wit exaggerated a little for the sake of his antithesis. In his better days he had seen the prime minister among jovial friends, when the wine-table shook with the roar of his laughter. But Walpole did not patronise men of letters ; and for this the talented and unfortunate Savage owed him a grudge. Often as he quoted Horace, the premier had no extensive knowledge, nor any great fond ness for books. His neglect of genius proved in the issue a main cause of his downfall. When Swift visited England in 1726, and sought an interview with Walpole, the premier invited him to dinner, and that was all. The dean was indignant SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 29 at this meagre politeness, and wrote to Lady Suffolk, "Pray tell Sir Robert Walpole that, if he does not use me better next summer than he did last, I will study revenge, and it shall be vengeance ecclesiastique,"* He kept his word. Early next year "Gulliver's Travels " appeared. When Walpole's letters were brought, he generally opened the gamekeeper's first. He could make better use, however, of the little he did know than other men could make of ponderous erudition. With easy and flowing wit he united taste for the fine arts"; and the entertainments he provided for his friends were equally profuse and elegant. His mansion at Houghton, with his pictures and lodge at Richmond, cost him about £254,000 ; and when it is added that each " meeting " at Houghton caused an outlay of £3,000, no one will feel surprised that he did not die rich. As a statesman Sir Robert Walpole certainly de served well of his country. " He did everything," says Lord Hervey, " with the same ease and tranquillity as if he were doing nothing." " The prudent steadiness and vigilance of that man," observes Burke, "joined to the greatest possible lenity in his character and his poli tics, preserved the crown to this royal family, and with it their laws and liberties to this country." He was kind- hearted, jovial, and placable; but as we have seen alreadjf, " he loved power so much " — they are the words of his own son — " that he would not endure a rival." * Letter of February 1, 1727. 30 ENGLISH PREMIERS. His clemency was great and noble ; for he allowed him self to be overthrown at last by men of whom he knew many to have treasonable correspondence with the Stuarts, and whose lives were consequently in his hands. " There was not a family in the British dominions whose leanings he was not acquainted with, and whose relations, if they had any, with the Pretender, he did not know. This knowledge he used without ever abusing it: he acted upon it for the safety of the State, without ever once bringing it to bear against the parties, or deriving from it the means of injuring, or of annoying, or of humbling his adversaries." * Our reflections on Walpole's character have led us somewhat to forestall events. Sixteen years of his life still remain to be noticed. It was for political reasons that he and Townshend, in 1726, afforded protection to a refugee whom they must have despised. This was the extraordinary Dutchman and adventurer. Baron Ripperda. During the war of the Spanish succession he served as colonel, and carefully studied trade and manufactures. After having been employed by Cardinal Alberoni in several affairs of a delicate nature, he abjured the Pro testant religion, and was commissioned by Philip Y. of Spain to negotiate a treaty with the German Emperor. Such was his success, that on his return to Madrid he was appointed Secretary, of State, and without the name of prime minister wielded all the powers that had belonged * Lord Brougham. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 31 to Alberoni. His boasting made him the ridicule of thoughtful men ; but for a time he defied all opposition by force of vanity and presumption. " I am shielded," he cried one day at a public levee, " by six friends, who will defend me against all intrigues — God, the Blessed Yirgin, the Emperor and Empress, the King and Queen of Spain ! " This was mere verbiage. He was an un principled braggart. A sudden fall followed his sudden rise, and fearing for his life, he took refuge with the English ambassador, and betrayed to him the secret articles of the Treaty of Yienna. During the disclosure his whole frame shook, and he wept like a child. His next lodging was in the fortress of Sego-via, from which he escaped after fifteen months by the help of his valet, the servant maid, and a rope-ladder, which sorely incom moded his gouty legs. In England, he Hved for some time at Eton incognito, and afterwards in Soho Square in great style.* When peace was concluded -with Spain, and his perfidy could no longer serve our minister's turn, he felt his importance lessened, and resolved to vent on Spain the spite which had long been rankling in his breast. He therefore embarked for Morocco, entered the service of Muley Abdallah, embraced Mohammedanism, * Soho Square was then a fashionable part of London. The Duke of Monmouth, Earl Eomsey, the Earl of Stamford, and Sir Henry Inglesby resided there in 1681. Steele, in the Spectator, makes Sir Eoger de Cover- ley live there when in to-wn. At the comer of Greek Street stands the House of Charity, occupied by Alderman Beckford in the time of WiUses. He was Lord Mayor of London and father of Tathek Beckford. 32 ENGLISH PREMIERS, obtained the command of the army, and acted also as chief minister. He several times defeated the Spaniards, was himself beaten at Ceuta, resigned, deserted his master when dethroned by Muley Ali, retired to Tetuan, and died in old age, despised and detested by all whom he had cajoled and betrayed.* In the year 1730, Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, was made Secretary at War: He was in some respects a gifted man, and so fond of power and office that he con trived to fill high situations at court during a period of six-and-forty years. He constantly sided with Walpole, and was repaid by sharing the" premier's confidence. In a subordinate office, in which his talents were turned to account by a superior understanding, he was found useful, and even necessary, in consequence of his great family influence ; but when he afterwards rose to the head of affairs, he presented a melancholy spectacle of ambition and incompetence. t I hope some time hence to trace his life in a brief memoir ; in the meanwhile it may be sufficient to say that he was wholly devoid of method, peevish, and grotesque. Able men made sport of him ; he appeared very busy when he was doing nothing ; and George II. , who disliked him extremely, said, " I am compelled to take the Duke of Newcastle as my minister, * "Life of the Duke of Ripperda." London, 1739. The incidents of his Ufe have been wrought into a tale — " Ripperda the Renegade ; or, the Siege of Ueuta." Glasgow, Cameron and Son. Lord Stanhope, vol. U. ch. xiv. t Horace Walpole, "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 162. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 33 who is not fit to be chamberlain in the smallest court of Germany." Townshend and Walpole had been friends in youth; nay more, they were brothers-in-law. They had long acted in concert as ministers ; but as time went on, jealousies sprang up between them. Their tempers dif fered : Townshend was violent and overbearing ; Walpole was good-humoured and conciliating. Private envy widened public differences. The Townshends, who had long taken the lead in Norfolk, saw themselves out- rivalled by the Walpoles, of whom the eldest son was made a peer, and the father was surrounded by all that was brilliant at Houghton. To-wnshend was disgusted also by the Duke of Newcastle's timidity and captiousness. He wished him to be set aside add the Earl of Chester field to take his place, but to this change Walpole was averse. When Lady Townshend died their good angel was gone, and their growing dissensions came to a crisis at Colonel Selwyn's in 1729. Townshend, incensed at some caustic reflections on his sincerity, seized Walpole by the collar, and both at the same moment laid their hands upon their swords. Blood might have been shed, even the guilt of fratricide incurred, if Mrs. Selwyn and Newcastle had not interfered. The breach, however, was not to be healed, though the duel was prevented. " They stood aloof, the scars remaining;" and Townshend, retiring from public life, gave himself up to rural pur- VOL. 1. D 34 ENGLISH PREMIERS. suits, and refused ever after to attend the House of Lords, lest his temper should betray him into hasty words. The history of the rupture given by the premier himself was simply this : " So long as the firm of the house was Townshend and Walpole, the utmost harmony prevailed ; but it no sooner became Walpole and Townshend than things went wrong, and a separation ensued." This is no doubt the true account of the matter. Walpole could brook no opposition in the cabinet of which he was the head ; neither could Townshend endure to be second in a ministry in which he had been first. The premier's course was now clearer, and he promoted friendly relations with Austria, to which his colleague had been averse ; and at the same time sent Lord Walde grave to Paris, in place of his brother Horace. His mis sion was to pacify France ; and he was chosen as a person likely to please Cardinal Fleury. There can be no doubt of his diplomatic ability, his liveliness and address as a correspondent ; but we cannot but regret that he threw off the yoke of the Church in whose divine tenets he had been educated, and admitted to his uncle, the Duke of Berwick, that he " changed his religion to avoid confession." It was about the year 1726 that Pulteney became one of Walpole's bitterest opponents.* He had been the great man's friend ; but the great man having more than once treated him as the little man, he rejected every overture of reconciliation, and, together with Boling- * Lord Stanhope, vol. ii. p. 76. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 35 broke, assailed the prime minister in the Craftsman with every species of sarcasm and invective. * In the House his opposition was no less determined ; yet it must be re membered, to the honour of each of the rivals, that amid all their political acrimony they were often seen in friendly conversation, and that Walpole even preferred Dr. Pearce to the deanery of Winchester at Pulteney's request. An election for the borough of Winchester was coming on ; and Pulteney, to his credit, took occasion to tell the dean, that if in it he favoured his interests rather than those of the premier, he should have the worse opinion of him. Nothing can be imagined more delicate and generous, both towards his opponent and the dean. Sir Robert's financial ingenuity ere long gave Pulteney and the Opposition a formidable handle against him. He proposed taking half a million from the Sinking Fund for the service of the current year. In the following year, 1734, £1,200,000 were taken from it ; and in the two succeeding years it was mortgaged and alienated. Thus Walpole destroyed his own child. He conceived a plan for removing the duties on wine and tobacco, and applying to these articles the laws of excise. His views were developed in a pamphlet entitled "Some General Considerations Concerning the Alteration and Improve- * " Life of Henry St. John, Tiscount Bolingbroke," by Thomas Mac- night, p. 615 ; "Life of Bolingbroke," by OUver Goldsmith, Works, p. 278. (1867.) 36 ENGLISH PREMIERS, ment of the Revenues ; " and from these it appeared that the projected bill would totally abolish the land-tax, augment the revenue, prevent frauds, decrease smuggling (then practised to a fearful extent), simplify taxation, and facilitate the collection of taxes. The customs were to be converted into duties of excise; and the laws of excise were at the same time to be amended. Walpole' speeches in the debate were very masterly ; and in his climax he declared that the scheme he proposed was most innocent, and hurtful to none but smugglers and unfair traders ; that he was certain it would be a great benefit to the revenue, and would "tend to make London a free port, and by consequence the market of the world." But the nation was not ripe for a measure so much in advance of the age. The very name of excise was odious, and recalled a long list of grievances and riots from the time of Charles I. do-wnward. The Craftsman and the Opposition took every advantage of this bugbear; and though the bill was read a second time by a majority of thirty-six, the storm raised in the country was such that Walpole thought it prudent to withdraw it of his own accord. Even this concession scarcely saved the premier from a broken head. King Mob was reigning over a crew of ruffians, who crowded all the approaches to the House of Commons ; and the withdrawal of the measure only made them more headstrong. Fifty constables could not secure Sir Robert a safe passage to his coach. A foe to excise nearly strangled him with his own cloak ; SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 37 and it was only the swords of his friends that at last cleared the way.* The llth of April, 1733, is memorable in the history of London mobs. It wound up, of course, with a bonfire, in which Walpole and a fat woman, meant for the Queen, were burnt in effigy. The King supported his minister throughout the whole affair of the Excise Bill ; and to the great disappointment of the Opposition, Carteret and a number of hangers-on who had defected to its ranks were deprived of their offices, and replaced by Walpole's friends. Thus, as in nearly all the battles described by Thucydides, each party set up a trophy of victory. It would be tiresome to the reader if, at this distance of time, I detailed the various tactics employed by the Oppo sition to bring Walpole into disrepute. Many of them ¦were of so unconstitutional a tendency as to show plainly that they arose simply from a spirit of faction. Their advocates espoused the cause of the servants of the Crown whom the King had dismissed, and proposed that his prerogatives in this respect should be limited for the future. They agitated for triennial parliaments, which the Whig portion of them had once vigorously opposed ; but their zeal was directed apparently against a man rather than against a measure. Such puny hostilities have their advantage. They serve as a safety-valve to let off the ill-temper of parties, and by occupying them with * See Speech of Sir R. Walpole, March 14, 1733 ; Cornhill Magazine, June, 1867, "Mobs." 38 ENGLISH PREMIERS, objects of minor importance, prevent explosion on serious questions. It is for the good of society that the House of Commons should often resemble a set of schoolboys. Bolingbroke was the real head of the faction ranged against the premier ; and the speech which the latter delivered in 1734, in the debate on the Septennial Act, denouncing " the anti-minister " in no very covert terms, was one of his most terrible invectives. In 1734 and 1735 Walpole was engaged in a struggle with the King himself. The Emperor of Germany, opposed to the united forces of France, Sardinia, and Spain, found himself sorely embarrassed, and ardently desired the armed assistance of England and Holland. Sir Robert was fully determined not to embroil his country in a hazardous and useless war ; and in order to maintain this resolution, he had to resist the influence of his royal master, who inclined to Austria; of the Secretary of State, Lord Harrington ; and of the Austrian envoy, Strickland, Bishop of Namur. This prelate had espoused the cause of James III. ; and having quitted England (his native country), had been made Abbot of St. Pierre de Preaux in Normandy. But having been raised to the See of Namur through British influence with the German court, he thought he might serve two masters ; and by residing at Rome he gained informa tion about the Stuart exiles, and transmitted it regularly to the English government.* Lord Harrington had * Lord Stanhope, vol. u. p. 182. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 39 endeavoured to obtain for him a Cardinal's hat through the Emperor's influence ; but this attempt, it would seem, had no result.* Arrived in London, he exerted himself to bring Walpole and his peaceful policy into disrepute ; and was only dismissed through that minister's remon strances with the Queen, who continued to be his faithful and judicious friend. The cabinet was strangely divided, and wheel worked within wheel. Harrington gave orders which Walpole secretly countermanded. The Queen was for peace, while the King made ready for war ; and contrary instructions for ministers of the same cabinet often lay on the table of foreign envoys. The increasing dif ficulties of the Emperor of Austria afforded ample scope for conflicting counsels. He was driven to the verge of insanity by the straits into which he was brought by France, Sweden, Prussia, and Turkey. In the dead of night he gave vent to the bitterest lamentations, and the Empress only witnessed his despair. Every effort to obtain subsidies and armed assistance from England and Holland failed : they would promise nothing but media tion. At length a plan of pacification was devised. The King in his speech spoke of it with laudable pride. The address in the House of Commons was carried without any reflection unfavourable to the minister ; and Boling broke himself, though Walpole's sworn enemy, allowed * Walpole and Grantham Papers ; Orford Papers ; Coxe's " Life of Walpole," vol. i. p. 512. 40 ENGLISH PREMIERS. that " if the English ministers had any hand in it, they were wiser than he thought them ; and if not, they were much luckier than they deserved to be." It cannot be denied that Great Britain has sometimes deviated from a pacific policy, and often pursues it with a selfish aim; but it is also certain that on the whole her mighty influence from sea to sea has been exerted to calm the fury of warring populations, and to promote industry, prospe rity, and peace. Her government is a model to the rest of the world, since none other harmonises so many different elements, nor reconciles so many conflicting interests. Montesquieu only approached a description of it when he said, " C'est une republique qui se cache sous la forme de la monarchic."* * See Lady Hervey's Letters. December, 1749. SIE EOBEET WALPOLE AND LOED CAETEEET. " Carteret's large presence flouts from out the throng. What earUer school this grand comedian reared ?" LoED Lytton, " St. Stephen's." " I can pretend to have seen but five great men ; the Duke of Cumber land, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord GranvUle (Carteret), Lord Mansfield, and Pitt (Chatham). Lord GranviUe was most a genius of the five." HoKACE Walpole, " Memoirs," vol. ui. p. 85. IL SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. TN 1736 Walpole opposed the bill of Sir Joseph Jekyll, which laid a heavy fine on gin, with a view of pre venting drunkenness. He did not think sobriety would be promoted or vice diminished by such impositions ; and experience proved him to be right.* People cannot be drilled into morality by acts of parliament, and in seven years this unwise one was repealed. He opposed the repeal of the Test Act also, because he did not believe that the time for it was come. Like Pitt after him, he approved of many things for which his own stiff-necked generation were wholly unprepared. His humane efforts iu favour of the Quakers were frustrated mainly through the narrow-minded intolerance of Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London. Sir Robert's exertions were limited to relieving the Society of Friends from prosecution and imprisonment for refusing to pay tithes and church-rates, and to substituting a levy by distress on. their goods, to which they are still nominally subject. His measure was passed by the Commons, and rejected by the Lords. His * " Horace Walpole's Memoirs," vol. i. p. 67 ; SmoUett, vol. U. pp. 7, 36. 44 ENGLISH PREMIERS. indignation against the Lords and the bishop was lasting and well-deserved. Dr. Gibson had long been called " the heir-apparent to the see of Canterbury ; " but when Archbishop Wake died, the primacy was conferred on Potter.* It was a part of the policy of Walpole, and of some succeeding administrations, to transfer church dig nities from orthodox to lax di-vines.f When parliament was prorogued in 1736, and the King -visited Germany, he left Queen Caroline behind him as Regent, and took Horace Walpole -with him as Secretary of State. He wished him, indeed, permanently to supply the place of Lord Harrington ; but Horace was unwilling to embarrass his illustrious brother by the jealousy which his elevation, in addition to Sir Robert's, would certainly cause. It was therefore pnly during George II.'s absence from England that he consented to act as State Secretary. He kept up a double corre spondence with his brother : one set of letters being such as the King might read, and the other such as he might not. The subterfuge was pardonable and necessary ; and it is to the King's honour that, although he was so impatient of contradiction, he allowed himself now to be guided by men much wiser than himself. About this time a circumstance, in itself trifling, showed how much a second invasion by the Stuarts was dreaded. Chauvelin, the French Secretary of State, before he had * Lord Stanhope, vol. U. pp. 185 — 187. t " Life of WUberforce," vol. i. pp. 259, 260. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. 45 fallen into disgrace and was exiled by Cardinal Fleury, one day put a packet of papers into Lord Waldegrave's hands ; and among them he iucluded unwittingly a letter from the Pretender. The ambassador at once sent it to he Queen. Newcastle informed the King, and conveyed to him Walpole's sentiments on the subject. France was coquetting again with the Stuarts — so much was clear. Letter after letter, still preserved among the state-papers, passed between the two Walpoles and Waldegrave ; for Jacobitism and panic were parent and child. Disturb ances were not wanting at home. The Spitalfields weavers rioted because the Irish were employed at lower wages to do their work ; and the populace stormed iu the streets because gin was not sold so cheap as before. In Edinburgh the people, in a fearful commotion, seized a captain of guards named Porteous during an execution, dragged him to the Grass-market, and hung him on a dyer's cross, to the great satisfaction of the more pious part of the community.* Two hundred pounds were offered to any one who should discover, and by his evidence convict, any person concerned in the murder. But the Scots treated this order -with contempt ; and though thousands had been guilty of Porteous's blood, and some of them were tried, not one was legally convicted. The licentiousness of the stage at this period had * Lord Hay to Walpole, Oct. 16, 1736 ; Sir W. Scott, " Tales of a Grandfather," Third Series, vol. U. p. 177. 46 ENGLISH PREMIERS. attained such a height, that the prime minister felt him self bound to interfere. He knew that public morals are the best corrective of theatrical license ; but he was aware also that a law on the subject passed by a free par liament is in itself a proof that public morality is not yet altogether vitiated. His laudable purpose was to protect society from further corruption. During the reign of Elizabeth the Master of the Revels, acting by Walsingham and Burleigh's advice, had made several wise regulations respecting the examination and approval of stage-plays. The number of theatres was restricted ; and acting was thus rendered a more respectable profession. The genius of Shakespeare and Jonson was not limited to burlesque and buffoonery, but encouraged to take a wider range and nobler flight. During the reigns of James I. and his unfortunate son. Sir Henry Herbert, brother of "the divine Herbert " and Lord Herbert of Cherbury, exercised a salutary control over the stage as Master of the Revels ; but the austerity of Puritanism, though it suppressed for a time the inde cencies too often blended with theatrical amusements, produced a disastrous reaction in the time of Charles II. The appointed censor found himself continually thwarted in the discharge of his duties by the Lord Chamberlain and the King : authors vied in producing the most licen tious comedies ; ladies attended the playhouses in masks ; and on the death of Sir Henry Herbert the mastership of the revels was given to KilHgrew, the manager of the SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. 47 King's company, and every check on the immorality of the. stage was immediately removed. The brilliant abilities of Dryden, the poet-laureate, and of Fielding, the novelist, mark the earliest and latest stages of this dis graceful epoch. Jeremy Collier's -view of the profaneness and immorality of the English stage produced a lasting sensation, and William III. made some efforts to mode rate the abuses ; but his laureate, Shadwell, was one of those writers of comedy who mainly contributed to corrupt the public taste. To his name must be added that of Wycherley, " the easy Etherege," as Evelyn calls him ; Sedley ; Farquhar ; Yanbrugh, the architect of Blenheim ; and Congreve ; who, while differing in their capacity and degrees of coarseness, united in making husbands and wives as unfaithful to each other as possible. The only use of matrimony with them was that it afforded a license to the libertine and saved appearances. The thesis they really maintained was that which we find on the lips of one of Shadwell's gallants in " Epsom Wells : " " Marriage is the least engagement of all, for that only points out where a man cannot love." Charles Lamb has defended their comedies in an in genious essay,* on the ground that they represent a specu lative scene of things, having no reference whatever to the world that is. " The whole," he says, " is a passing pageant, where we should sit as unconcerned at the issues, for life or death, as at a battle of the frogs and mice." * "Essays of EUa,'- p. 220. 48 ENGLISH PREMIERS. But he can hardly be serious in this criticism, and con temporary moralists had certainly a different opimon. Walpole's measure was -wisely introduced. A biU for restraining the number of playhouses and correcting abuses had been brought forward two years before by Sir John Burnard, treated at first -with contempt, and at last abandoned. But Walpole's expedient was destined to better success. He contrived to insert two clauses on theatres in a bill for amending the Yagrancy Act passed in the reign of Queen Anne ; and it is remarkable that Lord Chesterfield, who in his " Letters " to his son recommends him all sorts of gallantry as needful to the character of a gentleman, is believed to have been the only debater who spoke against Walpole's corrective clauses.* It is worthy of remark in this place that Sir Robert Walpole discarded Stanhope's recommendation respecting the binding, indexing, catalogueing, and housing anew the Public Records. The hint was in every respect deserving of attention, and to disregard it was to betray a dislike to innovation almost morbid, f While Sir Robert in the height of his power was surrounded at Houghton by the votaries of political fame, wealth, and fashion, there was another house, on which he often looked with an evil eye, where his parliamentary foes were welcomed, and men of letters found a noble patron. This was the residence of the Prince of Wales. * Earl Stanhope, vol. U. p. 232. t Ibid., vol. Ui. p. 104. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. 49 Here Carteret and Swift, Chesterfield and Pope, Thomson and Pulteney used to meet in familiar intercourse with Cobham, Sir William Wyndham, and the accomplished Bolingbroke. Nowhere was the feast of reason and the flow of soul more thoroughly enjoyed or more frequently • renewed. The Prince was decidedly popular, and his affable and courteous manners contrasted favourably with the King's phlegmatic reserve. Being severely treated by his royal father, he had no love for that father's chief adviser. He had been kept in Hanover .till he had grown to manhood ; had been crossed in his purpose of marrying the Princess of Prussia, whom he tenderly loved; had been coldly received by the King on his arrival in London; exposed more than once to his fits of anger; and was straitened in his expenditure by an inadequate revenue paid by his father out of the CivU List. By the advice of Bolingbroke and Pulteney he applied to parliament for an allowance of £100,000 per annum, which he had endeavoured in vain to obtain from the King, or which had been promised at last in offensive terms. This application proved unsuccessful. It was opposed by Walpole as unconstitutional, and it rendered the breach wider between the Prince and his sire. So painful became the position of the former in the palace that he seized the first pretext for escaping from parental control. On the eve of the Princess's confinement, he removed her from Hampton Court, where the royal family was residing, to St. James's; and by this act he so incensed the King, VOL. I. E so ENGLISH PREMIERS. that orders were sent him to remove her from that palace. His intimacy with the heads of the Opposition was severely commented on; and it cannot be denied that Walpole ought to have exerted himself to prevent so unbecoming a rupture. Instead of this he widened it, and drew up with his own hand the order to the Prince to quit the palace. His conduct contributed to his downfall ; and so also did the death of Queen Caroline, which happened in 1737. This virtuous lady owed her end immediately to a false delicacy, which led her to conceal from the physicians her real disorder.* They learned it too late, and, declared that if they had been informed two days earlier, her life might have been spared. She died with great serenity, and evinced the utmost fortitude during her intense sufferings. "With the film of death over her eyes, writhing in intolerable pain, she yet had a livid smile and a gentle word for her master." f To us it is interest ing to remember her kindness and humanity towards those Catholics who had incurred the rigour of the laws in consequence of their attachment to the Stuart cause. She often supplied the most indigent with money, and she admitted the Duchess of Norfolk and several other Catholic ladies to private conferences. Her patronage of learned men is well known. The successful extolled her name, and the unfortunate blessed it. Non-jurors in * Horace Walpole, " Memoirs,'" vol. i. p. 227 ; Earl Stanhope, vol. u. p. 208. t Thackeray, " Four Georges," Lect. U. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 51 exile were not excluded from her mercy. Savage, the poet, when condemned to death on a charge of murder, obtained his pardon through her. She accepted his verses as "volunteer laureate," sent him most friendly messages, admitted him to an interview, and gave him an annual pension. One day Seeker — at that time King's chaplain — mentioned to her the eminent author of " The Analogy between Natural and Revealed Religion," Butler, the rector of Stanhope. "Is he not dead?" asked the Queen, turning to Archbishop Blackburne. " No, madam," replied that prelate, "but he is buried." Soon after Caroline, unsolicited, appointed Butler clerk of her closet, and he attended her every afternoon. She also put his name on a list for a vacant bishopric. Thus the buried rector came to life. Of all post-reformation divines in the Church of England, he is that one for whom Catholics have the highest respect. The Queen thought at one time of closing St. James's Park and converting it into a palace-garden, and asked Sir Robert Walpole what he thought would be the expense of the alteration. " Oh, madam," said he, " a trifle." " A trifle. Sir Robert ! I know it must be expensive ; but I wish you would tell me as near as .you can guess." " Why, madam," replied the minister, " I believe it would cost you three crowns," * After this nothing more was said about the matter. * "Walpoliana," vol. i. xviii. In another place Horace Walpole gives it, " Only a crown, Madam." — "Memoirs," vol. U. p. 221. 52 ENGLISH PREMIERS. So great was Queen Caroline's esteem for Sir Robert Walpole as a minister, that in her last moments she com mended the King to him with the utmost earnestness.* Soon after her decease it was reported that the premier had lost his only support. " It is false," said the King to him, without irony ; " you remember that on her death bed the Queen recommended me to you." While he thus spoke, the remembrance of his consort's presence of mind, sweetness of temper, prudence, and goodness,! would quite overcome the desolate monarch ; and with sobs, which those around him could not refrain from joining in, he " made dust his paper, and with rainy eyes wrote sorrow on the bosom of the earth." But he soon consoled him self for the loss of his Queen by sending for Sophia de Walmoden from Hanover and creating her Countess of Yarmouth. Sir Robert Walpole continued to enjoy the royal confidence, though his kiud and benevolent patroness was no more. He married about this time, and imme diately after the death of the first Lady Walpole, a Miss Skirrit, who had already borne him a daughter. The marriage was at first secret, but subsequently Walpole obtained for his illegitimate offspring the same rank and precedence as if she had been born in lawful wedlock. This unusual favour proved him to be stiU in the good graces of the court. J * Lord Hervey's " Memoirs," vol. u. p. 616. t See Horace Walpole's "Reminiscences," and London Society, No. xlvi. p. 320. X Earl Stanhope, vol. U. p. 262. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. 53 By degrees, however, divisions arose in the cabinet, and advisers adverse to Walpole obtained influence over the King. The. differences between Spain and England, which might easily have been calmed, were fomented by hasty and designing men. Newcastle pandered to the royal inclinations and led up to war. Lord Harrington and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke seconded his intrigues, though on different and perhaps higher grounds than those of the ducal plotter.* The claim of the Spaniards to every part of the conti nent of America, and consequently of the right to search all merchant ships sailing near their American ports and in the adjacent seas, was too preposterous to have been long seriously maintained, if it had been combated in a tem perate and friendly spirit. But the diplomacy of the last century partook of the character of the times ; and as swords were more readily drawn in private brawls, so ambassadors were more easily hurried into provoking language than they are now. Though the Spaniards had not formally admitted our right to trade on the territory conceded to Ferdinand the Catholic by Pope Alexander YI. without the smallest conception of its real magnitude, they had nevertheless during a long period connived at our infraction of obsolete laws. But orders at length arrived from Madrid requiring the guarda castas to be more vigilant. Many complaints of their severity and violence arrived in this country, and parliament was * Earl Stanhope, vol. u. p. 271. 54 ENGLISH PREMIERS. urged by a large body of merchants to avenge their cause. The aim of the Opposition was to widen the misunder standing between the government and the Spanish cabinet, till, war being declared, the ministers should prove unable to retain their place. Hverything gave way to hatred of Walpole ; and with the wildest incon sistency the malcontents agitated for a reduction of the standing army at the very time they sought to provoke hostilities with Spain. . In the midst of bitter altercations there was one point on which the House of Commons was unanimous, and that one from which every member of parliament would dissent in our time. They were then all agreed in con demning the publication of speeches delivered in the House, and in threatening the utmost severity against offenders. They did not choose to be judged by those without for sentiments they had broached within, or to be misjudged for such as had been garbled in the press. The fault was not wholly theirs ; for the speeches were miser ably and variously reported. But they menaced publishers in vain, and the grievance increased. The Gentleman's Magazine and the London Magazine evaded the law, by reporting the debates as in the " Senate of Lilliput," and in a political club, with Roman names assigned to the speakers ; while the accounts, as might have been ex pected, were less authentic than before. We live under a happier system. Our reporters are faithful, and our SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. 55 deputies neither ashamed nor afraid to let all the world read this morning what they said in their places last night. The debates on the Spanish depredations grew hotter, and both Houses joined in resolutions condemning the right of searching English trading ships claimed by Spain. A squadron sailed for the Mediterranean ; and war, like a grim giant, already began to shake "his blood-red tresses" in the sun. Walpole struggled hard to avert the catastrophe, but without success. There was no resisting the popular excitement ; and Captain Jenkins, fresh from the coasts of Jamaica, who carried his ear in a box wrapped up in cotton to excite public sympathy and inflame credulous minds, was an argument against Spanish barbarity which few could withstand.* An address to the King of a pacific tendency was voted by a majority of twenty-eight only ; and the minority, by the advice of Bolingbroke, adopted the extraordinary resolu tion of seceding from the House. They were about sixty in number, and headed by Pulteney and Wyndham. Sir Robert Walpole's comments on this act were extremely animated. He denounced the seceders so warmly as " secret traitors" under the guidance of one conspirator, ungrateful for the clemency which had been shown him ; f he expressed so earnest a desire that they would adhere * Gentleman's Magazine, 1731 and 1736. t The reader will do well to considt Mr. Macnight's " Life of Boling broke," if he would measure the amount of that statesman's disaffection at different periods of his career. S6 ENGLISH PREMIERS, to their purpose, and not return till the next parliament met, that their desertion soon became to them a cause of disappointment and shame. Their absence enabled him to bring forward many expedient measures ; and his conduct at this period earned him a high compliment from the eloquent Duke of Argyle, who, though he had joined the ranks of the Opposition, declared that all prime ministers had been faulty, but that Sir Robert Walpole had the least faults of any minister -with whom he had ever been concerned. Such praise was welcome from the man of whom Thomson said, " From his rich tongue Persuasion fiows, and wins the high debate." When war with Spain was declared, the people were drunk with joy. Bonfires were kindled everywhere, and processions flaunted through the streets. The Prince of Wales attended the heralds into the city, and stopped to drink success to the war at the Rose Tavern and Temple Bar. "For that war Pope sung his dying notes. For that war Johnson, in most energetic strains, employed the voice of his early genius ; for that war Glover dis tinguished himself in the way in which his merit was the most natural and happy."* The mines of Peru and Potosi, and the treasures possessed by Spain in the West Indies, were supposed to be now within the reach of all ; and the church-bells pealed so loud, that Walpole was * Burke, " Thoughts on a Regicide Peace.'' SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 57 startled, and cried, " They now ring the bells, but they win soon wring their hands." If he had quitted office rather than be made a party to this absurd and unjustifiable war, he would have stood much higher in the opinion of posterity. True, he ten dered his resignation to the King ; but he allowed himself to be prevailed on to retract it. He acted, in short, at a momentous crisis in opposition to his riper judgment. He had better have kept his ground against a legion of barking and yelling place-hunters, with half England at their backs, than engage in a conflict which he knew to be hurried on by gross exaggeration and groundless fears. It was not long before he reaped the fruits of his incon sistency. All the miscarriages of the war were imputed to him ; and he was harassed with incessant inquiries and motions relative to its prosecution. On the llth of February, 1740, Sandys, the chief motion - maker, announced his intention of bringing a formal accusation against the minister on A given day. It was on this occasion that Walpole committed himself in a quotation from Horace * in a manner which was immediately pointed out by Pulteney. While expressing his readiness to attend the House and meet any charges his opponents might have to make, he laid his hand on his breast, and said with emotion — "NU conscire sibi, nuU» paUescere culp«." When his Latinity was disputed, he even wagered a * Epist. Ub. i. 1. ENGLISH PREMIERS. guinea that he was right ; but Hardinge, the Clerk of the House, a man of known learning, decided against him, and he paid the bet. The money was thrown across the table, and when Pulteney stooped to pick it up he remarked that it was the first puhlic money he had touched for a long time.* Walpole was more successful in repelling the charges brought against his administration. None of them were distinct. When they descended to details, they were futile ; when they pretended to be grave, they lost them selves in generalities. His supposed guilt was accumu lative ; his mortal sin was made up of venial offences ; and though no one act of his government could be arraigned as criminal, it was an enormity when taken as a whole. Rumour, appearances, and "moral certainty" were put in the place of proofs. He had always striven to exalt the House of Bourbon, and had refused assistance to Austria. Taxes had multiplied under his rule, and the public debts had increased. The interests of Great Britain had been betrayed by the treaty of Hanover ; a standing army, needlessly large, had been maintained. The war with Spain had been lamentably conducted ; the fleet was badly equipped and ill supplied. Of these grievances one man was the cause, and for these one man only was to be held responsible. It was that minister who made implicit submission to his will the indispensable condition of con tinuance in office. It was, in short, the Right Honour- * Mark Lemon's " Jest Book," p. 32. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. 59 able Sir Robert Walpole, Knight of the Garter, First Commissioner, Chancellor, Under-Treasurer of the Ex chequer, and one of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. Lord Limerick seconded the motion that the King should be humbly requested to remove this states man from his councils. Pulteney and Pitt supported the audacious proposition ; Pitt, of whom Walpole is reported to have said, " We must at all events muzzle that terrible cornet of horse." The premier in his reply proved himself more than a match for Bolingbroke, who was certainly the most able and vehement of his adversaries. He rebutted all his accusations with admirable composure and dignity, not without bitter reproaches on the malevolent coalition of heterogeneous parties. They agreed in one thing only — hostility to himself. Bolingbroke had for many a year been scheming to eject him from office. He had united against him the Tories, whom he led, and the malcontent Whigs who ranged themselves under Pulteney. " The Jacobites," Sir Robert said, " distress the govern ment they would subvert ; the Tories contend for party prevalence and power ; the patriots, from discontent and disappointment, would change the ministry, that they themselves might exclusivelj'^ succeed. They have laboured this point twenty years unsuccessfully ; they are impa tient of longer delay. They clamour for change of mea sures, but mean only change of ministers. . . . Gentlemen have talked a great deal of patriotism ; a venerable word 6o ENGLISH PREMIERS, when duly practised. But I am sorry to say, that of late it has been so much hackneyed about, that it is in danger of falling into disgrace : the very idea of true patriotism is lost, and the term has been prostituted to the very worst of purposes. A patriot, sir ! Why, patriots spring up like mushrooms ! I could raise fifty of them within the four-and-twenty hours. I have raised many of them in one night. It is but refusing to gratify an unreason able or an insolent demand, and up starts a patriot. I have never been afraid of making patriots ; but I disdain and despise all their efforts." The result of this memorable debate was favourable to the premier. The motion for his removal was negatived by two hundred and ninety against one hundred and six, in the Lower House ; and by one hundred and eight against fifty-ntne, in the Upper. But Walpole was merely reprieved. A general election was at hand, and many from sheer love of change desired a new administration. Every art was employed to prevent the government from obtaining a majority in the new parliament, and every report unfavourable to Walpole was industriously circu lated. He was denounced as the father of corruption, though it is certain that no ministry at that time could remain in office without practising it to a large extent.* The support of the House was indispensable; and how * Lord Stanhope's " History of England, from the Peace of Utrecht to the Death of George II.;" Flanagan's "EngUsh and Irish History," p. 749. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 6i could it be secured but by appealing to the interests of members whose debates were unpublished, who were no longer subser-vient to the Crown, and who were not yet overawed by the people ? A golden era was to succeed his downfall, and all parties were to rally round the throne in blissful concord. Wilmington and Newcastle, though in the cabinet, plotted against him, and the cotm tenance of the sovereign cooled towards him. The Stuart aspirant to the throne sent,. according to Etough, at least a hundred letters to his friends in 1741, engaging them to compass Walpole's overthrow by all possible methods. He was astute enough to put little confidence in the over tures which Walpole made to him in his distress, with a view of obtaining the support of the English Jacobites. The fact of this negotiation is now well established ; and Lord Stanhope* has justly censured Archdeacon Coxe for suppressing all mention of it. But it answered no end, and would have cost Walpole his life, if the papers now extant had been read by his foes. We can easily imagine the avidity with which they would have perused the Pretender's promises to reward Walpole's good wishes provided they could be proved sincere, and how they would have construed into treason the fact of Sir Robert's having entrusted Thomas Carte with a message to James in the summer of 1739. At the opening of parliament the prime minister showed signs of weakness ; feebly defended his conduct of the * « History of England," vol. n. pp. 23, 24. 62 ENGLISH PREMIERS, war ; and consented to all mention of it being omitted in the address. The tenacity with which he clung to office was the more unwise, because his health was enfeebled, his memory began to fail, and he transacted business less promptly than he had been wont. He degraded himself so far as to propose terms of accommodation to the Prince of Wales, and to offer him an increase of £50,000 annually, on condition that he would not oppose the government. This proposition the Prince rejected with scorn, and sent word to Sir Robert Walpole that he thought he would do much better to retire from office. It was deplorable to see a statesman of great and unquestioned ability, who might have moved off the stage of public life with dignity, thus clinging to a tottering eminence, and exposing himself to cruel morti fications. At length the last conflict came. On the 21st of January, 1742, Pulteney moved that the papers relating to the war should be referred to a secret committee. Everything depended on this motion. It might lead to an impeachment ; it maintained the necessity of a par liamentary inquiry. With all his might Walpole opposed it, and he astonished those who heard him with his energy and knowledge of foreign affairs. Members were brought to the House to vote from sick-rooms ; and the Prince of Wales who was present to hear the debates, said to General Churchill, " So you bring in the lame, the halt, and the blind, I see ! " " Yes," replied Churchill ; " the lame on our side, and the blind on yours." SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 63 The government was "lame" indeed; for with all its influence it could obtain a majority of three votes only. To these a few would have been added, but for the astute ness of the Opposition. Lord Walpole, as Auditor of the Exchequer, had an apartment communicating with the House, where a few reserved voters locked themselves in. Their wily foes, however, stuffed the keyhole of the door ^Yith sand and dirt, and the division was over before the key could be made to work. A few days after, a question on the Chippenham election was carried against the minister by two hundred- and forty-one votes against two hundred and twenty-five. Friends were fast deserting, supporters absented themselves ; there was no longer any choice. On the 9th of February Sir Robert was created Baron of Houghton, Yiscount Walpole, and Earl of Orford ; and on the llth he resigned. There were some circumstances which mitigated the severity of his defeat. Though the King had often been ill-tempered, he was deeply sensible of Walpole's admirable talents for business, and he stood by him to the last. When the premier took leave of his royal master, and knelt to kiss his hand, George II. burst into tears, and raising his faithful counsellor from the ground, expressed to him the warmest gratitude for his long services. His last levee as prime minister was numerously attended ; for many who were hostile to his administration could afford to pay him respect when once they knew that he was about to vacate his lofty seat. He hoped by retiring 64 ENGLISH PREMIERS, to be able to save himself from a public prosecution ; and with this view he influenced Pulteney in the formation of a new ministry. Unfortunately, however, some of the leaders of the Opposition were admitted into it, and they soon reduced their new allies to the rank of subordinate agents. Carteret,* in- short, whom Walpole had years before t driven from the King's council-board, became once more Secretary of State and virtually prime minister. He had been a favourite vpith George I., partly through the facility vvith which he spoke the King's native lan guage ; and he now stood high in the favour of the Prince of Wales, and also gained the confidence of George II. In the House of Lords he was considered the most skilful debater, and his declamation was full of life and point. It was by turns " entertaining, sublime, hyperbolical, and ridiculous." Unlike Walpole, he had a mind richly stored with learning.+ He was conversant with the classics, and could discuss with Bentley the force of Greek particles and the laws of acatalectic tetrameters. The languages of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden were aU familiar to him, § and he constantly acted as interpreter in the Privy Council. He had a special turn for knowledge remote from beaten paths, and often astonished the learned by his acquaintance with intricate questions of canonical law and scholastic divinity. He • Born, 1690. t In 1724. Lord Stanhope, vol. u. pp. 58, 59. Fifth Edition. X Horace Walpole, " Memoirs,'' vol. i. p. 168 ; vol. in, p. 86. § Dr. RusseU's " Introduction to the Life of Card. Mezzofanti," p. 88. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET. 65 was deeply versed in the histories of Germany and Sweden, and could discourse by the hour on the two branches of the House of Hapsburg, and the marches and counter marches of Gustavus Adolphus. But this bookworm was winged like a dragon-fly. When he made a speech he was "novelty itself.''* He was swift and bold in his actions, and gifted with such high spirits, that no reverses saddened him. He was proof against the petty annoyances of public business and the carking care of private life, that so often embitters the most brilliant success. He had seen much of the world, had confidence in himself, ranted with effect, quaffed champagne freely, and, at the head of the " Drunken Administration," met his opponents with what Macaulay calls " a gay vehemence, a good-humoured imperiousness." Before he was Secretary of State for the first time, on the death of Craggs, King George had sent him to Aland to break up the congress there, f and he had cultivated the friendship of the astute minister, Cardinal Dubois. He soon learned the art of dividing a cabinet, sought to bring over the moderate Tories, accompanied the King to Hanover, and afterwards superseded the Duke of Grafton as Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland. He fomented the discontents of that country, which it was his duty to appease, and dexterously imputed them to Walpole. He promoted the introduction of Wood's half-pence, and at the * Horace Walpole, " Memoirs," vol. U. p. 146. t In 1719. VOL. I. F 66 ENGLISH PREMIERS, same time he issued a proclamation against Dean Swift's " Drapier's Letters," which, as he maintained, pandered to the erroneous views of the excited Irish,* and affirmed untruly that the coin was only worth one-twelfth of its nominal value. Sir Isaac Newton was then Master of the Mint, and a careful assay made under his orders proved the falsity of the charge. The Lord- Lieutenant offered £300 reward for the name of the author, and caused Harding, the printer, to be apprehended and brought to trial. The grand jury, however, threw out the bill, and Carteret himself was at last obliged to announce that Wood's patent had been surrendered by the Government. It was he who moved the inquiry into the murder of Captain Porteous, of which I have spoken; for though he was violently opposed to Walpole and his rule, yet he thought rightly, that the indignity offered at Edinburgh to the established government ought not to go unpunished. During the quarrel between George II. and his son, he visited the Prince daily together with Chesterfield, and they were called into his closet as regularly as the ministers entered that of the King. Lady Hervey f wrote of him. as " too enterprising, too inconsiderate, and too German," while Lord Chesterfield painted him in three words — " precision, decision, and presumption." Such was the man whom Walpole saw rise into his place, * Flanagan, " English and Irish History," p. 750 ; Snnle's " History of Ireland," p. 282; Lord Stanhope, vol. u. p. 63 ; "Popular History of Ireland," vol. in. p. 11. (CasseU, 1851.) t Letter viii. January 3, 1744. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 67 and under whose auspices, with those of Pulteney, a motion was carried for an inquiry by secret committee into the conduct of the late premier during the last ten years of his administration. One of the fiercest ofthose who denounced him was Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, who had very recently endeavoured to come to an under standing with him, and unite with him in forming a ministry on a Whig basis. The secret tribunal was set up. It was cruel and hateful, as nearly all secret tribunals are ; but though most of its members were hostile to the accused, they could make out no case against him. They therefore moved for an infamous " bill of indemnity," by which persons were encouraged to bear false witness against Walpole. They were promised indemnity for all offences they might disclose, and all losses they might sustain by their disclosures. The ex-minister was in truth held up as a public felon, and the House of Com mons, by passing this iniquitous measure, converted itself into " a tribunal of blood." * Happily for the honour of England, the Lord Chan cellor spoke against it, and the Lords cast it back into the darkness whence it sprang. Long may their House stand on unshaken foundations ! It is our twofold bulwark ; it has often saved us, and it may often save us again, either from overstretched prerogatives of the crown, or from the violence of democratic frenzy. It is in many respects more independent than the Lower Chamber, and it is composed * Archdeacon Coxe, vol. i. p. 713 ; Macaulay's "Essays,'' vol. i.p. 296. 68 ENGLISH PREMIERS, of less eager and impetuous members. It is "accessible to nosocial bribe," anditsjudgments are emphatically its own.* The report of the secret committee, upon which the motion for the bill of indemnity was based, has been minutely analysed, and the futility of its charges has been thoroughly exposed. None of the fraudulent contracts, none of the peculation, none of the profuse expenditure of secret-service money imputed to the ex-minister was ever proved ; and though, while in office, he provided lucrative places for his family, though he lived in princely style, and made a collection of pictures which cost £40,000, and sold for nearly double that sum, it has never appeared that he possessed himself of these advantages by dis honourable means. "Above the thirst of gold ; if in his heart Ambition govemed, avarice had no part."t The King was satisfied of his integrity, and continued to consult him from time to time ; Ranby, his surgeon, Colonel Selwyn, Lord Cholmondeley, and the Duke of Devonshire were all employed by turns as intermediaries between them ; and the King always returned Lord Orford's letters, lest any political secret should be dis closed by them after his decease. Another person employed on these delicate services was the King's page of the back-stairs. He used to meet the * See Fortnightly Review, vol. in. pp. 669, 670. W. Bagehot, " On the British Constitution.'' t Sir Charles WiUiams, " Epistle to Henry Fox." SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 69 Earl in Golden Square, at the house of Mr. Fowle, Com missioner of the Excise, who had married Orford's niece. It was sometimes as late as midnight when a mysterious little man arrived in a sedan-chair, which was brought into the hall. Lord Orford was already in the house ; the servants had been sent out of the way on various pretexts, and the young ladies, supposed to be safe in their rooms, were of course watching at the head of the stairs, while their father himself opened the door for the confidential page, who was not unused to this mode of visiting. It was by such means that Lord Orford influenced the King to promote Pelham instead of Carteret to the chief office in the state. The post of First Lord of the Treasury had been held by Lord Wilmington since Orford had resigned, but Carteret, who was Secretary of State, is spoken of by historians, such as Russell * and Macaulay,t as "prime minister," " chief minister," and even "sole minister." In the same way Pitt was declared prime minister in 1766, though he was not made First Lord of the Treasury. It was with great satisfaction that Lord Orford saw Henry Pelham, who had always been his friend, rise to that eminence which he himself had so ably occupied, and supplant that Carteret whom he had good reason to detest. Several of Orford's friends now returned to power, among whom were Henry Fox and Lord Cholmondeley, the ex-minister's son-in-law, who was * " Modem History," vol. v. p. 106. t "Essays," vol. i. pp. 282, 283, 296. 70 ENGLISH PREMIERS, appointed Privy Seal. In the House of Lords Orford displayed some of his youthful ardour when, in a speech as effective as it was energetic, he exposed the dangers of a new invasion which threatened England, and was devised in Paris between the French Government and Prince Charles Edward. The pain of a nephritic malady, which he bore with remarkable fortitude, did not prevent him journeying to London to give the King ad-vice, at his majesty's request. He found little consolation in literature during his retirement from public life. Quiet to him was almost extinction ; and Mr. Ellis on one occasion saw him take down two or three books from his library-shelves, and then throw the last of them on the table, exclaiming with tears : " It is all in vain ; I cannot read ! " His son Horace was twenty-two years old when his father retired from office, and offered one day to read aloud to Lord Orford. "What will you read, child ?" asked the Earl. "Some history, father," replied Horace, "if that would amuse you." " Oh read me not history," rejoined Orford, " for that I know to be false I " When Peel was elected Rector of the University of Glas gow, and delivered his inaugural address, he reminded the students of the loss Sir Robert Walpole sustained by having no love for reading, and contrasted him in this respect with Charles James Fox and the younger Pitt. He quoted the words, too, which Walpole used in talking with a friend at Houghton : " I wish that I took as much delight in reading as you do; it would be the means of alleviating SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 71 many tedious hours in my present retirement ; but, to my misfortune, I derive no pleasure from such pursuits." As far as Edmond Malone * could learn from Horace Walpole, the Earl never read any book in his seclusion except the works of Thomas Sydenham, " the English Hippocrates ;" and these caused his death. Following Sydenham's recommendations for dissolving the stone, he doctored himself with medicine of so inflammatory a nature, that nothing but large doses of opium, often repeated, could allay his pain and prolong his existence for six weeks. His journey to London, also, had aggravated his sufferings ; and when he arrived there it was too late to counsel the King. Carteret, then Lord Granville, had been compelled to resign ; and the Pelhams, coalescing with the Tories and Opposition Whigs, who were the Prince's friends, formed the ministry generally known by the name of the Broad Bottom. In his last illness Lord Orford was attended by the surgeon to the King's household. This gentleman has left a pleasing account of the manner in which the great statesman met his end. He appears to have exhibited the highest degree of firmness and presence of mind ; a circumstance which, in the language of Mr. Ranby, " reflected renown on his name equal to that which con secrates the memory of the remarkable sages of antiquity." The age of Pope, Bolingbroke, and Chesterfield was one, alas ! in which the examples of Cato, Cicero, and Seneca * Sir James Prior, " Life of Edmond Malone." 72 ENGLISH PREMIERS, were more studied and admired than the lives and precepts of St. Peter and St. Paul. Lord Orford died on the 18th of March, 1745. He was in his sixty-ninth year ; and his body was interred in the parish church of Houghton, without any monument or inscription, in accordance probably with the dictum of Pericles : ' Kvh^ij}V einipavwv Trdaa yi] rdfpoq, Kal oil (TTrjXoJv fiovov ev ry oUiit^ azjfiaivii kviya^ij, dXXd ica'i ev ry fifj TrpotrjjKouffj dypafog fivijiiri Trap' iKatTT(p, T^Q yvivfirjg irdWov r/ Tov 'dpyov, evSiairccTai.* Though I have said much incidentally of Walpole's abilities and merits, I cannot refrain fi'om adding a few words more on the same fertile theme. We owe him a debt of gratitude for the undoubted services which he rendered to his country — for staving off foreign wars, securing tranquillity at home, and preserving the just balance of the Constitution. Through his wisdom, public credit was saved ; agriculture, manufactures, and com merce advanced ; and the way was prepared for that political and religious liberty under which the Catholic Church in these dominions now so happily and peacefully spreads her branches and deepens her roots. If he some times adhered too rigidly to his favourite maxim, — quieta non mover e, — it must at all events be admitted that he erred on the safer side. He won at last the praises of his adversaries ; and Pitt, who was one of the most vehement, was not ashamed to extol him in the House of Commons after his death. He found, it is said, the book of rates * Thucyd., " Hist," U. § 43. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 73 the worst, and left it the best, in Europe; and Dean Tucker, in his work against Locke, calls him " the best commercial minister this country ever produced." The testimony of Burke I have quoted already ; but I -will add one sentence from that gifted writer : " Without being a genius of the first class," he says, " he was an intelligent, prudent, and safe minister. He loved peace, and he helped to communicate the same dis position to nations at least as warlike and restless as that in which he had the chief direiition of affairs." " But for his resolute counsels and good-humoured resistance," says Thackeray, "we might have had German despots attempt ing a Hanoverian regimen over us ; we should have had revolt, commotion, want, and tyrannous misrule, in place of a quarter of a century of peace, freedom, and material prosperity."* Lord Stanhope believes that we have never had a more dexterous debater. He always exhausted the subject, knowing that "weak minds seldom yield to a single argument, even to the strongest, but are more easily overpowered by a number, of whatever kind." In private life he was adored, having that most enviable faculty of attaching men to his person which so few pos sess. To a handsome face and fine figure he added a frank and fascinating address, a generous hand, and feelings truly humane. His laughter was irresistible ; for, as Sir * "Lectures on the Four Georges," Lect. U. See also Lady Hervey's eulogium in her elegant and sensible Letters, AprU 1, 1745. 74 ENGLISH PREMIERS, Charles Williams said, "he laughed the heart's laugh," " Sir Robert," said his generous rival, Pulteney, when conversing with Dr. Johnson, " was of a temper so calm and equal, and so hard to be provoked, that I am sure he never felt the bitterest invectives against him for half an hour." All this was highly to his honour ; yet we cannot think of him without regret. We can feel for him little more than cold respect. There was nothing in his character to call forth enthusiastic admiration. We can scarcely pardon his neglect of literary and scientific men, but remember with pain that Dr. Young was almost the only distinguished author whom he publicly rewarded. A herd of scurrilous gazetteers — ridiculed by Pope in the "Dunciad" — were ready to do him service; but Prior, Steele, and Addison found little grace in his eyes, because they were not men of business. Savage and Johnson, in his time, roamed through the streets houseless and hungry. It was he who denounced the Rowley poems as forgeries, and exposed the unfortunate and gifted Chat terton, their author. CoRy Cibber was made Laureate under his administration, and he, like Eusden, his prede cessor, "sleeps among the dull of ancient days."* In Walpole we look in vain for invincible virtue, ardent philanthropy, self-sacrifice, heavenly aspirations. He was of the earth, earthly; he could not enjoy solitude; and the principal charm he found in the oaks, beeches, * " Dunciad," Book 1. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE AND LORD CARTERET, 75 and chestnuts of his parks and manor consisted in this, that they were not flatterers.* The praise which he really deserved posterity has given him : sagacious at the council-board, — weighty, forcible, and even eloquent in the Senate, — magnificent and jovial in his spring and autumn " congresses " at Houghton, — loaded with lucra tive distinctions, — starred and gartered above his feUows, — during long years bending kings and parliaments to his -wrill by fair means and by foul, by arguments and by bribes, — exerting great power on the whole for social good, — we recognise in him a pattern of statecraft, and the model of an English prime minister in an irreligious age, under sovereigns who were neither very good nor very bad, very wise nor very foolish, and over a people ill-educated, yet steadily advancing, and needing often to be humoured in order to be governed. " So leave Sir Robert, buttoned to the chin, Broadcloth without, and a warm heart "within, To tax, to bribe, to coax the public weal From foreign standards and fraternal steel." f * Letter to General ChurchUl, June, 1743. t Lord Lytton, " St. Stephen's." HENEY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OE NEWCASTLE. " It is a remarkable fact that the e-vil (of bribery) reached the greatest height during the administration of Henry Pelham, a statesman of good intentions, of spotless morals in private Ufe, and of exemplary disin terestedness."- — Macaulay, " History of England," ch. xv. 1690. " Long versed in politics, but poor in parts. The courtier's tricks, but not the statesman's arts ; His smUe obedient to his purpose stiU, Some dirty compromise his utmost skill." SiB Charles Hanbuby Williams on Pelham. in. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. HTHE lives of Henry Pelham and Thomas Duke of New castle, his brother, do not, like that of Sir Robert Walpole, derive their interest in great part from the striking abilities they record. They were not by any means statesmen of the first order, but their memoirs are important and entertaining because they were placed at the head of affairs at a critical period of English history, when the Stuarts were making their last effort to recover the crown, or, failing this, to unsettle the pubKc peace. They and the Earl of Wilmington, who was premier during a year and six months, form an interregnum between the administration of greater men — ^Walpole and the first Pitt. The Pelhams were proud of their descent from a noble family of that name, which settled in Hertfordshire at the time of the Conquest. At the battle of Poictiers their ancestor, John de Pelham, had assisted in taking prisoner John, King of France ; and it was in memory of this deed that bis descendants bore on their arms the buckle 8o ENGLISH PREMIERS, of a sword-belt and a piece of leather adhering to it, supposed to have been torn from the unhorsed king. Henry Pelham was about two years younger than his brother Thomas, whom he preceded as prime minister. He was educated at home under a private tutor, and then followed his instructor to Oxford, where he became prin cipal of Hart Hall. At the time of the rebellion of 1715 Pelham seems to have served as a volunteer, and to have fought as captain in General Dormer's regiment against the Stuarts ; and the remembrance of this martial expedi tion in after-life gave zest to his ministerial activity against the second Stuart rising in the North. His elder brother meanwhile was advancing from one high post of honour to another, with all the ease proper to one who inherits a dukedom at eighteen. He married the daughter of Godolphin and granddaughter of the great Marlborough. He was made Lord Chamberlain in his twenty-fourth year, and Secretary of State in his thirty-first.* He was one of the richest subjects in England, yet so lavish in his expenditure, that he was often in debt, and his plate in pawn.f In his politics he favoured Austria and her union with the maritime powers, in opposition to France. He had a high opinion of his own abilities, and listened well-pleased to the voice of flatterers. He was jealous of his colleagues, not excepting his brother Henry; * Coxe's " Life of Pelham.'' t H. Walpole's " Memoirs," vol. u. p. 272, &c. HENRY- PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 8i and though petulant, he often made amends for his bursts of ill-humour. It was a great point for the younger brother to have so near a kinsman in close relation with the King and his ministers ; and as he entered parliament in early life, he very soon reaped the fruits of it. Henry was called to the Treasury Board in 1721, and sat there under the -wing of Townshend and Walpole, till, three years later, their powerful and welcome voices called him up higher. He became successively Secretary at War and Paymaster of the Forces, winning golden opinions by his discretion and frank demeanour. On one occasion, however, he quarrelled with Mr. Pulteney in the House, and a duel would have ensued had not the Speaker formally pro hibited it. Rival statesmen are prone enough to duelKng ; witness Fox and Adam, Shelburne and Fullarton, Pitt and Tierney, Castlereagh and Canning, Wellington and Win chelsea. Duelling too was then esteemed part of the character of a gentleman, and was in strict accordance with Lord Chesterfield's canons.* It was Pelham's good fortune to earn a reputation for the accomplishment with out practising it. His courage was displayed to better advantage when the proposed Excise Bill brought so much odium on Sir Robert Walpole : Pelham was then and always his friend. They were passing together through the lobby of the House of Commons — that perilous lobby where Perceval * Compare BosweU's "Johnson," AprU 10, 1772; AprU 19, 1773. VOL, 1. G 82 ENGLISH PREMIERS, since fell — when they were assailed by violent clamours of well-dressed persons, some of whom seized Sir Robert's cloak near the steps of Alice's coffee-house. The collar being tight, he was nearly strangled ; when Pelham, sword in hand, struck at the assailants, pushed Sir Robert into the passage, and planting himself boldly at the entrance, cried, " Now, sirs, who wiU fall first ? " Nothing more was needed, and Sir Robert was saved. Pelham had not served under Brigadier Dormer in vain ; never theless, in his politics he was a man of peace. He supported Walpole's pacific system, and strove to avert the war with Spain : he stood by the premier when many deserted him, and black clouds were gathering on every side. To him Sir Robert principally looked for support in the Lower House. He did his best to propitiate Newcastle, who had many disputes with Walpole, and used to write very wise and brotherly letters to the duke from Houghton. There he followed the fox and hare with " the landlord," as he calls Sir Robert, who, with all his passion for business, kept two packs of hounds ; and at sixty-three, though he could not ride hard, kept out the whole time, and amused himself by getting in at the death through his knowledge of the country. Under the administration of Lord Wilmington — ^which is commonly called that of Carteret, because the latter was the cleverer man — Pelham acted a subordinate part by his own choice. He continued in his post of Paymaster of the Forces, but would not be made Chancellor of the HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 83 Exchequer, knowing too well the weakness and divisions in the cabinet. Wilmington was regarded as a cipher, both by the public and his own subordinates.* Carteret was rising in the royal favour — for he espoused the King's foreign policy — and Carteret was one for whom the Duke of Newcastle had a mortal dislike. The brilliancy of his speeches, his learning and proficiency in German, made him an object of envy to his colleagues, while his overbearing ways at the council-board provoked still graver feelings. He had. Dean Swift said, carried away from Oxford more Greek, Latin, and philosophy than became a nobleman of his exalted rank ; and except when he had taken too much Rhine wine, he knew how to • make the most of his learning. Horace Walpole declares that no great man in England during his time equalled Carteret in genius ; and Smollett says : " Since Granville (Carteret) was turned out, there has been no minister in this nation worth the meal that whitened his periwig." f "When he dies," wrote Lord Chesterfield to his son, "the ablest head in England dies too, take it for all in all." J So decided a genius was not likely to conciliate the steady-going Pelhams. They concurred with him, it is true, in defending that unpopular measure of paying 16,000 Hanoverian troops with British money, against which Pitt so indignantly stormed; but they differed from him widely as to the method of conducting the war ** Lord Stanhope, vol. in. p. 134. f " Humphrey CUnker." X Letter, December 13, 1762. 84 ENGLISH PREMIERS, in the Low Countries. Carteret was for invading France on the side of the Netherlands ; Newcastle advised that Germany should be the scene of action, because he thought it more favourable to the interests of Austria. The fact is, they had no relish for Carteret's supreme sway. Their private feelings were often veiled imder official politeness ; and when " that strutting little sultan," George II. , and the Duke of Cumberland had gained so brilliant a victory on the plains of Dettingen, Newcastle wrote to Lord Carteret in a strain of the warmest con gratulation. Indeed, it was difficult to escape the en thusiasm which spread through all classes at the news of the King's prowess and intrepidity. Nations are not fond of stay-at-home kings, who cannot or will not lead forth their people unto battle; and the English, who always prefer deeds to words, heard with deHght of their sovereign standing unscared within range of a French battery, with the cannon-balls whizzing within half a yard of his head. " Don't teU me of danger ; I'll be even with them ! " They were homely words, yet not unworthy of a King who was fighting for a Queen. It was chivalrous, no doubt, in the monarch and the nation to vote finances and phalanxes for the Queen of Hungary ; but thoughtful men inquired what positive advantage could result to England from her zeal in the cause of Maria Theresa.* What could it signify to us whether the Elector of Bavaria or the daughter * RusseU's " Modem Em-ope," vol. v, p. 107. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 85 of Charles YI. succeeded to the crown of Austria, or whether they wasted their forces in striving for the mastery ? It was all very well for the Hungarians to cry with one voice, "Moriamur pro rege nostro Maria- Theresa," when the Elector of Bavaria, aided by France, was crowned as Charles YII. ; but might not the English people be excused from taking part in the quarrel so eagerly ? The King, whose sympathies were all on the German side, had his own ideas on the subject, and Carteret encouraged them, but the Pelhams could not be induced to second their schemes. In a letter dated October 14, 1743, Newcastle says, in reference to a private convention between Maria Theresa and George IL, "It is a most strange, unfair, unpardonable proceeding in Lord Carteret ; but what we must always expect from him." In the year just mentioned Lord Wilmington, the First Lord of the Treasury and nominally the prime minister, died. His private character had been respectable, and he had filled well enough the Speaker's chair. But when George II. had thought of making him prime minister instead of Walpole, in 1727, his ignorance of business became so apparent that the scheme was dropped, and being gratified with the title of Wilmington, he " shrunk at once into insignificance and an earldom."* The place which he now vacated was coveted by Carteret for Pulteney, Earl of Bath ; but Lord Orford recommended Henry Pelham, and many things combined to point him * Earl Stanhope's "History," vol. U. p. 118. 86 ENGLISH PREMIERS. out as the fittest man. He had been twenty-four years in parliament, and was now forty-seven years of age. He was a Walpole in miniature as regards politics ; but his temper, unlike that of the jovial Sir Robert, was pee-vish and fretful. Timidity, however, made him very conciliating, and put a wholesome restraint on his irritable moods. The war had become unpopular, the army was inactive. Lord Stair — never much of a general — ^had resigned, and the Pelhams were needed to screen the King and his favourite minister from reproach. They accordingly closed with his majesty's offers, but never ceased to counteract Carteret's influence : he in revenge withheld from them all information, nor condescended to consult his colleagues on the most important affairs. " All our accounts from abroad," says Newcastle, in a letter to the Lord ChanceUor, " are from private hands. I can never write or think upon this obstinate and offensive silence without surprise and resentment." Lord Hardwicke, in reply, complained that he might as weU be a private gentleman living in the country as expect any lights from my Lord Carteret. This state of things could not last long. Newcastle was for presenting a memorial to the King, and urging the removal of the obnoxious minister; but Henry Pelham, seeing plainly that this would only excite the royal displeasure, dissuaded him from the step. The Lord Chancellor refused to sanction the payment of a subsidy of £300,000 to the Queen of Hungary, in virtue of the secret convention, " as long as HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 87 the war should continue or her necessities require ; " and Carteret, though very indignant, was obliged to submit to a limitation. His star was waning fast : the Opposi tion accused him of pandering to the predilection of " the Hanoverian King" for his own dominions, and of sacri ficing the interests of England to those of the Electorate ; clubs, coffee-houses, baUad - singers echoed the charge; Lord Chesterfield ascribed every disastrous measure to the minister ; and Pitt thundered against him as " an execrable, a sole minister, who seemed to have drunk of the potion which poets had described as causing men to forget their country." By the help of Henry Fox, Lord Carteret for a brief moment weathered the storm. He contended, in opposi tion to Pitt, that without the aid of England Austria would have been dismembered, and the preponderance of France would have made it doubtful whether Britannia ruled the waves. A negative to the address of thanks to the King had been proposed in the Commons, after the example of that in 1685, under the reign of James II. ; but the House, after a stormy debate, rejected it as con trary to parliamentary usage, and insulting to the crown. Mr. Pitt continued to persecute Lord Carteret with his philippics, insisted that the war should not be carried on without the immediate concurrence of the Dutch, and asserted that "the little finger of one man had for six months pressed heavier on the nation than the loins of a ministry which had lasted for forty years." The public ENGLISH PREMIERS. welfare, he said, demanded the separation of Hanover from England. What other method could be devised for destroying the fatal preference for that country ? Were no other soldiers but Hanoverian to be procured in Ger many, that great mart of men ? He would that the Sanover-troop-minister were present, that he might arraign him face to face ; nor could he adequately deplore the connection of "the amiable part of the administration" (by which he meant the Pelhams) with that offensive statesman. The popularity of Henry Pelham, however, was only increased by the Opposition, since their motions and amendments were almost always rejected through his prudent and temperate replies. The grants to the Queen of Hungary and the Duke of Aremberg were voted in spite of them, and thus the Austrian troops were put in motion and the seats of the ministers secured. Of all exciting topics to English ears there is none equal to that of a French invasion. " God bless the narrow sea which keeps her off ! " is the approved sentiment with regard to France; and every true Briton echoes it thus : " God bless the narrow seas ! I wish they were a whole Atlantic broad ! " * This was the language of many throbbing hearts when the Brest squadron, counting twenty sail of the line, besides frigates, sailed up the Channel in February, 1744. * " The Princess : a Medley." HENR Y PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NE WCASTLE, 89 It was well known that the fleet was intended to co operate with the chivalrous Prince Charles Edward, and that he was either on board with Marshal Saxe, or about to appear in the north, amid Highland chieftains and clans fiercer than the torrents that rolled down their glens.* The alarming news turned most of the mur murers into patriots, and even Pitt ranged himself on the loyal side, and supported the candid and moderate Pelham. The commercial policy of that minister was favourable to Free Trade ; and he took a happy step in this direction by promoting and finally passing a bill for limiting the exclusive privileges of the Turkey Company, and throwing open the Levant to merchant ships of every flag. Lord Carteret's repugnance to him increased when he and his brother obtained the King's consent to negotiate with the Dutch Republic without consulting with him. Public odium, on the other hand, was excited against Carteret when the Queen of Hungary was obliged to retire into her own dominions, and the Austrian army was driven from province to province by the combined forces of Prussia and France. In October, the Pelhams and the Lord Chancellor drew up a remonstrance to the King, set forth the grievances of the nation in reference to the war, and urged his majesty to insist on the States-General making common cause with England against her great enemy, France. The memorial was returned in a few * SmoUett, '" History of England," vol. xi. 90 ENGLISH PREMIERS, hours without the slightest remark. The Chancellor respectfully declared that he and his coUeagues must resign unless their demands were acceded to. In vain Carteret, now Lord GranviUe, appealed to the Opposition, promising them places, power, and a dissolution of parlia ment. His new title came to him on the death of his mother, the Duchess Dowager of Marlborough, who was also Countess of Granville. His overtures to the out siders had been anticipated. Chesterfield and Pitt resolved to join the Pelhams ; and the Prince of Wales himself deserted the falling Secretary of State. In despair, he besought Lord Orford to plead his cause ; but the veteran statesman was Pelham's friend, and had little reason to care for GranviUe or to admire his policy. The royal consent was at last most unwillingly given, and the seals which had been held so tenaciously by GranviUe were placed in Lord Harrington's hands.* This was the first instance in which the alternative of yielding to a majority in the cabinet or resigning was brought distinctly into view. The second was in the case of Chatham, when he gave way to Lord Bute.f Henry Pelham was now reaUy prime minister; but, considered intellectually, he cut a poor figure as the suc cessor of Granville and Walpole. His merit consisted in his mediocrity ; he was a safe man. No good stars had met in his horoscope, making his spirit of fire and dew. * Nov. 24, 1744. Lord Stanhope, vol. ni. p. 186. \ " 'The Govemment of England," by Dr. Heam, p. 199. HENR Y PELHAM AND THE D UKE OF NE WCASTLE, 9 1 His mind was well balanced, his financial statements were clear, his life was decorous ; but he was timid, yielding, and fretful. Horace Walpole has painted his portrait at full length by the side of Sir Robert's. It is one of his most masterly sketches, and turns, of course, to the advan tage of his father. It is brought to its end and climax in these words : " Mr. Pelham maintained his inferiority to Sir Robert Walpole even in the worthlessness of his brother."* He and Newcastle strove in vain to get places for Lord Chesterfield and Pitt in the ministry. The King was intractable, and declared — such is the fate of constitutional princes — that though he had been forced to part with those he liked, he would never be constrained to accept those he disliked. Every Tory was suspected of a leaning to the Pretender; and the Broad-Bottom ministry, which comprised Tories as well as Whigs, was liberal in the wrong direction from the royal point of view. Lord Hardwicke has left an amusing account of an audience he had of George IL, in which he tried to reconcile him to the recent ministerial changes. It is in the form of a dialogue, and was communicated by the Chancellor to the Duke of Newcastle. The King was very sulky and very snappish ; and when Hardwicke observed that his ministers were only the instruments of his rule, he replied, smiling bitterly, " Ministers in this country are the King." Nor was he in a milder mood * "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 236. 92 ENGLISH PREMIERS, when, in May, 1745, he departed for the Continent. He charged the duke and his colleagues with tricking and deceiving him, and refused to remove some more of his faithful servants at their request. To Pelham he was more courteous than to his brother; but he could not abide the shuffling, stuttering duke, who seemed to be jealous of everybody, and was always busy when there was nothing to do. " The puppy ! " he said, speaking of Newcastle ; " he wants to be prime minister ! " Such was the position of the cabinet when the Earl of Orford died. In him Pelham lost a sincere and constant friend. The link between himself and the departed statesman's adherents was broken, and even Horace Walpole's friendship cooled towards him. Horace in herited much of his father's talent, but his spleen was aU his own. It foimd fuU vent in his "Posthumous Memoirs," and he did not, as we have seen, spare the memory of Pelham. The coalition of parties in the Broad Bottom was a benefit to the country, though it could not last long. It strengthened the hands of government in a year marked by a series of disasters. It was the famous '45. In the battle of Fontenoy the French remained masters of the field ; Tournay was taken ; the allies abandoned Flanders ; the Duke of Cumberland was recalled; the Genoese embraced the cause of the Bourbons, and rendered their arms victorious in Lom bardy; and the rejoicings in England which followed the capture of Louisbourg from the French at the mouth HENR Y PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 93 of the river St. La-Wrence were quickly succeeded by the appalling tidings of the Pretender's landing in the North. The account of this startling event occurs Hke a green spot in the dry plain of that portion of English history of which Macaulay says " common readers know the least." The details on which it dwells are suited to the poet and dramatist no less than to the historian; they light up the pages allotted to George II. with the most vivid interest, and combine every element most exciting to the imagination of youthful readers. The thrice-told tale seems always new ; and the hero of the piece, though a good-for-nothing laddie, who afterwards became an incorrigible drunkard,* wears a halo of romance round his brave forehead, and secures to himself a certain amount of sympathy in the midst of his short-Hved success, his sudden overthrow, his "hair-breadth 'scapes," and his weary wanderings, f The weakness of the Pelhams was manifest at the outset of the adventure. The King was absent, and Carteret had stiU friends in the cabinet, particularly Lord Tweed- dale, the Secretary of State for Scotland. He laughed at the danger as a chimera, and impeded aU vigorous pre parations. Henry Pelham had great difi&culty in obtain ing an order from the lords justices for the recall of four regiments from the Low Countries. The friends of * " La Comtesse d' Albany," by St. Ren^ TaiUandier. The New Review, October, 1863. + Transactions in Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 353 — 435. 94 ENGLISH PREMIERS, government in Scotland were discouraged, as well they might be, when all but deserted by the officers of the cro-wn. Their indolence and ignorance, according to Lady Hervey, their friend, was " unaccountable, execrable, and inconsistent." * If our own rulers had betrayed similar imbecility a few months ago in Ireland, every river in it would ere this have been stained with blood. | Prince Charles landed on the shore of Loch Sunart, at the age of twenty-five, to claim for his father the crown of Great Britain.J He had a handful of followers, £2,000 in his mUitary chest, 1,800 sabres, and 1,200 firelocks. But in a few days 900 Highlanders joined his standard ; and from the mountain- chain of the Grampians the clans poured in with shout and pibroch, till his army swelled Hke a torrent after rain. On the 3rd of September he set up his standard in Perth, with the motto " Tandem triumphans," Edinburgh opened her gates to him, and pleasant were his dreams in Holyrood House. The ministry continued disunited and supine, taking no ade quate means to prevent the threatened irruption. Never was there so strong an empire as ours with so small a standing army. The fate of England depended at this juncture on which might arrive first — the Dutch or the French battalions.? " Obstinate, angry, determined im- * Letter xu., March 2, 1744. t Written in May, 1866. X Tindal's " Continuation of Rapin," vol. ix. The ChevaUer de St. George died at Rome in 1766. \ Henry Fox, " Letters to Sir 0. H. WUliams." HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 95 practicability," according to Mr. Fox, reigned paramount in the Downing Street of that day. The enemies of " James YIII." licked the dust at Prestonpans, and the memory of their defeat is kept aHve to this day in the Highland song : — " Hey, Johnny Cope, are ye wauking yet. Or are ye sleeping I wad wit ? " Prince Charles returned to Edinburgh in triumph, whUe a hundred pipers played before him "The King shaU enjoy his own again." The government had offered a reward of £30,000 for his head, and he repaid the com pliment by promising the same price for that of " the Elector of Hanover." * With such nonsense he fooled away the month of October ; then, marching through Dumfries and CarHsle, he reached Manchester, and was welcomed with vivas and bonfires. The dormant spirit of the administration was at length aroused, and the main army, under the Duke of Cumberland, took the field. But where would have been the House of Hanover if nature had given Charles Edward brains ? ¦(• Filing off by Leek and Ashbourne, the Highlanders entered Derby.+ The streets rung with the Gaelic of the conquerors, and dirks and claymores were flashed in the faces of the peaceful citizens. * See the Proclamations, August 1 and August 22, 1746. Transac tions in Scotland, vol. U. p. 16. t See Lord Stanhope, vol. iii. pp. 291 — 296. X December 4, 1746. Transactions in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 142. 9& ENGLISH PREMIERS, " James III." was proclaimed King, and his son's army was distant only two or three days' march from the capital. Panic was already there, great indifference pre vailed throughout the country as to the result of the invasion,* and Pelham himself declared afterwards in public that if the reinforcements from the Continent had been detained by contrary winds, London could not have held out against the rebels, t With an insurrectionary army, delay is defeat. To march straight on to the capital is the high road to victory. While that is untaken, little is done ; when that is captured, everything else foUows. Prince Charles was not wanting in courage, but in promptitude and discretion. He was easUy elated, easUy cast down. He waited for the royal forces to assemble, and then retreated before them without striking another blow on this side the Tweed. The victory he gained at Falkirk over General Hawley showed how much more he might have done if he had pressed his former advantages. The French might have soon effected a landing, as they intended, in Scotland or near Dover, and the Stuarts might have had another opportunity of marring or main taining the British Constitution, as the case might be. But division was in the Prince's camp, and Culloden in the scroll of fate. Prince Charles should have appealed from his officers,- who pleaded for retreat, to his men who thirsted for * " Letters of Henry Fox,'' cited by Earl Stanhope, vol. iu. pp. 243, 271. t Speech in the House, Jan. 1753. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 97 victory, plunder, and reward. There is every probability that the obstacles dreaded by the Scottish chiefs would have vanished at his approach, that his friends in the capital would have risen, his adherents in the counties have armed, a panic have seized the shopkeepers, and King George himself have embarked on board the yacht which was prepared to carry off his most precious effects.* The throne would have been left vacant, and how long the Prince would have held it for his father would have depended on the wisdom with which he used his victory and exercised his power. Before the final defeat of the clans, a battle was fought behind the scenes between the King and his ministers. They thwarted him in his favourite scheme of war on the Continent; and he, with GranviUe's connivance, vexed them by encouraging the Dutch not to declare war against France, although they had entered into the grand alliance. They had few fortified towns, and were at the mercy of several German princes, who might join with France against them, if they became principals in the war. The ill-humour of his Majesty was greatly increased by the chief ministers urging the admission of Mr. Pitt to the post of Secretary at War ; and he felt this last indignity so galling, that he actually charged the two most un popular men in the kingdom — Lords Bath and Granville — to form a new cabinet. The Pelhams resigned, and * Earl Stanhope, vol. iii. p. 275; SmoUett's "History," chap. -vUi. ; Klose's " Memoirs of Prince Charles Edward," vol. i. p. 348. VOL. I. H 98 ENGLISH PREMIERS, the royal scheme proved laughably abortive. The " Short- Hved " administration lasted only two days, from the 10th to the 12th of February, 1746. Thus GranviUe was foUed, Lord Bath outwitted hiraself, and the King, a littlie crestfallen, was obliged to beg his refractory minis ters to resume their places. But Granville never relapsed into low spirits ; he continued to laugh and drink cham pagne as before ; he owned that the attempt was a mad one, but declared himself quite ready to try it again. At the battle of Culloden House, near Inverness, the Highlanders were signally defeated by the Duke of Cum berland. They could not -withstand his well-directed artUlery, which mowed them down like grass ; whUe his bayonet-men, instead of attacking, as before, each the swordsman in front of him, pushed each at the swords man fronting his right-hand comrade. The Highlander thus assailed, and perplexed by a new mode of fighting, feU pierced in the side uncovered by his target. The carnage was great ; the rebellion was extinguished ; but the spirit of disaffection and Jacobitism continued un changed. "If we had destroyed every man of them," wrote the Duke of Cumberland, " such is the soU, that rebelHon would sprout out again, if a new system of government is not found out for this country." It is thus with Ireland at this moment :* periodical insurrections and suspensions of the Habeas Corpus are preferred to * May, 1866. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, gq the simple plan of distributing even-handed justice with out distinctions of creed or race. The defeated Prince bore the frowns of fortune as iU as her smiles. His spirit was broken, and he refused to rally his followers. The royal troopers pursued his wildered bark from island to island. No succour arrived from France, and his only consolation consisted in the loyalty of his partisans, many of whom, though in the humblest class of society, con cealed him from his pursuers at the risk of their lives, yet weU knowing that they might by betraying him gain immense reward. Yictory was followed by the easy task of vengeance. Walpole, it was said, had failed in his duty, by not breaking the strength of the Highland chiefs during his twenty years of power. The Duke of Cumberland acquired and merited the title of " the butcher " by his needless severity. The clans were disarmed, and the use of the kUt was restrained. Men were expected to become loyal when compelled to wear breeches. Schoolmasters were obliged to take the oaths of allegiance, and the Episcopalian clergy were sorely vexed. The Lords Cromartie, Kilmarnock, and Balmerino were tried by their Peers. The first was pardoned, after his loving wife's interceding for him with the King ;* the two last suffered on the scaffold at Tower Hill. Lord Lovat's execution followed, and that of many other rebels. They * Horace Walpole, "Letters to G. Montague," Aug., 1746. ENGLISH PREMIERS, died in general with composure, and Lovat's last words were : " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori ! " His coffin-plate was discovered about twenty-five years ago, with that of Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino, and is now carefuUy preserved.* Every attempt to redeem his memory from disgrace has faUed. He was a traitor to both sides, and would have deserved death from either. -j- Some of the magazines published an account of his trial, together with the Chancellor's speeches on the occasion ; and as such reports had been strictly prohibited, the unfortunate printers were summoned to the bar of the House of Lords to answer for their misdemeanour. Being committed to prison for this grave offence, they expressed their hearty contrition, and promised amendment of their ways, whereupon the ChanceUor was graciously pleased to reprimand them severely, and set them free on pay ment of no trifling fees. Yet the common sense of many revolted from this short-sighted justice; and when a proposal was made to Pelham to put a stop to the debates of the Senate of Lilliput in the Gentleman's Magazine, he replied good-humouredly enough, " Let them alone ; they make better speeches for us than we can make for our selves." It is strange that judges and members of Parliament should have been so jealous of their proceedings being * " Memorials of Tower of London," by Lord de Ros, p. 228. t Earl Stanhope, vol. iii. pp. 219, 253, 309, 312, 320. HENR Y PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. loi properly reported in a country which had transferred its allegiance from James II. to WiUiam III. in order to be free, had pubHshed by its representatives the Declaration of Rights, passed the Act of Toleration, and purified the courts of justice. Nay, it was about the very time when the printers of the London and the Gentleman! s Magazine were imprisoned, that resistance was offered in the Com mons to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act during three months longer, dating from November, 1746, on the ground of its being " the great bulwark of our liberties." The tone of public morality about this period may be guessed from the fact that, in the month just mentioned. Lord Chesterfield, who had been Yiceroy of Ireland, was appointed Secretary of State. He was one of the most accompHshed infidels of his day, the friend of Bolingbroke, of Yoltaire, and of Montesquieu, whose "Lettres Per- sanes" and "Esprit des Lois" breathed a spirit of Deism akin to his own. He would have laughed at any man who trusted his morality.* His letters to his son contain many useful hints to a young gentleman entering into pubHc life, but may be regarded on the whole as a code of laws for a man of fashion who loves the world and the things of the world, and has not a thought beyond them. His assistance in forming the coalition of the " Broad Bottom" had ingratiated him with the Pelhams, and when the Secretaryship of State again became vacant, they induced the King to. offer him the seals. His Majesty " Horace Walpole's Memoirs," vol. i. p. 53. ENGLISH PREMIERS, made a feeble effort to restore Lord Granville, and then smothered his resentment against Chesterfield for ha-ving formerly inveighed so sharply against Hanoverian predi lections. He was one of those who supported a bill intro duced for the abolition of hereditary jurisdictions in Scotland. They were a remnant of feudal times, and vested in great families and lawless chieftains the ad ministration of justice, which should have belonged by right to the regular courts of judicature. RegaHties, shrievalties, bailleries, and stewartries enabled these per sons to harass their vassals with many vexations, and reduce them to abject dependence. The evUs resulting from the power of Highland foresters and water-baUies, coroners, and clerks, had not escaped the framers of the Act of Union at the beginning of the century ; but it was reserved for Chancellor Hardwicke and the Pelhams to root up the dangerous privileges, which the Duke of Argyle for one offered to resign. Thus one more stone was taken out of the feudal castle, whose bastions frowned on social freedom. The premiers from Walpole to Peel, taken for all in all, have been a noble and high-minded set of men ; and each of them has done his part towards the Hberation of the human mind and human action. An unseen Hand seems to have directed their measures, and to have given to them a certain beneficent unity of purpose, the results of which we are now enjoying. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 103 Henry Pelham had by this time become heartily tired of the continental war, and many members of the cabinet were of his mind. The Duke of Newcastle, however, Cumberland, and the King, steadily opposed him, and could not be induced to let the long dispute between the Emperor Francis and " Charles YII." (as the Elector of Bavaria was styled by his adherents) right itself without their interference. Happily two of the principal com batants, France and Spain, were beginning to think that their commerce had been sufficiently ruined, and that quite enough carcases of brave soldiers had feasted the eagles and wolves. The signing of the preHminaries of peace and the resignation of Lord Chesterfield, in conse quence of a squabble between himself and the Duke of Newcastle, were the chief events marking the peaceful session of 1747-8. To their difference of opinion was added Chesterfield's offence in trying to tamper with the King by means of his favourite. Lady Yarmouth. "When he resigned," says Henry Fox, " his Majesty was infinitely civil, pretended to be very sorry, and was very glad." At length the weakness and timidity of the Dutch con verted even Cumberland and Newcastle to the side of peace ; nor was the voice of Pitt himself raised in oppo sition. Austria alone refused her consent. WhUe this tiresome business was pending, a strange altercation took place between the King and the Duke of Newcastle, who had accompanied him to Hanover. He had for some time been highly flattered by George II.'s gracious manner 104 ENGLISH PREMIERS, towards him, to say nothing of the civUity of Lady Yarmouth, their recognised go-between in matters of business. The fascinations of court-life at Hanover had also helped to put him in good humour with himself ; and in his correspondence with his brother Henry he speaks with delight of the royal dinners, the garden-theatres, and the French acting in the open air in presence of the King. But when George II. coveted the Bishopric of Osnaburg for his favourite son, the Duke of Cumberland, Newcastle felt bound to resist his Majesty's wishes. The treaty of Westphalia, by which the territorial, religious, and political state of Germany at large had been settled in 1648, made a singular provision for that bishopric, of which Charlemagne was the founder. It stipulated that the see should be held alternately by a Catholic ecclesiastic and by a Protestant lay prince of the House of Brunswick-Lunenburg. Accordingly the Duke of York, brother of George I., had been invested with the temporalities, and from him they passed to the Elector of Cologne. His illness inspired George II. with the hope of making it an heir-loom in his family, and obtain ing a princely establishment for a Protestant duke. It was Newcastle's obvious duty to represent to him the check which such an appropriation would cause in the proceedings for the conclusion of peace, and to remind him that the preliminaries agreed on guaranteed the treaty of Westphalia. The recovery of the Elector from the illness which threatened his life gave strength to HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 105 Newcastle's arguments, and the project was relinquished as impolitic, if not impracticable.* In this way the Duke's influence increased, and on what it depended no man could tell. His ignorance was notoriouis, and his oddities were quizzed by all who knew him. He was, in fact, a Hving caricature, and Macaulay may weU wonder that Sir Walter Scott never tried his hand upon him. "Effervescent nonsense" bubbled from his lips, while his grotesque attitudes and impulsive manners made him the butt of aU' the coffee-house wits. At one time he indulged in fulsome caresses, at another . he was found in hysterics or bathed in tears. King, Waldegrave, Dodington, Glover, Chesterfield, each as sailed him in turn ; and Lord Albemarle, it is but fair to say, has in our day undertaken his apology, f He admits, however, that the Duke "was fretful, busy, intriguing, unmethodical, and self-sufficient," and that " his de meanour lacked dignity." Lord Waldegrave wrote of * Osnaburg afterwards gave the title of bishop to the second son of George III. ; and to this Bums refers in his Address to his Majesty, en titled " The Dream." " For you, right rev'rend Osnaburg, Nane sets the lawn-sleeves sweeter, Altho' a ribbon at your lug Wad been a dress completer : As ye diso-wn yon paughty dog That bears the keys of Peter, Then, s-svith ! an' get a wife to hug, Or trouth ! ye'U stain the mitre Some luckless day." t "Lord Rockingham and his Contemporaries," vol. i. pp. 11, 12. io6 ENGLISH PREMIERS. him, saying, " his mind can never be composed ; his spirits are always agitated. Yet this constant ferment, which would wear out and destroy any other man, is perfectly agreeable to his constitution ; he is at the very perfection of health when his fever is at the greatest height."* Horace Walpole describes him as bustling into the Duke of Grafton's bed-chamber and kissing the sick nobleman's plasters. In Smollett we catch sight of him as he runs out of his dressing-room, and, -with his face stiU covered with soap-suds, embraces the Moorish envoy. But cunning lay at the root of all his impetuosity. He was always ready to renounce or betray his friends ; f and he outwitted far abler men than himself. J They had the satisfaction of ridiculing him, and he that of retaining the honours they aspired to in vain. When the Duke of Somerset died he was chosen Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, in opposition to the Prince of Wales, and at a later period held the highest place in the British cabinet. His chief fears, and those of his brother, arose from the Pretender's son. They drove him about from France to Switzerland, dodged and spied him wherever he went, and complained that " if the young gentleman should declare himself a Protestant, the Lord only knew how matters might end." I have spoken of the Duke's lack of knowledge, and I * " Memoirs," pp. 11, 12. t Lord Stanhope, vol. ii. p. 155. \ See Fitzgerald's " Life of Townshend," pp. 54—83. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 107 may here add that his brother, the prime minister, was not overstocked with that useful commodity. " I desire you," he says in a letter to Newcastle, " not to laugh at my Latin letter to the University of Gottingen. I thought, as I received a very high one from them, it was incumbent on me to make a return. / got Roberts, therefore, to muster up his academical talents ; and I think, upon the whole, we have said enough, and not so much as to make it ridiculous. My letter to Baron Steinberg was in my own strain ; and that to Munchausen I got Roberts to put into French." There is a schoolboyish tone in this lan guage which is quite ludicrous. In 1748 Henry Pelham had a severe iUness, which, in writing to the Duke, he describes with great precision. " I sent to Wilmot," he says, " who immediately deter mined (as indeed Dr. Harrington had said before) that it is what the learned call the herpes, and the old women the shingles," "For God's sake, my dear brother," the anxious Duke replies, "take care of yourself; exercise and some temperance in eating wUl be to be observed. Believe me, I am the more touched upon this occasion, as I am sensible the situation of affairs (alluding to the negotia tions for peace), and possibly the part I may have had in them, or at least some warmth I may have used in justify ing them, has been in a great measure the cause of the continuance, if not of your original Ulness. This good effect it has had, that you shall never more have one disagreeable word from me." Such promises are seldom io8 ENGLISH PREMIERS, kept strictly : and accordingly, before the impending treaty was concluded, we find the Duke complaining that his services were not appreciated as they deserved, either by his brother or the Lord Chancellor himself. The friendship struck up between France and England was fatal to Prince Charles's peace. He had no thought of turning Protestant, so far as history records, but he desired at least to remain unmolested at St. Germain's, and to go to the opera when he pleased. What was his indignation when, on December 10, 1748, he was arrested by M. de YaudreuU, major of the guards, seized by the arms and legs by six sergeants in plain clothes, bound with strong cords of sUk, disarmed, and placed in a hackney-coach with the major at his side ! Even his pockets were searched, and his pistols were taken from him.* In this manner he was conducted to the chateau of Yincennes, and subsequently to the frontier of Switzer land. Well might the unhappy Prince cry, "Save me from my friends ! " and foam at the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle.f It is often observed that the Princes of Wales are sure to be Whigs, and to turn Tories when they succeed to the crown ; and the example of George lY. is always adduced as a case in point. But in the days of Walpole and Pelham, though Whigs and Tories held on the whole the same principles as they do now, their relative positions * " Chronique de la Regence et du Regne de Louis XV.," tom. iv. p. 329. t Article xix. HENR Y PELHAM AND THE D UKE OF NE WCASTLE, 1 09 were totally different. If any class could be called dis affected and revolutionary it was that of the Tory squires and Tory members of Parliament. If any party formed the bulwark of the throne, the reigning dynasty, and the cabinet, it was that of the Whigs, who vowed on the hustings that they never had been, and never would be, " patriots." Each suffered a strange metamorphosis : the Tory ranged himself in the Opposition ranks, full of factious spleen, with the language of a demagogue on his lips ; while the Whig from the Treasury benches lectured on the royal prerogatives and the duty of submission to the powers that be, in terms that might have suited a supporter of Strafford or a non-juring divine. It is true that since Walpole's faU the strife of parties had abated, and the Broad-Bottom administration included ministers of every shade of opinion. Yet the Prince of Wales found means to be in opposition still. It suited his disagreement with his royal father; and as he had coalesced with Tories and made a truce with Jacobites against Sir Robert, so now he united with Pul teney, Bolingbroke, and a motley battalion of politicians who had deserted the government. They were called the ^ party of Leicester House, from the Prince's residence, where they met ; and we have only to look into Bubb Dodington's Diary" * to mark their ceaseless activity and * " Diary of George Babb Dodington, Baron of Melcombe Regis, from 1749 to 1761." Horace Walpole styles him, "That so often re-patrioted and re-prostituted prostitute, Dodington." ENGLISH PREMIERS, intrigues. As they had stormed at Walpole for his con duct of the war, so they now hissed at Pelham for his conclusion of peace. There was no better reason for the opposition in one case than in the other. But when were Oppositions scrupulous about reasons ? The cabinet ministers, one of them said, were "alike incapable of conducting a war and of negotiating a peace ; and it was better to be governed by able rogues than by such weak fools." Such was the poHte invective of Sir John Hinde Cotton, who had lately formed part of the administration against which he raUed. Some of the acts passed in the session of 1748-9, which Archdeacon Coxe caUs " beneficial regulations," would in our time be denounced as vexatious blunders. " Strikes " were made punishable by law ; frauds in the manufacture of iron and leather, hemp, flax, linen, and silk, were severely threatened ; and the importation of foreign bro cade, embroidery in gold and sUver, and lace was strictly prohibited. This was a retrograde step, and would never have been taken in Walpole's time. No policy could be more short-sighted ; for if we bar our ports against foreign produce and fabrics, it is clear their markets wUl in revenge be closed against ours. In each case national prosperity loses, and humanity suffers to enrich a few selfish monopolists.* The adulteration of manufactures, again, is a question which had .better be left to the public, who are generally sharp-witted enough to discover where * See MUl's " Political Economy," Book v. ch. x. HENR Y PELHAM AND THE D UKE OF NE WCASTLE, 1 1 1 they can get the best articles for the least money. To multiply laws unduly is to weaken legislation ; and a shop without customers, or a warehouse without traffic, is a better corrective than any Act of ParUament. One century has wrought a surprising change in our legal enactments. Manufacturers and merchants required checks a hundred years ago which now they would not endure ; and labourers and artisans lay down then, desponding and slothful, unless strong stimulants to exertion were applied by the government. What we do by companies our forefathers did by bounties and bribes. Thus, in Pelham's time it was impossible to get a supply of fish for the markets without granting the white-herring and cod fisheries a bounty of thirty shiUings a ton for all vessels they might employ of from twenty to eighty tons burthen, and paying out of the Customs an interest of three-and-a-half per cent, on the entire floating capital of the Free British Fishery. Our fishermen were then very inferior in skiU and enterprise to the Dutch and the French on the coast of Normandy ; and the present low state of our fisheries, and particularly of our oyster culture, is in great measure owing to their backwardness in the last century.* I cannot pass over this subject without remarking that the pitiable injustice of one of Henry Pelham's measures helped to alienate the colonies of North America from the mother-country. A bUl was sanctioned to promote * " Sea Fisheries and Sea Fishing," by L. D. Young. ENGLISH PREMIERS, the importation of their pig and bar iron into this country, and to prevent them from manufacturing it themselves into locks, bars, and other utensUs. In the same protective spirit, the enticement of artificers into foreign states was prohibited, and also the export of implements used in our own silk and woollen factories. Get aU you can, and give nothing, was the only moral to be extracted from such laws. Their fallacy was admirably exposed by Sir Robert Peel in various speeches in the year 1842.* While the stage of government in 1750 presented no spectacle but that of strength and peace, there was nothing but jealousy and cabals behind the scenes. The rivalry between the Dukes of Newcastle and Bedford attracted a host of combatants and schemers to one or the other side. Newcastle's immense famUy influence and profuse employment of secret-service money enabled him, with his brother, to govern the country with ease ; but it was more difficult to overrule the King. The Duke of Bed ford was in office ; and, though sadly negligent of his duties, Newcastle could not induce his Majesty to dismiss him from his post of Secretary of State. He had acquired favour with the Duke of Cumberland and the Princess Amelia, and was closely allied with the able and dissolute Lord Sandwich. He entertained a large circle of friends at his magnificent mansion at Woburn ; t and they were * See Guizot, " Memoirs of Peel," ch. -viu. t See "Horace Walpole's Correspondence," October, 1761. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 113 not extreme to mark his piles of unanswered letters, whUe joining in his cricket-matches or witnessing his private theatricals. Thus he continued to hold the seals whUe repeated efforts were made to displace him, and graduaUy formed around him that party of Whigs called the " Bloomsbury gang," which, with the party of the Gren- -vUles, was destined, some years later, to strengthen the government of Newcastle and Pitt. The power of the sovereign had been so reduced at the Revolution as to be virtually null ; that of the Commons was not yet developed ; the ministry, by boroughs and places, had it in their power to secure a large majority among the representatives : and thus the nation was governed, in fact, by a powerful oHgarchy consisting chiefly of Whig nobles. Constituents did not know how those whom they had chosen voted, nor what they said ; and the sovereign's impotence may be coUected from George II.'s reply to his minister, when Pelham solicited a place for Lord Harrington : " He deserves nothing, and shall have nothing," were the royal words. " The gene ralship of marines is to be the reward of aU who fly in my face, I suppose ! You gave it to Lord Stair, and now you want it for Harrington. He shall not have it, if I can hinder it," It is true that Pelham did not press the dis tasteful appointment, but the King's language is not the less significant on that account. The removal of the Duke of Bedford from office became a cause of so much dissension between the two brothers VOL. 1. I 114 ENGLISH PREMIERS, who ruled the land, that at last all private intercourse between them ceased. Newcastle urged the change strongly ; Pelham asked for it reluctantly, and then remitted his efforts. Pitt and Fox, the fathers respectively of the two illustrious statesmen who afterwards bore those names, sided, the former with the duke, and the latter with the prime minister. Thus the camp was divided ; and the two Secretaries of State, Newcastle and Bedford, voted against each other in important divisions, to the scandal of right-minded men and the joy of aU who assembled at Leicester House. The Duke of Bedford had the honour subsequently of being slandered by Junius, and the still higher honour of being defended in a masterly manner in later times by Lord Brougham. In the midst of his opposition schemes, the Prince of Wales was surprised by illness and sudden death in March, 1751. He was thought to be doing weU, and was hearing Desnoyers play the violin, when he exclaimed, " Je meurs,"* and expired before the Princess could get from the foot to the head of his bed. Her bereavement united the members of the royal family, and disappointed the late Prince's partisans in their political designs. Prince George, the heir-apparent to the crown, was con fided to his mother's care ; and Lord Bute, being made one of the lords of the bedchamber, was often consulted by the Princess Dowager. The pages of the back-stairs * Or, as Horace Walpole has it, "Je sens la mort." Bubb Dodington's "Memoirs," under March 21, 1751. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 115 were always eager to announce his arrival, he and the Princess walked more and more together, and " he seemed by no means desirous of concealing his conquest."* The favour he thus obtained led ultimately to his supplanting Newcastle as First Lord of the Treasury, and rendering himself particularly odious. But who was to be Regent if the yoUng Prince should succeed to the throne when a minor ? The King wished it to be the Duke of Cumberland ; but the baUads sung in the streets when the Prince of Wales died proved how unpopular he was, and how greatly his severity was detested. " 0 that it was his brother ! 0 that it was the butcher ! " was the burden of the popular song. The ministers, therefore, brought in a bill which nominated the Princess Regent, with a council, over which Cumber land was to preside. Long after the principal states of Europe had given up the Julian calendar, England, strong in her prejudice in favour of estabUehed usages, refused to adopt the wiser system. " The Gregorian account," Horace Walpole says, " had not been admitted in England, as if it were matter of heresy to receive a calendar amended by a Pope."-|- The Duke of Newcastle would give no encouragement to Lord Chesterfield's desire of reform, but Pelham and the Chancellor acted in a more enHghtened and scientific spirit. The public, of course, raised as many senseless * Horace Walpole. " Memoirs," vol. ii. p. 205. t "Reign of George II.," vol. i. p. 51. ri6 ENGLISH PREMIERS. objections to the new style as they do now to the intro duction of the decimal system of coinage. Rents, leases, and debts were all to be thrown into confusion ; and even the calendar of the Prayer-Book was to be desecrated by altering the saints' days and immovable feasts. Eleven whole days in the year 1752 were to be suppressed ; they were to leap at once from the 2nd of September to the 14th ; and where was the man or woman who did not feel that it was just so much time deducted from his or her appointed term of years? "Give us back our eleven days ! " was the cry of the malcontents ; and years passed before they became reconciled to being even with the earth and the sun. The Duke of Newcastle joined in the silly clamour raised against the useful innovation. He was " alarmed at so bold an undertaking," and " did not love newfangled things."* In 1752 the Duke of Bedford had resigned his office, and the Pelhams enjoyed a more quiet time. There was Httle, indeed, to vary the dulness except that the young Prince's education became a bone of contention to tutors and governors, Whigs and Tories. To teach his young ideas how to shoot in the right direction was clearly a matter of great importance, but each party unfortunately had its own notions as to where the right direction lay. The consequence was that his education was shamefully neglected,t and Sir Herbert Taylor records that he him- * Lord Chesterfield's " Characters." ¦f Jesse, "Memoirs of George IIL," vol. i. pp. 19-20. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 117 self admitted and lamented it in after life.* Pelham and his brother had recommended Lord Harcourt and the Bishop of Norwich as Prince George's governor and pre ceptor ; but the former was said to have the manners of a groom, and the latter was dry and pedantic. In fact, the subordinates. Stone, Scott, and Cresset were much better liked by the boy, and in much higher favour with the Princess his mother. One day a book was found in the Prince's hands which brought matters to a crisis. He — the heir to a Protestant crown, the pupU of a Protestant bishop — was actually discovered reading "L'Histoire des Revolutions d'Angle- terre," written by that wily Jesuit, Father d'Orleans, the chaplain and confessor of James II. If , It was evidently a foul conspiracy. Popery in some form must be in the plot. The book was a vindication of King James's poHcy and proceedings, and the weU-known maxims of Boling broke were being craftily instUled into the tender mind of England's future sovereign. Which of those Jaco bites — Stone, Scott, or Cresset — was the culprit ? Stone firmly denied it. It must be Cresset. Se, they said falsely, had served Bolingbroke when Bolingbroke served the Pretender. But the crime could not be fastened on Cresset — no, nor even on Scott. It appeared, indeed, on minute inquiry, that the book was lent to the heir-apparent by that naughty boy his brother Prince Edward, who had • See Lord Brougham's " Historical Sketches," vol. i. p. 13. t Horace Walpole, " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 289. Ii8 ENGLISH PREMIERS, borrowed it of the Princess Amelia. Harcourt, however, and the bishop refused to hold their places unless Stone, Scott, and Cresset were dismissed- ; and as this was not to be thought of, they resigned, and — to the great alarm of the Whigs — the Bishop of Peterborough and Lord Wal degrave were chosen in their stead. It was all of a piece. What booted it talking of Waldegrave's constitutional principles ? Did not his grandfather accompany King James to the Continent, and espouse Henrietta, his natural daughter ? Did not his father profess the popish religion till he was thirty-eight years old ? Was not Mr. Murray, who interfered so often in the Prince's education, nearly related to the Earl of Dunbar, the Pretender's chief minister ? Thus they argued, blind with fear, and pre sented a memorial of their anxiety to the King. In the following year the agitation was renewed, in consequence of a pettifogging attorney, named Fawcett, having asserted at a dinner-party where Lord Ravens- worth was present that Dr. Johnson, the Bishop of Glou cester, was a Jacobite, and that he had often seen him drink the Pretender's health at the house of his cousin, a mercer, on Ludgate Hill. Being examined subsequently, Fawcett prevaricated, betrayed great emotion, retracted his assertion respecting the bishop, but maintained that Stone and Murray had certainly been guUty of the treasonable toast in the house referred to, in 1731 or 1732. He declined making even this charge on oath; and it was evident to all that his testimony was worthless. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 119 The affair was brought before the House of Lords by the Duke of Bedford, but issued in the full exculpation of Murray, the Solicitor- General, and Stone, who had been the King's private secretary at Hanover.* After the Duke of Bedford's departure. Lord Gran viUe returned once more to office as President of the CouncU. But the post was unimportant compared with that which he had held as Lord Carteret. His sprightH- ness, too, had disappeared, his health was shattered, and his estate impaired. He enlivened the Council-board occasionally by his bursts of wit.; but ambition, the soul of activity, was extinct in his breast, f It is much to Pelham's credit that, in spite of strong opposition, he passed a biU permitting the naturalisation of the Jews. They had hitherto been excluded from this privilege, except on condition of receiving the Sacrament. They could not, according to law, possess lands or funded property except during the King's pleasure ; and there were not wanting members of parUament who defended this cruel ban, approved the statutes of Edward I., which visited the Jews with confiscation and exile, + and lamented as national calamities the measures adopted for their relief by Oliver Cromwell and WilHam III. The objections raised by these ultra- Conservatives were the * Archdeacon Coxe, " Life of Pelham," vol. u. ; Dodington's " Diary,' ' p. 229 ; Waldegrave's "Memoirs." t Lord Stanhope, vol. iv. p. 17. X See Flanagan's " British and Irish History," p. 247. ENGLISH PREMIERS. more frivolous because all that Pelham asked was, that any Jew residing in England might be able to naturalise himself; be placed on a level with Jews born in the country, or who had resided seven years in the colonies, or followed certain caUings in these islands during three years ; and might have his property, landed or funded, as fully secured to him as to any Christian subject. The bill was carried; and it does not appear that Pelham grew any richer for his leniency towards the despised and scattered children of Israel. Certainly he did not make so good a thing of it as Oliver Cromwell, who received £60,000 for granting them leave to build a synagogue in London; nor did the Jews offer him half a miUion sterling, as they had offered Lord Godolphin, if the government would permit them to purchase and colonise the town of Brentford.* But the bigotry of the multitude was only in flamed by the prime minister's reasonable concession. Protestant divines declaimed, Sunday after Sunday, against so flagitious a grant, than which, they said, nothing worse could have been proposed except the emancipation of Papists. Members of parliament were called to account by their constituents for having voted in its favour, and their attachment to Christianity itself was caUed in question. Bishops were mobbed for not having opposed it ; and at Ipswich, the Bishop of Norwich, who had approved it, was called upon, in * Spence's " Anecdotes," p. 216. HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 121 mockery, to administer the rite of circumcision instead of confirmation. The timid Newcastle brought in a biU to repeal that of his brother, and a pliant parliament yielded to popular outcry.* An attempt was made about this time to obtain a census of the population. PoHtical economy absolutely required the data it would furnish; but that science, which is conversant exclusively with the good of the public, is the last in order of time which the public can be induced to promote. Pelham supported the proposal with his usual liberality ; but though the bill struggled through the Commons, the Lords rejected it. The minister's efforts to prevent clandestine marriages were more successful. They had become extremely fre quent. Banns and licenses were constantly evaded, and clergymen, detained for debt, could always be found in the Fleet and Mayfair who married persons Ulegally in unlicensed buildings, f Practices of this sort were so deeply rooted in Scotland, that it was deemed hopeless to extend the operation of the bill beyond the Tweed. It was in the debate on this measure that Charles Towns hend made his first witty and telling speech. % It is to Pelham's exertions that we owe the British Museum. By an act emanating from him, the Crown was * Horace Walpole, " Memoirs," vol. i. pp. 357-368. t See " Fleet Parsons and Fleet Marriages," Cornhill Magazine, May, 1867 ; Horace Walpole's " Correspondence," February, 1752 ; Ejnight's "London," vol. iv. p. 64. X Horace Walpole's "Correspondence," May 24, 1753. ENGLISH PREMIERS. enabled to raise by lottery a sum sufficient to buy the Sloane Collection and the Harleian MSS. These, with the Royal and Cottonian Libraries, were placed in Mon tagu House, which was also purchased by the govern ment. It is clear that the arts and sciences were rising in public esteem. Sir Isaac Newton had been dead six- and- twenty years. Pope only nine ; but the influence of their writings remained. Newton, by continued thought, had discovered long-hidden truths of the universe, and Pope in his " Dunciad" had unmasked the pretensions of Hterary quacks. Johnson lived and instructed mankind. The "seasons" of Thomson's life were over, but those of his pen lasted on. Gray had his lyre in hand, and freely flung off his spirited odes. Hume and Robertson in history vied with Fielding and Richardson in novel- writing. Garrick, the Roscius of his age, charmed it with the endless changes of his wonderful face. The pencil in the hands of Hogarth and Reynolds became a sceptre; and Handel, though a foreigner, rose to fame chiefly in England. The same is true of Rysbrach and Roubiliac, who, with WiUis, stood foremost as the sculp tors of George II.'s reign. Engraving boasted its Strange and Bacon ; and architecture only, formal and confused, looked round in vain for some hand to restore in part the glory of her palmy days. Like aU statesmen, Pelham had his retreat ; and, like most statesmen, he had poets to hymn its praise. From one of these — Garrick — we learn that he fled from earth HENRY PELHAM AND THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 123 to heaven at the moment of his death. WhUe here below his favourite seat was at Esher, near Claremont, which he embeUished by the skiU of Kent, the landscape- gardener. The author of the " Seasons" speaks thus of — " . . . . Claremont's terraced height and Esher's groves, Where, in the sweetest solitudes embraced By the soft -windings of the sUent Mole, From courts and senates Pelham finds repose ; Enchanting vale ! " Pope also has reminded us of — " Esher's peaceful grove. Where Kent and N'ature -vie for Pelham's love. The scene, the master, opening to my view, I sit and dream." * In this retreat Pelham was distinguished for his social [Walpole says his affected] virtues, and enjoyed the unfeigned respect and affection of his famUy and depen dents. Here he devised numerous measures for the benefit of his country. They were marked indeed by little genius, t but they contributed more to the general welfare than bolder and more ambitious schemes. He was a good pUot in calm weather, but he would not have been equal to heavy gales. His conciliating disposition led him to bear great annoyance in the cabinet rather than dismiss a colleague from office. He taught and experienced servility to a large extent ; and when Selwyn * " Epilogue to the Satires," Dial. U. t See Horace Walpole, "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 370. 124 ENGLISH PREMIERS. attended the auction after his decease, and the dinner- service was put up, the wit exclaimed, " Lord, how many toads have eaten off these plates ! " His friends com plained of his peevishness, but George II. invariably treated him with kindness and respect, though he and the minister were often at issue on the affairs of Europe. He died after a short Ulness in March, 1754,* and the Duke of Newcastle succeeded him as First Lord of the Treasury. Had his brother been wise, had he been -wiUing to cede to another and more gifted mind part of his own authority, he would have chosen Pitt to lead the House of Commons. He passed him over : not only so, he offered the post of Secretary of State to Henry Fox, on condition that he, the duke, should retain in his own hands the disposal of places and the management of the secret-service money. It was beneath the dignity of any man to close with so degrading a proposal. Fox declined, and it was accepted by Sir Thomas Robinson, a tame and confused debater, of whom Pitt said that the duke might as weU have sent his jack-boot to take the lead in the House. " He had been bred," Horace Walpole says in his entertaining " Memoirs," " in German courts, loved German politics, and could explain himself as Httle as if he spoke only German. The King, with such a Secretary in his closet, felt himself in the very Elysium of Heren- hausen !"t The premier had accomplished a hard task. * March 6. t Vol. i. p. 337. HENRY PELHAM AND THE -DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 125 He had found a Secretary of State with talents inferior to his own.* The House of Commons made Sir Thomas its butt, and the wittiest speakers assisted him, as Lord Waldegrave said, whilst he turned himself into ridicule. Pitt and Fox became Newcastle's foes, and the remainder of the duke's career will be better noticed in a memoir of Pitt than by continuing to devote to him a separate sketch. Fortune, his great wealth, his vast family con nection, gave him an importance his own talents would never have acquired, and enabled him to figure pro minently in the numerous ministerial changes which occurred during the last years of George II. , and the early part of the reign of his grandson, George III. It was fortunate for England that the first two Georges were fonder of Herenhausen than of St. James's, and left this country to govern itself. " Our chief troubles began when we got a king who gloried in the name of Briton," and who set about ruling the land of his birth. f Even Newcastle, the feeblest and most eccentric of premiers, was less to be feared than George III. when he undertook to act premier for himself. There was an interval of six days only between Pelham's death and his brother's appointment. There had been some mention of the Duke of Devonshire as Pelham's successor ; and Horace Walpole says he would have been " a proper dictator, had the only business * Lord Stanhope, vol. iv. p. 38. t Thackeray, " Four Georges," Lect. ii. 126 ENGLISH PREMIERS. the State been to drive a nail into a waU ! " As it was, the country, according to his account, " submitted to be ruled by no abUities at aU." * * " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 380. THE EAEL OP CHATHAM AND LOED BUTE. " Poor England ! thou art a devoted deer. Beset with every Ul but that of fear. The nations hunt ; aU mark thee for a prey, They swarm around thee, and thou stand'st at bay. Undaunted still, though wearied and perplexed, Once Chatham saved thee ; but who saves thee next ? " Cowpee's "Table Talk." " With manners unformed, and -with language uncouth. The rude north he deserted to polish the south. His lov'd bagpipes he left and began on his flute, And a princess soon yielded to John, Earl of Bute. Deny do-wn. " The garter he -wins, Uke his countryman, Chartres, All England to hang bim would part -with both garters ; And, good Lord, how the people would laugh and would hoot, Could they once set a swinging this John, Earl of Bute. Derry do-wn." Popular BaUad. IT. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. ¦WILLIAM PITT, afterwards Lord Chatham, first saw the light in 1708, in the very middle of Queen Anne's reign. Whigs and Tories had forgotten for a while their old animosities, were associated in office under Godolphin, and yielded to the national enthusiasm which surveyed with delight and pride the humbled power of France, and the battles won year after year by Marlborough and Prince Eugene. Only four months before WilHam's birth, these generals had defeated the imperial forces at Oudenarde,* and taken possession of French Flanders. The boy's earliest associations were with victories and rejoicings, with chivalrous exploits and glory as profitless for England as Louis XI Y. and Philip Y. coxUd desire. William Pitt was, one may say, the founder of his family— so far, at least, as its nobility is regarded. His grandfather, indeed, had been Governor of Madras, and had sold " Pitt's diamond" to the Regent of France for more than 2,000,000 livres; t but his father's income was * July 17, 1708. t Earl Stanhope says £150,000, vol. iu. p. 10. VOL. I. K 130 ENGLISH PREMIERS. small, and William, who was a younger son, inherited no more than about one hundred a year. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, was destined for the army, and held a commission as cornet in a cavalry regiment ; but at the age of sixteen he was visited -with that hereditary malady which was to be his life-long trial. The torments of gout, however, preserved him from habits of dissipation, and procured for him that leisure which was essential to his political career. Crosses and contra dictions are required to produce inteUectual as well as moral greatness. At Oxford Pitt had given some tokens of a turn for literature, and published some Latin verses on the death of George the First, which did not rise at aU above the dignity of the subject. The ideas and the versification were worthy of a king whose talents never enabled him to learn English, and whose virtues, if he had any, were knovra. only to his mistresses. The travels in France and Italy with which Pitt completed his education, did more for the instruction of his mind than for the estabUshment of his health. His thews were not the thews of Mars. His commission in the Blues must be sold ; he might fight the battles of his country on the floor of the Houses of Parliament, but nature had never intended him for the " flinty and steel couch of war." His elder brother being elected in 1734 both for Old Sarum and for Oakhampton, he resigned the former seat to WiUiam, who accordingly took his place in the senate. THE'EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 131 Walpole was at the height of his power. It was the sixteenth year of his administration, and during the latter half of that period he had been supreme. The brilliant Carteret, Townshend, his old aUy, the polished Chester field, the brave and eloquent Argyle, opposed him vigor ously ; and though he might have made many a foe his friend, he was unwilling to purchase support at the cost of his own independence. The Whigs in opposition were called patriots, and to these Pitt joined himself Their hand was against every man : they repudiated Toryism, professed the principles of Hampden and Russell, and denounced with vehemence the corruption practised by the government. They counted among their adherents the Prince of Wales, who, in placing himself at the head of an opposition, set an example which three other princes of the same rank have since followed. The patriots were charmed with his support. It relieved them from the reproach of encouraging Jacobitism by voting so constantly with Jacobites, it gave them hopes of promotion when the heir- apparent should succeed to the Cro-wn, and greatly increased their respectability in their own eyes. It was on the marriage of Prince Frederick with the Princess of Saxe-Gotha that Pitt addressed the House for the first time. His speech was reported in the Gentleman's Magazine, and it is difficult to guess in reading it why it established his reputation as a speaker. But there is that in every true orator of which no report, however accurate, can convey an idea. It may indeed, Hke a 132 , ENGLISH PREMIERS. landscape, be too exact, and destroy general effect by reproducing blemishes. Magnetic influence issues from the gifted debater, and weaves electric chains round the hearer's heart. Pitt's appearance was commanding and graceful, fire flashed from his eye, and his 'features indi cated high and noble thought. Horace Walpole's reports of his speeches read like notes ; but what notes ! what force and brilliancy ! His voice admitted of endless modulations — now sinking to a whisper, now peaHng through crowded halls in melodious thunder. Every tone was at his command ; every feeling and passion, real or feigned, found its fitting expression in his voice. He was a Garrick in action, an ^schylus in intensity ; copious as Cicero, vigorous as Demosthenes.* He yielded to the impulse of his nature, disdained for the most part set speeches, gushed and roUed like a foaming torrent in whose beauty there is something awful. His opponents feared him, for his invective was overwhelming; so did his friends, for he spoke his mind freely, and was of all statesmen least able to master the rules of statecraft. He was more impassioned than argumentative, and sarcasm was one of the weapons he could wield the best.-j- His powers of speech gave annoyance to the government, and Walpole, who loved to carry things with a high hand, caused him to be dismissed from military service. This * See Duke of Grafton's MS. Memoirs ; Lord Stanhope, vol. vi. Appen dix xxxix. t Horace Walpole's " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 93 ; vol. ii. p. 149 ; " Corre spondence," vol. i. p. 312. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 133 summary proceeding was not likely to concUiate a high- minded young man. "It was," says Lord Brougham, " a blunder of the first order ; it was of a kind, too, which none less than Walpole were apt to commit. Perhaps it was the most injudicious thing, possibly the only very injudicious thing, he ever did." * Most ministers would have tried to buy over the terrible cornet of horse, but Sir Robert's bribes and bounties were seldom spent in that way. By losing his cornetcy, however, Pitt gained some thing better worth having, and stood on firmer ground as Groom of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales. This honour was the reward of his services in advocating the settlement of £100,000 a year on his royal highness ; and as gratitude has been well defined " a lively apprehension of favours to come," there can be no doubt that the Prince thought it would be advisable to secure the aUiance of so skilful a pleader. In promoting the war with Spain, Pitt's conduct was neither reasonable nor humane. Walpole, as we have seen, consented to it unwillingly, and we know by the testimony of Burke that none of those -who urged it for ward the most attempted in after years to justify their policy. t The provocations offered by Spain were not sufficient to justify an appeal to arms, but they afforded orators out of place a fine opportunity of haranguing in a patriotic strain, without the responsibility of engaging in • Appendix to " Historical Sketches : Sir R. Walpole," p. 183. t " Thoughts on a Regicide Peace," p. 74. 134 ENGLISH PREMIERS. conflict with a great power in distant quarters of the globe. In spite of Pitt's vehement declamation, a treaty with Spain was concluded by the govemment, and the evils of war were averted for a time. " The complaints," he exclaimed, " of your despairing merchants, the voice of England, has condemned it. Be the guilt of it upon the head of its adviser ! " And with such words on his lips he and the rest of the Opposition quitted the House, and did not return to it till the next session. His absence caused Walpole no regret ; and when he again took his seat he was among the foremost of those who requested the King to remove the obnoxious minister from his counsels. Being taunted -with his youth and theatrical emotions by Horace Walpole, he gave vent to that memorable retort in which he contented himself, as he said, with wishing that his foUies might cease with his youth, and that he might not be of the number of those who are ignorant in spite of experience ; whose age only adds obstinacy to stupidity ; who as they advance in years recede from virtue, and become more wicked with less temptation; who prostitute themselves for money which they cannot enjoy, and spend the remains of their Hfe in completing the ruin of their country. Perhaps Pitt was never more of an actor than in that scornful speech in which he rebutted the charge of creating stage-effect. When Sir Robert's administration was in its death-struggles, he and the other Boys, as the Patriots were called, negotiated for an aUiance with THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 135 Newcastle and Lord Hardwicke on a Whig basis. They even engaged to procure the Prince of Wales's support ; but Walpole decHned their proposals, and, after an obstinate struggle, resigned. A new ministry, armed at aU points, sprang from the brain of Pulteney ; and Pitt, with his brUliant talents, was not included in it. He had his revenge ; he opposed the rule of Wilmington and Sandys, as he had opposed the administration of Walpole. He made Carteret his target, as Sir Robert had been his butt ; and the hard names he had applied to the one became less effective when hurled without distinction at the other. He was, indeed, one of those able men who have earned by mental force a reputation not always sup ported by their moral discernment. Few great men have made greater mistakes. He eagerly promoted the appointment of a secret tribunal to inquire into Sir Robert Walpole's conduct as prime minister, and the bill of indemnity to witnesses, which was in fact a premium on perjury. These were measures from which the heart and understanding of every high-souled senator would have revolted — measures for which no rebuke sufficiently withering could have been found except in Pitt's own invectives. Horace Walpole, the younger, speaks of him as " a man whose thirst for glory was inconsistent with humanity," and " a minister who was great with so little reluctance." * * "Memoirs," vol. iii. p. 160. 136 ENGLISH PREMIERS. Events, however, were favourable to his rise ; and the same sparkling writer aUows that, with one drawback, he had " the best opinion of him." The new government was more unpopular than the ex-minister had ever been ; and the preference of the King for his German dominions, which Carteret encouraged, together with the English payment of Hanoverian troops, were themes on which Pitt dilated with great effect. The best speakers in the House of Commons had been removed to the Lords, and there was none among the rising debaters who could vie with the patriot on crutches. He possessed in the highest degree the faculty of detecting weak points in his adversaries, and of magnifying them. He rose on the ruin of others' reputations, and was often least just when most earnest and impassioned. " Our former minister," he said, in opposing the address of thanks for the speech from the Throne in 1743, " our former minister betrayed the interests of his country by his pusillanimity ; our present sacrifices them by his Quixotism. Our former minister was for negotiating with all the world ; our present is for fight ing against all the world. Our former minister was for agreeing to every treaty, though never so dishonourable ; our present will give ear to no treaty, though never so reasonable. Thus both appear to be extravagant ; but with this difference, that by the extravagance of the present the nation will be put to a much greater charge than ever it was by the extravagance of the THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 137 former." * Thus Pitt assailed both Walpole and Carteret ; thus he slaughtered his enemies, smiting backwards and forwards at the same moment with his two-edged sword. His blade, after all, was not finely tempered, for it was not sufficiently steeped in the limpid waters of equity and truth. Declamation is poor oratory : it captivates itching ears and weak understandings, but it never satisfies reflective minds. When Pitt became Earl of Chatham, and addressed fastidious hearers in the House of Lords, his fine periods lost half their point ; and if he could now totter to his place in the flannels that swathed his legs a century ago, perhaps he would faU more signally than he did in the Chamber of Peers to produce a powerful and lasting sensation. There is in our age an increasing demand for realities, and the speech which is most substantial now gains the most admirers. Pitt's orations were highly profitable. The Duchess of Marlborough was so charmed with his assaults on Wal pole and Carteret, that she bequeathed him the welcome legacy of £10,000, and died only two months after she had made her wiU. This accession of fortune made Pitt a courtier ; and when the King was prevaUed on to dismiss Carteret, the Pelhams were anxious to include so able an ally in the " Broad Bottom." Several of his patriot friends obtained high places, but he himself was obliged to wait awhUe, tiU the King's repugnance to him should be in some measure softened down. His majesty could * " Anecdotes and Speeches of W. Pitt, Earl of Chatham," vol. i. p. 103. 138 ENGLISH PREMIERS. not easily forget all that the bold debater had said about his Hanoverian troops. He tried his strength, and that of his favourite ex-minister, Carteret — then Lord Gran ville — at a critical moment. Charles Edward was in the Highlands, and expulsion menaced the Hanoverian dynasty. The attempt of Granville to form a new administration was a ludicrous failure, and no one laughed at it more heartily than he. The Pelhams were recalled, and they made their own terms. Pitt must be promoted. The King should not have to see him often. He should be Yice- Treasurer of Ireland for a few months, and then Paymaster of the Forces. The path of glory was open, and wealth was secured. Walpole had risen from Paymaster of the Forces to be prime minister; why should not Pitt? His office was most lucrative : besides his salary, £100,000 was con stantly in his hands, and he might, like those before him, have enjoyed the interest of it. He might have received, as was usual, a per-centage on the subsidies paid by him to foreign princes ; but aU these mean emoluments he steadily refused. Corruption was the crying sin of the time, and people were not slow in discovering the few whose hands were unstained with gold. Pitt soon became the public's favourite, and nothing contributed more than his disinterestedness to preserve the popularity he had once acquired. Yet Pitt in office and Pitt out of office differed as widely as placemen and would-be placemen usually do. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE, 139 " My admiration of Chatham," says Earl Stanhope, " does not lead me to assert the perfection, though it does the purity, of his whole political career."* The government was aU-powerful : opposition decayed and died. The funeral knell of Prince Frederick tolled also its decease. Pitt stormed no longer at the Hanoverian troops, nor quarrelled with the continental system, which he had so vehemently denounced. He had formerly encouraged parHamentary inquiries ; now he threw himseK in the way of such interference. He had pleaded for war with Spain; he had now no objection to the treaty which breathed the pacific spirit of Walpole. He had mur mured at servile echoes in the Commons to royal speeches ; now he defended them as things of course. He had opposed a standing army, and declaimed against miHtary despotism ; he now pleaded for the maintenance of the one and implicit obedience to the other. He had thwarted the King's government to the utmost ; he now declared that " our liberties exist solely in dependence on the direction of the sovereign and the virtue of the army." He had inveighed against subsidies to German princes, even in time of war ; he now approved one, even in time of peace, f During his neutral phase Pitt was highly sensible to the calls of humanity. He brought in a bUl for the reHef of Chelsea pensioners, and for aboHshing the exor- * " History," vol. iu. p. 191. t " History of the Life of Lord Chatham," p. 49. 1783. 140 ENGLISH PREMIERS. bitant usury which oppressed them. Through his exertions they always received half-a-year's pension in advance, and the annuity itself was declared incapable of being mort gaged. In 1754 Pelham died, and the Duke of Newcastle, feehng a strong partiality for his own feeble talents, endeavoured to engross the entire power of the ministry. YHien he appeared at court, he sank at the foot of the stairs, crying, and the yeomen dragged him up with their hands under his arms. He tumbled down before the King, and sobbed, " God bless your Majesty !" and lay there, howHng and kissing the royal knees, -with one leg out. " For God's sake, gentlemen," cried Lord Coventry, who was in waiting, " don't look at a great man in his distress ! " But in trying to shut out the spectators, he " caught the duke's gouty foot, and made him roar." This was all grief for Pelham's death. Truly Newcastle was a character, absurd and wily withal. "He was," Horace Walpole says, " a Secretary of State without intelligence, a man of infinite intrigue without secrecy or policy, and a minister despised and hated by his master — by all par ties and ministers, without being turned out by any!"* His hands were "always groping, and sprawling, and fluttering, and hurrying on the rest of his precipitate person." There was "no describing him but as Mon sieur OourceUe, a French prisoner, did : " Je ne sgais pas, Je ne sgaurois m'exprimer, mais il a un certain tatillon- * " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 16. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE, 141 nage,"* Language, it seems, faUed in hitting off his peculiarities. He offered Fox, the father of Charles James, the direc tion of the House of Commons, but on such conditions as no statesman with self-respect could submit to. He was to know that secret-service money was distributed, but to have no hand in the distribution. He was to be a mere deputy of the duke's in the lower house, and to bear the obloquy without the profits of bribery. Pelham's " Black Book of Bribes " had been burnt by the King,t and if Newcastle had, as he certainly would have, another. Fox was never to be allowed to peep into it. Pitt and Fox therefore united in opposing him, the elections of the same year went against him, and the incessant reprisals made by the French and English on each other in India and America rendered war between the two countries extremely probable. Pitt could not, of course, sit stiU and see the ruin of England. His spirit was stirred to its depths, and in a loud voice he demanded whether parliament sat only to register the arbitrary edicts of one too-powerful subject ? J The keen and weighty logic of Fox was directed at the same time against the timid and ambitious minister. How was he to queU the mutiny ? It was equally dangerous to dis miss or to promote the insurgents. What if he seduced * " Correspondence of Hon. Horace Walpole," vol. i. pp. 82, 223. t " Wraxall's Memoirs." X Horace Walpole, "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 408. 142 ENGLISH PREMIERS, one of them ? Fox was the least rebelHous : Fox should be cabinet minister. The bait was tempting : he accepted the post of Secretary of State — often equivalent to that of prime minister — and deserted Pitt, who never forgave what he considered an act of perfidy. Newcastle was not happy in his choice, and he soon found himself obUged to pay court to the chief mutineer. The medley of treaties in which he had involved his country was so novel and embarrassing that even bis tools revolted. Legge, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, would not sign the papers required to give the treaties effect,* and those who were in the confidence of the young Prince of Wales and his mother shook the prime minister's courage with vague alarms. Russia, it appeared, of aU countries, was now to be subsidised by Great Britain, and employed to keep Frederick II. in check. Petty German auxiliaries were again to be paid from the English treasury; and aU this to preserve the iudependence of Hanover — the sovereign's idol. " I suppose," says Lord Campbell, " this administration was the weakest that ever was entrusted with power iu a free country. Lord Hard wicke was the only man of any capacity for business in the cabinet, and, after all, he was more of a lawyer than a statesman."! Pitt was sent for. The two chief actors met. Newcastle was all smiles and smirks, except when he shed tears of feigned emotion ; he hugged the patriot, and ? Horace Walpole, "Letter to R. Bentley," September, 1755. t " Lives of the ChanceUors," vol. v. p. 135. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 143 praised his briUiant talents. There was nothing he should not have : the royal favour itself was promised ; a seat in the cabinet, and a large share in its most secret counsels. All these things were to be given him, if he would only support the Hessian and Russian subsidies. Such was the language of Newcastle; and Hardwicke, the Lord Chancellor, endorsed it. But Pitt had too much confldence in his own powers to submit to any terms dic tated by the duke. He would, indeed, out of reverence for the King, consent to approve the Hessian treaty ; but he would not hear of subsidising Russia. Under these circumstances Fox took the lead of the House of Commons, and Pitt, looking coldly on, awaited his time. It was in this year that he married Hester, the sister of George GrenviUe and of his brother Yiscount Cobham, afterwards Earl Temple. This aUiance had many bear ings on Pitt's political career, for the family of the Gren- villes, which was called " the Cousinhood," became won derfully proHfic of statesmen and placemen. Parliament met in November, 1755, and every eye was fixed on the orator, whose eloquence became more fasci nating in each debate. He had refused to pay the sub sidy to Russia, and both he and Legge, with George GrenvUle, had been ejected from office. With perfect consistency, therefore, he opposed the grant of £54,000 to the Landgrave of Hesse. He ridiculed the idea of defending Hanover by subsidies. It was an open countrj^, and the Bank of England would be a poor defence against 144 ENGLISH PREMIERS, a neighbour who could march 150,000 men into it, and support them by as many more. " This system," he con cluded, " will, in a few years, cost us more money than the fee simple of the Electorate of Hanover is worth ; for it is a place of such inconsiderable note that its name is not to be found in the map. I ardently wish to break these fetters, which chain us, like Prometheus, to that barren rock." The war, so much dreaded, at last opened, and its first ravages were disastrous to England. Minorca was taken by the Duke of Richelieu ; and Admiral Byng, who was afterwards executed, saUed away from Port Mahon with out venturing to attack the French squadron. Of Lord Anson, who lost Minorca, Pitt declared that he was not fit to command a cock-boat on the river Thames ; but he fearlessly made reflections on the King for sacrificing Byng's life to the indignation of the people. Smollett also said that the unfortunate admiral was " rashly con demned, meanly given up, and crueUy sacrificed to vile considerations." The merciful are generally the -wisest, and it is their conviction that Byng's error was venial because it was one of judgment only. The judges one and all recommended him to mercy, but no mercy was to be found in the timid premier.* His corpse, lying on the deck in Portsmouth harbour, was constantly before New castle's eyes; and he could not escape the fear that he himself might soon be caUed to account unless the fro-wn- * See Horace Walpole's " Memoirs," vol. u. pp. 288, 326, 371. THE fiARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE, t4? ing aspect of affairs changed. He was mobbed at Green wich, and his coach was pelted with mud. He heard in the streets ballads, of which the chorus was — " To the block with Newcastle ! To the yard-arm with Byng ! " Fox deserted him : he had no taste for a foundering bark. Murray would not come to his aid. As a last resource he applied to Pitt ; and he, unbending as ever, required that the applicant himself should be excluded from the ministry ! The duke had not the address to conceal his misery, but ran about telling everybody how shamefully he was treated. Pitt refused to act with Fox, though the King requested it ; but he accepted the post of Secretary of State, with the Duke of Devonshire at the head of the treasury.* This nobleman was averse to public business, but truth ful and probe, t Dr. Johnson said that if he had pro mised you an acorn, and none grew in his woods that year, he would send to Denmark for it rather than break his word. His talents were not striking, but for this Pitt made ample amends. He was now in the place for which nature had designed him, and he grasped the helm of state with the energy which belongs to one who knows that no other pilot can weather the storm. The people recognised in him the nation's saviour, but the King * November 6, 1756. Lord Stanhope, vol. iv. p. 85. t Horace Walpole's "Memoirs," vol. U. p. 86; Lord Waldegrave's " Memoirs," pp. 26, 86. VOL. I. L 146 ENGLISH PREMIERS, disliked him as much as ever, and detested his brother- in-law. Lord Temple. His raising Highland regiments from the disaffected clans was a wise stroke of poHcy, and amply justified by the result. Pitt's views, and those of George II. , respecting the defence of the German posses sions, differed widely; and when the Secretary of State and Legge refused to support an army to carry out their sovereign's favourite designs, royal Ul-temper rose to its height ; and the offence offered to the Duke of Cumber land, who had nominated the previous ministry, added to the monarch's chagrin. Accordingly, after five months, there was another clear ance ; and Pitt, Devonshire, and Company were com manded to retire. They obeyed, saw Newcastle's coach drive to St. James's, and saw also, with secret deHght, the price of stocks faUing, and municipal honours, with gold snuff-boxes, showered upon Pitt's head from every principal corporation and town in England. What Ger man stupidity, they asked, has possessed that infatuated sovereign, that he drives from his presence the ablest man he ever knew, whose only crime is that he fears not to speak his mind, and would rather at any moment resign his office than hold it on conditions destructive to his honour? Thus Pitt's Hbrary-table was loaded with addresses of thanks, and ornaments of great value and curious workmanship fiUed his cabinets. The support of public opinion was a great consolation to him, and compensated in some measure for the King's THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE, 147 displeasure. But it was evident to Pitt, on mature refiec tion, that he had gone too far. He had gratified his pride by excluding Newcastle and Fox from the cabinet, but he had not secured for himself a permanent position. Strong as he was in inteUect and eloquence, he could not stand alone. He wanted a partner in political life ; and New castle, in a ministerial sense, must be his bride. Their extreme dissimilarity would be their closest bond. Con temptible in understanding, and ridiculous in manners, Newcastle was nevertheless the most powerful subject in the King's dominions.* He had great wealth, and ex tensive family connections ; he was the head of the Whig aristocracy; he possessed George II.'s confidence, as far as any minister since Carteret could possess it; he com manded numberless votes in the Commons by means of the boroughs to which he nominated, and had made good use of his patronage by filling public offices with persons devoted to his service. He was clearly Pitt's best help mate ; and each would supply the deficiencies of the other. Perhaps thoughts which were the counterpart to these A passed also through Newcastle's busy brain. He began to regard his fierce rival with mingled fondness and fear, and to think that a mariage de convenance between them might, after all, be feasible and expedient. Each would go his own way, as persons in such wedlock do — each having a separate establishment, separate friends, feelings, opinions, yet appearing together on all state occasions * Horace Walpole's " Memoirs," vol. i. p. 162. 148 ENGLISH PREMIERS, ^ as if the utmost harmony existed. The work performed so admirably by the one would be impossible or distasteful to the other. Pitt was to do everything, Newcastle to give everything. Pitt would direct fleets and armies, pay or withhold subsidies, and electrify crowded senates with his brilHant and piercing oratory ; Newcastle would attend to the interior ; dispose of places and boroughs, commis sions and livings; hold the purse of the secret-service money ; and in thronged levees and private interviews — with smiles, flattery, promises, and pats on the shoulder — would exercise that long-practised plan of bribery and corruption which the high-minded Pitt despised, but con nived at as indispensable to the government of the country. Each would be the other's ruin if they remained divided ; but if they came together, their strength would bear down aU resistance. What reflections but these could have made the fiery Pitt so forbearing, when he came to the House in swathing flannels and slings, with aU the thorns of his old malady in the flesh ? What but the foreseen advantages of this aUiance chained his fluent tongue when the conduct of the ex-minister Newcastle was inquired into and discussed by parliament ? Sly Newcastle ! he was acquitted by a smaU majority ; and then, what was the King's disgust to find that he was coquetting with that very Pitt with whom he had solemnly promised never to combine. His Majesty wished Newcastle and Fox to be commanders-in- chief, but the duke had no notion of sharing the jobbing THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE, 149 part of the business with any one so unpopular as Henry Fox. Eleven weeks passed and no ministry was formed. Pitt was haughty, Newcastle jealous of his own power. Pitt demanded too much, Newcastle promised too little ; and whUe they debated on the terms of their covenant, the King did his best to get the match broken off. He applied to Lord Waldegrave ; but honest Waldegrave, though at first he consented, had too much sense reaUy to take the reins in hand.* War was raging, parliament sitting, the country was impatient. He might as weU have undertaken to drive the chariot of the sun. Meanwhile the Prince of Wales and his friends whispered counsels of moderation in Pitt's ears, and he soon found himself in close conference with the King. "Sire," he said, " give me your confidence, and I wiU deserve it." " De serve my confidence," replied King George, " and you shall have it." So Newcastle returned to the Treasury, and Pitt was again Secretary of State. The long inter- ministerium, as the pleasant Horace calls it, ended on the 29th of June, 1757.t The new ministers kissed the royal hand, and the hopes of all men revived. Many a lecture did Pitt read the eccentric duke when he was Ul and in bed at Hayes. One day it was very cold, and Newcastle, as usual, was sadly afraid of taking a chill. Pitt had heaps of bed-clothes, but no fire in his sleeping-apartment. The duke sat down on Mrs. Pitt's • See his "Memoirs" from 1754 to 1758, pp. 117, 131. t "Memoirs," vol. iii. pp. 20, 31. 150 ENGLISH PREMIERS. bed, for there were two beds in the room, and he thought it, poor man, the warmest place. Then he drew up his legs, and at last, as Horace Walpole teUs us, "fairly lodged himself under Mrs. Pitt's bed-clothes ! "* One anecdote more about his Grace, and I have done for the present. When George the Second proposed that the command of the expedition against Quebec should be entrusted to General Wolfe, the ministry, and the Duke of Newcastle in particular, raised objections. The duke, indeed, begged his Majesty to remember that the man was actually mad. " Mad, is he ? " said the King ; " weU, if he be, I wish he would bite aU my officers." The place assigned to Henry Fox in the new cabinet was less flattering than lucrative. As Paymaster of the Forces he had no voice in the interior councUs of state ; but this humUiation was counterbalanced, in the case of a poor man as he was, by emoluments of tempting importance. The Pitt administration was not happy in its first measures. A fleet was assembled, of which the destination was kept a profound secret. The vessels were to be equipped and at the rendezvous by a certain day. " It is impossible," said Lord Anson, who was at the head of the Admiralty. " Where are they going, and how are they to be victualled?" "Impossible" was a word Pitt did * Dutens gives to this occurrence the date of November, 1759, and to " Mrs. Pitt " the title of Lady Hester Pitt.—" Memoires d'un Voyageur," i. p. 143. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE, 151 not understand. " If the ships," he replied, without further explanation, "are not ready at the appointed time, I shall lay the matter before the King, and impeach your Lordship in the House of Commons." Of course the ships and transports were ready as commanded ; but after lying some time before Rochefort, they returned without effecting anything. Many of Pitt's measures were now taken in concert with Frederick of Prussia, who had become the ally of England, who was fast establishing a formidable power, and who was deterred by no scruple of conscience from any acts of perfidy and spoliation which promised accession to his growing states. He had plundered Maria Theresa of Silesia, and had abandoned France. He had drawn upon himself the vengeance of surrounding nations, and had been compeUed to face a coalition of almost all the con tinental powers. But a few months after Pitt came, for the second time, to the head of affairs, he defeated the combined armies of France and Austria on the plain of Rosbach ; and then, following up his success with extra ordinary rapidity, he annihilated the forces of Charles of Lorraine at Leuthen, near Breslau. Thus in the space of one month he extricated himself from a thousand diffi culties, humbled again the two haughtiest nations of Europe, established a policy which has become traditional in his line, and acquired lasting fame as a daring and skilful general. It was no small advantage to Pitt to commence his administration at a time when England's 152 ENGLISH PREMIERS, chief aUy, however Httle to be trusted, had worsted their common enemies in so signal a. manner. The year 1758 ushered in a long train of successes to British arms, and the name of Pitt soon resounded through the courts of Europe like the booming of ordnance. It was clear that he was in the cabinet what the royal friend of Yoltaire was in the field. But his plan of operations knew no bounds ; and fleets and armies, under his direc tion, achieved -victories in every quarter of the globe. French standards, captured in Asia, Africa, and America, were borne in triumph through the streets of London, and the firing of beUs was drowned in the shouts of a people drunk vrith joy. Large suppHes were voted without a murmur, and the shibboleths of party were unmixed with the applause which extoUed the genius of Pitt. He had faUen, as Pindar says, "into the lap of golden Yictory;" he had become the idol alike of Tory and of Whig — *A^u^vo^ rk viv dtrirdciovTO tpiavq. XpvOEag iv yovvaatv Trnviovra 'S'iKag. * The tide of fortune rose stUl higher in the foUowing year. " All the world was made knights or generals ;" and the summer of 1759 was so long and warm that the prince of letter-writers said — " One would think we had plundered the East and West Indies of sunshine."t Quebec and Niagara were taken. Guadaloupe and other islands in the West Indies submitted. A squadron fitted * Isthm. u. 38. t Horace Walpole to Hon. H. Conway, October 21, 1759. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 153 out at Toulon was completely defeated by Admiral Boscawen ; and parliament voted a monument to Wolfe for his glorious, and to himself fatal, exploits on the rugged heights of Abraham, overlooking Quebec. It was off a rocky shore, when the waves ran mountain-high, and the tempest howled, that Sir Edward Hawke destroyed the Brest fleet, commanded by Conflans.* Montreal and the whole of Canada were reduced to submission in 1760 ; and French men-of-war, dismasted, put gloomily into port from all the seas of America and Europe. The British empire in the East was founded ; and the arms of Clive and Coote brought boundless wealth and absolute power to the East India Company. Public distress vanished, abuses were corrected, the rights of the subject were held sacred, and the voice of faction was heard no more. " These are the doings of Mr. Pitt," said Horace Wal pole, " and they are wondrous in our eyes ! " " England, we must confess," wrote Frederick the Great, " has long been in labour, and has suffered a great deal to produce Mr. Pitt; but at last she has brought forth a man." The support and encouragement which Chatham gave to the generals of the Seven Years' War, to Amherst and to Wolfe, finds some parallel in the able administration of the War Department by Lord Palmerston during the successful period of the Peninsular War, and the cam paigns of Wellesley, Graham, and Beresford.f * '• Annual Register," 1769, pp. 41, 62. t Gilchrist's "Life of Palmerston," p. 36. 154 ENGLISH PREMIERS. The continental policy of Pitt in office was precisely the reverse of Pitt in opposition. Frederick II. was subsidised ; the French were driven out of Hanover ; they were beaten at Crevelt, beaten at Minden. It seemed for a moment as if the destinies of the world were changing. No one dared to contradict Pitt now, or to taunt him with inconsistency. He submitted to the German system when he himself became a minister. He avowed that it was a millstone round his neck, yet he wore it.* The court and its policy proved too powerful for him. But commerce and manufactures were thriving, and war itself, under his administration, was, as the inscription on his monument in Guildhall declares, made to contribute to the arts of peace. Many of his triumphs, it is true, were purchased at immense cost to the nation ; but there is nothing for which men pay so cheerfuUy as for the pleasure of thrashing their enemies. His name inspired officers and men alike with valour, and the vision of his crutch came across French admirals and YersaiUes ministers like an evU omen. " The great commoner " had even conciliated the King, and his empire in the political world was as undisputed as the baneful supremacy of the "Patriarch of Ferney" in the realm of letters. If plaudits and palms of conquest could make man happy, he would have had nothing to desire but more war that he might reap more glory. If he had died with his royal * Smyth's "Lectures on Modem History," U. p. 334. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 155 master, he would probably have departed this life with a perilous sense of his own greatness. But he lived to serve and to contend with another sovereign ; to see his country afflicted by humiliating reverses ; to lose his pre eminence, and to. regain it only with the most dreadful of all losses — the loss of a sound judgment and of intel lectual vigour. The torpor of political parties was one of the most remarkable signs of Pitt's supremacy. The hopes of the Nonjurors had received a death-blow at the battle of Culloden ; and the feeble attempt to embarrass the government made by the Prince of Wales expired with him. The coalition ministry of the Pelhams had proved a splendid success, and the administration of Pitt and Newcastle absorbed every opposing element. The three sections of the Whigs, headed respectively by Newcastle, Lord Temple, Pitt's brother-in-law, and the Duke of Bedford, each took part in it ; and while Pitt, by declin ing titles and emoluments, gained credit for his virtue, Newcastle, by disposing of immense patronage, reaped all the advantages of corruption. Pitt's talents did not shine alone ; a galaxy of minor stars moved brightly round his central blaze. Hardwicke was a consummate authority in law ; Legge was unrivalled in finance. Not a single man of eminent abilities and high character opposed the ministers in parliament, and the Tories were constantly gratified with lucrative and honourable places. Divisions in the House were for a time almost unknown, and the 156 ENGLISH PREMIERS. debates turned on matters of trifling and local importance.* Foreign affairs alone stirred the public mind; and but for the mail-boats and couriers that were anxiously awaited from distant lands, George II. would have died, and his grandson would have mounted the throne, in the midst of a dead calm.f Sometimes the exposure of some unfortunate scribbler in the pillory broke the dulness of the season. Dr. Shebbear stood there on a December day -with a foot man holding an umbrella over him, because he had ven tured to satirise King WiUiam and George I., and to point out the mischief entailed on England by its union with Hanover. Chief-Justice Mansfield laid it do-wn as law that satires on dead kings are illegal. " Adieu, vera city and history," says the charming Walpole, " if the King's Bench is to appreciate your expressions ! " % The accession of George III. in 1760 produced a great change. It broke up the supreme power of the ministry, and brought the wUl of the sovereign and that of the people once more into collision. The young King had no notion of being a sceptred nullity, but had, on the con trary, imbibed from his tutors strong ideas of the royal prerogative. His mother and Lord Bute had been chiefly instrumental in forming his mind, and he lost no time in promoting his Mentor to the dignity first of a privy * See "Annual Register," 1760. t See Lady Hervey's Letters, October 30, 1760. X " Reign of George II.," vol. ui. p. 153. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 157 counciUor, and afterwards of a cabinet minister. The seals of office being taken from Lord Holderness, Bute was sworn in March 25, 1761 ; and people began to ask, " which of the two Secretaries of State is the first minister, Mr. Pitt or Lord Bute ? " * This Groom of the Stole was little known to his countrymen, and even now, as an historical character, he walks in mist, like ..3dlneas, and half that is told of him is supposed, t He had been chosen once as a repre sentative Scotch peer, but sat for a short time only, and had never been re-elected. During twenty years he had been a stranger to politics, and had passed many of his leisure months at his seat in the Hebrides. The pictures usually given of him are by no means prepossess ing. His figure was taU and bony, and he took special pride in his legs, or was supposed to do so, from the fact of his often looking down on them. His manners were cold; and even in his own family and with his own children he was moody and inaccessible. He wrote at different periods a work on British botany, printed twelve copies on fine paper, presented one to the Queen of England, and another to Buffon, who placed it in the Royal Library. He had some taste for geometry and mechanics, and knew enough of the fine arts to pass among many for a connossieur.J If his spelling was often * Horace Walpole to G. Montague, March 19, 1761. t Donne, Introd. to the " North Correspondence," p. xx. X Lord Waldegrave's " Memoirs," p. 38. 158 ENGLISH PREMIERS. incorrect, it was at least as good as that of many other noble lords in his day. His courtly manners had full scope for display in private theatricals, the boudoirs of the Princess Dowager, and the knot of half-disaffected courtiers who assembled round Prince Frederick at Leicester House and Kew. It was there that he acquired his empire over Prince George, and there that he learned that New Toryism of which Bolingbroke was the leader, and which consisted mainly in transferring to the House of Brunswick the devoted loyalty once professed for the House of Stuart. The bribery practised by the Whig and the coalition governments was severely denounced. The King was to use his own mind, select his ministers freely, and leave the electors, unbribed and unmenaced, to choose their representatives with equal freedom. The doctrines of the new school, however, did not explain how the sovereign was to deal with a parUament to which his cabinet was obnoxious ; and when the young King took his favourite into his counsels, he did not sufficiently consider the consequences of supplanting the eloquent and powerful Pitt by so feeble and flippant a politician as the Earl of Bute. Amid the rejoicing which attended the accession of a born Briton to the throne, there was something to cause Pitt uneasiness. The speech which the King made in council was drawn up by Bute, a novice who had not yet delivered his maiden speech. It was not submitted first to the cabinet, and it seemed in one or two passages to THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 159 reflect on the ministers for their recent conduct of affairs.-* To remonstrate was plainly Pitt's duty ; but neither remon strance nor alteration of the speech in the printed copies did away with the fact of his having been slighted, and the favourite preferred. At the very moment when his success was most signal and his schemes were grandest, that paltry minion, it appeared, was about to cross his path and elbow him aside. He had done more to humble France in three years than Marlborough had done in his ten years' war. Where were the hundred ships of war from which the Bourbon lilies streamed in the days of Louis XIY. ? She had not now ten ships of the line fit for service. Where were the 450,000 soldiers she had once boasted? And how was she compelled to recruit her discomfited and diminished forces ? Were not her fields deserted ? Were not her women holding the plough, and yoked with oxen ? The dividends on her public bonds were unpaid, thousands of her seamen pined in our prisons, and her colonies were in British hands. But if this degradation were indeed owing to Pitt's strategy, that circumstance was in itself sufficient to draw upon him the dislike and envy of unworthy rivals. It is those who stand nearest to a great man in their position who are most likely to be secretly his foes, to drive him, if they can, into obscurity, and stifle his voice. There was something arrogant about Pitt's demeanour, and * Jesse's " George III," vol. i. p. 41. i6o ENGLISH PREMIERS. some of his colleagues could not brook his apparent dis dain. Coldness had crept over his friendship with Legge ; Hardwicke and the Duke of Bedford were averse to a continuance of the war. It was Httle to them that the prime minister's chief aUy was acknowledged to be the first general of Europe. They grumbled at his troops being maintained with EngUsh subsidies ; * they grum bled at an English and Hanoverian army being placed under the command of his general, Ferdinand of Bruns wick ; and they grumbled at Western Germany being defended by us against France, in order that the hero of Rosbach might be saved from ruin. There was no one who made these complaints more bitterly than one of the Temples, George GrenviUe, Pitt's own brother-in-law. He had studied law and finance, possessed an accurate knowledge of many things of which the premier was ignorant, was keenly aHve to the differ ence between pounds and shilHngs, and groaned in spirit over the mUlions which had been borrowed in four years to defray the costs of the war. Such were the secret influences by which Pitt was undermined. They might have remained latent for years, if Bute had not stimulated them into action. He had now become one of the Secre taries of State, and Pitt, to his surprise and distress, found himself thwarted in some of his most energetic plans. He would have prevented the capture of Newfoundland by the French, if he had not been opposed by the rising « £700,000 a year. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. i6i cabal. Daily experience proved that the King meditated Bute's further advancement. Legge was/ dismissed from office, and that in an uncourteous way.* A secret treaty between Spain and France, hostUe to England, came to Pitt's knowledge : it was called " the FamUy Compact ; " and when he prepared to meet it with the vigour required, his counsels were rejected by his coUeagues. He woiUd have declared war at once with the Bourbon Charles IIL, have intercepted his fleet returning heavy-laden with treasure from America, and woiUd have made an im mediate attack on Havanna and the Philippine Isles : but Bute was foremost in censuring these measures as needless and rash. Lord Temple only, Pitt's brother-in- law, sided with him ; and these two wrote to his majesty, advising him to recall the ambassador. Lord Bristol, from Madrid. Their advice was not heeded, and in about a fortnight they both resigned.f Pitt would not — to use his own words — be responsible for measures which he was no longer allowed to guide.J A pension of £3,000 a year was assigned him, and it was to be continued during the Hfetime of his wife and son. The gift was dangerous to his reputation. " Admire his eloquence ; it mounted higher Than Attic purity or Roman fire : * Macaulay's " Essays," vol. ii. t October 5, 1761. X " Bedford Correspondence," vol. iu. p. 48 ; Jesse, " Memoirs of Goorge IIL," vol. i. p. 83. VOL. 1. M i62 ENGLISH PREMIERS. Adore his services ; our Uons -view Ranging where Roman eagles never flew ; Copy his soul supreme o'er lucre's sphere ; But, oh, beware three thousand pounds a year!" * A patriot cannot touch his country's gold without being thought to stain his fingers. Lady Hester Pitt was made Baroness of Chatham in her own right, with succession of the title to her male heirs. But the very persons who conferred these honours and rewards on Pitt and his famUy, " in consideration of his great and important services," found means of employing a host of malevolent scribblers to accuse him of every species of political crime. It was soon discovered that their savage invectives were false and foul. The premier was still simple Mr. Pitt. He had decHned the governor ship of Canada with £5,000 a year, permission to reside in England, and to retain a seat in Parliament. He was more concerned, he said, for his famUy than for himself. If, as his enemies affirmed, he had sold his country, where, was the price paid ? If royal gold had bought him, why had the royal pleasure ejected him from power ? The Lord Mayor's day foUowed soon after his resigna tion. The King, with his young bride, passed in state through a dense multitude, but not a shout was raised- Pitt appeared, and the air rang with acclamation. The mob hung upon the wheels of his coach, hugged his foot man, and even kissed his horses.f Loud cries of " Pitt » Horace Walpole to Hon. H. S. Conway, October 12, 1761. t "Annual Register," 1761, p. 237. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 163 for ever!" "No Bute!" "No Newcastle salmon!" pierced the royal carriages, and Lord Bute was only pre served from personal outrage by a guard of boxers who surrounded his coach. But kings are slow to learn lessons from the canaille, and nothing but painful experience taught George III. of how Httle worth were the counsels of Bute in comparison with those of Pitt. The Spanish vessels laden with rich cargoes of bulHon were suffered to cross the seas ; aU that Pitt had affirmed about the designs of the court of Madrid proved correct ; expeditions which he had planned in the West Indies succeeded after his fall; and Bute himself, who stepped into his place, was compelled to declare war with Spain in January, 1762, without having the knowledge or the capacity requisite for carrying it on. From the moment of George III.'s accession, Newcastle had foreseen the favourite's rise, and paid court to him with aU due obsequiousness. On the 5th of October, 1761, Pitt, in the royal closet, resigned, as I have mentioned, the seals of office.* The King said a few civil words to him, and the great com moner burst into tears, overcome by such infinite conde scension, f Kings were something more than men in those days, and their subjects something less. Prime ministers went down on their knees to majesty even when they had the gout, and Pitt's under- secretaries dared not sit down in his presence. * Duke of Newcastle; "Bedford Correspondence," vol. iu. p. 48. t " Lord Stanhope," vol, iv. p. 242 ; Jesse's " George IIL," vol. i. p. 86 l64 ENGLISH PREMIERS, In his retirement from office Pitt behaved with dignity. He diminished his household expenses, for he had amassed no savings at the public cost. He advertised his coach- horses for sale ; and when a motion was made in the House of Commons for laying on the table aU the papers relative to the rupture with Spain, he warmly supported it. He had nothing to conceal, nor could the appearance of these documents have any other effect than that of proving how laudably he had acted. Nor did he take revenge „on those who had deserted him by offering any factious opposition to their plans. He approved the supply of one miUion to the Portuguese, to enable them to make head against Spain, but declared that if the government should see fit to put an end to the war, he would not be the one to embarrass them with his private views on the subject. But his manly conduct at this crisis did not make the rhymers of Grub Street relent. Their venal lampoons have long since floated down to obUvion in the sewers of Uterature, while his fame has been sung by Thomson and the stricter censor of Olney.* To these Lamartine adds the obscure Hammond, styling him and the author of " The Seasons " the two greatest court poets ! f Even in the House of Commons Pitt was virulently assailed ; but he bore his sufferings with patience and insults -with dis dain. He knew that the triumph of those who exulted * Cowper's "Table Talk." t " Biographies and Portraits," vol. U. p. 10. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE, 165 over his fall must be short ; and the boldness with which Bute pushed his pretensions confirmed his opinion. Not content with displacing Pitt, the royal favourite looked with an evil eye on the wide-spread infiuence of New castle : he envied him the title of First Lord of the Treasury, and wished to be premier in name as weU as in fact. The reins of government to him were all golden, and frequent doles of from £40,000 to £95,000 were paid him for secret service and for the King's privy purse. Such was his compensation for having been hooted and pelted in Cheapside on Lord Mayor's day. Newcastle endured his affronts with abject meekness ; ignored the broadest hints on the necessity of his retirement ; and persisted in retaining his high office till he was forced to resign.* Forty-five years of power had so wedded him to a life at court, that he forgot entirely the dignitj^ which became his station. Lord Palmerston has since rivalled him in fixity of tenure, having been just forty- five years in office at different periods of his parliamentary career. The duke out of office was miserable, f He filled Clare mont with his wailings. The composition of the ministry seemed to him absurd because he was left out. He augured ill of everything, and wrote his dismal prophecies to Pitt. If he ventured into a ball-room, all who were present observed how broken and dejected the old schemer looked. * May 26, 1762. t Jesse's " Life of George III.,'' vol. i. pp. 123 — 125. 1 66 ENGLISH PREMIERS. Yet he was once more to lift his head above the waters, and take part in the Rockingham administration of July, 1765. In spite of his incurable fidgets, the " august remnant of the Pelhams"* was not lightly to be laid on the shelf. In his " Expedition of Humphrey CHnker," Smollett gives a piquant description, at which I have glanced. already, of a levee held by his grace, when he retained but the shadow of power, and had not " the tenth part of the influence which he exerted in his former office. He wheeled about ; and, going round the levee, spoke to every individual with the most courteous familiarity; but he scarce ever opened his mouth without making some blunder in relation to the person or business of the party with whom he conversed ; so that he reaUy looked like a comedian hired to burlesque the character of a minister." Among the company was the Algerine ambassador, a venerable Turk, with a long white beard, attended by his dragoman. His visit was intended for the prime minister, but the duke received it as a mark of attachment to his own person. " Certain it is, he seemed eager to acknow ledge the compliment. A door opening, he suddenly bolted out, with a shaving-cloth under his chin, his face frothed up to the eyes with soap lather ; and running up to the ambassador, grinned hideous in his face. 'My dear Mahomet ! ' said he, ' God love your long beard. I hope the Dey will make you a horse-tail at the next pro- * Horace Walpole ; "Letter to Bentley," March, 1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM AND LORD BUTE. 167 motion. Ha ! ha ! ha ! Have but a moment's patience, and I'U send to you in a twinkHng!' So saying, he retreated into his den, leaving the Turk in some confu sion." The devout Ibrahim, it seems, had mistaken his grace for the minister's fool, and was no sooner unde ceived by his interpreter than he exclaimed — " Holy prophet ! I don't wonder that this nation pros pers, seeing it is governed by the counsel of idiots; a series of men whom aU good Mussulmen revere as the organs of immediate inspiration ! " HappUy the Duke of Newcastle was unique among England's prime ministers, and the only one, from Wal pole downwards, whom even Ibrahim, the ambassador, could mistake for an idiot or a fool. CHATHAM, OEENYILLE, AND EOCKINGHAM. " In him Demosthenes was heard again ; Liberty taught him her Athenian strain ; She clothed him -with authority and awe, Spoke from his Ups, and in his looks gave law." Cowper's " Table Talk." " I have -written under his print these Unes : — " Three orators, in distant ages bom, Greece, Italy, and England, did adom : The flrst in loftiness of thought surpass'd, The next iu language, but in. both the last : The power of nature could no farther go ; To make a third, she join'd the former two." Horace Walpole to Bentley, " Correspondence," December, 1755. CHATHAM, GRENYILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. T ORD BUTE now felt secure in his power after Mr. Pitt's retirement. The great man who stood in his way had been removed in spite of his popularity ; the powerful man also — the head of the Whig aristocracy — had, contrary to Lord Mansfield's advice, been driven to his country seat. Surely Bute was now monarch of aU he surveyed. WTio would question the rectitude of measures which were all taken in the King's name and by the King's command? Bute's coUeagues — men of slender parts, and formerly of suspected loyalty — were now the King's servants, and the mere mention of his prerogative was to bear down aU opposition. A sovereign who abjured corruption was sure to be supported by his subjects, and permitted to retain and to choose the minis ters that pleased him best. His first desire was for peace ; he would break with aU alliances damaging to England's interest, and put an end to a sanguinary and expensive war with France and Spain. He would desert Frederick of Prussia, as Frederick of Prussia had deserted his allies, and would leave him, if needful, a prey to the Russian, French, and Austrian armies, against which he had now ENGLISH PREMIERS. to make head, Hke a scorpion girt with fire. What were his uncultured plains, his burning vUlages, his plundered cities to us ? The royal robber should be left to defend or restore his ill-gotten territory with his own resources. His dominions " were to be scrambled for " — they- were the premiers own words. England's strength lay in peace, her glory in commerce, her -wisdom in submission to the King. Such was Bute's programme. The masters and feUows of Oxford hailed it with loud applause; and Oxford rather than Cambridge came into favour at Court. Many a Tory who had been wont to drink to " the King over the water," now gave his toast loyaUy without passing the wine over the finger-glass. An ambassador of mean figure was sent over by the French. Charles Townshend said " the prehminary of a man " was come to arrange the preliminaries of a peace. Yet the little Duke de Nivernois succeeded. Peace was concluded -with foreign powers;* but Bute's pacific scheme for the interior entirely faUed. The long-slumbering animosity of Whigs and Tories was awakened ; the roused feelings of the country reacted on the cabinet ; and ministers and oppo site parties, who had sat together in peace, now realised their essential differences. The North Briton, conducted by Wilkes, assailed the prime minister with that mixture of libel and pleasantry which at a later period, and in another land, made the popularity of Hubert and his » February 10, 1763. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 173 Phre Buchene. The premier, indeed, found little grace in the eyes of the public. Enough that he was a Scotchman, nay, "the centre of the shameless Scotch oHgarchy."* The English have never been very prone to love their neighbours as themselves; and they con tinued, long after the '45, to have a peculiar aversion for the Scotch. They believed every Highlander to be a savage ; they hated favourites, and particularly one who had been promoted to the highest station, for any reason rather than personal fitness. They were revolted by the disdainful attitude which the minister assumed toward inferiors, and even his own countrymen com plained of his receiving them, standing and booted, with insufferable roughness. Schooled as he was by the Court and by the stage, he could, when he pleased, play quite a different part from that which either of them had taught. Though reputed to be a man of cultivated mind, Lord Bute did not bestow his patronage on men of letters with that impartiality which would have done him credit. No mark of King George's favour conferred on the author of " Rasselas " could be misplaced, for he was a good man, and (but for his big words) a great writer ; yet it may well be doubted whether Bute singled him out for his services to literature, or for his staunch Toryism. Home wrote a tolerable tragedy, but would Douglas have earned any reward at the premier's hand if Home had not been his fellow-countryman? Gray solicited a professorship; * Percy Fitzgerald, " Life of Townshend." 174 ENGLISH PREMIERS, and the request, though reasonable, was denied. Se was a Whig ; perhaps more. He applauded Hampden, he admired Milton and CromweU, and aUuded to them as typical beings in his pathetic "Elegy in a Country Church yard." So Gray was passed over by the courtly Earl of Bute, and Jacobite scribblers of shallow wit were by him exalted to honour. He patronised Murphy, Mallet, Doctor HUl, and a score of hacks, Scotch and Irish, to defend him with pens instead of bludgeons. They were, in short, his literary buUies. SmoUett and Macpherson, the reputed translator of Ossian, did him rather more credit. The treaty of peace which the government had nego tiated was thought dishonourable by the nation at large, the terms being too favourable to France and Spain, and bearing no proportion to the immense successes to the English arms by sea and land. The Duke of Bedford and the premier could not walk the streets of London in peace ; nor could the latter be saved, on one occasion, from the rough handling of the mob by less than a troop of guards. If he walked about in disguise, with a slouched hat and coat buttoned up to his eyes, as Rogers the poet remem bered having seen him, he encountered his own burning in effigy, or saw the symbolic jack-boot dangling in a petticoat from a gibbet. His Christian name was John, so that the pun was just bad enough to be a good one. His bribes were lavished more freely every day ;* yet, in * Wraxall's Memoirs." CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 175 spite of his tempting arts, bonfires blazed higher and HbeUers grew bolder. Secret agents were at work on both sides, and Pitt's brother-in-law. Lord Temple — though not Pitt himself — was believed to practise the art of corruption as unscrupiUously as Bute. Gold and silver were the ammunition with which both armies stored their magazines. Pitt really stood aloof from such warfare, and Bute had professed to do so. Pitt trusted to other weapons, which he well knew how to wield ; Bute mis trusted his own abUities, and had great faith in bank notes. Pitt was against him in the matter of the treaty ; the powerful Whigs were against him ; so was the rabble. If gold was to gain the day, he would certainly win, for the treasures of the nation were at his disposal. Yotes in the Commons must be bought at any price. Of votes he dreamed at night ; for votes he schemed by day. Never before was bribery so unblushing. Pensions were thrown about; Lords and Grooms of the Bedchamber were doubled ; £25,000 were disposed of in one morning in gratuities of £100 or £200. The lead of the House of Commons was entrusted to Henry Fox in the place of GrenviUe. He had no faith in political virtue, and no scruple about public vices, though of course he was very estimable in his private life. He longed to abase his rival, Pitt ; and though a Whig, whom the Princess-mother detested, he consented to be made chief dispenser of bribes, and chief tool of the Princess-mother's reputed favourite. In these transactions he expected the 176 ENGLISH PREMIERS, support of the Dukes of Cumberland and Devonshire ; but was miserably disappointed. " The great duke, * and the little duke,t and the old duke, J and the Derbyshire duke,§ were banded together against the favourite." || WhUe members of Parliament were closeted -with him for the sale of their votes and consciences, intimidation was prac tised to a frightful extent abroad. The servants of the Crown in every department, from the lord-lieutenants of counties down to clerks, porters, pensioners of the humblest degree, were given to understand that they must support the government, and cry " Bute for ever ! " or be dis missed. The Prince of the Whigs, as the Duke of Devon shire was called, was insulted at the royal palace; the King refused to see him ; and the duke, in a paroxysm of anger, tore off his gold key and drove away, vovring never to return.^T The King himself, taking the coimcU-book a few days later, erased the duke's name with his o-wn hand. Two years afterwards he died at Spa.** He was a worthy man, and even Horace Walpole, who was not given to flattery, wrote well of him.tt No mercy was shown to the employes who had the mis fortune to be patronised by noblemen opposed to Bute and his treaty of peace. Reduced in a moment to beggary by arbitrary dismissal, they watered their crusts with tears, * Cumberland. t Bedford. J Newcastle. \ Devonshire. II Horace Walpole to Conway ; October 29, 1762; Jesse's " Memoirs of George IIL," vol. i, pp. 141-2. 1[ October 31. 1762. ** October 2, 1764. ^tat 44. tt " Correspondence," vol. u. p. 260. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 177 and sighed for the dawn of the day of account. Even the Duke of Cumberland, whom the people used to call the butcher, was quite confounded by Fox's inhumanity. If the law had permitted, he would have withdrawn the very patents granted by George II. from those who, holding them, dared also to hold their own opinions. One of the most memorable events in Pitt's life was his appearance in the House on the day when the treaty of peace was discussed.* The ministry had believed him to be safe in his chamber, enduring the torments of that disease which figures so constantly in his memoirs. But his own honour and the interests of his country deter mined him, as he said, at the hazard of his life, to be pre sent at the debate, and to raise his voice against a measure which obscured all the glories of the war, and sacrificed the public faith by an abandonment of our allies. He challenged Henry Fox in vain to a comparison of the terms on which he would have concluded peace himself with those disgraceful ones which he came to denounce. Two friends supported him as he spoke ; but his pain was so acute that the House unanimously desired he might be an . exception to every other orator by whom the British parliament had been addressed, and might deHver his opinions sitting : — T0I171 J£ KoX jxeTEinnv ava^ dvSpoiv , , , Avt69cv i^ 'iSprie, oiS' tv iiiaaoiaiv dvaerag.f Three hours and a half he spoke, tUl cordials often * December 9, 1762. t Ili^d, T'. 76. VOL. I. N 178 ENGLISH PREMIERS, administered could avail no longer, and he was borne away by his attendants amid shouts of applause from the multitude in the yard and the streets. His eloquence did not outweigh the stronger arguments of gold. The peace was approved by a large majority, but Pitt's indignant protest was long remembered. The J'oung King and the Princess-mother thought their triumph secure, and George III. vowed that the Whigs, who had held his grandfather in leading-strings, should never, during his reign, recover their power. Several addresses of thanks were sent to the Commons for the part they had taken ; but each of them was purchased by the sum of £500. In one instance the seal of a corporation was forged ; and in more than one it was feloniously obtained. The City of London, however, refused to present an address, though the government offered £14,000 towards the completion of their bridge as the price of obsequiousness. The incapacity of Sir Francis Dashwood, the ChanceUor of the Exchequer, greatly increased the unpopularity of the favourite. The wits declared that he was " a man to whom the sum of five figures was an impenetrable secret ;" and he said himself that people pointed at him in the streets and cried, " There goes the worst ChanceUor of the Exchequer that ever appeared ! " * The budget he laid before the House in 1763 was not only a signal failure, but was received with " shouts of derision." * "Bedford Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 222; Walpole's "Memoirs of George III." CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 179 The attempt to impose excise laws on the making and sale of perry and cider brought Lord Bute into more trouble than he was prepared for, and procured for George Grenville the nickname of the Gentle Shepherd. " Excise, " he said, " was odious, no doubt, but the lavish expense of the late war made it unavoidable. Taxes must be levied to meet the deficiency in the pubUc purse ; and where else but on cider could they be laid?" "Where?" he repeated several times, in a querulous tone ; " teU me where ?" and Pitt, whose patience was tried by the reflec tions cast on his conduct of the war, rejoined in bitter and whining mimicry, ^ — " Gentle Shepherd, teU me where ?" It was the burden of a song by Dr. Howard, which was then in every mouth.* The whole House was convulsed with laughter; and whUe Grenville feebly endeavoured to cover his confusion, his brother-in-law rose slowly, and, making his bow, retired to mark his utter contempt. Soon after, in AprU 1763, Bute resigned. The cause of this strange step can only be conjectured. He had been prime minister a little more than ten months, but during this period he had been subject to more ridicule and annoyance than in all the rest of his life. Perhaps the reason he himself assigned for his retirement was the true one, namely, that he was not adequately supported in the ministry he had framed.f Perhaps he was tired of an * Butler's " Reminiscences," vol. i. p. 149. t Adolphus, "History of England;" George IU., vol. i. p. 117. i8o ENGLISH PREMIERS, eminence so dearly bought, and preferred enjoying in private life a princely fortune which had lately been left to him. His son was made a peer; he himself was gartered. No one regretted his determination ; but the hisses of many journalists pursued him into retirement. They might have applied to him the words of a classic author, and said : " Tired of the mad joke. Fortune hurled him from power, and restored him to his former mode of life." * His successor, George GrenviUe, was not liked much better than himself. He was then in his fifty- first f year, unrivaUed in famUiarity with the forms of the House of Commons, and wedded to precedents by nature and habit. His character has been summed up in three words — an " excellent speaker spoUed." Like Walpole and Pelham, he united in his own person the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and ChanceUor of the Exchequer. In the details of business he was exact and plodding, but he could brook no interference. He had an aversion for Bute, and was jealous of his influence over the King even after he had resigned. His favourite doctrine was the supremacy of parliament. The King and the nation alike ought, in his view, to be entirely subject to its control. With the press, as a rival of the legislature, he waged open war. John Wilkes and the North Briton found no mercy at his hands. He had no idea of acting like * Claudian, on the eunuch Eutropius. t George Grenville was boru October 14, 1712. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. iSi Frederick of Prussia, who, seeing one day a scurrilous placard against himself posted very high on a wall, ordered it to be put lower that aU his people might read it. GrenvUle, on the contrary, gave to the North Briton the importance of a gunpowder plot, and caused the author to be arrested Ulegally, and conveyed to the Tower, under a general warrant, which specified the name of no indi-vidual, but was directed generally against the authors, printers, and publishers of the North Briton.* This summary pro ceeding was at variance with his privilege as a member of parUament ; and the arrest being declared unlawful in the Court of Common Pleas, the libeUer was discharged, to the great joy of the lower orders, who espoused his cause. Wilkes brought his complaint of breach of privUege before the House ; but that assembly, under the influence of ministers, voted the North Briton a Hbel, and resolved also that its own boasted privilege did not extend to the case of writing or publishing libels against the Crown. Pitt opposed with aU his might this mean surrender of a constitutional right. It exposed every member of par liament, he said, who did not vote with the minister, to the terror of imprisonment. The privilege had been vested in the House of Commons for ages, and it had not the power of voting away its own right, and making its decision conclusive against the claim of a future parlia ment. With the periodical itself he had no sympathy. " The author did not deserve to be ranked among the * Lord Stanhope, vol. v. p. 31. 1 82 ENGLISH PREMIERS. human species ; he was the blasphemer of his God and the libeller of his King." Pitt heartily concurred in the censure which the Commons pronounced on him, and contended that in his expulsion from the House, aU that ministers had wished was accompHshed. But " what was there in his crime so heinous and terrible as to require this tremendous instrument of a general warrant, which, like an inundation, broke down aU the barriers and fences of happiness and security ? By voting away its own privilege, it had laid the personal freedom of every representative of the nation at the mercy of his Majesty's Attorney-General." The question, however, was carried against Pitt by a majority of fourteen, for the parliament was servile, and the premier was despotic. WUkes's works were ordered to be burnt by the common hangman ; but in the midst of the ceremony the mob broke in, rescued the North Briton, and burned a jack-boot and petticoat instead. An action was brought by Wilkes against the Under-Secretary of State for the seizure of his papers on his arrest, and the jury gave £1,000 damages. Pitt's conduct in this matter cannot be too much admired. He gave no countenance to a profane and licentious demagogue, but he manfully defended the law and the constitution, which privileges members of parliament, in civU matters, with freedom from arrest during the time of a session. It was on this ground that Lord Chief Justice Pratt, afterwards Lord Chancellor Camden, ordered Wilkes to CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 183 be released on the 6th of May, 1763. Lord Brougham, in his " Historical Sketches," has weighed Wilkes in the balances very fairly. Lord Sandwich said of his old crony, " His stock of cash is all brass, and he carries it in his face for fear of pickpockets." Yet WUkes, with all his brass, dared not disclose to any but the initiated the immodest rites which he. Sir Francis Dashwood, and the rest of the Franciscans, celebrated in Medmenham Abbey on the banks of the Thames.-* He would not have owned that patriotism is (as Johnson said) " the last refuge of a scoundrel," yet it is certain that he had his price ; that he was in the pay of France, f and that he offered again and again to sell himself to the government. + The Grenville administration did not last very long. Conceiving that Lord Bute continued in secret to direct the King's councils, the ministers protested against this interference, and expressed their intention of resigning in a fortnight, unless the favourite were discarded^ George III. was sorely puzzled. Bute himself advised that Pitt should be sent for. Grenville, returning from the country, saw his rival's chair in the entrance of Buckingham House. Many eyes had watched it through the Mall ; for having a boot to accommodate his gouty leg, it was as weU known as if his name had been upon it. GrenvUle stared in alarm, for he guessed the cause of its * Jesse's " George III.,'' vol. i. pp. 183 — 86. ¦f- " WalpoUana," vol. i. § iv. J Jesse's " George IIL," vol. i. p. 189, 1 84 ENGLISH PREMIERS, appearance. The next day it reappeared, and curiosity was at its height. Pitt pleaded the cause of the chief Whigs. They ought to be retained. They were the house of Hanover's best friends, and without them no administration could last long. But the King could not bear the thought of submitting to the men whom he had dismissed. His honour, he said, was concerned. It would not do. He requested Grenville to remain in office, and found him a hard taskmaster. He never ceased to complain of his minister's imperiousness. His patience was exhausted by his long and tiresome discourses, which he timed by a watch ; and his temper was provoked by his uncouth and stingy refusal to buy some fields contiguous to the gardens of Buckingham House.* The nation disliked Gren-viUe as much as the King did ; but it is said that his Majesty concurred ia GrenvUle's violent conduct in depriving Conway of his regiment simply because he had voted with the Opposition on the question of the legaHty of general warrants. The premier's conduct towards Charles Townshend was very characteristic, but not more unbending than that volatile and impulsive politician deserved. Of aU the public men of his time he was the most capricious and unprincipled. He often intrigued against those whom he professed to support, ridiculed friends and foes alike, and baffled the calculations of the wisest by his extreme fitful- ness. Wit and study gave him a certain importance, and * Donne's "Introd. to North Correspondence," p. IxvU. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 185 Horace Walpole, speaking of the Opposition, said, " Un fortunately, we could neither do with him nor without him." Towards such a candidate for office a prime minis ter less despotic than Grenville might well have been coy and cold. Caricatures exhibited him with a weathercock in his hat; and Walpole was not far wrong when he wrote that Charles had more sal volatile in him than the whole nation put together. Add to this, his chosen com panions were boisterous and " almost witty " carousers ; he gave many costly dinners, and received in return many a " rebound." Drinking and gambling made him eager for office ; for it was the fashion of the day to be convivial at the public expense. Yet when office was in his grasp he frequently refused it, because his natural indecision prevailed over every other feeling. During the two years of GrenviUe's reign Pitt's suffer ings obliged him to forego the excitement of parlia mentary debates. Even in his favourite retirement at Hayes, he could often do Httle more than move from one room to another, and be wheeled along the garden walks. By a strange piece of good fortune he inherited, about this time, nearly £3,000 a year from an eccentric old baronet of Somersetshire, whom he had never seen. This was Sir William Pynsent. He had watched Pitt's career attentively, and regarded him as a martyr to the good cause of the Whigs. He resolved to leave him the whole of his fortune ; and having no near relations, perhaps he could not have done better. He died in January, 1765. ENGLISH PREMIERS. The name of Grenville will ever be connected with an odious measure, prolific in disasters to the British nation. I mean the Stamp Act. The colonists of North America, being unrepresented in the English parliament, considered themselves exempt from taxes levied for the relief of the mother country ; and though there can be no doubt that the King, Lords, and Commons had legally a right to impose such taxes on any part of the empire, it was highly inexpedient to attempt it in a vast colony rife with republican instincts. Sir Robert Walpole had said long before that it must be a bolder man than he who should propose it ;* and if Grenville had possessed a tithe of his prudence, he would never have ventured on so arbitrary an act. It imposed stamp duties on a multitude of articles in the colonies of America ; and thus, for the sake of a feeble addition to the revenue, incurred the risk of a war that might swaUow up miUions in a few months. Nay, the danger was far greater than this : but Gren viUe's forethought did not reach even to the possibiUty of successful rebellion and the rupture of the empire. But it was not by the memorable Stamp Act that Grenville chiefly displeased the King. When a bUl was prepared empowering George III. to appoint a regent in case of his death or long Ulness, the ministers insisted on the royal choice being confined to his own family — thus excluding Bute — and extorted from him a reluctant con sent to exclude his mother also. The Commons rescinded * Coxe's "Life of Walpole,'" vol. i. p. 753. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 187 the latter pro-vision ; but the affront offered by GrenviUe, and especially by his coUeagues, Halifax and Sandwich,* to the King and Princess-mother was indelible. His Majesty longed to extricate himself, at any price, from a bondage that had become intolerable, and to accept the yoke of the Whigs rather than abide under that of the premier who had insulted his mother.f In his distress he sought counsel of his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, and by his advice negotiated once more with Pitt. The Duke him self was the bearer of the royal messages ; for Pitt, in his sick-chamber, was as difficult of access as any prince, and would communicate with no inferior person on the subject of forming a ministry. Unfortunately, too, he was at this period as unwilling to take office as most ministers are to resign it. His language was mysterious and proud. Probably Temple had persuaded him to agree to a family reconciliation, and to look forward to an administration in which Pitt and his two brothers-in-law. Lord Temple and GrenvUle, should hold the most important places. However this may have been, the overtures faUed, and he would not form a cabinet. The King was deeply mortified, and obliged against his will to retain George Grenville and the Bedfords. The country was very insecure. Riots were frequent. The Spitalfields weavers were turbulent ; they stormed against the Duke of Bedford because he would not exclude * Jesse's " George III.," vol. i. pp. 263 — 268. t See Brougham's " Historical Sketches," vol. i. p. 62, Ist series. ENGLISH PREMIERS, foreign silks from the British market ; and Bedford House could be defended only by soldiery. The imperious ministers exacted their own terms. Bute was never more to be consulted, and his brother, Mr. Mackenzie, must be dismissed from a lucrative office. The King had pro mised he should hold it for life, but GrenviUe's wiU was sovereign, and George III. was his subject. He and his colleagues went stUl further. Disagreed among them selves, they were united only in a determination to over rule their master. They actuaUy read the King a long remonstrance on his conduct towards them, charged him with breaking his promises, and instructed him exactly in what way he ought to act. His Majesty could scarcely contain his rage, and the only wonder is that he did not order them to quit his presence and never reappear before him. All that he could do he did. He treated them to cold looks and abrupt answers. He avoided them, and withheld his confidences. He became rude, and made them feel abundantly that they were again in the descend ing scale. He intrigued against them, of course ; for intrigue was as familiar to him as falsehood was to Bute. Again he applied to the Duke of Cumberland, and again Cumberland repaired to Hayes. The secret now transpired. Pitt himself was not averse to taking office, but he could not obtain the concurrence of Lord Temple. With the King's offers he expressed himself satisfied, but he would not be prime minister without his brother-in- law. They had stood by each other in many turns .of 'CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 189 fortune, and they would do so to the last. Temple's motives in refusing are a mystery to this day. Baffled in his endeavours to gain Pitt's aid, the sovereign turned to another quarter. A new race of Whigs had arisen. They were indeed for the most part inexperienced, but they were free from the vices of the old Whigs, whom long prosperity had corrupted. They did not regard virtue as a flower that would bloom only by the family hearth ; they could foster it in the sickly air of a Court, and amid the blusters of political life. Lord Rockingham was the chief of the section, and though distressingly nervous, he possessed in a high degree the enviable art of making friends, and keeping them. He was born in 1730, and at the age of fifteen, when the rising for the Pretender took place in Scotland, he quitted the hunt one day, and accompanied by his groom, rode off to join the Duk^ of Cumberland's army. His zeal for the Whig cause could not be better proved, and his aunt. Lady Belfinch, rejoiced that " the monkey Charles had sho-wn such a spirit." * He was the leader of his party during eighteen years, and was twice caUed to the councU of a reluctant sovereign. In 1765, just twenty years after his loyal escapade, he accepted the Duke of Cumberland's proposals, and together with Newcastle and the Duke of Grafton, took the guidance of affairs. f The ministry was respectable, but wanted orators. Some caUed it mere * Earl of Albemarle's "Memoirs of Lord Rockingham," vol. i. pp. 138-9. t July 13, 1766. igo ENGLISH PREMIERS, lutestring, pretty summer wear, that would never do for winter. Pitt could hardly trust it. "I cannot give them my confidence," he said. " Pardon me, gentlemen (bowing to the ministry) ; confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom : youth is the season of creduUty." But the lutestring had one great accessory — the voice of Edmund Burke. " He reached the glory of a hand," and touched the withering branch of the Whigs into leaf* His eloquence was more pathetic and resistless than Pitt's ; and though he sometimes discussed questions too deeply for a general assembly, there were occasions when, as in the trial of Warren Hastings, he swept the hearts of a multitude along with him, and concluded his appeal or impeachment amid the tears, the sobs, and hysterics of an enraptured audience. To the energy of Chatham he added a larger comprehension and abundance of oratorical imagery. Lord Rockingham made him his private secretary and his friend. Newcastle chattered away in a detracting tone, calHng Burke a wUd Tri.shTn3.Ti and a concealed Papist; but the new premier was too sensible of the merits of this rare aUy to listen to the meddling old duke. The brUliant abilities of Burke com pensated to the ministry, in some degree, for the loss of the Duke of Cumberland, who died in 1765. He, the hero of Culloden, had been their main support, f and con- * See " Edmund Burke," Fortnightly Review, February, 1867. t Donne s " Introduction," p. Ixxi. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 191 veniently bridged over the gulf which separated them as Whigs from the royal favour. The premier could hardly overrate Burke's importance as an ally of the government. He was more than a great man ; he represented a principle. He never shifted his ground, though he sometimes changed his front. He always pleaded for order, and " a manly, moral, regulated liberty." He opposed with equal ardour the Court and the demagogues. To the new school of Whigs he was a breath of inspiration ; and the measure of popular power which he advocated was perhaps the utmost for which society in his day was ripe. Lord Rockingham's weight as a premier is due mainly to his alliance with Burke, whose career wiU ever be a landmark in history, and whose writings continue to be a fresh fountain of political wisdom. The period when he delivered his maiden speech was favourable to oratory. The tide of human thought was setting in new directions. America was declaring her independence ; the " Wealth of Nations " was laying the foundation of political economy ; Wesley and Whit field were stirring up the dormant spirit of religion in mines, factories, fields, and wolds ; Hargreave's spinning- jenny was well at work; Arkwright's patent had been issued some years ; Crompton's mule was soon coming into play ; Brindley's canal, from the Trent to the Mersey, was being cut ; and Watt was preparing his third model of the steam-engine. Powerful solvents of old systems 192 ENGLISH PREMIERS, were applied, and active germs of new ones sprang up on every side.* The seed sown by the Stamp Act was as the teeth of Cadmus. It raised an army of rebels, who burned the stamps, and tarred and feathered those who ventured to collect the duties. The distress lately felt in the manu facturing districts through the faUure of cotton wUl give some idea of the sufferings of the mercantUe interest ia Liverpool, Bristol, Leeds, and Manchester, when aU traffic between England and the colonies in arms was suspended. The masters were bankrupts, the workmen beggars. What course was to be pursued ? To arbitrary tempers, such as that of Grenville, there was but one — to impose the Stamp Act at the point of the bayonet. Nothing short of this was consistent with the dignity of the Crown and the deserts of sedition. ' Pitt's view was widely different. With him and Lord Camden, taxation and representation were inseparahle.f He considered the right to levy taxes on the Americans as vested in their local parliaments, not in the British legis lature. He advocated lenient measures, and quoted these lines from Prior as appHcable to the refractory colony : — " Be to her faults a little bUnd ; Be to her -virtues very kind." The Stamp Act, he said, ought to be repealed absolutely, * Fortnightly Eeriew, February, 1867 ; " English Administrations, No. -vi.," Tablet, September 10, 1870. t Lord Camden's Speech on the Address, February 24, 1766. CHATHAM. GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 193 totally, and immediately. It was oppressive, unjust, and invalid. Lord Rockingham and Burke maintained another, and a third doctrine. The English parliament, in their opinion, had the right to impose the taxes in question ; but to exercise this right was equally impolitic and unjust. It was a violent breach of morality ; and the fact of its being legal, as most of the ablest lawyers admitted to be the case, only rendered it the more odious. Its mildest effect would be that of making the colonists disloyal ; and if it provoked them to rebellion, the fault would be our own. The question was not whether we had a right to render our people miserable, but whether it was not our interest to make them happy. There are cases in which resistance becomes a duty, and submission would be the loss of aU that is dearest and best. Law itself may become intolerable, and justify an appeal to force. The cruelties of mother countries have severed from them many a colony ; and they have seen their error too late. Such were the sentiments of wise and moderate senators like Edmund Burke, whose Hves and writings gave no countenance to red caps and tricolour cockades. The policy which the King himself would have pursued differed from that of his ministers and of their opponents. He looked upon the repeal of the Stamp Act as unwise, but he was not disposed to enforce it by the edge of the sword. Rather than do this, he said he would consent to repeal it. But he advocated in private a middle course VOL. 1. b 194 ENGLISH PREMIERS, — that of retaining it on the statute-book in a modified form, such as would provoke the colonists as Httle as possible.* But this half-measure would have been even more objectionable than that which the ministers ulti mately adopted. It suffices, however, to disprove the frequent assertion that George III. backed Gren-viUe in his fierce policy, and pressed the enforcement of the Stamp Aet. The highest merit in a history in these days is to supply new facts ; but the next in order is that of not re- taUing old blunders. Contemporary writers are often at fault through ignorance of official documents, which come before the public in later years. History is a slow formation. It was in the debate on the American question, in 1766, that Burke made his first speech in parUament, and was complimented on it by Pitt in flattering terms. The practised ear of the elder orator readily caught the pro mises of his younger brother's rich and fervid eloquence ; nor was he, at a later period, less generous towards CHve. He who had, in one of his most studied speeches, pro nounced a eulogy on General Wolfe, had also marked the brilliant achievements of Clive in Bengal with the keenest interest and pride. When the j'outh who had dethroned Surajah Dowlah ; who had with three thousand men defeated an army of twenty times that number at Plassy ; who had conquered a province on the banks of the Ganges as large as Great Britain, and attached it for ever to the * Jesse's " George IIL," vol. i. pp. 337, 345, and the " GrenvUle Papers" there referred to. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 195 British throne ; who had administered the subdued region with integrity and wisdom — returned to his native land to be persecuted by abject natures jealous of his greatness and incensed at his severity towards their pilfering and oppression, — when he was questioned before committees of the House of Commons as if he had been a sheep- stealer, and was driven to defend himself in that assembly against the gravest and most ungrateful charges — Lord Chatham, then promoted to the Upper House, sat under the gaUery, and declared that he had never heard a finer speech. Men who are really great can afford to be generous. Mediocrity is stingy of praises which, after all, are of Httle account. It is surprising that a measure so sensible as that pro posed by Rockingham should have met with any violent opposition. The repeal of the Stamp Act would have removed from America the cause of discontent, and Pitt could no longer have applauded, as he did, the resistance of Massachusetts and Yirginia. But GrenvUle and the Bedfords, reiinforced by Temple, who in this matter de serted his illustrious kinsman, raised a storm against the repeal, which the King in secret, like j3iIolus in his cave, increased to a tempest. He was no longer a boy ; nor is there any proof that, at this period, he was influenced by Bute. That nobleman, it is true, was flitting up and down between his seat in Bedfordshire and the capital, and is believed by many to have been secretly intriguing and disturbing everything. He solemnly denied that he 196 ENGLISH PREMIERS, offered the King any advice ; but statesmen are not always to be taken at their word. Yet George IIL may have acted quite independently of Lord Bute,* and he often affirmed that such was reaUy the case. There was a party, however, devoted to his views, and they were caUed " the King's friends." Those views are such as kings in a transition stage of kingdoms are apt to indulge in respectiug their own prerogatives — views such as led Charles I. to arrest the five members, and James II. to impose a president and feUows on Mag dalen CoUege — views which are always supported in the background with dragoons and bayonets, mortars and frigates. It is weU for England that the absolutist ten dencies of George III. received many checks, and that in his long reign the way was prepared for the disenthral- ment of Catholics and equaUty of poHtical rights, which now prevaUs among persons of different creeds. " The King's friends" were the most remarkable race of syco phants known to English history, f Their poHtics resolved themselves into one question — what would his Majesty like ? They occupied lucrative posts, had means of learning their master's private wishes, and, subservient to his nod, they voted for or against any ministers or measures, pre cisely as his pleasure dictated. Members of the cabinet often complained that their bUls were thro-wn out or thwarted by servants of the government, and demanded their dis- * Donne's " Introduction," p. Ux. * See Donne's " Introduction to the North Correspondence," p. xU, CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 197 missal. But George III. had always some pretext under which to shield the only friends on whom he could rely. His assent to the repeal of the Stamp Act had, they thought, been given reluctantly. His " friends," indeed, affirmed that they knew it, and they voted against the repeal as if the arguments of Pitt and Burke, and the zeal of Rockingham, were of no more account than froth on the wave. The ministers obtaiaed a majority ; for civil war was dreaded, and trade was already depressed. The repeal,* however, was far from satisfying the colonists, for the act contained a declaration that " the King and parlia ment had, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force to bind the colonies in aU cases whatsoever." f This was the very question at issue between England and the Ameri cans — whether the mother country had the right to con trol their internal economy without the agency of local governments intimately acquainted with their peculiar circumstances, capabilities, and interests ? In the debate on this great measure Pitt and Grenville took the most conspicuous parts. The brothers-in-law were pitted against each other, and many hard blows were given and returned. It was little to the point that the one was received by the populace with shouts of applause, and followed home in his chair by thousands of admirers. » March 18, 1766. t See "Annual Register," 1766, chap. vii. ENGLISH PREMIERS, It was as little to the purpose that GrenvUle was assailed by a storm of hisses and execrations. In the present instance the calm judgment of posterity has confirmed the people's voice. Whether the abstract right of England to tax her colonies be granted or not, the exercise of that right is now universally and loudly condemned. Two other arbitrary measures received their death blow under Rockingham's administration. These were, the use of general warrants like that by which George GrenviUe caused WUkes to be arrested, and also the seizure of papers in cases of libel. " In no one year,'' says Lord Albemarle, " between the Revolution and the Reform BUl were so many immunities gained for the people, or, more properly speaking, so many breaches in the constitution repaired, as in what was contemptuously called the Lutestring Administration."* But Pitt was the nation's idol, and a government which had not his support could not last long. If the Rockingham ministry had been as strong intellectuaUy as it was moraUy, it woiUd have fiUed a large and brilliant page in hiatory. It wanted an alliance with Pitt, and that aUiance Pitt was unwilHng to give. Many overtures were made to him, but hitherto he had declined them all. Alas ! he who had so often resisted the Court now at last Hstened to its flatter ing voice. His deep respect for the sovereign's person de veloped into adherence to the principles which George III. represented. He became a Tory, and allied himself with * " Memoirs of Lord Rockingham," vol. i. p. 140. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 199 " the King's friends." Refusing, as he had always refused, to be First Lord of the Treasury, he became prime minister with the Duke of Grafton, who, like Wilmington in the time of Carteret, was nominally the head of the cabinet. The duke was more than suspected of Unitarian prin ciples ; and to this George III. alluded when, in 1809, Lord Grenville stood as candidate for the Chancellorship at Oxford, which was vacant by the death of the Duke of Portland. Speaking to Lord Eldon, the King observed, " It will be hard if Oxford should have a popish Chan cellor, as well as Cambridge a Unitarian one." The " Unitarian Chancellor " was Augustus Duke of Grafton,* his former minister, who succeeded Lord Rockingham. He was a great sportsman, and gifted with common sense, which, in his time, was no ordinary endowment. He knew mankind well, detected foibles and exposed them humorously. His delivery was slow, his person lofty, and his bearing dignified. f The ministry which he, or rather Pitt, formed, was a piece of mosaic without either design or cement. It represented nothing but confusion and chaos, which the genius of the contriver was to inform with beauty and reduce to order. Some of the members of this Grafton ministry had never spoken to each other before ; no com mon principles bound them together, and no watchword was put into the mouths of the recruits but the King's • The Duke was bom September 28, 1735, and died March 14, 1811. t Horace Walpole, "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 181. ENGLISH PREMIERS, pleasure and Pitt's power. Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, would side with any party, because he sat loose to all.* He had the faculty of making any measure attractive which he chanced to espouse, and it was he — the associate of Lord Chatham, the Keeper of the Privy Seal — who, when that statesman was unable to attend the council board, reproduced the fatal scheme for the taxation of the American colonies. " He had," as Horace Walpole said, " studied nothing accurately or with attention." He " seemed to create knowledge instead of searching for it." His -wit was " so abundant, that in him it seemed a loss of time to think. He had but to speak, and aU he said was new, natural, and uncommon." What an enchanting description ! Who could have been more agreeable to Hsten to ; who less to be trusted in affairs of state ? SmoUett says, " he talked hke an angel on a vast variety of subjects." He had paid some attention to figures, and was perhaps as weU qualified for the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer as any man of his time. But the revenue of the country did not exceed seven or eight millions, and the responsibility of the post was not burdensome. Adam Smith was then tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch, and the science of political economy was hardly in its cradle. In one century it has arrived at manhood, and the rudeness of its naked limbs are attired in all the graces which the hand of MUl and the art of Gladstone can bestow. Charles Townshend * Fitzgerald, " Life of Charles To-wnshend," p. 248, et seq. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 201 declared that he would tax America afresh in the midst of his colleagues, and though they caUed him to account at the next councU, they did not venture to displace him for his audacity. He reUed on the temper of the House, to which he always conformed faithfully. The moment of Pitt's rising again to power and taking his seat in the House of Peers, in July, 1766, was far from being the brightest in his career. On the same day (30th) he was gazetted as Yiscount Pitt of Burton Pynsent, Earl of Chatham, and Lord Privy Seal. But he had broken loose from the Whigs, and they denounced him as a traitor. He had severed himself from Temple, and many bitter and contemptuous words had passed between them When summoned from Somersetshire by the King, fever, pain, and a long journey made him irritable and weak. Unfitted for business, he adopted peremptory language to shorten interviews and explanations. Nor was this the worst. The composition of the "tesseUated ministry," as it was caUed, after Burke's well-known description,* was not the only sign that Chatham's mind had lost its balance, t His nerves were highly excited. Loud noises distressed him, as organ-grinding distressed the late John Leech. The voices of his own chUdren disturbed him ; and his neighbours' houses were bought and pulled down that he might dweU in sUence. His style of living was that of an Indian Nabob, or an Indian Nabob's European * Speech on American taxation. t "Introduction to North Correspondence," by Bodham Donne, p. Lxxv. ENGLISH PREMIERS, oppressor. He planted long tracts with cedars, and had them brought from distant groves and forests at an enormous cost. A legion of cooks slaved in his kitchen ; for, though abstemious, he dined at aU hours, and pro vided sumptuous fare for his friends. The Marquis of Rockingham, without shining abilities, retiring from office, after having deserved weU of his country, with hands unstained by bribery, and coffers unenriched by sinecures or pensions, patiently waiting till rolling years should convince the nation of the foUy and madness of his opponents, and call upon him once more to save her when brought to the brink of ruin, was in truth more to be envied than the great Chatham, rising too late to honours and influence he had long merited, abandoning the policy to which he mainly owes his imperishable fame, sinking under the accumulated pressure of age and disease, a prey to morbid eccentricities, and associated with a motley crew of venal and time-serving officials. His name soon lost its speU. "Mr. Pitt" had been the idol of the nation ; it could scarcely imagine that " Lord Chatham" was the same man. The changed title shadowed forth some change of principle. Independence died with the peerage. His contemporaries averred, what Lord Albemarle has lately repeated,* that " his reputation was more specious than solid," that he was "powerful rather than great." " He has had a fall up-stairs," Lord Chesterfield wrote, " and he will never be able to stand on * " Rockingham and his Contemporaries," vol. i. pp. 13, 15. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 203 his legs again." Lady Hervey said he had " annihilated himself" * His title reminded people of the first meeting between Sir Robert Walpole and the " patriot" Pulteney, after they had both been Earled. " My Lord," said the Earl of Orford to the Earl of Bath, " you and I are now the two most insignificant fellows in England." f In vain Chatham's friends protested that his health required the comparative repose of the House of Lords. He had long been unequal to the business and bustle of debate in the Commons. The civic fete which had been decreed him in the City was countermanded ; newspapers and pamphlets fiung heaps of calumny on his head ; and politicians abroad, who had never mentioned the name of Pitt without respect mised with awe, began to brag and insult the mistress of the seas when they heard that he he had become a courtier. He waited on Lord Rocking ham in Grosvenor Square, but the ex-minister . refused to see him. His insufferable hauteur offended even his friends. To one of amiable and gracious manners he sent an abrupt message, " that he might have an office if he would ; " to another, " that such an office was stUl vacant ; " and to a third, " that he must take what was offered him, or have none." It was no new thing ; his colleagues had complained for years of his haughty tone.+ * Letter cxU. August 1, 1766. t Note to " Lady Hervey's Letters," p. 5. X See "Letter of Lord Hardwicke, August 15, 1761; "Letter of Duke of Newcastle," October 18, 1761 ; Fitzgerald, "Life ofCharles Townshend," p. 125, note. 204 ENGLISH PREMIERS. The rumour spread that he had actuaUy leagued himself with Bute ; and his restoration of Stuart Mackenzie, Lord Bute's brother, to office, gave some colour to the scandal. Several members of the Rockingham administration had been induced to remain at their posts ; but within three months they all withdrew. Chatham treated them, not as colleagues, but as clerks; and they had not as yet discovered the real clue to his extraordinary behaviour. He applied in vain to the Bedfords ; but they refused to join him except in a body, and he would not consent to their terms. The summer of 1766 was the wettest ever kno-wn in England. From March to August two fair days never followed in succession. The fruits of the earth faUed, and especially the corn. An embargo on its exportation was thought needful; and though the measure could he defended only by certain arbitrary precedents, the Council adopted it with Chatham's consent. His first speech in the House of Lords was delivered in defence of this step. Though unconstitutional, it was held to be justified by the emergency ; but in the course of the discussion Lord Chath am used language and gestures which little became one so lately admitted to the privUeges of the highest rank. His eccentricities multiplied. He refused to con fer with his colleagues on the measures he planned. Neither Townshend, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer, nor Conway, who took the lead in the Commons, could extract any response from the oracle. Chatham's mys- CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 205 teries were revealed to an iUiterate alderman named Beckford, who served Mammon and bawled to mobs.* He was to act as an independent skirmisher, keep Towns hend in check, and play as many pawns as possible against the East India Company, whose rapacity caUed loudly for inquiry. Having deputed this person to ex pound his views, the invaUd retired to Bath. But the heaUng waters of King Bladud's weUs could effect nothing for a distempered mind ; and when, on his return to London, he stopped at Marlborough, he insisted on aU the grooms and lacqueys of the Castle Inn arraying themselves in the Chatham Hvery.f Though busy with such nonsense, he would not see the Duke of Grafton on business ; and the Opposition took advantage of the distracted state of the Cabinet. The Grenvilles, Rock- inghams, and Bedfords united their forces ; the country gentry came over to their design ; and, when the ministry \ had lost the only head that could keep its loose joints and Ul-matched Hmbs together, defeated them by a large majority on the question of Land-tax. Many a year had passed since the government had sustained a like blow. It was the prelude to the entire dissolution of the Grafton Cabinet, and it caused the mutual hostilities to explode which Chatham had smothered for a moment. It called * " Memoirs of the Reign of George IL," vol. in. p. 1778 ; Richard Cumberland's " Memoirs,'' vol. i. p. 190. f Edinburgh Review, vol. clxU. p. 586. Lord Stanhope disputes the truth of the story. " History," vol. v. p. 176, note. But see Jesse's " George IIL," vol. i. p. 391, note. 2o6 ENGLISH PREMIERS, into action the dangerous talents of Townshend, who had hitherto been tame in the lion-like presence of Chatham. It afforded him an opportunity of running counter to the principles of the invalid prime minister and of the rest of his colleagues, and of giving mankind full proof of his arrogance by taxing the Americans anew.* " He hit the House," as Burke said, " just between wind and water ; " and not being troubled with too anxious a zeal in any matter, he was never more tedious or more earnest than the opinions and tempers of his hearers required. He conformed exactly to the mood of the House, adjusting himself before it as at a looking-glass, and " he seemed to guide because he was always sure to foUow it." He was as brilliant and mercurial as his mother, whose vrit and whims Horace Walpole has faithfully recorded. At length Chatham arrived in London ; but only, hke a dismasted vessel, to lie in dock. Not even five minutes would he give to the Duke of Grafton when he pressed him again for an interview. Not even to George III.'s entreaties would he yield, when the sovereign besought him to make an effort. He hid himself behind Lady Chatham's robe, and dictated to her the letters he had not energy to write. The gout, which had been his con stant companion from boyhood, had quitted him, as if tired at last of vexing his writhing limbs. But a worse malady had taken its place, which made the strong-minded statesman fanciful, melancholy, and fretful ; confused and * "Washington and his Contemporaries," p. 6. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 207 clouded the luminous order of his inward man ; rendered the thought of business odious ; and took from inaction all the power of reHef and aU the sweets of repose. Those eyes of fire, before which so many craven spirits had quailed, now gushed with hysterical tears ; and that commanding form, proud even in its sufferings, now trembled aspen-like when a message was brought from the King, or a paragraph, written in a newspaper by some savage detractor, appeared on the breakfast-table. He had sold Hayes to Mr. Thomas Walpole, and nothing would satisfy him but to re-purchase it. The new pro prietor was most unwilling to part with it, and nothing but Lady Chatham's tearful entreaties could prevail on him at last to gratify her husband's whim.* During a year and six months England's prime minister, once her boast and pride, was buried in privacy and sadness, t His enemies said he was playing a part ; his friends tried in vain to fathom the mystery ; and his colleagues, disporting themselves without shame, enacted measures against which he had protested aU his life. For a short time the Privy Seal was put into commission, and was afterwards re- delivered to him. When Lord Hillsborough, " a pompous composition of ignorance and want of judgment," J was appointed Secretary of State for America, and the French were tamely aUowed to purchase * October, 1767. t From May, 1767, to October, 1768. X Horace Walpole's " Reign of George III.'' 208 ENGLISH PREMIERS. Corsica, Chatham's vexation reached its height; and in a letter written by his wife he requested permission -to resign his office. The seal was sent by the hands of Lord Camden, and was accepted by the King with some show of reluctance, in October, 1768. The gout is often called " a good complaint," and certainly was such to Chatham. Though truant for a time, it came back to him faithfuUy when the Privy Seal had departed ; and with its twinges his mind was released, and his nerves recovered their tone. After two-years-and-a-half's absence he appeared again at Court, like one raised from the dead. The tessellated ministry had undergone many changes. Its weakness had been proved by the fact of Charles Townshend having introduced and carried through both Houses his measure for taxing American imports, in opposition to the known -wishes and principles of aU his colleagues. One only among them, Lord Camden, had courage enough to enter a protest against this iU-ad-vised scheme.* Their conduct towards Wilkes when he re turned from exile was no less feeble and fooHsh. The excitement he had formerly produced was almost for gotten, and he had made his submission to the King. It was clearly the moment to pardon and propitiate the patriot by trade. Such an act would have been equaUy consistent and politic on the part of ministers. The Duke of Grafton had visited him in prison in 1763 ; Chatham had been on intimate terms with him ; and Lord Sand- * Jesse's "George III.," vol. i. p. 404. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 209 wich had been his boon companion in the orgies of Med menham Abbey.* Instead of this, however, they goaded him into fresh offences, and fiUed the streets of London with riot and outrage. No wonder Lord Chatham, when he returned to St. James's, could scarcely recognise the curious piece of mosaic he had put together. His friend. Sir Jeffrey Amherst had been dismissed from the gover norship of Yirginia, and Lord Shelburne had given way to Lord Rochfort as Secretary of State. The Bedfords, who would not join with Chatham, had united with the Duke of Grafton and the King's friends. The irresolute Conway was now of Httle account, and the vain and eloquent Townshend was no more.f Lord North had taken his place as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he was rising fast into unenviable importance. It was just what Charles Townshend had predicted. " See," he said, " that great, heavy, booby-looking, seeming changeling. You may believe me when I assure you as a fact, that, if anything should happen to me, he wUl succeed to my place, and very shortly after come to be First Commis sioner of the Treasury." Disputes with America had broken out afresh, and Lord North, who had been appointed without Chatham's being consulted, had no oil to cast on the western waves. Ere long he lashed them into fury. In January, 1770, Chatham approved himself in the * Jesse's " George III.," vol. i. p. 211, and the note. t He died September 4, 1767, setat 42. VOL. 1. P ENGLISH PREMIERS. House of Lords as a champion of rational freedom. He pleaded eloquently for conciUatory measures in America and for admitting John Wilkes to the enjoyment of his legal privUeges. Though this Hcentious poet and pam phleteer had been expeUed from the House of Commons and outlawed,* the act was purely arbitrary. Under pretence of declaring the law, the Commons had madd a law, and united in the same persons the office of legis lator and of judge.f Where law ended, tyranny began. The electors of Middlesex chose WUkes as their repre sentative, and in spite of Lord Chatham's remonstrance, the Lower House refused to admit him into their body. Four times Wilkes was elected, and as often a seat was denied him. TiU at last — ha-ving in the meanwhUe been Alderman, Sheriff, and Lord Mayor of London — he was aUowed to take his seat in 1774, became Chamberlain of the City, in 1779, and saw the resolution of the House, hy which he had been expeUed, formaUy canceUed by the Commons, nearly twenty years after it had been passed. This was during the brief period of Lord Rockingham's second administration ; J and the numbers by which the votes on the Middlesex election were expunged were 115 to 47. So powerful was ministerial influence in parhament. Bad men, as weU as good, have often been per secuted unjustly ; and it is clear that, as Lord Chatham * January 20th, 1764. t Lord Chatham's Speech on the Address. r May 3, 1782. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM, 2ii said in WUkes's case, though Wilkes was the worst of men, he contended reaUy for the safety and security of the best. Lord Camden, the Chancellor, warmly sup ported Lord Chatham's motion respecting Wilkes, and his conduct on this occasion was the more remarkable because he had previously concealed his feelings on the subject.* His tardy boldness cost him the seals within a week. Chatham's pubHc career was now hastening to its close, and it was too late to remedy the evU he had wrought by lending his name to the cause of misgovernment. From time to time he reappeared in his place in parliament, and took a part in important debates ; but his attendance in the House of Peers was broken by long intervals of retirement and pain. After his resignation, in 1768, he became reconciled to the Grenvilles, -f- and even to Lord Rockingham, whom he had deeply offended and injured. George GrenviUe died in 1770, J and his death prevented another rupture with Chatham. The turn which events were taking in the American colonies would doubtless have renewed their dissensions. To the last Chatham opposed the blind policy of the Court, by which miUions of loyal subjects beyond the Atlantic, who had never dreamed of separating from the mother country, were goaded into rebeUion and raised * " Parliamentary History," vol. x-yi. p. 643. t Horace Walpole to Montague, December 1, 1768. X November 13. ENGLISH PREMIERS. into an independent state. George III. -wrote of his poHtical conduct as "abandoned," and called him "a trumpet of sedition."* Such calumny was honourable to him. From his retreat he watched, with intense interest during eight years, the progress of that struggle which terminated so disastrously to North in the cabinet and to ComwaUis in the camp. In January, 1775,t he attended in ParUament, and walked into the House arm- in-arm with Dr. FrankHn, as if by his outward con duct to justify the demands of Congress and express his abhorrence of the treatment their representative had received just a twelvemonth before J at the hands of the Privy CouncU and Wedderburn, the SoHcitor- General. § The bar was crowded with Americans, and Chatham, Prometheus-Hke, drew down fire from heaven, and launched it on the head of the oppressor. Among the delighted audience was his son WUUam Pitt, then a youth of sixteen. " Nothing," he wrote to his mother the next day, " prevented the speech from being the most forcible that can be imagined. The matter and manner both were striking, far beyond what I can express. It was everything that was superior ; and though it had not the desired effect on an obdurate House of Lords, it must have had an infinite effect without doors." Happy wife and mother, who was blessed with such a husband * Letter to Lord North, August 9, 1775. t January 20, 1775. J January 29, 1774. sT Afterwards Lord Loughborough and Eail of Rosslyn, CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 213 and such a son ! If Chatham and Lord Rockingham had been of one mind, so forcible and splendid a remonstrance might not have been in vain. But Burke and Rocking ham, though averse to taxing America, clung to their old opinion and to their " Declaratory Act," which asserted the supremacy of the British Parliament. Lords Shel burne and Camden, indeed, warmly supported Chatham's resolution ; but their influence could not save it from defeat. It was lost by a majority of forty. The spirit of Lord Chatham, however, was undaunted. On the anniversary of the day when Franklin had been so grossly insulted before the Pri-vy Council, he passed two hours -with that eminent phUosopher at his house in Craven Street, Strand, and then, on the 1st of February, presented to Parliament a BiU, which, if it had been carried, would have concUiated three miUions of Americans without the smallest sacrifice of honour, interest, or right. It proposed merely the repeal of aU oppressive actspassed since the year 1764, and the erasure from the statute- book of the unhappy Declaratory clause. It contemplated nothing but a return to the original relations between the two countries before George GrenvUle had disturbed their peace with his wretched Stamp Act. But prudence and moderation were odious in the eyes of an infatuated ministry, ever ready to echo the language of their royal master, and to stigmatize the greatest and wisest man of his age as a " trumpet of sedition." It was his lot to see the speedy fulfilment of aU his predic- 214 ENGLISH PREMIERS. tions. He heard of the valour of the insurgents on Bunker's HUl, of the Congress at PhUadelphia, and of the peace-loving Washington taking the field. At a distance of some thousands of mUes he beheld thirteen colonies solemnly declare themselves free and independent, and a British army under General Burgoyne surrender to the despised descendants of Quakers and Puritans at the battle of Saratoga. In November and December, 1777, he addressed the House of Lords on several occasions in strains of ever-remembered eloquence on the impiety and folly of the fratricidal war. He denounced -with wither ing scorn the employment of German mercenaries and cannibal Indians, with their tomahawks and scalping- knives, in the vain hope of converting a vast continent of freemen into slaves. He even withdrew his eldest son. Lord Pitt, from the British ser-vice in Canada, in con sequence of his " fixed opinions with regard to the con tinuance of the unhappy war." In the February of the year in which he died, he learned that Dr. Franklin had signed at YersaiUes a treaty of aUiance, offensive and defensive, between France and the United States ; and then — ^breaking loose again from Lord Rockingham, with whose -wise and moderate policy he had for several years concurred — turning a deaf ear to the arguments dra-wn from the fact of the colonies in revolt being already severed from the empire, and from the dangers incurred by a two-fold war with America and with France — forgetting, as it CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 215 should seem, his o-wn oft-repeated assertion, that it was impossible to conquer America — ¦ Lord Chatham went down, or rather was carried down, to the House, to raise his voice against recognising the indepen dence of the victorious states. He could not endure the thought of the degradation of his country — of her being humbled by the arms of her own chUdren, and compeUed to submit to the terms of rebels. He had saved her once from imminent perU, and how could he join now in sacrificing her honour ? It was ignominious enough to yield to the dictation of our own colonists ; but how much more so when that dictation was backed by our old enemies the French ? No ; come what might, England should hold out to the last, and lift her proud head above the waves. He was seventy years old when he limped to his seat to protest against a premature and inglorious surrender.* He leaned upon his son-in-law. Lord Mahon, and on his son William — that great WiUiam Pitt who was destined to organise a treaty, in after years, with the Trans atlantic Republic, and to recognise that independence against which his iUustrious father protested -with his last breath. Every peer present long remembered Chat ham's appearance on that day ; and often told his chU dren how the veteran statesman held his crutch in his hand, whUe the tails of his rich velvet coat flapped over his flannel- swathed legs. There was stiU a bright gleam * April 7, 1778. Lord Stanhope, vol. vi. pp. 229—231. 2-i6 ENGLISH PREMIERS. in his eyes, and the arched nose of his wizened face pro truded from the depths of a huge wig. He stood like an old tower, venerable in decay. Every word that fell from his lips was listened to with reverence. No one felt disposed to taunt him -with inconsistency ; for the Duke of Richmond — who moved for an address to the throne against prosecuting hostUities with America any further — and Lord Rockingham, with aU his friends in the House, respected Chatham's patriotic ardour, even when it seemed to overpower his judgment. In profound sUence they heard his hesitating remarks and unwonted repetitions. They observed with regret that he could not remiember names ; and though there were now and then passages in his speech which reminded them of his former oratory — his fuU deep flow of eloquent common sense — his happy iUustratlons, and the clear directness of his statements — they could not avoid being vaguely apprehensive for the speaker ; he was very restless while the Duke of Rich mond replied ; and when he had concluded Lord Chatham rose, laid his hand on his breast, and feU smitten by apoplexy. He did not, however, die immediately, but was removed to Hayes, where he lingered a few weeks in the midst of the fondest attention.* The haughtiness which often marked his manners in the society of poH- ticians was unknown to him in his family circle; and there to the last he gave and received every token of the deepest affection and tenderness. * He died May 11, 1778. CHATHAM, GRENVILLE, AND ROCKINGHAM. 217 If all parties united in honouring the deceased Lord Chatham, it was because he had the glory of not being a party man. The popularity which he enjoyed enabled him to dispense with party connexions.* That indepen dence of mind which raised him up so many enemies whUe he lived, insured him a multitude of friends when he was dead. If a public funeral and monument were decreed him by universal consent, if his family was provided for and his debts were paid, if St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey each claimed the privUege of pre paring his last resting-place, if his ashes are shrined in the Abbey, whUe his eagle-face looks down upon us from above the graves of William Pitt, Fox, and Canning, as if he were the father of a race of statesmen, — it is because his noble qualities far outweighed his errors, because he consiUted his own ease and advancement less than the welfare of his country, and preserved the lustre of his name unsullied amid prevalent corruption. " I am no more an enthusiast to his memory than you," wrote Horace Walpole. " I knew his faults and his defects ; yet one fact cannot be controverted, but is more remarkable every day — I mean, that under him we attained not only our highest elevation, but the most solid authority in Europe. When the names of Marlborough and Chatham are stUl pronounced with awe in France, our Httle cavils make a puny sound, "f * Donne's " Introduction to the North Correspondence," pp. ix. xUi. f Letter to Rev. Mr. Cole, June 3, 1778 ; Waldegrave's " Memoirs," p. 15, et seq. ; Jesse's " George III.," vol. i. pp. 76 — 81. LOED NOETH. " Then Rockingham took up the game ; TUl death did on bJTn ca', mau ; When Shelburne meek held up his cheek. Conform to Gospel law, man ; Saint Stephen's boys, wi' jarring noise, They did his measures thraw, man ; For North and Fox united stocks. An' bore him to the wa', man." BuKNS — "When Guilford good our pilot stood.' YI. LORD NORTH. T ORD NORTH, the eldest son of the Earl of GuUd- ford, was born in the year 1732. He travelled on the Continent, as youths in his position generaUy do, acquired modern languages, and at an early age married an heiress. Soon after his majority he was returned to parliament, where his talents for business attracted atten tion. After passing through some subordinate offices he was promoted to the Treasury, became joint Paymaster of the Forces in the " tessellated ministry," succeeded Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and held this high post, together with that of First Lord of the Treasury, when the Duke of Grafton ceased to be at the head of the cabinet. The retirement of Lord Camden from the ministry had been followed by the resignation of several noblemen of great influence ; the duke with his shattered forces was the butt of Junius' s fiercest invec tives ; and the mighty voice of Lord Chatham hurled fire on the Court and cabinet, which had, by their Ulegal persecution of Wilkes, invaded the Constitution and jeopardised the dearest rites and liberties of the people.* * " Parliamentary History, vol. xvi. p. 748, ENGLISH PREMIERS, Conscious of his unfitness for so perUous a post as that of premier, the Duke of Grafton suddenly resigned, and once more took refuge in Euston HaU and the pleasures of the turf. This was in January, 1770,* from which time till 1782 Lord North continued to be the principle adviser of the sovereign, and the responsible guide of the affairs of Great Britain, whUe disasters almost without paraUel fell fast npon her, untU, by the success of the United States, the just discontent in Ireland, the increased pressure of the national debt, the combined hostUity of Spain, Hol land, and France, and the naval reverses which threatened her supremacy on the seas, she was brought to the verge of ruin. During this period of twelve years a variety of questions of great interest arose, and issued in results highly important to the interests of society and the destinies of England. It was in the midst of the ferment produced by Wilkes's re-election that Lord North took the lead in public affairs.f The EngUsh are as prone to resist iUegal acts as they are ready in general to submit to lawful authority. The House of Commons, in declaring WUkes incapacitated for a seat in parliament, had clearly exceeded its powers, and the electors of Westminster had a perfect right to re elect him, as they did, by 1,193 votes against 296 obtained by Captain LuttreU, his opponent. It were to be wished, indeed, that their champion had been more respectable for his moral and religious character; but perhaps the » January 28. t See "Annual Registers" for 1770 and 1771. LORD NORTH. 223 very fact of his being personaUy undeser-ving of support brought out more strongly the principle involved in maintaining his cause against the Commons and the Court. Dr. Franklin was not far wrong when he said that if George III. had been a man of bad character, and WUkes a man of good character, the latter might have turned the former out of the kingdom. As alderman and Lord Mayor he caused Lord North and the King much trouble in 1771, and the three following years. Certain printers had become obnoxious to the House of Commons for reporting its debates, and, being arrested by order of the Speaker, were liberated immediately by the Lord Mayor, Wilkes, and Oliver. Though George III. desired the premier to act cautiously, his advice was always given with an eye to arbitrary authority being exercised in the place of law.' The struggle was long ; Lord North and Charles Fox, then a Tory, were rudely handled by the mob ; those who were in the right pined in the Tower, but those who were in the wrong — the majority in the Lower House — were compeUed in the end to acknow ledge that the Commons are not a court of law, and that they had gone beyond their province. Lord North's unhappy bias towards absolutism was soon manifested in a striking manner. The duties imposed by a recent act on paper, glass, china, and colours imported into America were repealed as vexatious ; but a tax on tea was continued for the sole purpose of upholding the rights * " Correspondence of George IU. with Lord North,'' vol. i. p. 88. 224 ENGLISH PREMIERS. of the English legislature to tax the colonists. Such taxation was unjust, though not strictly illegal. The^ Duke of Grafton had become convinced of the foUy aii madness of exasperating the Americans any \(m^sz. * He had proposed in council* that the taxes onAmerican imports should be entirely repealed. But Lord North had declared in parliament that he " would never yield till he had seen America at his feet," and the duke, therefore, was outvoted in the cabinet by a majority of one. In the ensuing session, when Lord North was prime minister, the biU for a partial repeal was intro duced by government.f The result is well known. Though the price of tea was lowered, the Americans would not buy it while burdened with a duty of three-pence per pound. In some ports the local authorities woiUd not aUow it to he landed ; and in Boston harbour, in December, 1773, the people, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded a Dartmouth East India tea ship, and flung its cargo into the sea, together with that of two other vessels. The City of London by petition, and the Earl of Chatham by his oratory, did their best to give fuU weight to the ominous hints thrown out by the Middlesex electors and the natives of Boston ; but in those days a free expression of opinion on such matters was regarded in high quarters as disrespectful to the King and injurious to the government. Thus the irritating colonial policy of the mother country * May 1, 1769. ' \ March 5, 1770. LORD NORTH, 225 was kept alive. The great object was to make it the centre of non-metaUic exports, so that in return as much of the precious metals as possible might flow into its bosom. Everything which the colonists wanted most from Europe must cdme to them from English wharves, and many of their products must be consigned to English mercantile houses, and to none others. In this manner free trade was obstructed everywhere, with a view (which was false and blind enough) to the aggrandisement of the parent stock. In February, 1772, Lord North's conservative prin ciples were tested in their religious aspect. A petition was presented to the House of Commons by Sir William Meredith, in which two or three hundred clergymen, physicians, and lawyers prayed for relief from subscrip tion to the Thirty-nine Articles. The arguments em ployed by the speakers on both sides were very amusing, and, whether for or against the petition, told equally against the consistency of an establishment which main tains the right of private judgment at one moment and doo-matises in the next.* Lord North was true to himself He stuck to the grand principle that orthodoxy means my doxy, and heterodoxy means another man's doxy. He thought " the indulgence prayed for was repugnant to the Act of Union, and that if it were granted, there would thenceforward be nothing that could exclude a man from the Church of England but popery." He sided, in • See Adolphus's *George IIL," vol. i. pp. 502—8. VOL. I. ^ 226 ENGLISH PREMIERS, fact, with Sir Roger Newdigate, who was of opinion that " the King, as the third part of the State, is bound on oath never to admit any alteration in the Liturgy or in the Articles," and was convinced that " to make any innova tions in the forms prescribed to the clergy would occasion such contentions in the nation that not poppy nor man- dragora could ever medicine it to its former repose." Accordingly the petition was rejected by 217 against 71; but the Church's slumbers continued to be disturbed, and no one could understand why faUibiUty and mutability should not go together, as Edmund Burke contended that they ought to do.* He contended for this, I say; yet he opposed the petition, and lent his powerful aid to Lord North and the system of religious tests. A mysterious aUiance was supposed to exist between the Church and the Crown, so that if one tottered, the other must faU. The maxim of James I. was held to be truth itself — No bishop, no king. On this ground the House of Lords rejected, hy 102 votes against 29, a bill intended to reHeve dissenting ministers and schoolmasters from the necessity of appear ing before a justice of the peace and subscribing, under heavy pains and penalties, the doctrines of the Thirty- nine Articles ! It may weU be matter of dispute whether the loyalty of these unfortunate ministers and school masters was Hkely to be increased by such intolerance. In 1772-3 the affairs of India and the East India Com pany occupied a large share of public attention, and they • Speech on the Acts of Uniformity. LORD NORTH. are remembered by posterity chiefly on account of the rich poetic eloquence of Burke which they caUed forth, and the marvellous exploits — the good and evil deeds of Lord CHve — which they brought prominently into notice. It was to him principaUy that the Anglo-Indian empire owed its rise.* From a mere clerk he became at an early age a general, and exhibited a talent for war equal to that of the greatest heroes of ancient or modern times, f He acquired extraordinary influence over the sepoys, and, contending with their aid against terrific odds, defeated hordes of Moslems at the siege of Arcot, and at once established his fame. It was he who avenged the fate of the EngUsh who perished in the black hole of Calcutta, deposed Surajah Dowlah, and placed Meer Jaffier on the throne of that monster of cruelty. The victory of Plassy was his greatest achievement in arms, but it was unhappily connected -with his worst moral stain. He fought the Indians with their own weapons — treachery and craft. He seduced the Bengalee Omichund into conspiracy, deceived him with a fictitious treaty, in which immense reward was promised him, produced the real one when the wretched man had fulfiUed his compact, and caused his idiotcy and death by the shock. This deed was foUowed by other acts of doubtful probity in an Englishman high in command. Clive accepted from Meer Jaffier between * See "Annual Register," 1766, chaps, iv. and v.; Lord Stanhope, vol. iv. xxxix. -xl. t See Speech of Pitt (1758) in Horace Walpole's " Memous," vol. iii. p. 90. ,228 ENGLISH PREMIERS. two and three hundred thousand pounds ; and though the immense army of Shah Alum fled before him, and his name was the terror of Mahrattas, Afghans, and RohUlas — though as Governor- General of Bengal he effected in a short time one of the most extensive and salutary reforms in a disorganised government that was ever accompHshed, he returned to England -with a reputation tarnished, partly through the bitterness of those whose abuses he had corrected, and partly through the defects of his o-wn conduct in former years. The House of Commons caUed for an inquiry into the affairs of India ; and Clive, who had conquered races and territories, like a second Alexander — Clive, who had ruled with aU the splendour of a Mogul, crowTied -with diamonds and rubies, was compeUed to answer Uke a malefactor the questions of acrimonious and Ul-informed members of a committee. Lord North pursued a middle course towards the iUus trious general. Clive w^s instaUed as Knight of the Bath while the proceedings relative to his conduct were being carried on, and he was also appointed Lord Lieutenant of the county of Shropshire. The House of Commons resolved that it was iUegal in any servant of the government to appropriate to his private use land or property acquired in foreign countries by military force, and that such appropriations had taken place in Bengal ; but instead of grounding any formal charge against Lord Clive on these general resolutions, it expressed its unanimous conviction LORD NORTH. 229 that he had rendered great and meritorious ser-vices to his country.* The main result of the inquiry was that the affairs of the East India Company were subjected to stricter control on the part of government, and the welfare' of the natives was taken into more account, and protected against the injustice and rapacity of European adventurers, traders, and clerks. Having accomplished this object, the premier repaired to Oxford, and was invested with the dignity of ChanceUor of that University. The foreign policy of Lord North was not so successful in the West as in the East. That clever little contrivance of duty on tea — by which the principle of taxation by the mother country was to be maintained, whUe the advantages resulting from it dwindled down to a cipher — totally failed ; and rebeUion began, as we have seen, in the harbour of Boston, amid shouts and laughter. Custom house officers, tarred and feathered, were led about the streets. The captains of the tea-ships, finding it impossible to land their cargoes, wished to return with them to England; but the govemor, the custom-house, and the consignees would neither bring the chests on shore in. the teeth of the mob, nor grant the captains the requisite discharges. In this state of things the Bostonians boarded the Indiamen, and tumbled some hundreds of tea chests into the bottom of the harbour. At Charleston the commodity fared Httle better ; for though it was landed, it was stowed away in a damp cellar, which rotted it quite *¦ Marsham's " History of India,'' vol. i. p. 315. 230 ENGLISH PREMIERS. as effectuaUy as the salt wave. This outrage on the English government was committed in December, 1773, and in March of the foUowing year the matter was brought before parliament with all solemnity. Lord North proposed that the town of Boston should be deprived of its privUeges as a port, and compeUed to pay a fine indemnifying aU whom the rioters had injured. This measure he followed up with others equaUy injudi cious. He repealed the charter of WilHam and Mary, which granted the province of Massachusetts Bay power to choose its own councUlors, judges, magistrates, and sheriffs, and he vested that right in the Crown and the governor.* He then, to make the irritation of the colonists complete, provided for the removal of every accused person there to England, in case he was not likely to meet with a fair trial in the colony ; that is, no one employed or favoured by the government was to be amenable to the law and legal authorities in the place where his misdemeanours were committed, f There were in the obsequious House of Commons some members whose spirits rose up against these despotic foUies. Burke denounced them forcibly in a letter to the sheriffs of Bristol,! and Constantine Phipps and " Governor PownaU" tore the arguments of the Northites into shreds. § C.olonel * " ParUamentary History," vol. xvU. p. 1192 ; Lord Stanhope, " His tory,'' vol. vi. p. 6 ; Jesse's " George III.," vol. i. p. 559. t " Washington and his Contemporaries," p. 7. X " Works," vol. i. p. 206. § Sir H. Cavendish's "Debates," vol. i. pp. 199, 210, 221. LORD NORTH. 231 Barr^ warned the government that by such laws they would remove all check from the military, and expose a peaceably disposed people to their passions and insults. They would alienate the colonies, and destroy the genuine supplies by which the national strength was nourished. They would change their ground and become the aggressors. ' They would send them a naked sword in stead of an olive-branch. Mr. Rose Fuller predicted that from the day Lord North's biUs passed the nation's ruin would commence. The people were as much misled as their rulers, and would soon discover their mistake. These wise cautions were heeded too late. There is a sad propensity in our nature to oppress, and there are few who would not foUow it if they had the power. The Massachusetts Bay Bills were carried by a majority of nearly five to one in the Commons, and by ninety-two to twenty in the Lords. Lord Rockingham and ten other peers protested, but their protests were as powerleSs as the pleading of Colonel Barr^ and Mr. FuUer. Mean while a solemn league and covenant was dra-wn up at Boston, by which the subscribers bound themselves to suspend all commercial intercourse -with Great Britain till the Boston Port BiU and other obnoxious Acts were repealed; and a general Congress was held at PhUa delphia in September, 1774, to deliberate on the best course to be pursued in the approaching conflict. The minds of some men dweU chiefly on the evils of ENGLISH PREMIERS. rebellion, while others are more aHve to the evils of oppression, which are by so much worse than the former as the cause is greater than the effect. If the Americans were wrong in raising the standard of insurrection, it is to the thirteenth Parliament of Great Britain — commonly called " the Regal Parliament," for its immense extension of the influence of the Crown — and to Lord North as its leader and exponent, that the fault of the colonists must principally be ascribed. The steady application of this minister to business, his talents as a speaker, and his coolness in debate, are but a trifling set-off to the injury he inflicted on his country by arbitrary enactments, and through not discerning the signs of the times. Lord Chatham said he would consent to be taken for an idiot if Lord North's measures were not finaUy repealed. He affirmed that if the ministers persevered in misleading the King, they would make his crown not worth the wearing. Biit the short-sighted were many, and the far-seeing were few. The repentant Duke of Grafton, who was Lord Privy Seal, deserted his coUeagues, denounced their fatal policy, and owned that he had been in error.* Chatham and Burke, Charles Fox and General Conway, Lord Rockingham and Lord Shelburne, contended in vain for clemency and conciliation ; and though they had justice and mercy on their side, their predictions would never have been fulfilled if circumstances had not raised * Walpole to Mann, October 28, 1775. LORD NORTH. 233 up in the far West a champion of independence ; great through the very simplicity of his character, and able to struggle successfully with the colossal power of Great Britain on sea and land. There was nothing more im probable than that weU-disciplined armies, commanded by such generals as Howe, Clinton, Burgoyne, and Corn- walHs, should be routed after long and desperate con flicts by raw recruits, destitute of aU military resources, and commanded by a diffident land-surveyor of Yirginia. Yet aU this was accomplished by Washington without any innate love of war, and without ever indulging one thought of personal aggrandisement. Whatever sentence may be pronounced on his cause, there has never been more than one opinion as to the mode in which he conducted it. Friends and enemies have gazed alike with wonder and admiration at the man who was never discouraged by reverses, nor elated with success ; who preserved under aU circumstances the utmost dignity and calm ; who acted habitually under a sense of duty ; and who — though born to conquer and to rule, though idolised by his soldiers, though scarcely able to journey towards Congress to surrender his powers, in consequence of the throng that pressed upon him, from every city, village, and hamlet, with congratulations and addresses — accepted no reward, but accounted it his highest happiness to retire, "like a wearied traveller," into the quiet bosom of a loving famUy, and bless " the all-power ful Guide and Disposer of events" for having prevented 234 ENGLISH PREMIERS, him from falling amid the manifold dangers of his arduous path.* But it is more in harmony with the design of this series to trace the course pursued by the EngUsh minister than to foUow the march of the leader of insurrection. The colonists of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Providence Plantation, and others, carried on an extensive trade -with Portugal, Spain, and Italy, by means of the Newfoundland fisheries. When their vessels had discharged their cargoes in distant ports, they returned to their own country by way of Great Britain, where they usuaUy spent what they had gained elsewhere in the purchase of British manu factures. By this honest caUing the American traders enriched themselves and others, and trained up a large body of athletic seamen. But the colonists had behaved very badly, and Lord North, in his -wisdopi, thought fit to chastise them. He brought in a bUl, by which this flourishing commerce was prohibited, and the Newfound land fisheries were closed against the people who had wickedly refused to buy British tea. The consequences of such retaliation were pointed out by Edmund Burke with such precision and force as brought conviction to every breast not doubly plated with prejudice. In hia famous speech on Conciliation with America he showed how the great contests for freedom in this country were, from the earUest times, chiefly upon * " Letter to General Knox.'' See also Thackeray's " Four Georges," Lect. iv. LORD NORTH, 235 the question of taxing, and how an EngHshman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another Englishman into slavery. But no arguflients could pierce Lord North's breastplate ; no, nor Dr. Johnson's either. That good man and bad politician took arms on the side of despotism,* and in his pamphlet " Taxation no Tyranny," in reply to Burke, undertook to combat propositions which, when read in the present day, appear simply truisms. It was, as Macaulay caUs it, "a pitiable failure. The arguments were such as boys use in debating societies. The pleasantry was as awkward as the gambols of a hippopotamus." f Mutual forbearance, mutual toleration, are the last lessons humanity wiU learn. If England had dealt with AustraUa as she did with America — if she had refused it the privilege of levying its own taxes and passing its own laws, that vast region would ere this have erected itself into a rival state. When two states, or two portions of the same state, engage in war, it is curious to observe how constantly each throws the "responsibiUty" of the outbreak on the other. It was so in the rupture between England and the colonies. The Quakers of Philadelphia seized muskets and pitchforks with aU alacrity, and marched against the British troops. MUitary men too, settled in America, undertook to discipline the raw recruits; and a part of the lesson they taught was not to strike the first blow. * BosweU's " Johnson," ch. xxiv, t " Life of Samuel Johnson." 236 ENGLISH PREMIERS, They justified their assembly in arms by the authority of Blackstone, who assures us in his " Commentaries"* that " in cases of national oppression, the nation has ere now very justifiably risen as one man to vindicate the original compact between the king and the people." They were miserably provided with munitions of war ; but they often profited by the British transports with which raging seas and ruthless storms strewed their coasts. These were . amply provisioned with hogs and oxen, beer and coals. The hay, oats, and beans for a single regiment of horse had cost £20,000; and the colonists saw with deHght the enor mous outlay which the mother country made in fruitless efforts to bring them to a sounder mind. " Britain," wrote Franklin with playful malice, "has kUled 150 Yankees this campaign, at the expense of three miUions, which is £20,000 a head ; and at Bunker's HiU she gained a mUe of ground, half of which she lost again by our taking post on Ploughed HUl. During the same time 60,000 chUdren have been born in America. From these data may easily be calculated the time and expense necessary to kill us aU, and conquer the whole country." t One is tempted to regret that Lord North had so manv exceUent qualities. "A very expressive word in our language — which describes an assemblage of many real virtues, of many qualities approaching nearly to virtue, and a union of manners at once pleasing and commanding * Book iv. ch. -vi. t " PoUtical and PhUosophical Pieces," p. 365. LORD NORTH, 237 respect — the word ' gentleman' was never appHed to any person in a higher degree, or more generally, than it was to Lord North, and to aU he said or did in the House of Commons."* It is not by his daughter only. Lady Charlotte Lindsay,t that his portrait has been drawn in attractive colours — a loving child may be supposed to be bUnd to many of a' parent's faults — ^but his great opponent Hkewise, Edmund Burke, assures us that, " He was a man of admirable parts, of general knowledge, of a versatile understanding, fitted for every sort of business, of infinite wit and pleasantry, of a delightful temper, and of a mind most perfectly disinterested. But," he adds, " it would be only to degrade myself by a weak adulation, and not to honour the memory of a great man, to deny that he wanted something of the vigilance and spirit of command that the time required." % If he had not been "a man of high honour, amiable temper, winning manners, and lively wit,"§ he might have been ejected from office sooner. But his fatal per sistence in the idea of exacting obedience from the Ame ricans derived strength from his probity and pleasing address. A bUl, passed in December, 1775, prohibited all trade and intercourse with the revolted colonies, and authorised the commanders of ships of war to capture * Charles Butler's " Reminiscences," vol. i. p. 157. t Appendix to Brougham's "Historical Sketches." X " Letter to a Noble Lord." § Macaulay's " Life of WUUam Pitt," p. 150. 238 ENGLISH PREMIERS. any American ships, and dispose of them as prizes. All sailors and others found on board the captured vessels were liable to serve as common men in his Majesty's ships of war, and be compeUed to point British guns against the ports and fortresses of their native land. By this refinement of cruelty, many American officers and gentlemen were doomed to associate with the lowest of seamen in a stifling fore-cabin, and to enact the part ol fratricides. A few peers and members of parliament there were who protested against it ; but they protested in vain. Foreign troops were hired at a prodigious cost from the Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, and the Prince of Hesse Cassel. The premier believed that "every person in the House was firmly persuaded that the whole united strength of America would not be able to oppose the force which was meant to be sent out early in the spring." But though a miUion and a half sterling was to be spent on the mercenaries during the first year — though the enemy they had to encounter was better skilled in the use of spades and ploughshares than of bayonets and mortars — they were destined ere long to be scattered by the impetuous valour of peasants and shopmen, and to lie in the dust and the swamps, " like leaves of the summer when autumn has blown." In July, 1776,* the Declaration of Independence was made by Congress, but not without great reluctance to * July 4. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the fiftieth anniversary of this, the American RepubUc's, birthday. LORD NORTH, 239 the measure on the part of many colonies having first to be overcome.* For some time their numbers were equally divided on the question, and it was decided at last only by a casting vote. The step once taken, the combatants on both sides found in it a justification of their subse quent proceedings. King George and his prime minister became more than ever determined to chastise the rebels who had dared to pronounce the royal authority in America nuU ; and the colonists, by openly throwing off all aUegiance, placed themselves in a position to obtain succour from foreign powers. The success which at first attended the combined efforts of Admiral Lord Howe and his brother. General Sir William Howe, the juncture of Clinton and Cornwallis with the main army, the defeat of the American forces at Brooklyn, f the surrender of New York, J and the narrow escape of Washington from total destruction on the White Plains, § made the revolted colonists turn their eyes in the direction of YersaUles, and profit by General Howe's supineness in following up his victories, by sending Dr. Franklin to negotiate an alliance with England's most formidable rival. || This remarkable man was to the American cause in the cabinet what Washington was in the field. Genius had raised him above all the disadvantages of low birth in a * Lord Stanhope's "History," vol. vi. pp. 61-2. t August 27, 1776. X September 15, 1776. § October 28, 1776. II Gordon's " History of the American Revolution," vol. u. p. 372. 240 ENGLISH PREMIERS. country where birth was little regarded. From the counter, where his father sold soap and candles, he had pushed on tUl he had acquired a competence as a printer in PhUadelphia. His public spirit, shown in various literary and scientific undertakings, pointed him out as a fit representative of the people, and during thirty years pre-vious to the war he filled numerous offices in the colonial administration. Integrity and talent marked his course ; and amid public affairs he found time daUy for the pursuit of science through her subHmest heights and in her deepest recesses. Many precious discoveries in electricity are due to his research ; and Turgot aUudes to his invention of the lightning-conductor in the Hne : " Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis." WhUe he was closeted with ministers at YersaUles, and accepting every mark of honour in Paris, American cruisers were swarming in European seas, capturing our homeward-bound West India ships, till the insurance of such vessels was raised to twenty-five per cent. — exten sively damaging our commerce, and filUng the Thames with foreign brigs and schooners laden with EngUsh products, which the merchants of London were afraid to trust under the security of the British flag. Troubles and disasters, however, multiplied on the colonists. General Clinton drove them from Rhode Island; Corn wallis overran New Jersey, Sir WUliam Howe advanced to the banks of the Delaware ; and many of the wealthier LORD NORTH, 241 classes made their submission to Lord Howe and Sir WUliam, who, now feeling secure of triumph, offered pardon to all who should return to their allegiance within sixty days. It was a time of darkness and dismal foreboding.* " What will you do," people asked of Washington, " if Philadelphia be taken ? " " Retire behind the Susque hanna, and if necessary to the AUeghanies," was the Commander-in-Chief's heroic reply. He had retreated across the Delaware ; and EngUsh generals were -writing home in high spirits on the virtual subjugation of the rebels, when at last the tide of fortune turned. Three regiments of renowned Hessians, hired from Germany for the British service, were posted at Trenton with a body of English cavalry. On a freezing Christmas night Washington recrossed the river in sUence. The deep snows favoured his noiseless approach, and he feU like a thunderbolt on the affrighted mercenaries, and captured two-thirds of their number, with 1,200 stand of arms and six field-pieces. The American force was not more numerous than that of their enemies, yet they lost only four men, two of whom perished through the intense cold. This brilliant achievement revived the courage of the colonists, and was speedUy followed by more substantial triumphs. By a weU-conceived attack on Princeton,t Washington * See " Writings of Washington," vol. iv. p. 184, t January 3, 1777. VOL. I. K. 242 ENGLISH PREMIERS, confirmed his previous victory ; New Jersey was delivered from the English, and Congress was able once more to assemble at Philadelphia. Thus the campaign closed ; and though, in the summer of 1777, Sir William Howe and Lord Cornwallis were successful respectively in the battle of Brandywine,* and the capture of Philadelphia ;f though Washington was again defeated at German Town, J and compelled to take up his winter- quarters in the hills, the reverses he sustained were amply redeemed by the success of American arms in another part of the con tinent. Burgoyne, with - 5,752 men, surrendered to General Gates at Saratoga ;§ and France, Spain, and Holland, taking advantage of England in her difficulties, threw their power into the adverse scale, and assisted the insur rection, with which they could have felt Httle genuine sympathy. || Count Rochambeau and the Marquis Lafayette rendered valuable assistance ; and many of those who shared in their expedition imbibed in America those republican principles which proved, ten or twelve years later, the death-blow of the French monarchy, and altered the face of Europe. Sir Henry Clinton, another English general, succumbed before the genius of Washington, and Lord CornwaUis himself had the deep mortification of being compelled to surrender to the combined American * September 11, 1777. t September 26, 1777. X October 4, 1777. { October 16, 1777. II The treaty -with France was signed on February 6, 1778. LORD NORTH, 243 and French forces.* There were generals who advised him not to yield. The brave Colonel Tarleton engaged to break through the enemies' Hne and join Clinton, if only two thousand men were allowed him ; but the counsels of submission prevailed. Peace with America was concluded. Even Lord Rodney's victory off Guadaloupe f could not take out its sting. The United States were declared " free, sovereign, and independent ;" and a large dish of humble pie was set before his majesty George III. Lord North and his colleagues held out to the last, and refused to be made parties to a peace which they deprecated on degrading terms. But the House of Commons, so long submissive, could no longer be drilled into service against the cause of humanity ; and when, in February 1782, the ministers were, after prodigious exertion,+ unable to obtain a larger majority than one § against General Conway's motion that the war ought no longer to be prosecuted for the im practicable purpose of subduing the colonies. Lord North was compelled to retire from office, || and to resign his misused supremacy into the hands of Lord Rockingham. I shall come presently to him and his short-lived ministry of only fifteen weeks, but in the meanwhile something more must be said about the latter years of Lord North's administration. » October 19, 1781. f AprU 12, 1782; London Gazette of May 18. X Jesse's " George III.," vol. ii. pp. 342-3. § 194 to 193. Jesse's " George IIL," vol. u. p. 342. II Wednesday, March 20, 1782. 244 ENGLISH PREMIERS, The year 1779 was marked by unusual ferment. In Scotland the populace of Edinburgh and Glasgow were excited by the removal of a few Roman CathoUc disabUities. In Ireland the shackles imposed on trade galled the national spirit. In England frantic weavers out of employ were burning Arkwright's cotton-frame. In America a disastrous war was languishing towards its disgraceful end ; while in the British Channel Sir Charles Hardy was forced to retire before the combined fleets of France and Spain, which, with sixty-five ships of the line, menaced our ports with ruin, and our coasts with immediate inva sion. Fifty thousand regular troops, and as many mUitia, with the King at their head, were ready to meet the foe.* The sovereign's coolness and courage were beyond aU suspicion, and it were only to be wished that he had known sometimes when to yield. Lord Chatham could no longer " convey," as the King had complained he did two years before, " fresh fuel to the rebels." His " extra ordinary brain containing nothing," to use the words of George IIL, " but specious words and malevolence," f had ceased to electrify. But the Opposition was in no wise tamed by his decease ; and the critical state of affairs gave them endless opportunities of buU-baiting the premier. Fortunately for Lord North the Spanish and the French admirals were at loggerheads respecting the proper time for invasion, and whUe they disputed, a * Jesse's " George III.," vol. U. p. 247. t King to Lord North, May 31, 1777. LORD NORTH, 245 putrid fever broke out among the seamen, and the fleets dispersed. The Statute-book of England has long been degraded by some of the most persecutive laws against Catholics that were ever framed. Nor can they all be referred to a period as remote as the reign of Queen Elizabeth. When William of Orange was called to the throne the nation was furious at the lawless indiscretion of James IL, and a large body of the people was more than ever disposed to retaliate on Papists, and prove themselves greater perse cutors than those whom they denounced. Happily William III. was not anxious to second their savage intentions, and sincerely wished to prevent his subjects of all denominations from slaughtering each other for the love of God. But he gave assent to the " Act to prevent the further growth of Popery," which we find under the heading of 11 and 12 William III. To the pains and penalties previously inflicted by many remorseless parlia ments, it added a prohibition to Popish priests from officiating at all in the service of religion. If foreigners, they were to be guilty of felony ; if natives of Britain, their offence was to be high treason. To offer the holy sacrifice in a secret assembly, to minister the word of God from house to house disguised as a pedlar or baker, to catechise the young and console the dying, was to bring back the days of the Roman catacombs and forced liba tions to the gods of the empire. The boasted champion of civil and religious freedom, with every disposition 246 ENGLISH PREMIERS, personally to befriend all religious classes in his dominions, was placed by an intolerant senate under the necessity of acting the part of Decius and Dioclesian.* By the provisions of this wicked act. Catholic heirs, who happened to be educated in foreign countries, incurred a forfeiture of their estates, and these descended to the next Protestant heir. A Protestant son was enabled to dispossess his Catholic father ; and persons guilty of Popery were made legally incapable of purchas ing land. The original draft of the bill was compara- tiv.ely harmless ; but during its progress through the House, violent men, anxious to trample out the Catholic religion, added various severe clauses, and accused aU of secretly favouring Popery who inclined to more lenient measures. The King himself, as Bishop Burnet teUs us,t was said by Jacobites to be a Catholic, or at least a favourer of the Catholic superstition. Perhaps it was to clear himself of this imputation that William III. pro moted the bill, and disgraced himself by giving it his royal sanction. The thinking part of the nation became heartily ashamed of it in eighty years, and in 1778 Sir George Savile brought in a biU for its repeal. It is greatly to Lord North's credit that he did not oppose it, and pleasing to reflect that it was passed without a dis senting voice. * " History of the Penal Laws against Roman CathoUcs," by Madden, pp. 232-3. t " History of his o-vra Times," Svo. pp. 316, 317, 3rd. ed. LORD NORTH. 247 The priests were thus exempted from persecution, and it was no longer unlawful for Roman Catholics to pur chase lands, and take them by descent. Horace Walpole* wrote on the occasion, " May I not wish you joy on the restoration of Popery ? I expect soon to see Capuchins tramping about, and Jesuits in high places. We are relapsing fast to our pristine state." But Horace, like his illustrious father, -was always on the side of Hberal measures when he spoke seriously. No premier since Walpole, however retrograde in his tendencies, has been able to check the tide of improvement. In spite of occa sional obstacles, it has steadily advanced, always gaining on some points, and always deriving strength from recoil. The relief afforded to Catholics in England would have been extended to Ireland but for the exertions of zealots devoid of every talent except that of kindling " hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness." f False tongues spoke to excitable multitudes by means of pamphlets widely disseminated, and so wrought on their fears of unreal danger, that in 1779 a bitter and persecuting "Protestant Association " was formed throughout England ; and in Edinburgh and Glasgow the descendants of Covenanters proved their zeal for the purity of the faith by burning the houses and destroying the property of their Catholic neighbours. J * Letter to Rev. Mr. Cole, May 21, 1778. t Flanagan's " British and Irish History," p. 793. X Lord Stanhope, vol. vi. pp. 260-1 ; Jesse's " George III.," vol. u. p. 261. ENGLISH PREMIERS. The recognised leader of this party was a young noble man of distinguished family, whose eccentricities passed for genius, and whose private life accorded Ul with his show of Puritanism in dress and manners. At his insti gation sixty thousand rabid Protestants assembled in St. George's Fields,* signed a petition for the repeal of Sir George Savile's bill, and, with blue cockades in their hats, attended Lord George Gordon to the House of Com mons, where he purposed to plead their cause. Every avenue to the doors was beset by his followers, and the government is suspected of conniving at the tumultuous assembly. No-popery explosions were on the right side, and could not but support the interest of Church and State. But the authorities had not calculated on such excesses as really took place. They did not intend that peers should be mobbed and outraged, that the chapels of the Sardinian and Bavarian embassies should be burnt to the ground, nor that the dweUings of Catholics should be dismantled, and the furniture set on fire in the streets. On the other hand, when Protestant zeal was exhibited in so marked a manner, it was not to be expected that the magistrates should order the mUitary to fire. From the chapels in Yirginia Lane and East Smithfield the rioters proceeded to the house of Sir George Sa-vile, scattering * "About a hundred thousand;'' "Mobs," Cornhill Magazine, 1867; Gibbon ("Miscellaneous Works," p. 299) speaks of "forty thousand Puritans." LORD NORTH. 249 firebrands at every step. Cellars were rifled, jails were forced open, and prisoners released. Lord Mansfield's library and MSS. were shriveUed in flames, and Cowper has sung the loss.* Mrs. Thrale's town house was attacked, and the Streatham mansion, where Johnson, Goldsmith, and Frances Burney were frequent guests, was thought to be in danger.f The houses of several justices of the peace were levelled with the dust, and various public buildings, including the Bank of England, were threatened with demolition. The madness of the rioters was now at its height, and the only efficient remedy was at length applied. The King himself gave the order to fire, which his irresolute ministers had hesitated to sign, and his firmness saved the capital. The soldiers charged ; and hundreds of deluded wretches fell, deep-stained with crime, and many innocent persons also were involved in the carnage. Edward Gibbon, the historian, like Horace Walpole, % was an eye-witness of this outbreak, and says, " The month of June will ever be marked by a dark and diabo lical fanaticism, which I had supposed to be extinct, but which actually subsists in Great Britain, perhaps beyond any other country in Europe." § When the tumult was suppressed, Lord George Gordon * " Lines on the buming of Lord Mansfield's Ubrary." t Mrs. Crosland. " Memorable Women," p. 90. X Letter to the Earl of Strafford, June 12, 1780. Lord Stanhope, vol. vn., oh. Ixi. \ " Miscellaneous Works," p. 300. 250 ENGLISH PREMIERS. was taken into custody, and examined before several Lords of the Privy Council. His heated brain had time to cool during his confinement in the Tower. When tried in Westminster Hall for high treason, he was, of course, acquitted ; nor indeed would it be fair to convict the orators of Exeter Hall, who are in our day quite as unsound in mind as Lord George, of conspiracy against the government. This champion of Protestantism ended by becoming a Jew. The corpses of five hundred victims of his foUy strewed the streets of London ; twenty of his wUd foUowers were executed, and thirty-nine were transported for life. Of one who was hanged, we are told that he cut off his wife's head with a saw, because she came home in liquor, with a blue riband in her bonnet, hiccuping, " No Popery." The parliament condescended to explain Sir George Savile's bill to the people, and to show that, though intended to relieve Papists, it was not meant to encourage Popery. A riot quelled is always strength gained to the ex ecutive government. It affords numerous pretexts for dispensing with the sanction of laws and parliaments. In consequence of the tumults in London the whole kingdom was subjected to military rule, and officers were empowered to act at discretion, without waiting for the call of the civil magistrate. The power of the Crown increased; the spirit of liberty evaporated, and the British Constitution seemed to be dying an easy death, LORD NORTH, 251 and sinking into the inglorious euthanasia of absolute monarchy. It was idle to talk of freedom when the Middlesex electors were robbed for years of a right of voting which was absolutely their o-wn ; when Lord Mansfield's doctrine, was current which made libel a matter for judges to' decide, and not juries ; when unrepresented colonies could be recklessly taxed by the British parUament ; when to dissent from the established religion was to forfeit the privileges of freemen ; when, in spite of the compact made in the Bill of Rights, the King, like a Stuart or a Bour bon, was a law unto himself ; and the way was preparing for the stiU more complete suppression of liberty during the war with France and the dreary supremacy of the Liverpool cabinet. Doubtless freedom consists in a prudent medium between two extremes, but ought it therefore to be Hke Issachar, " a strong ass couching down between two burdens ?" In the time of Lord North, and during his sole administration, it was certainly reduced to the con dition of that ignoble beast by the intrigues of the Court and the plots of the borough-market. With every wish to be moderate, I look in vain in the constitution of that epoch for the counterpart of Burke's beautiful Utopia. Not even the dulcet tones of his thoughtful eloquence could have inspired me then with his " proud and com fortable sentiment of freedom." If Lord North had succeeded in his scheme of subju- 252 ENGLISH PREMIERS, gating the American colonies, the shadow of the throne would have overspread the land, and nothing less, perhaps, than another 1688 would have restored to the English people their forfeited rights. "If England prevaUs," wrote Walpole,* " English and American liberty is at an end." Liberty, to be genuine, must be mutual : tyrants are never free. They carry the chains they would fasten on others, and are galled by the weight. Liberties limit liberties. Protestant liberties limit Catholic ; Sec tarian liberties limit those of the Establishment. But in this mutual surrender of a part Hes the reciprocal enjoy ment of the whole. The liberty which is aU on one side iis not worth the name. There were not wanting men at this period who arose from time to time in the Houses of Parliament, set forth the manifold miseries of Ireland, and pleaded for redress. Among these were Lords Rockingham and Shelburne, Nugent and Beauchamp. The impassioned appeals of Burke were added to their remonstrances, and a promise was at length extorted from the ministry that some remedy should be applied to the ills in question. Ac cordingly in the next session, which began in 1779, Lord North was worried into producing the paltry salves which were to heal the wounds of centuries. Three acts were passed, by which the Irish were aUowed to export their raw and manufactured wool, to import and export glass, * " Correspondence of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford," September 7, 1775. LORD NORTH, 253 and to carry on trade with the coast of Africa and the American colonies, subject to such limitations and duties as their local parUament might see fit to impose.* The disinterestedness even of these trifling concessions may be doubted. They were probably made -with a view to increasing the revenue of Ireland, which at that moment little more than covered the expenses of its civU establishment, and maintained the 11,000 disciplined troops that were found necessary to keep it in order. Like all provinces reduced to bondage, it had not only to endure the iron hoofs of oppression, but was compelled to pay its oppressors for their trouble in trampling it down. Edmund Burke's espousal of its cause was the more honourable to him, because in the case of England he took other ground, believed the constitution perfect, and did not, like Fox, Sheridan, and Grey, agitate for parlia mentary reform, f In granting a minimum of favour to poor Ireland, it was amusing to hear Lord North declare that it had long been the wish of his heart to reHeve and console that desolate land. The numerous petitions, he said, which had been presented against any such indul gence had hitherto been the obstacle in his way ; but he did not remind the House how, in the war of coercion with America, he had for years been turning a deaf ear to the prayers of countless petitioners for peace. But * Smile's " History of Ireland," p. 349. t James Burke, " Memoir of Edmund Burke ;" Letter of Sheridan to Fitzpatrick, May 20, 1782. 254 ENGLISH PREMIERS, Lord North, who would not listen to the cries of humanity and common sense, allowed himself, in his extreme sensibility to the voice of public opinion, to be quite overruled by the clamour of narrow-minded and intolerant bigots ! It was time that his popularity should wane. Several symptoms of its decline had already been noticed. His increase of the land-tax to four shillings in the pound in 1775 had in some degree weakened his party. The warm debates on retrenchment in the public expenditure, in January and February, 1780, wamed him stUl more plainly of an approaching crisis ; and when at last, in the month of April, Dunning made his motion that "the influence of the Crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished," Lord North was left by his adherents in a distressing minority. 233 members against 215 voted with Dunning ; and his second motion, which set forth the competency of the House to examine into and correct abuses in every branch of the public revenue, was carried without a division.* The fabric of North's power seemed to be toppling over, when Mr. Thomas Pitt shook it yet more violently by mo-ving a resolution to the effect that immediate and effectual redress ought to be provided for the abuses complained of in petitions from all the counties and to-wns in the kingdom. * Lord Stanhope, vol. vU. pp. 13—15 ; Jesse's " George III.," vol. u. p. 259. LORD NORTH, 255 Lord North, however, found means to recover himself and to retard his faU. His followers admired, and even loved him. He was endeared to his family as a most affectionate father and husband. He could bear invective without retort, and his good humour was never exhausted. His puns were not always of the best sort, but he could easily turn the laugh against his opponents. Earl Rus sell has preserved some amusing specimens of his ready wit, and they serve to explain the great influence he had in the House of Commons.* He was based too firmly on the royal will to be blown over by the breath of Burke's eloquence. Wit, poetry, and logic met together in that orator's elaborate speech on Economical Reform. He introduced the subject like an adept,t and apologised for his boldness in the way most likely to obviate objections. But Burke did not enjoy in his lifetime that popularity which has been awarded to him since his death. It is, though in a less degree, with speeches as with writing — the majority of those who hear the one and read the other cannot dis cover their merits until critics point them out. This was especially the case with Burke's oratory. There was too much in it for the mass of hearers. Its distinctions were too fine, its flowers too delicate, for the coarse handling of practical debaters. Country squires fell asleep under it, and mere place-hunters listened with fatigue to melodious * "Correspondence of Charles James Fox," vol. i. pp. 121-22. t February 11, 1780. 2S6 ENGLISH PREMIERS, gushings that filled Fox and Sheridan with delight.* Burke's friend, Dr. Goldsmith, described him weU when he said : — " Too deep for his hearers, Burke went on refining. And thought of con-vincing, whole they thought of dining ; Though equal to aU things, for all things unfit ; Too luce for a statesman, too proud for a -wit ; For a patriot too cool, for a drudge disobedient ; And too fond of the right to pursue the expedient. In short, 'twas his fate, unemployed or in place, sir, To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks -with a razor." f Accordingly when Burke, with a profoimd knowledge of finance, laid before the House his luminous plan of reform in every branch of the revenue, proposed the amalgamation of some offices, the abolition of others, the better management of the Mint, the cutting down of pensions, the reduction of huge salaries and military expenses, members were astonished at the diUgence and ability he displayed, but were far too deeply interested in the maintenance of such abuses to give him a^ helping hand, and bandage those "bleeding arteries of profusion." He half foresaw the fate of his salutary efforts. " I know it is common," he said, "at once to applaud and to reject all attempts of this nature. I know it is common for men to say, that such and such things are perfectly right — very desirable ; but that, unfortunately, they are not * WUberforce's "Diary," 1788 ; "Life,'' vol. i. p. 169. t "RetaUation." See also " Edmund Burke " inihe Fortnightly Review March, 1867. From such articles in periodical pubUcations some of the most charming side-Ughts fall on the history of the premiers. LORD NORTH, 257 practicable. 0 no, sir, no ! Those things which are not practicable are not desirable. There is nothing in the world reaUy beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a well-directed pursuit. There is nothing that God has judged good for us that He has not given us the means to accomplish, both in the natural and the moral world. But if we cry, like chUdren, for the moon, like children we must cry on." Burke's measure of financial reform, though rejected at first, was carried out afterwards in many of its provisions. By the reduction, indeed, of the salary of the Paymaster, he himself lost subsequently £1,300 a year. His un flinching patriotism contributed greatly to Lord North's overthrow ; and although that minister obtained a momen tary triumph by the sudden dissolution of parliament in 1780, the Opposition clamoured so loudly for peace with America, and the petitions for the same object which poured in upon the House were so numerous and urgent, that in March, 1782, North announced his intention of resigning, to the great joy of a people who discovered too late how much wealth had been lavished, how much blood shed, to maintain a principle of very doubtful validity.* George III. alone persisted in his former views, and never ceased to express his gratitude to Lord North for having come to his aid when the Duke of Grafton, in an hour of public embarrassment, " suddenly threw up the * Lord North succeeded to the Earldom of Guilford in 1790, and died in 1792. VOL. I. S ENGLISH PREMIERS, seals, and retired to his diversions and his mistress at Newmarket." * But the anxiety of the King, when the fond ducal lover of Nancy Parsons f resigned, was trifling compared to the anguish with which he parted with Lord North. The domestic virtues of that good-humoured nobleman had endeared him to his sovereign no less than his uniform resistance to popular measures. He, and Lord Eldon after him, were George III.'s special favourites. There is a pasquinade extant, giving an imaginary Hst of the company at one of Mrs. Cornely's masquerades, with their dresses. His Majesty, it is said, appeared "in a chUd's frock and bib, foUowed by Lord North, in the habit of an old woman, holding him in leading-strings." But such a caricature, even had it been really exhibited, could have caused Httle mirth in the assembly. Every one knew that George III. had a wUl of his o-wn, and was the last man in the kingdom to be held in any one's leading-strings. It is, on the contrary, certain that North's affection for his royal master led him too often to yield his better judgment to the King's prejudices. Hence the mutual trust which marked their joint ad ministration, and hence also their common fault and folly, in alienating from the British empire a large part of its western dependencies. Never did greater confi dence exist between a King and his minister. " It was * Lord Brougham's " Historical Sketches : Lord North." t "Letters of Junius," June 12 and 22, 1769. LORD NORTH. 259 the faith of Henry lY. in SuUy, of Charles Y. in Gran- veUa, revived."* The reins of government were next intrusted to Lord Rockingham, whose integrity and enlightened views ad mirably quaUfied him for his high post. Thomas Moore has summed up the good and useful acts of his short- Hved ministry ; and he concludes that the marquis, in his second tenure of office, " did more, perhaps, for the prin ciples of the Constitution than any one administration that England had seen since the revolution." f With the brU liant and high-souled Fox for his colleague, he might, if his life had been prolonged, have accomplished yet greater things for his country, and have repaired much of the mischief done by the Gren-viUes and Norths, who had so long misguided the car of state. But death soon caUed him off the scene ; and his successor, Lord Shelburne, was unable to win the entire confidence of the Whig leaders. He has the merit of having promoted the great WiUiam Pitt, whom he made Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but Fox was unwiUing to act with him, and in a few months he gave place to the Duke of Portland- — the head of the Whigs. His cabinet was one of coalition; and in the next number of this series I propose to give an outline of the character and career of its most distinguished member — Charles James Fox. * Donne's "Introduction," p. Lxxxv. t " Life of Sheridan," vol. i. p. 374. See also " Life of Curran, by his Son," vol. i. p. 179. CBA.ELES JAMES FOX. " With knowledge so vast, and with judgment so strong. No man -with the half of 'em e'er went far -wrong ; With passions so potent, and fancies so bright, No man -with the half of 'em e'er went quite right. BuENS, "Sketch : Inscribed to the Right Hon. C. J. Fox." vn. CHARLES JAMES FOX. TT is the good fortune of a writer on the English premiers to draw his materials! from compositions of the rarest beauty. The histories of Horace Walpole, Massey, Lord Stanhope, and Jesse ; the biographies of Macaulay, Moore, Russell, Campbell, BeU, Gleig, Croly, Bulwer, Guizot, and Brougham; the speeches of Chatham, Pitt, Fox, Burke, Sheridan, Plunket, Canning, and Peel, are each a fertUe field and a precious mine, abounding with all that is attractive and valuable to a cultivated mind. The less ornate records of the past— the private correspondence of Horace Walpole, Lady Hervey, Lord Chesterfield, George IIL, and William lY. ; the diaries and memoirs of Lords Waldegrave and Malmesbury, of Bubb Dodington, Wraxall, and Rose; the Hardwicke, Rockingham, and Grenville papers, the Chatham and Bedford correspondence, the voluminous correspondence of Lord Castlereagh, the despatches of the Diike of Wel- Hngton, the state papers and unpublished letters, from which historians draw new facts, and out of which they 264 ENGLISH PREMIERS. educe new lights, have been carefully searched by several of the authors above mentioned, and little is left for those who come after them but to glean here and there a few ears, or to dispose their stately and graceful sheaves in a different form and in a reduced size. They can, for the most part, in their commentaries only echo the wisdom of more patient observers, and retail for popular use the stores which their diligence has amassed. It is often with a feeling of regret that they abridge their fasci nating details, and give but in outline those pictures which others have so highly finished. One who sketches the lives of English statesmen will never feel such regret more than in handling the volumes that relate to the "mighty chiefs," Fox and Pitt. The avaUable matter respecting them is so copious and interesting, that to condense it seems like an injustice towards their memory. It is like writing a ballad on a subject which requires an epic. It was on the 24th of January, 1749, that Charles James Fox first saw the light. He was born in Conduit Street, where his father Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, resided with his mother. Lady Georgina Caroline Fox, eldest daughter of the Duke of Richmond. Wealth and luxury rocked his cradle, and he was Nature's spoiled child from the first. His quick parts and winning ways far surpassed those of other boys. His sayings when a child were treasured up, and his father would sometimes dine tHe-d-tite with Charles in a frock and pinafore, and CHARLES JAMES FOX. 265 find him " very pert and very argumentative." He loved books, was " dreadfully passionate," and stage-mad. He had, in short, aU the finer elements of a gifted intellect, and needed the discipline of heavenly wisdom to make him equally good and great. Mr. Fox and Lady Caroline were fond parents, but too indulgent to the wayward boy of whom they were so proud. At an early age he went to Pampellonne's school at Wandsworth, where many boys of his own rank were prepared for public schools ; at nine years old he was sent to Eton, where he studied diligently under the eye of Mr. Francis, the translator of Horace. He was often brought to to-vm for his amusement, and astonished many grey heads by his youthful wisdom. The Duke of Devonshire especially was struck by his " sagacity " when not yet fourteen years old. 1763 was a sad year for Httle Charles — sad, though brimful of pleasure — for in it he first visited Paris and Spa ; first lost and won stakes at a roulette table, and contracted, at his father's side, that passion for play which subsequently damaged his reputation, diverted him from the noblest ends of existence, and pierced him through with many sorrows. On returning to Eton, he had the honour of being flogged by the head-master, and also became known as a speaker. His fame in debate brought his father do-wn to hear him perorate, and procured him in return the pleasure of being admitted to the discussion in the House of Commons relative to No. 54 of Wilkes's North Briton. In October, 1764, Fox entered at Hertford 266 'ENGLISH PREMIERS. College, Oxford, under Dr. Newcome, afterwards Primate of Ireland. The letters which he wrote whUe an undergraduate abound with aUusions to pubUc events both poHtical and Hterary ; and though dating from his fifteenth year, they have every appearance of being written by a man of thirty. He paid great attention to French, which he wrote with remarkable ease, whether in prose or verse. " I read much," he said in a letter to his friend Macartney, " and am vastly fond of mathematics. I beUeve they are useful, and I am sure they are entertaining." He did not yet know how superficially they were taught at Oxford in his day. The way in which he cautions his friends against gaming is rather amusing, and proves only how much the subject ran in his head. The whole. of one vacation he passed with Dickson, afterwards Bishop of Do-wn ; and they studied hard together during the day, then adjourned in the evening to the inner part of a bookseller's shop, where they diverted each other by reading aloud in turns all the dramatic poets of England previous to the Restoration. Fox was a capital pedestrian, and on one occasion he and Dickson undertook to walk from Oxford to London without a penny in their pockets. They had not reached Nettlebed, between Benson and Henley, before Fox was so hot and tired that he was compelled to halt at an ale house and pawn his gold watch for some bread and cheese. Thus fortified, he and his friend arrived at Holland House CHARLES JAMES FOX. 267 in the course of the day, and no time was lost in sending the money to redeem the watch. Many persons foresaw the conspicuous part which Charles would take in poHtics ; and when Lady HoUand was expostulating with his father one day on his excessive indulgence, she predicted her darling boy's rivalry with Pitt, who was his junior by ten years. " I have been this morning," she said, "with Lady Hester Pitt (Lady Chatham), and there is Httle WiUiam Pitt, not eight years old, and really the cleverest child I ever saw, and brought up so strictly and so proper in his behaviour that — mark my words — that little boy wUl be a thorn in Charles's side as long as he lives." Such predictions are seldom fulfiUed; for who is so likely as a fond mother to rate her chUd's talents too highly ? Lady HoUand, however, did not overshoot the mark, as the subsequent history of England during forty years abundantly testifies. At seventeen Charles James was intimate with Burke, his senior by nineteen years. The most thoughtful and imaginative orator of his day often laid aside the routine of business to converse by the hour with a youth to whose precocious mind few paths of Uterature or science were whoUy untrodden. Fortune and station gave him every facility for completing his education, and crowning it with the bright summers and most brilliant society to be found in the south of France, the Netherlands, Rome, Naples, and Genoa. Mr. Uvedale Price, the author of " The Picturesque," 268 ENGLISH PREMIERS, accompanied him in his travels. His mornings were devoted to Italian poets and French correspondence ; his evenings to friends and fashion, and to private thea tricals, in which he delighted to take a prominent part. He visited Yoltaire at Ferney, where traveUers from aU parts of Europe flocked to pay homage to the misdirected genius of the prince of scoffers.* Sometimes they were disappointed with their host. Perhaps Fox and his friend were not over- well pleased. The vain old man did not ask them to dinner, but conversed a short time, whUe walking in his garden, and after giving them a cup of chocolate, sent them on their way. Something, indeed, he gave them besides the chocolate, and that was a Hst of some of his works, which he thought might " open their minds, and free them from any religious prejudices." " YoiM," he said, as he handed them the catalogue, " des livres dont il faut se munir ! " f No pleasures diverted Charles James from accurate pursuits ; but whether French verses, a new game at cards, chess, gardening, or even carving at table, was concerned, he applied himself to it assiduously tUl he attained the perfection required. His frequent acting on private stages gained him a prodigious knowledge of dramatic poetry, and also produced that easy and varied manner — that heart-touching modulation of voice — which * Sir Archibald AHson's " History of Europe from 1789 to 1815," vol. i. ch. u. pp. 40 — 61. t Letter from Uvedale Price to Rogers, September, 1814. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 269 distinguished him from every other orator of his time. His youth was marked with no violence of political opinion one way or the other ; and his father's hostUity to Chatham having abated when the first Rockingham administration was dismissed, the son's early prejudice against that great man diminished in proportion. He looked back with a smUe on the verses he wrote in French in his fifteenth year ; in which he had exalted Bute above Pitt both in virtue and wisdom I Fox was nineteen years and four months old when he was elected member of Parliament for Midhurst. He sat and spoke with much spirit before he was of age. He did not aim at oratory, but his remarks went straight to the point. The Duke of Grafton was premier, and Chatham, his mightiest colleague, stood apart in cloudy retirement. Lord Holland had deserted the Duke of Devonshire and the Whigs, forfeited the friendship of the Duke of Cumberland, and aided Lord Bute in driving out of office all the aristocratic Whig leaders who were obnoxious to the King and his favourite minister. The politics of Charles James, therefore, in the early part of his career, though not extreme, were opposed to those which he afterwards professed, and leaned to the side of absolutism rather than democracy. He sided with the government in the affair of Wilkes, and spoke warmly in favour of the return of Colonel LuttreU for Middlesex. He exasperated the City and the populace, of whom WUkes was the idol, and helped to expose Holland House 270 ENGLISH PREMIERS. to the danger of being stormed and burnt. But his services in the cause of outrageous injustice demanded a reward ; and Charles James received it in being appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty in 1770. Lord North — indolent, easy, and good-tempered — succeeded the the Duke of Grafton ; and Lady HoUand congratulated herself on Charles's connection -with him. " I daresay," she said, " Charles wiU inspire him with courage." He was certainly bold enough at the gaming-table ; but play is serious when kingdoms are in the dice-box. It was a trifle to him to borrow £10,000, and bring it to town at the risk of being robbed on the road. The rouleaux at Almack's in that day were always £50 each, and £10,000 in gold was generaUy on the table. The gamesters wore frieze greatcoats, or turned their em broidered coats inside out for luck. Pieces of leather guarded their laced ruffles, and high-crowned straw hats kept their hair in place, and screened their eyes from the glare of light. With flowers and ribbons in their broad brims, and masks to conceal their emotions, they presented a strange spectacle. A smaU neat stand stood by each of them to hold the tea and the wooden bowl, ormolu-edged, which contained the rouleaux. Then the Jews — the Jews — in what Fox called his Jerusalem Chamber — what sums they lent on exorbitant usury ! * By degrees his mind freed itself from the contracted notions in which he had been brought up. His intimacy * Lord Orford to Mrs. Hannah More, February 9, 1793 ; " Life of WUberforce." vol. i. pp. 16—18. CHARLES JAMES FOX. 271 with Burke led him to sift many favourite fallacies ; and his father's death, together with some discontent with Lord North on personal grounds, led him to separate from the ministry, and start afresh on his own account. The pressure of debt urged him to new exertion. He was the victim of a ruinous confederation of aristocratic blacklegs, and the debts he contracted by the time he was twenty- four years of age amounted to £140,000. These were subse quently discharged from Lord HoUand's estate ; but the fact of having incurred them ought to have produced some sense of shame in Fox's mind, and to have checked his tongue when he uttered such violent philippics against the plunder and rapine of Lord Clive. But if Horace Walpole can be trusted, he was " as proud of shining in his vices as by his parts." His " aversion to aU restraints," and his opposition to the King's pet bUl for controlling the marriages of Royal Princes, made him an object of dislike to George III. ; he resigned his seat at the Board of Admiralty for the express purpose of opposing that Act ; and though for a time he was partially restored to ministerial favour. Lord North removed him from the Treasury in 1774, from which period his political career really begins. The King was in censed at his presumption, and wrote about him to the premier, saying : — " That young man has so thoroughly cast off every principle of common honour and honesty, that he must become as contemptible as he is odious."* * February 16, 1774. 272 _ ENGLISH PREMIERS, The questions raised by the American war compelled men to choose their sides ; and in 1774, when Fox was in his twenty-fifth year, those questions assumed their definite shape. The struggle for independence com menced ; and the Americans, who had hitherto been loyal to the mother country, became estranged and rebel lious through misrule and coercion. Fox had not been taught in his youth to examine seriously the questions of the day, and he could not be expected to make much progress in the science of political economy while sitting at hazard — as he did on one occasion twenty- two hours in succession — and losing — as he lost in one day and night — £11,000 at a sitting.* But the period of mature reflection arrived at last; he adopted higher views of politics, and more popular motives of action than he had learned from his father ; while, at the same time, in resisting needless war and intolerance in every shape, he adhered to the principles of Sir Robert Walpole, which had become traditional in his family. He therefore threw his entire strength into the scale of the Opposition. He inveighed loudly against Lord North for his pusiUanimity — "his impudent and shameless silence." The prime minister, with his usual quickness and humour, replied, that he had never before heard of impudent silence, but he had seen gentlemen on their legs whose shameless impudence shocked aU man- • See Sel-wyn's "Letters;" Thackeray's " Four Georges," Lect. iv. ; Gibbon's " MisceUaneous Works," p. 244. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 273 kind. Of course he upbraided Fox as a traitor ; but the young orator went on developing his vast powers of debate, and confessed that his support of Lord North had been the greatest foUy of his life. The year 1775 was passed in vain attempts to restrain the frantic conduct of the government ; but the efforts of the Opposition, as Lord Rockingham said, were like the pulling of a child against a runaway horse, they only made the animal's speed more furious ; perhaps he would stop the sooner if he were let alone. Fox was fuUy con vinced that the Americans would succeed; nor did he dread anything so much as the triumph of the Tories. There would be an end of aU progress, he said, if they finally gained the upper hand. But the champion of liberty was himself the slave of corruption. He aban doned none of his dissolute habits, was seldom in bed before five in the morning, nor out of it before two in the afternoon. In Paris and in London it was all the same. " II me semble," wrote Madame du Deffand, " que Mon sieur Fox est toujours dans une sorte d'ivresse. II joint d beaucoup d' esprit de la bont^, de la v^rit^ ; mais cela n'empSche pas qu'U ne soit detestable." Though it is pleasatit in these papers to recur to the history sketched in previous numbers, and to fiU up some of their outlines, the notices we possess of Fox's parHa mentary life in 1777 supply few additional materials, and they differ Httle from those of the preceding year, in which the Americans declared their independence. He VOL. I. T 274 ENGLISH PREMIERS, was stiU what the lady above cited called him — " un char- mant extravagant," and a thorn in Lord North's side. He had by this time risen into great importance as a debater ; * he grieved at the successes of British arms in America, and rejoiced over those of the colonists. This exposed him, of course, to the charge of being un patriotic; but he shared the obloquy with the great Chatham, who declared, " If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I would never lay down my arms — never — ^never — never ! " f When General Burgoyne surrendered at Sara toga with 3,500 men, Fox made a most briUiant attack on the American Secretary, Lord George Germaine, whom he compared to Doctor Sangrado — he would persist in draw ing blood because he had written a book upon bleeding ! The summer sun of this year smUed on a friendship formed by Fox on the banks of the Lakes of KUlamey. It was here that he became acquainted -with the eloquent Grattan, who claimed for Ireland that independent par Uament which had been denied to America, and advo cated, with Fox and Burke, the electoral claims of Irish Catholics. Here, too, Fox and his friend. Lord John Townshend, bathed in the Devil's Punch Bowl, and escaped aU the consequences to be feared from its extreme coldness. Their rashness, of course, was taken as a proof of spirit. * Lord Stanhope, vol. vi. p. 138. t Speech in the House of Lords on the Address, November, 1777. CHARLES JAMES FOX. 275 Public events passed on slowly, but in the direction Fox expected. The 17th of February, 1778, was equaUy memorable and ignominious in our annals. Lord North, who had so long been boasting that he could enslave America, laid before the House his plan of concUiation. He was wUling to treat with Congress, and recognise the independence of the colonies virtuaUy, but not in words. The members Hstened in amaze ; and when the premier had weU humbled himself by coming over to the views of the Opposition, Charles Fox rose, and asked whether a treaty of peace and commerce had not been concluded between France and the United States within the last ten days. Lord North was thunderstruck, for he did not know that the secret had transpired. He persisted in sUence tUl Burke and Sir George SavUe forced him to admit that he had heard some report of the treaty in question. " Some report " of such a treaty ten days old ! As many minutes would suffice now to blazon it throughout Europe. A war with France was imminent ; and Lord North, who had long been Ul at ease in his high dignity, wished to retire, as soon as he should have brought the dispute with the colonies to an honourable close. Nothing but the King's entreaties induced him to remain in office. Negotiations with Fox, Chatham, and some other mem bers of the Opposition, were set on foot, but failed. Chatham was impracticable, Lord North undecided, and the King, who was " his own unadvised minister," frus trated every attempt at coaUtion by his intense antipathy 276 ENGLISH PREMIERS, to the Whigs, and his narrow-minded aversion to every thing in the shape of liberty and reform. Lord North was his ideal of a minister ; he besought him to abide at his post with an earnestness almost puerUe, and declared again and again, by letter and by word of mouth, that he would rather lose his crown than be made a slave for the rest of his days to Lord Rockingham, Chatham, Fox, or any other member of the Opposition. He would tolerate none of them but as supporters of North* — that tottering pUlar of the state. He knew that Lord Chatham would come into office, if at all, only as a dictator; and though Lord Mansfield, Lord North, the younger George GrenviUe, and Lord Bute himself pointed to the great earl as the only man equal to the occasion, the King was resolute in refusing him admittance into the royal closet, f Any place in the cabinet might be his, provided he were not at its head. His Majesty would address himself directly to no one but Lord North, and would not even attempt to conciliate the Americans by resigning his authority into the hands of an imperious subject. But Chatham's -wiU was as un bending as that of his master ; he must be prime minister, or no minister at aU, and frame his cabinet and his mea sures according to the inspirations of his own mind. The wiU of George III. in most matters was unfor tunately backed by public opinion. The people saw ia » The King to Lord North, January 31, March 17, March 22, 1778. t Jesse's " George IIL," vol. u. pp. 198—200. CHARLES JAMES FOX. 277 his resolution " to prosecute the war " — they are his own words — " in all the quarters of the globe," — a proof of firmness rather than of infatuation, and they admired what they would have resisted, if they had been better informed. They depended chiefly on the Court for their knowledge of foreign affairs; and the Court, with its numerous dependants, took care to deceive them to the uttermost. No telegrams told on 'Change what battles were being fought, what provinces lost or won, in every corner of the earth ; but newspapers were comparatively rare, miserably informed, and perplexed with tardy rumours of uncertain and distant events. Negotiations were renewed with Fox, Rockingham, and the Duke of Richmond, with a view to coaUtion. Lord North admitted that he had long pursued a course which he disapproved.* A French and Spanish invasion was hourly expected ; and the combined squadrons, num bering sixty or seventy saU, were seen off the Lizard, f Since the days of Elizabeth no spectacle more mortifying had been witnessed ; yet the King stiU insisted on every means being employed " to keep the empire entire," and refused to part with Lord North, whom he governed, for any member of the Opposition — Camden, Shelburne, or Gower — who might govern him.J North waited for the » North MSS., Letter to the King, October or November, 1779; Lord Stanhope, vol. -vi. p. 278 ; Jesse, vol. U. p. 330 ; Lord John RusseU's " Memorials of Fox," vol. i. p. 212. t August, 1779. X George III. to Lord North, March 18, 1778. 278 ENGLISH PREMIERS. tide of popular feeling to turn, as he knew it would. In 1780 it rose higher, recoUed again before the strength which the Lord George Gordon riots lent to the govern ment, and then rose and rolled onward tUl it reached the level on which Fox and Lord North floated side by side in destined coaUtion. They were not so far apart as men supposed. Each was in some degree acting a part. Lord North's con-vic- tions did not go along with his arbitrary measures, and Fox was often a demagogue because he was out of place. He was perfectly safe in advocating, as he did with his friend Sheridan at this time, annual parUa- ments and universal suffrage, for the measures thus proposed were so extreme as to be absolutely valueless for practical purposes and utterly beyond all hope of attainment. Thomas Moore has not a doubt that Sheridan made a stalking-horse of these demands, and laughed in his sleeve at the weakness of those who were duped by it.* Yet he did not stand alone in his sham democracy. At the very time when that lunatic apostle. Lord George Gordon, was heading the riotous proceedings of his pious ragamuffins, the Duke of Richmond was on his legs in the House of Lords delivering a speech in favour of universal suffrage and annual parliaments. f When Pitt, and not the Whig ministry, made his famous motion for inquiring into the * " Life of Sheridan," vol. i. pp. 301-2. t " ParUamentary History," vol. xxi. pp. 664 — 668. CHARLES JAMES FOX. 279 representative system in 1782,* the duke, who was then in office, did not give it his cordial support. When Lord North in 1780 declared, in spite of the rioters, that he woiUd act on the principles of toleration towards Catholics which he had laid down. Fox spoke with cordial and grateful admiration of the sentiments that had faUen from the premier's Hps. He was now member for Westminster, and neither dueUing nor gambling seemed to cripple his march. In his younger and his Tory days, he had been mobbed himself, when the printers who dared to publish parliamentary proceedings were arrested by order of the Speaker and lodged in the Tower, and Lord North and Fox were dragged from their carriages and roughly used.f But in 1779 Charles James turned rioter himself. It was on the occasion of Admiral's Keppel's triumph over Sir Hugh Palliser. The rioters, in the heat of their joy, attacked the Admiralty, and Fox, though he had recently been a member of its Board, was seen among them at an early hour in the moming, fresh from Almack's, with other young men of quality who had been drinking -with him.J He was, as Horace Walpole caUed him, " the hero in parliament, at the gaming-table, at Newmarket ; " and his heroism lost none of its prestige by the appearance of a rival whose advent he had the generosity to welcome. * May 7th. t Cornhill Magazine, "Mobs," Jime, 1867; Orridge's " Citizens of Lon don and their Rulers from 1080 to 1867." X Walpole's " Last Journals," vol. U. p. 343. 28o ENGLISH PREMIERS. Lord North said that Pitt made the best maiden speech he had ever heard; and Fox, to whom jealousy was unknown, hurried up to the young orator, and compli mented and encouraged him warmly on the rare talents he had displayed.* Fox's debts and popularity increased together. His library was taken in execution and sold by auction. Among the books was the first volume of Gib bon's " History of the Decline and FaU," which had been given to him by the author, and this volume, in conse quence of the owner having written an anecdote on one of its flyleaves, sold for three guineas. But the King disliked Fox as much as ever ; nor indeed was there much love lost between them. His Majesty writes: "Everything that comes from that quarter " (meaning Fox) "must necessarUy be unjust and indecent ; " and Charles James writes of George III. : " It is intolerable to think that it should be in the power of one blockhead to do so much mischief" This language was not very flattering to the King, but it was hardly unjust. Even after Lord Cornwallis and his army had surrendered, he resisted as stoutly as ever the recognition of the United States ; and it is no wonder that his own son and brother treated him sometimes as if he were .in his dotage. He complained that they would not speak to him when they were hunting together, and that one day, when the chase ended at a little village where there was but a * Jesse's " George IIL," vol. in. p. 316 ; Walpole's " Last Journals," vol. u. CHARLES JAMES FOX. single post-chaise to be hired, they — the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cumberland — got into it, drove to London, and left him to get home in a cart, if he could find one ! In the year 1782 a change for the better took place. The Opposition drove North into a furious rage, though he had always been a laughing philosopher when backed by a large majority. Pitt now made his declaration that he would never accept a subordinate post in the new administration ; and King George IIL, to whom peace with America and utter ruin were one and the same thing, talked of migrating to Hanover, and actually had the royal yacht prepared to transport him to a foreign shore. In March, 1782, Lord North having resigned, the Marquis of Rockingham formed a ministry* without even being ad mitted to the royal presence. So distasteful was a Whig to George III. that he would not see him one moment before he was obHged. AU was transacted through the medium of Shelburne ; and the marquis, who, by reason of his poli tical integrity and fair fame, least of all politicians deserved the affront, was compelled to submit to it. Fox became Secretary of State with Shelburne ; and Pitt, who would not play a second part to any one, refused aU preferment. ChanceUor Thurlow, indeed, stiU sided with the King, and thwarted his ministers ; but with this exception the cabinet was supposed to be a coherent one. It was formed on a principle then new, but now admitted. It * Right Hon. W. Windham to Mr. B. Gurney, March 25, 1782 ; "Diary," p. 37. 282 ENGLISH PREMIERS, was no longer to consist of unconnected departments, but to represent measures which its members had advocated while in opposition.* It involved a total and simul taneous change of the royal servants, f It was for the time a victory over the King, and, so long as it held together, it was a valuable, though imperfect, precedent for giving to the executive a corporate character. Five of its members belonged to the Rockingham Yi^igs, and five, including General Conway, to the Shelburne party. Burke was shut out from the Cabinet. He was not an aristocrat ; and genius did not then supply the place of birth. Men already forgotten were preferred before him ; but Time, the great Nemesis, has now set his name as a thinker at the head of the list. It stood thus : — First Lord of the Treasury, Marquis of Rockingham ; Secretary of State, Earl of Shelburne ; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Charles James Fox; ChanceUor of the Exchequer, Lord John Cavendish ; President of the CouncU, Lord Camden ; Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Grafton ; Commander-in-Chief, General Conway ; First Lord of the Admiralty, Admiral Keppel ; Master-General of the Ordnance, Duke of Richmond ; Lord Chancellor, Lord Thurlow ; ChanceUor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Ashburton (Dunning) ; * Massey, "History of England," vol. iu. p. 79. t Heain's " Govemment of England," p. 196. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 283 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Duke of Portland ; Treasurer of the Navy, Colonel Barr^ ; Paymaster of the Forces, Edmund Burke ; Under Secretary of State, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The diffidence and moderate abUities of the premier were thus reinforced by the wit and eloquence of such coUeagues as Burke, Sheridan, and Fox. His integrity in pubHc life, his sound morals, and large landed possessions gave him influence quite sufficient for the head of the government. But it was his misfortxme to be leagued with a minister whom he distrusted, and who stood higher than himself in the King's favour. This was Lord Shelburne, after wards Marquis of Lansdowne. His address was as pleas ing as his figure was commanding. He loved the fine arts, and promoted science. He spoke weU in parUament, and charmed WUliam Pitt when a boy. He had wide experience, was a master of finance, and an advocate of free trade. But with aU these advantages he was a double-dealer, and his dupHcity often eluded the detection of his coUeagues. Lord Camden, Barr^, and Dunning looked up to him as their leader, whUe Pitt also belonged to the party of which he was the head. Lord North retired with a pension of £4,000 a year — soon to return. Lord Shelburne did nothing but intrigue ; and Fox laid cards aside, was assiduous in business, and charmed every one by his good humour and frankness. Members of Brookes's, who had paid up arrears of four or 284 ENGLISH PREMIERS. five years' subscription to enjoy the society of a minister, were grievously disappointed to find that he rarely looked in, and never dined there. Dr. Johnson had in like manner complained a few years before that at his club Mr. Fox did not talk much.* His attention as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was directed mainly to two points — the conclusion of peace with France, Spain, and HoUand, on the basis of independence to be granted by England to the thirteen colonies of North America ; and, secondly, the discontent in Ireland, of which Lord Charlemont and Grattan were the most distinguished exponents, which -were analogous with those of America, and concerned the measure of autonomy due to the Irish people and parliament. It was suspected that Lord Shelburne intrigued against Fox in reference to the first point, and that he overruled, the cabinet in its deUberations on Fox's plan of recognising American independence unconditionally, and without any reservation respecting the King's authority on the other side of the Atlantic. Fox, however, was boasting at Brookes's one day about the peace he had all but ratified, notwithstanding the odious preliminaries on which he had to base it. " I have prevailed on the court of YersaiUes," he said, " to resign all pretensions to the gum trade in favour of this country." " That, friend Charles," exclaimed George Sel wyn, starting up from the chair in which he was thought * BosweU's " Life of Johnson," ch. xxxvii. An. 1778. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 285 ¦ -1' • to be dozing, "that I'm not in the least surprised at ; for having permitted the French to draw your teeth, they would be fools indeed to quarrel with you about your gums." During the short ministry of Lord Rockingham, the claims of the Irish were satisfied for the time by the repeal of the 6th George I., and by Great Britain's renouncing her authority over the legislative and judicial arrange ments of the sister isle. This was called " the constitu tion of '82." Lord Rockingham died on the 1st of July ; and Fox, who had for some months been deeply dissatisfied with Lord Shelburne, the new premier, refused to act with him. He complained that knowledge had been withheld from him which was indispensable to the performance of his duties, and that Shelburne was playing into the hands pf the King and the anti-Whig party. He had never been intimate with that nobleman, whom George III. nicknamed "the Jesuit;" and when he discovered that a double negotiation for peace was carried on with Franklin, and that the instructions given to Oswald by Lord Shel burne, differed from those which he himself gave to his agent in the matter — GrenviUe — he naturally desired to dissolve his connection with a statesman whom he could not trust, and who, though always opposed to the Ameri can war, had studiously kept aloof from the Rockingham party, and had pursued a separate and independent line of politics. Malagrida, therefore (as people caUed Shel burne, after a Portuguese Jesuit of that name*), was * Lord Stanhope, vol. v. p. 210. 286 ENGLISH PREMIERS. deserted by his ablest ally. Fox entertained the Prince of Wales at dinner on the day of his resignation, and solaced himself with the flowing goblet and the smiles of future royalty. He then adjourned to Brookes's, and afterwards caroused at White's tiU the sun had risen. Released from the ties of office, he returned to his evU courses and graceless companions. The Faro table was again his besetting sin, and his friend Hare might weU congratulate him on having quitted the service of the King of England to resume that of the King of Egypt. His desertion of his party and Lord Shelburne was a fatal mistake. Lord HoUand, General Conway, Lord Temple, and Pitt, aU deplored or censured it, and nothing but his transcendent talent enabled him, in part, to tide over the mischief it wrought for his influence and popularity. The friendship of his powerful uncle, the Duke of Rich mond, was lost by this " outrageous resignation," and the best set-off against the loss was the fact of Burke, Sheri dan, Lord John Cavendish, and the Duke of Portland, having foUowed him into retirement. Though out of office, his readiness in debate, his easy eloquence and sound judgment marked him as the leader of the Whigs. Burke was the only man among them who could compete with him ; but his style of oratory was less popular, and his views were less practicable. The rival, whose appearance on the stage of public Hfe he had so generously welcomed, was now Chancellor of the Exchequer. They were both second sons of eminent CHARLES JAMES FOX. 287 rivals and leaders of the House of Commons ; and critics were never tired of comparing and contrasting their several merits and powers. Thus Pitt was praised for his industry and sobriety, whUe Fox was censured for his indolence and dissipation. Pitt was a philosopher from a boy ; Fox was to the end Nature's spoiled chUd. Pitt attained his ends by the studious exercise of every art ; Fox by a kind of careless grandeur. Pitt was the states man aU over, and the man of pleasure only by accident ; Fox made pleasure the business of life, and the affairs of government were his relaxation. The Tory satirists of the day never faUed to take advantage of his frailties. Thus Burns, addressing the House of Commons in some verses written before the " Act anent Scotch DistiUeries " in 1786, says : — " Ton iU-tongu'd tinkler, CharUe Fox, May taunt you -wi' his jeers an' mocks ; But gie him't bet, my hearty cocks ! E'en cowe the cadie ! An' send him to his diciug-box. An' sportin lady." In February,* 1783, Lord Shelburne resigned. He had not the confidence of the Whigs, he neglected his col leagues, consulted no one but Pitt, and hoped to maintain himself solely by the King. It was natural that he should act thus. He had imbibed his politics from Chat ham, and held firmly, as he declared in the House of * February 24. ENGLISH PREMIERS. Lords, that the country ought not to be governed by any oligarchical party or family connection.* A coalition between Fox and Lord North was warmly advocated by Sheridan and Burke. Sheridan often denied this afterwards ; but the fact is established. The affair was despatched as rapidly as a Siamese courtship. Mr. Eden (afterwards Lord Auckland) is believed to have gained Lord North's consent to the union, and Burke is stated to have sung " Hymen, 0 Hymensee," in Fox's ears.f The coa lition was unpopular. Fox lost many Whig adherents because he leagued with North, and North many Tories because he clave to Fox. A booby named Martin declared that the House ought to keep a starling in the lobby to vociferate all day " Infamous coaUtion ! " ; but Lord North, whose humour helped him over many a stUe, replied that the house had the advantage already of possessing a Martin quite as competent to the office as any starling that could be found. But, in spite of Lord North's pleasantries, people could not but remember that Fox had spoken of him in terms which made an alliance between them appear dishonourable. J There was no one in the kingdom who disUked the coalition more than the King. When Fox kissed hands on his appointment, George III. turned back his ears and eyes like the pony at Astley's, when the taUor whom he * Speech, July 11, 1782. t Moore's " Life of Sheridan," vol. i. p. 380. X Gold-win Smith, " Lectures on Pitt." CHARLES JAMES FOX, 289 intends to throw is mounting him. " Did I ever think, my Lord Guilford," he said to the Queen's chamberlain, " that Lord North would have deUvered me up in this manner to Mr. Fox?" He hated Whigs; and not even when Lord Rockingham was dying would he send to inquire for him. He actuaUy wrote to Lord Weymouth, desiring his support " against his new tyrants." He pro posed to make WilHam Pitt prime minister, though he was not past twenty- three years of age. The young Chancellor of the Exchequer discreetly refused, and the King talked again about going to Hanover. The Prince of Wales, however, was now Fox's devoted disciple, and attended the school of politics which he had opened at his lodgings in St. James's Street. Every morning, as soon as hex had risen, the master appeared in his dressing-gown, with unkempt hair, surrounded by his admiring followers. It was not tUl the 2nd of AprU that the new adminis tration was formed under the Duke of Portland ; Lord North and Fox were the Secretaries of State, and the motive power of the ministry was in the genius of the latter. In this sense only was he an English premier, for neither now nor at any other time was he First Lord of the Treasury. Like Carteret and Chatham, he guided the car of state, while the reins were nominally in another's hands. " I do hope," wrote Horace Walpole, who watched with unabated interest the course of public events, " I do hope the present administration will last, as I believe there are more honest men in it than in any set that could VOL. I, u 290 ENGLISH PREMIERS, replace them. Mr. Fox I think by far the ablest and soundest head in England, and am persuaded that the more he is tried the greater man he wiU appear."* The King was civU to his new ministers, but no more. He could not deny that Fox behaved extremely well ; but he could not forget or forgive his intimacy with that disobedient son, the Prince of Wales. He found Charles James remarkably free from the pride, arrogance, and petulance for which he had given him credit ; and he was compelled to make him, many years later, an amende honorable for aU his coldness towards him. He had always, he said in 1806, known that " he was a gentleman," and it was some comfort to transact business with one who deserved that appellation. It would have been hard indeed if a man of transcendent abilities, three times Secretary of State, never got one compliment from his royal master. Yet, " gentleman " as he was, George III. never ceased for one moment to plot against him. Even Fox's attempt to obtain a grant of £100,000 a year for the Prince of Wales was looked upon with displeasure ; and his laudable efforts to complete the work of peace by a final treaty, and to balance the power of the Bourbons in Europe, were regarded with distrust and disHke. £50,000 a year was, with reason, thought by the King quite sufficient for his son " to heap upon Foppery's shrine ;" and his ministers had deeply offended him by not deferring the matter to * " Correspondence," November 10, 1783. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 291 his consideration.* The articles of peace proposed by Fox differed in no important particular from those of Lord Shelburne, against which he had factiously stormed. The fatal affair of the East India BiU was haUed by the sovereign with delight, as affording fresh hopes of freeing himself from the trammels of the Whigs. It is time alone that brings to light the secret springs of events, draws the curtains of cabinet councils, and strips the ruler of the disguise of state. The pubUc supposed that North and Fox could not coalesce without sacrifice of principles, Httle knowing that they agreed at bottom no less in their kind and genial dispositions than in their political and social -views. The King, instead of wishing himself dead every morning, ought to have been proud of such a minister as Fox, whose despatches were admired by Frederick the Great and the Empress Catherine for the clearness and elegance of their style, and also for the sagacious and conciliatory designs which they unfolded. Misrule in India had long been a cause of anxiety in England. The powers of the Governor-General had never been accurately defined ; it was uncertain to whom he was responsible ; and the excesses committed by CHve and Warren Hastings had been tolerated only on account of the important services and brilliant exploits by which they had been set off. But however grateful the coimtry might feel to these remarkable men for founding and consolidating the British Empire in India, it was clearly • Walpole's " Last Journals," vol. u. p. 628. 292 ENGLISH PREMIERS, the duty of the legislature to provide a Magna Charta for the people of Hindostan ; to secure to the trampled tenants of Bengal, Bahar, Orissa, and Benares, of the Carnatic and Oude, the free growth of their rice ; to protect such princes as the Great Mogul, Surajah Dowlah, Meer Jaffier, the Nabob of Arcot, and the Begums of Oude, from being bought and sold, with all their treasures, subjects, armies, and dominions, by the clerks and boys * of the East India Company; and to screen the natives from exactions so terrible and ruinous, that some idea of their extent may be gained from the fact that FizuUa Khan was required to furnish cavalry to the Company, at a cost of £300,000 a year, out of a principality not so large as the county of Norfolk. The biU first sketched by Burke, and then introduced by Fox, was intended to lay the axe to the root of these abuses; to wrest the administration of India from the hands of the Company, and vest it in a board of seven directors, assisted by eight persons employed to manage the trade of the proprietors. AU the fifteen were to be chosen by Parliament in the first instance, and to remain in office during four years. After that time the directors were to be named by the Cro-wn. The measure was open to grave objections, and ulti mately faUed. It provided for the future interests and influence of the Whig party, and turned, as Moore says, into their territory the Pactolus of Indian patronage. It * Burke's Speech on Fox's India BUl. CHARLES JAMES FOX. 293 displeased the East India Company because it menaced their political power, which was exercised to a great extent in the purchase of rotten boroughs.* It was thought by many to be unjust to aboUsh the chartered rights of this Company, and unsafe to place so much influence in the hands of the King and Mr. Fox. It was virtually to make the Foreign Secretary of State the arbiter of the fate of India, and to subject to his control the Hves and fortunes of thirty miUions of Orientals, f It was little to the purpose that Earl FitzwUHam, the chair man of the proposed board, was eminently virtuous, and that his government would resemble that of Trajan and Nerva rather than of Clive and Hastings. In a few years at the latest he would be succeeded by another, whose probity might not be proof against the temptation of palaces, bazaars, and mosques teeming with inexhaustible treasures. In a speech which he delivered to his con stituents at York, WUberforce denounced it as " the off spring of an unnatural conjunction (the CoaUtion), marked with the features of both its parents, bearing token to the violence of the one and the corruption of the other." J It was Fox's earnest desire that the administration of 1783 should be rendered durable. Towards his young rival he felt at that time neither resentment nor jealousy ; and if he had only been aUowed the opportunity, he would -* Gold-win Smith, " Lectures on Pitt." t Macaulay's "Biographies," p. 167. X " Life, by his Sons," vol. i. p. 54. 294 ¦ ENGLISH PREMIERS, have welcomed him to the ministry with open arms. We find him writing in September to Lord Ossory : " If Pitt could be persuaded (but I despair of it), I am convinced he would do more real service to the country than any man ever did." Though often strenuous opponents, the hearts of these two statesmen were always yearning towards each other ; and each of them felt by turns how much strength he should derive from the other's counsels. The East India BUl was defeated in the House of Lords entirely by the King's unconstitutional interference. He privately signified his dislike of the measure to several peers, and it was rejected by a majority of eight. The Prince of Wales voted with the ministers. The parlia ment was to be dissolved in the middle of the session, and Fox disputed the legality of the act. " It was a struggle," Dr. Johnson said, " between George III.'s sceptre and Mr. Fox's tongue." A difference had arisen between the King and the Commons. A majority in the Lower House had passed the India BUl ; but the King disapproved it, and caused its overthrow in the Lords. He ought not thus to have intrigued against his o-wn ministers ; but having done so, and the business of the state being stopped, he clearly had the right of appealing to the people for the settlement of the dispute. If it was wrong in the King to tamper with the peers as he had done, it was equaUy wrong in Fox to propose that the House should go into committee on the state of the nation, and CHARLES JAMES FOX. 295 render its o-wn dissolution impossible. The conduct of Fox and of the King was at variance with the spirit of the constitution, though in different ways ; and Fox's o-wn words might have been retorted on himself. " Let us," he said, " preserve the beauty of our constitution ; of that happy, practicable equUibrium which has aU the efficacy of monarchy and all the Hberty of republicanism, mode rating the despotism of the one and the Hcentiousness of the other." The contest lasted three months; and when at last parUament was dissolved in March, 1784, the general election proved adverse to Fox. The King obtained a complete triumph over the Whigs. A hundred and sixty supporters of the Coalition Ministry lost their places, and were caUed, for their consolation, "Fox's Martyrs." The two greatest statesmen in England were separated for life ; the reconcUiation of Ireland was deferred tiU the next century ; and the Catholic emancipation, which Pitt and Fox alike recommended, was delayed more than forty years. Had Pitt, with his genius for commerce and finance, united with Fox, who was far better skilled than himself in foreign affairs, their ministry would have been the strongest and most brilHant England has ever seen. " So Pitt means to come in," said the beautiful Mrs. Crewe, the reigning toast of the Whigs, to WUberforce. "WeU, he may do what he Hkes during the holidays, but it wiU be a mince-pie administration, depend upon it." But the "Mince-pie Administration," as it was thenceforth 296 ENGLISH PREMIERS. called in the clubs, lasted not only over Christmas, but during more than seventeen years ! Pitt's rise to office was the direct consequence of royal intrigue. By the advice of Lord Thurlow and Earl Temple the King had authorised the latter to state that he should regard every peer as his enemy who voted for the East India BUl. If these terms were not sufficiently strong. Lord Temple was at liberty to use any other words he might think stronger and more to the purpose. Pitt was supposed to be privy to this menace, and some odium attached to him on that account. Of the India BiU, which he himself brought forward, I shaU have to speak more particularly when sketching his eventful life ; in the meantime let it suffice to say that the acts of violence, spoliation, and treachery, which suUied the fame and dis graced the government of Lord CHve and of Hastings in Hindostan, were brought to a close by the memorable impeachment which afforded such ample scope to the oratory of Sheridan and Burke.* The public became familiar by force with the results of Burke's industry during twenty years. The map of India, from Mount Imaus to Cape Comorin, lay open before their mind's eye, and villagers laid their pipes on the table to talk over the cruel execution of Nuncomar, the chief Brahmin of Bengal ; the riches and grandeur of the city of Benares, and the wholesale plunder of its Rajah, Cheyte • "PubUc Characters," 1799, 1800; Mr. Hastings' "Abstract of the Twenty-two Articles of Impeachment," p. 594. CHARLES JAMES FOX. 297 Sing; the "durance vile" of the Princesses of Oude in the "Beautiful Dwelling" at Fyzabad, and the enormous sums of money wrung from them by the remorseless Hastings. Popular indignation was at its height when his evil deeds were depicted in their darkest colours by the most powerful orators of their day ; when Fox opened the charges against him, and Pitt — though he alleged many arguments in Hastings' defence — concluded by voting for Fox's motion ; when Burke impeached him in Westminster Hall in a speech which will ever remain conspicuous in English literature, and the sparkling fancy and musical periods of Sheridan supplied all that was wanting to the more weighty and gorgeous rhetoric of his Ulustrious rival and friend.* " Everybody," wrote Walpole, "is drowned by Mr. Sheridan, whose renown has engrossed all Fame's tongues and trumpets." f Miss Burney, who was present by Queen Charlotte's desire, was one of the very few who sympathised with the accused rather than with the accusers. % Many years rolled by before the trial was completed and the decision pronounced. The very delay indicated that the sentence would not be severe. Hastings, in fact, was acquitted. His faults were grave ; but the services he had rendered to his country and to India, the abilities * "PubUc Characters," 1799, 1800; Mr. Hastings' "Abstract of the Twenty-two Articles of Impeachment," pp. 41 — 44. t " Correspondence," vol. ui., June 17, 1788. X Mrs. Crosland's "Memorable Women,'' p. 137. 298 ENGLISH PREMIERS, he had displayed during his administration, were so marked, that he appeared on the whole, after the most patient and sifting inquiry, to be a subject for reward rather than for punishment. His trial was necessary to vindicate the honour of the British parliament, and to deter aU future governors of India from imitating the craft of the Bengalees and the violence of the RohUlas. Fox's summing up on the Hastings trial did not enhance his fame as an orator. WUberforce, who was one of the hearers, makes the following entry in his journal : — " June 7, 1790. Westminster Hall — all bored and tired. Fox's speech very dull."* The distinctions which long existed in the public mind between Pitt and Fox, as respectively Tory and Whig, were singularly incorrect, though there were certain broad features in their several careers which gave rise to the notion. Sometimes, indeed, in the course of their long conflicts, we see them, as it were, changing sides and occupying. Fox the Tory ground, and Pitt the Whig. Fox clamours against Pitt's commercial treaty -with France, and encourages the odious doctrine that the French are our natural enemies ; Fox maintains that the Prince of Wales has as clear a right to be Regent during his royal father's incapacity for business as if the King were dead ; f and Pitt, on the contrary, declares that the * " Life, by his Sons," vol. i. p. 271. t See " Life and Opinions of Earl Grey," p. 49 ; Moore's " Sheridan," vol. U. p. 40. CHARLES JAMES FOX. 299 Prince of Wales has, without the authority of parliament, no more right to exercise the powers of government than any other person ; that " kings and princes derive their power from the people ; and to the people alone, through the organ of their representatives, does it appertain to decide in cases for which the constitution has made no specific or positive provision." Thus Fox's doctrine tended to set aside the authority of parliament, and Pitt's teaching endangered the monarchy by weakening the principle of hereditary right. Lord Brougham has sho-wn forcibly that the -views of the former were strictly con stitutional, those of the latter highly expedient.* " The debates on the Regency BUl," says Goldwin Smith, " under the guise of a great constitutional discussion, were a scuffle for power between two factions which had accidentally changed their positions with regard to royalty for the moment, and got hold each of the other's cant; so that if Pitt could say that he had un-Whigged Fox, Fox might have said that he had un-Toried Pitt."f An ingenious parallel has been drawn, J in imitation of Horace Walpole, § between the Whig opposition to Pitt and the Tory opposition to Sir Robert Walpole. In each case the causes of dissension were rather artificial than real. Both were in a measure factious ; * " Sketches," vol. i. — Lord Loughborough. t "Lectures on Pitt," p. 77. X Pall Mall Gazette, January 4, 1867. \ On the character of BoUngbroke and Sir Robert Walpole — "Me moirs," vol. i. pp. 225-6. 300 ENGLISH PREMIERS. both were headed by men of lofty genius, who re sembled each other in winning oratory and dissolute habits ; both of the chiefs had strong passions, frank and careless dispositions. Fox and Bolingbroke had both been proscribed ; and both imputed their disgrace to the successful minister of the day. Fox's feelings towards his rival were at one time not a whit less venemous than those which prompted the essay on " Good and Bad Ministers," or the remarks upon the " History of Eng land." He was a kind-hearted, affectionate, and sociable man ; and so was Lord Bolingbroke : but he was blinded with passion when he spoke of Pitt, as was St. John when he wrote of Walpole. Both at last had recourse to that political expedient which is kno-wn as a " seces sion." For though Bolingbroke was not in parUa ment, and Fox was, yet he pulled the strings of the Tory party in the House of Commons ; and Wyndham, Shippen, and Pulteney deferred in aU things to his guidance. If we follow the two men from pubUc into private life, we find the same resemblance stiU continued. Both were lovers of literature ; both were very fond of country occu pations and country sports — of farming and gardening and shooting; both, at different periods of their lives, affected the philosopher in retirement; both, towards middle age, fell in love with the wives of other men; both were successful wooers, and each married his mis tress. It is needless to add that there were points in CHARLES JAMES FOX, 301 which they differed no less important than those in which they agreed. The letter of advice which Fox wrote to the Prince of Wales in 1785, respecting his projected marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, is familiar to all who have read the Hon. Charles Langdale's life of that virtuous lady. The statesman regarded his royal Highness with sincere friend ship, and was anxious to deter him from a step which, if taken publicly, would exclude the Prince from the succes sion to the Crown, and which, if contracted in private, would have no force whatever in point of law. The singular expedient by which the heir-apparent satisfied Mrs. Fitzherbert's scruples of conscience was worthy of his selfish nature. While it bound her, it left him per fectly free ; and the Protestant public, even if it had not been kept in profound ignorance of the fact, would have considered a marriage- tie that linked the Prince to a Papist as more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Mrs. Fitzherbert never forgave Fox for asserting in the House of Commons that no marriage of any descrip tion had ever taken place between herself and the Prince. We learn from Sir PhUip Francis that the Whig leader made many advances to her and earnest submissions, but they did not succeed in restoring him to her favour.* He had certainly been led into error in the first instance by the Prince himself; but on the other hand he took no * " Charles James Fox," by Sir PhUip Francis ; see Appendix to his " Memoirs " by Parks and Merivale, vol. u. p. 443. 302 ENGLISH PREMIERS, pains to become better informed, and was most unwiUing to be disabused of his mistake. The view which he took of the entire subject was that of a thorough man of the world ; and he was more anxious about the Prince's title to the Crown being undisputed, and his chUdren being legitimate according to EngUsh law, than he was about the honour of a most amiable and exceUent lady, and the reUgious grounds on which the Prince ought to have avoided the crime of bigamy. During the long period of Pitt's supremacy, Fox's letters, even more than his speeches, mark the current of his active mind. His opinions on passing events are there expressed in unstudied language, and in a very do-wnright and unmincing way. The party which he had governed in the House of Commons was broken up, and the few who remained faithful to him formed but a fraction in the Pitt-packed assembly. Even the war question faUed to keep his old adherents together. Some of them opposed it, as he did, and favoured reform ; whUe others promoted it, and discountenanced any change in the borough system. His conduct on the India BiU, his attempts to prevent the free exercise of the royal prerogative in dissolving parliament, his violence on the question of the Regency, and his opposition to the French commercial treaty, had damaged his influence, and reduced him from a great chieftain to be the captain of a forlorn hope. He had full leisure to look down from his watch-tower on the world's troubles by sea and land. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 303 His correspondence lays bare the mingled feelings with which he regarded the events in France which terminated in the execution of Louis XYI. He ' sympathised from the first with those who wished to curtail the sovereign's power, and to substitute a constitutional for an absolute government. He betrayed the tenderest feelings for the King and Queen, personally, during their sufferings and trial, and denounced the atrocious massacres of September, without ever caUing in question the first principles of the Revolution, or desiring for a moment that it might faU of its end. A single extract from his letters wUl prove his conflicting emotions. It was written on the 12th of October, 1792. " There are hopes," he says, speaking of the September massacres, " that the monsters who caused these horrors wiU be punished. Till they are, I own that their impunity (notwithstanding the noble speeches of Roland, Yergniaux, &c.) throws a slur upon the brilliant administration of France, which gives pain to aU true friends of liberty." CHAELES JAMES FOX " Saint Anne's HUl saw him five hours after da-wn A loiterer in the garden's leafy ceUs, Where, trifiing sometimes with a petted fa-wn. Or luring a tame bird by gentlest spells. He slaked his thirst in poetry's clear weUs, Or on some picture by romancer dra-wn. Gazed tUl his eye, soft-bright as a gazeUe's, Dropped a rich tear upon the velvet lawn. But the same evening in Saint Stephen's HaU How changed that Boanerges since the mom ! His thunderous eloquence was seen of aU ; And slavish faUacies by his hands uptom, Were tossed and whirled, with piteous rise and faU, Ado-wn the cataract of his "wrath and scorn." " Sonnet on C. J. Fox.' vm. CHAELES JAMES FOX (concluded), "TilFFERENCES of opinion on political subjects are so natural, so desirable in certain conditions of societyj so compatible with all that is refined and good in their respective partisans, that it is surprising they should so often produce coldness between friends and feuds in families. Fox had enjoyed the intimate friendship of Burke for five-and-twenty years. Their classical tastes, their eloquence, their noble sentiments, and official con nection, seemed destined to knit them more closely to each other as time went on, when the excesses of the French Revolution occasioned in them that divergence which broke the spell of their long attachment. On the 6th of May, 1791, they addressed the House of Commons in very different language;* and while the author of the "Re flections on the French Revolution " solemnly wamed his hearers against any sympathy with the blood-stained republicans of Paris, his friend with equal energy, if not * Lord RusseU's " Life of Fox," vol. u. p. 263 ; Windham's " Diary," p. 226. 3o8 ENGLISH PREMIERS, with equal warmth, applauded the efforts made in France to ingraft free institutions on the old monarchy. Further than this he would not go ; least of all did he meditate a rupture with Burke. In the midst of his loudest decla mation he whispered, " No loss of friendship." But the impulsive man had counted the cost. He was bound, he said, to sacrifice friendship to duty — " the most brU liant and powerful debater that ever existed had described him as having deserted and abandoned every one of his principles ; " friendship was at an end. Together with Burke, Fox now lost several other adherents — the Duke of Portland, Mr. Windham, and Lord Fitzwilliam ; yet he ran into no extremes, nor would he even join the Association founded by Grey, among others, for promoting Parliamentary Reform. AU the friends who separated from him did so with regret ; for his nature was unaffected and kind. But party-spirit ran high, and one question absorbed all minds — war or peace ; war to the knife with France and democracy, intervention or ignominious neutrality. There was a radical difference, too, between Burke's and Fox's notion of government. While both agreed in main taining that "the ultimate end of all governments is the good of the people,"* while both rejected as visionary Bolingbroke's idea of a " Patriot King," while both looked upon George III. as a practical refutation of argu ments in favour of paternal autocrats ; they differed as to * Bolingbroke, "Idea of a Patriot King," p. 118. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 309 the mode by which the welfare of the people should be secured. Burke placed his reliance on an aristocracy with popular sympathies and an aristocratic House of Commons ; * Fox, on the other hand, grasped the idea of government which is now almost universal among us — that the people is best governed when self-governed, or, in other words, fully and fairly represented. Local interests, according to Fox, ought to be respected, whUe according to Burke, it was ordered by wisdom little less than divine that Cornwall should send as many members to parUament as Scotland. Proposals for a coalition still passed from time to time between Pitt and Fox, the Conservative and the pure WTiigs ; f but if even the demands of their common ambition could have been settled satisfactorily in other respects, it is doubtful whether their respective tendencies to peace and war could ever have been reconciled. The failure of these negotiations was owing principally to difficulties raised by the Whig leader. There was no doing without him or with him. His coach always stopped the way.J His demands were exorbitant, and he spoke with acrimony of Pitt, and even threw doubts on his sincerity. The Duke of Portland found him imprac ticable, and at last separated from him, and gave in his adhesion to Pitt. Lord Loughborough also joined the * Burke's "Thoughts on the Present Discontent." f Jesse's " George IIL," vol. Ui. p. 186. X Lord Malmesbury's "Diaries," vol. u. p. 433 310 ENGLISH PREMIERS, government, and took the Great Seal. Almost all the Conservative Whigs quitted their former leader's stand ard, and Pitt was free to pursue his fresh policy of war. In advocating peace. Fox raised against himself a storm of obloquy, and anticipated those maxims of non-interven tion which have lately been so often insisted on. When he pointed out the folly of a war against opinion, he was of course reproached with Jacobinism ; and when he repeUed as groundless the fear that revolution might spread to this country, he was denounced as wanting in patriotism. Nevertheless his language was always mo derate ; while Burke, his former aUy, rushed into extrava gance, in which the more cautious statesman, Pitt, by no means shared. Burke would have taken arms in the name of Louis XYIL, whUe Pitt was ready to aUow that he had no concern with the internal arrangements of the French government. In the beginning of 1795 WUberforce felt himself obHged to vote with the Opposition on the question of peace ; and this step, to his deep regret, caused a momen tary estrangement between him and Pitt. They had from the commencement of their political career been dear and intimate friends, and their divergence on a matter of so great moment encouraged Fox to hope that the cham pion of the Negro slaves would soon join imreservedly the ranks of the Liberals.* The King feared what Fox hoped, and " cut" Wilberforce " when he first went to the levee * " Life of WUberforce," vol. U. p. 72. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 311 after mo-ving his amendment to the Address."* His open opposition and the mutiny at the Nore were the only two events in Pitt's public life which were able to deprive him of sleep. Yet Fox, Pitt, and George IIL, too, ascribed to WUberforce's attitude an unreal importance. It indicated no leaning to the Whigs, no bias towards a spirit of faction, no disapproval of the court policy on the whole. It was a symptom only of his uniform indepen dence, bv which, in the end, he attained his main object, and secured the veneration of posterity. The small party of which Fox was the leader being defeated in every di-vision, he resigned for a season every hope of power, and found unusual enjoyment in Uterature and domestic ties. For several years he and his friends were seldom seen in their places in parUament. The defeat of Grey's motion for reform, 1797, was the signal for Fox to retire from a scene of bitter and continued disappointment. The chainless mind found liberty, at least, in the realm of thought and study. " Hence it was,' ' as Lord Holland says, " that in the interval between his active attendance in parliament and the undertaking of his history, he never felt the tedium of a vacant day." f Dr. Parr himself could hardly have been more absorbed in Greek ; and he would often read two or three books of the Iliad in a morning. He had a keen sense of the beauties of nature ; and his affections, which had wandered * December 30, 1794. t Preface to the " History of the Reign of James II." 312 ENGLISH PREMIERS, wildly, became fixed on one object. Mrs. Armistead, who had been to him as a wife, became really such in 1795 : and her devotion to him was united with good sense in worldly affairs.* Never were two persons better suited to each other. Never, it would seem, did marriage seal more genuine affection, nor produce keener enjoyment. In speaking of this amiable partner. Fox wrote to Lord HoUand : — " You were never more right than in what you say of my happiness 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 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." f Long after they were married, Fox caUed her in his letters " Mrs. Armistead," as if the name by which she was first known to him were dearer than his o-wn. As to religion, few traces of it can be found in Fox's life and correspondence. He writes to his nephew. Lord Holland, to tell him that " he has been called home by a severe fever which has attacked Mrs. Armistead, but which lasted a very little time ; " he thanks God, indeed, that she is perfectly recovered, but seems not to reflect that the laws of God required that Mrs. Armistead should even then have been Mrs. Fox. There is a charm in his * See " Life and Opinions of Earl Grey," pp. 49 — 51. t Letter to Lord Holland, June 14, 1795. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 313 letters, arising from their extreme simplicity and the affectionate disposition which breathes in every line. Perhaps no uncle equally great ever unbent to a nephew so gracefully and so long. We may weU believe him when he writes to Lord Holland, "You are in more danger of being teased by my affection than of ever being hurt by my neglect." Sometimes he breaks off from English into Spanish or Italian without any previous notice, and back again as abruptly into his native tongue. His letters abound with allusions to famous pictures in Italy, of which he had a distinct recollection ; and Mrs. Fox's taste in such matters was scarcely inferior to his own. The works of the old masters were ranged in his memory, as if in a palatial gallery, unfaded by distance or time. He passes with ease from the lightest to the gravest topics, from the frescoes of Domenichino, for instance, to the benefits of party, the use and abuse of party-spirit, the shortsightedness of tyranny, or the vices of Bourbon government. Whenever the grievances of Catholics come under his notice his sympathies are with them ; and the warmth with which he advocates their cause is the more generous, because liberal sentiments were in his time so extremely rare. It was not untU 1793 that Catholics obtained permis sion even to vote at elections of members of parliament and municipal officers.* "To suppose it possible," he * SmUe's "History of Ireland," pp. 394-5; 0' ConneU, "Memoir of Ireland," pp. 24-6. 314 ENGLISH PREMIERS, wrote two years after the passing of the repeal, " that, now they are electors, they will long submit to be ineU- gible to parliament, appears to me to be absurd beyond measure ; but common sense seems to be totally lost out of the councUs of this devoted country." AU classes of Dissenters from the Established Church felt grateful to Fox for protecting them against EHzabethan principles and practices ; and the words of one of the ablest Noncon formist ministers, Robert Hall, are remarkable as show ing the esteem in which he was held by such divines. " To the honour of Mr. Fox, and the band of Ulus trious patriots of which he is the leader, it -wiU be remem bered, that they stood firm against a host of opponents, when, assaUed by every species of calumny and invective, they had nothing to expect but the reproaches of the present, and the admiration of aU future times. If any thing can rekindle the sparks of freedom, it wUl be the flame of their eloquence ; if anything can reanimate her faded form, it wiU be the vigour of such minds." With the same sentiments Thomas Moore wrote : — " Such was the spirit, gently, grandly bright. That flU'd, 0 Fox! thy peaceful soul with Ught; While blandly speeding, Uke that orb of air Which folds our planet in its circUng care, The mighty sphere of thy transparent mind Embrao'd the world, and breath'd for aU mankind." * Fox's remarks on writings likely to fall in his nephew's way are well fitted to foster the love of Uterature in a * " Intolerance : a Satire." CHARLES JAMES FOX, 315 youthful mind, and to impart that critical spirit without which beauties and deformities alike present a dull and unmeaning level. If he likes or dislikes, admires or despises, it is never without a reason. If he delights in Ariosto, and likens him in some respects to Homer, it is on account of the freedom and rapidity of his style. If he reflects on Lord Holland for saying there is Httle good in the new poetry of Cowper, he adds : " What ! not the triplets to Mary ? Not the verses about his first love, in the early part ? Not one of the sonnets ? Not the ' Ship wreck ' or ' Outcast ? ' Pray read them over again, and repeat your former judgment, if you dare." Fox was too genuine, too affectionate not to be touched by such sense, such sweetness, such music, as Cowper's. If he raises an objection to Dryden, it is because "he wants a certain degree of easy playfulness that belongs to Ariosto." The " Orlando Furioso" was with him a great favourite; and he thought Chaucer's " Clerk's Tale " was more reaUy like it in style than anything of Spenser's, even where the latter endeavours most to imitate the Italian poet. In Lucian he saw " a great deal of eloquence as weU as wit ;" and believed the "Medea" to be "the best of aU the Greek tragedies on the whole, though the choruses are not so poetical as in some others." The attempts of Wolfe,* Heyne,t and other modern critics to throw suspicion on the authorship of the Homeric poems had little weight with him. He allowed, indeed, that there are more pas- * Prologem. in Homerum. f Heyne, " Homer," tome viu. p. 806. 3i6 ENGLISH PREMIERS. sages in the Odyssey than in the Iliad which are justly suspected, but he could not bring himself to doubt that both the poems emanated from the same mind. The few examples I have given of Fox's taste and acumen in literary matters are strictly in keeping with the purpose of these sketches. The public lives of premiers would be ill understood, and would very feebly and partially sum up the history of England during their administrations, if they were deprived of their background —if the hero of the piece appeared only on state occa sions and in court dress, spoke only on the hustings and in the House, and concerned himself with nothing but the passing and repeal of acts, with ratifying treaties, achiev ing victories, and redressing the calamities of defeat. To follow him to his fireside, his garden, and his study, is not to' quit the path of history, but rather to supply a few of those touches of individuality which relieve its dulness, and raise a flower or two out of its sandy soil. The rare cultivation of Fox's mind was one of the main, though by no means one of the most prominent causes of his political influence ; and we may fairly trace in it the hand of Providence ; for the services which Fox rendered to his country in general, to the party which he led, to the cause of Catholic liberties, and the emancipation of England from the undue supremacy of the Established Church, are manifest to all who study his life, and have been acknow ledged more gratefully by his successors than they were by his contemporaries. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 317 Few people would now question that so long as the French Convention and the Directory remained on the defensive, so long as their aggressions and disputes con cerned other nations and other interests than ours, England should have abstained from interference by force of arms. The code of international law is written on the consciences of individuals and nations, rather than on any more tan gible tablets ; and it is therefore only in very extreme cases that one nation has a right to plant itself in the seat of judgment and dictate laws to other states. For the same reason the liberty to be allowed to nations, even when doing wrong, is greater in proportion than that allowed to individuals, who are subject to written laws and amenable to the tribunals of their country. Fox's objec tions to the meddling and offensive attitude assumed by British ministers in the early part of the war with France were founded in reason, though if England or any of her possessions had been assailed, he would have defended them as valiantly as any other patriot. " My letters tell me," he writes in January, 1800, "what I can scarce credit, that the ministers have given a flat refusal to the Great Consul's proposition to treat. Surely they must be quite mad. I have no doubt but the country wUl bear it ; but if it does, you must allow that it is a complete proof that they will bear anything." It was easy indeed to obtain the support of the country, by declamation and popular fallacies, at a time when the people were ill educated and unused to reflect. The 3i8 ENGLISH PREMIERS, masses were on Pitt's side in the war with France, as they had been on North's side in the war with America.* The King, of course, who impersonated all the worst prejudices of Englishmen, warmly supported his minister, and more than half of Fox's adherents went over to the premier's camp, while the horrible massacres and alarming doctrines of the French Republic tended to strengthen the hands of the government, and give an air of justice and wisdom to its measures. When Pitt denounced the atrocities and craft of the successive rulers of France, and rose into his most impassioned and sarcastic oratory — ^when he himself, who knew so well his own powers, was surprised at the effect of his eloquence, his wonder was still more excited by the ease and might with which his rival grappled with his arguments, parried his thrusts, and hurled back scorn for scorn. He admitted that Fox surpassed Pitt, when Pitt surpassed himself; and Wilberforce, though eminently skilful in the art of persuasion, confessed that his judg ment yielded for the time to whichever of the two orators happened to have spoken last. When travelling on the Continent with Wilberforce, a French gentleman expressed to Pitt his surprise at the influence Fox had acquired, seeing that he was a man of pleasure, half-ruined by cards and race-horses. " Ah," replied Pitt, " you have not been under the wand of the magician." But Fox was not satisfied with earning a * Jesse's "Memoirs of George III.," vol. u. p. 123; London Gazettes from September 12, 1775, to March 9, 1776. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 319 reputation for debate. It was a hard lot to be always admired and always worsted. He was tired of roulette, the rostrum, and city smoke. Other tastes, more innocent and refined, succeeded ; and amid the budding thorns and elms of St. Ann's HiU, it pleased him better to read Dryden and Boccaccio than to prosecute the thankless task of battling night after night for truths that were despised and rights that were ignored.* In 1801 Pitt resigned ; and Catholics will ever remem ber that, to his honour, their cause was his ; and that if loss of power be loss of pleasure, he shared with them their cup of bitterness. Pitt advocated the Union with Ireland, and with it the admission of Catholics to the same political privileges with Protestants. The King fancied that to assent to such a measure would be to violate his coronation oath. In assenting to the political part of the Union scheme, he trusted that the door would be closed for ever against further concessions to Catholics ; he planted his foot on their necks, in short, as if he were St. George and they were the Dragon. He would part with Pitt rather than let him prescribe tonics and alteratives for his sickly conscience. He would place the weak and irresolute Addington at the head of affairs rather than repeal the Test Act, or allow several miUions of Catholic subjects to have one representative in parlia ment. * See Earl RusseU's "life and Times of Charles James Fox," vol. iu. ch. Ivi. 320 ENGLISH PREMIERS, The ministerial change which ensued was favourable to Fox's views, and afforded him sincere pleasure. The time, he knew, was not ripe for his taking office ; yet peace was concluded, and so far his cause triumphed. Pitt and his coUeagues had displeased the King on a question involving the most sacred principles of political right — a question on which Fox sympathised to the utmost with his powerful rival. It was now open to the two to combine their forces, -which had become more equaUsed by the return of several of the friends who had deserted the Whig leader. Burke was no more ; and Lord GrenvUle, Lord FitzwUHam, and Lord Spencer entered once more into Fox's councUs, and enjoyed his confidence on the former terms. Pitt and Fox seem to have been made for each other, and to have been separated only by the caprice of society. A stronger man than Addington would have quailed before them ; and he, though supported by the King, could not long stand against them. Had he decided vigorously on declaring war with Bonaparte, he might have gained Pitt ; for in those days it was a light thing to abandon the interests of Catholics. Had he firmly maintained peace with France, he might have attached Fox to his party ; for sweet as were the songs of the nightingales at St. Ann's, ambition still whispered in the ear of its recluse. But Addington had not strength of mind sufficient for the crisis. He oscillated between peace and war, between Pitt and Fox, till the rival statesmen stopped the pen dulum, and hushed the feeble tick of its ministerial CHARLES JAMES FOX, 321 existence. " Do you think," asks Fox, in a letter to Lord Lauderdale,* " they could have picked out any one fellow in the House of Commons so sure to make a foolish figure in this new situation as Addington? I think not." Whether in parliament or in retreat, courted or slighted, struck out of the Hst of the Privy CouncU, or caUed by a reluctant master to the head of the government. Fox was always at his work — always, in a political point of view, accomplishing the end of his being, and contributing more than he suspected to the triumph of rational free dom and the fall of sectarian bigotry. His correspondence with Mr. Grey shows how completely he was in advance of his age, and how he decided every question of slavery, commercial restrictions, and the like, that came before him in the sense in which the wisdom of subsequent parliaments has settled them for us. In 1802 Fox was returned for Westminster, for which also he had been elected two-and-twenty years before. The archives of the French Foreign Office attracted him to Paris, where he was desirous of completing his history of James II. His fame had gone before him, and his steady advocacy of peace made him an object of great interest to the Parisians. At the theatre he engrossed more attention than the First Consul, and he was the lion of the day wherever he went. Numerous admirers aped his manners, and imitated as far as they could his tones and gestures. He divided with Madame Recamier, whom * February 19, 1801. VOL. I. '^ 322 ENGLISH PREMIERS, of course he visited, and with whom he drove on the pro menade, the honour of being the rage. Bonaparte was most gracious to him, and in conversation with him made " 1' empire c'est la paix " his text. He was a guest of Lafayette's at La Grange, and dined with galaxies of generals and authors at TaUeyrand's and Berthier's. He seldom had spent time more pleasantly than in Paris, yet he never felt such delight in returning home.* The year 1803 was one in which the fear of invasion produced a panic in England such as we can now scarcely comprehend. Men discoursed on the probabUities of defeat in language which we should think cowardly and unpatriotic. Fox aUowed in his correspondence with O'Brien, that " he trembled for London," but added : " however, I am one of those who think that it is not true that, London lost, aU is lost." He then, in a subsequent letter, backs up his confidence rather timidly, and betrays much fear at the time that he disclaims it. " I am bold, very bold," he says, " as long as they are on the other side the water, or on the seas. If they land, I am not in the same state of confidence ; but even then, and supposing the enemy were to be victorious, I hope, nay I think, he will grievously feel his want of communication with the Continent." Carthage, he goes on to say, was not con quered till the Roman victors had obtained a superiority by sea as weU as by land. I do not question Fox's patriotism, but I must say I do * Letter to Lord Ilolbud, November 21, 1802. CHARLES. JAMES FOX, not always like his tone in speaking of France.* Any parallel between her and Rome, in which England figures as Carthage — however faintly the parallel be traced — is objectionable to an Englishman's ears. Yery different was George III.'s language in his letter to the Bishop of Worcester.* Napoleon Bonaparte, I think, would not have allowed himself so to speak of his country, though he calculated as nicely as Fox the chances of success and of failure in his projected descent upon Eng land. His combinations for the mastery of the sea were very able ; and if sailing vessels could have been calcu lated upon with the same certainty as marches by land, if he himself and not Yilleneuve could have directed the fleet, who shall say but that the invaders might have landed — only to have had their retreat cut off, and to be utterly destroyed, like the Persians at Salamis? Pru dence saved the Destroyer this time from that humiliation in the British Channel which he was destined to undergo at a later period. In the foUowing year the alarm was renewed; but Ireland, not England, was thought likely to be the point of attack. The enemy was supposed to be meditating a landing in boats. The supporters of Pitt cried loudly for continuing the war ; but Fox, as usual, was anxious for peace. He beHeved too that there was no foUy in history * See Earl RusseU's "Memorials of Fox," vol. iu. p. 349; Jesse's "George TIL," vol. iU. p. 293. t November 30, 1803. 324 ENGLISH PREMIERS, equal to "the fuss that was made about acknowledging the new Emperor." " May not the people," he asks, " give their own magistrate the name they choose ? We have no contradictory claim ourselves, nor are we favour ing any other Power which has." Such was his reasoning ; and nothing, his adversaries thought, could be more in exact. Perhaps they did not recognise the people's right to choose their own magistrate. Perhaps they disputed the fact of the French people having chosen Napoleon as their Emperor at all. Certainly they did not desert the cause of the Bourbons, nor cease to recognise them as the lawful sovereigns of France. It is true, England had officially acknowledged Bonaparte as First Consul, and in doing so had supplied Fox with his strongest argument. The choice of fresh rulers (his opponents urged) by rebel lious populations must be sanctioned by time before wise and just governments will recognise its claim to respect. The length of time which ought to elapse cannot be fixed, but must depend on a variety of circumstances which seem to determine or annul the vaUdity of the change in ques tion. But of course in all popular governments, the choice or consent of the people is decisive, wherever it can be clearly ascertained. It must not be supposed, however, that Fox's anxiety for peace would have led him into dishonourable concessions ; on the contrary, he approved the zeal with which Pitt resisted the efforts of France to destroy the independence of Holland in 1787, and he contended for- war to the knife when Napoleon , CHARL&S JAMES FOX, 325 after the battle of Austerlitz, provoked the patience of aU Europe by his audacious pretensions. Pitt was perfectly sensible of his rival's moderation ; and in the year 1804, when the King's displeasure against himself relented, and he was summoned again to form a cabinet — when the imbecility of Addington's ministry was keenly felt by aU, and urgent stress was laid by the new premier on the necessity of combining able men of all parties in the projected administration, the name of Fox was included in the list of ministers whom Pitt proposed to the King. The sovereign resented this as an indig nity graver far than that of returning no answer to his royal invitations, and being studiously absent from his levees. He had passed his once favourite minister in the park without the least sign of recognition, but what mark of displeasure should he affix on this last audacious pro posal ? Did not Mr. Pitt know weU that of all persons in the world, Mr. Fox was the most offensive to him ? Had he not applauded the French popular government, and spent his best days in advocating peace with blood-stained rebels ? Had he not over and over again used indecorous language respecting his sovereign ? Had he not exerted a baneful influence over the politics of the ''Prince of Wales, and consummated his disgrace by being struck out of the list of Privy Councillors ? No ; rather than allow Mr. Fox to take a place at his council-board, he would forego all the advantages to be derived from Mr. Pitt's assistance, and would form a cabinet without him. He 326 ENGLISH PREJuIERS, had, indeed, no objection to sanction Mr. Fox's appoint ment as ambassador to a foreign court, or to any other post which would not bring him into personal intercourse with himself; but he would make no further concession on this head.* " With a narrowness of mind that made even his qualities defects, he said, ' Bring me whom you please, Mr. Pitt, except Fox.' "f The larger part of Fox's political life was spent in protesting against measures he disapproved, and in favour of others which his great rival either had not the wUl or the power to enact. In history, therefore, he represents principles rather than deeds. His position was trying in the extreme, and nothing but the Hght-heartedness which nature had given him enabled him to endure with patience the long ordeal of disappointed hopes. His firm ness is the more remarkable, because it does not appear to have derived any support from religious con-victions. So far as we can gather from his private correspondence and the notices of his last illness left us by his nephew, his creed extended no further than Deism ; and his bene volent desires for the welfare of others were limited by the narrow boundaries of this fleeting life. When ^t length Pitt died in January, 1806, and his policy seemed to have effected so little for the advantage either of England or of Europe ; when France was every where victorious, and the imperial eagles looked down * Jesse, " Life and Reign of King George III.," vol. Ui. pp. 360 — 65. t Sir Henry Bulwer on Canning, part i. ch. xi. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 327 from the fortresses of half the Continent on disastrous battle-plains and defeated coalitions. Fox might have hoped that the seat in the cabinet which was once more open to him would enable him in a short space of time, and at the eleventh hour, to accomplish the long-delayed purposes of his life. Now was the time when the six great principles for which he had laboured would haply break the clouds that had enveloped them, and shine on a darkened epoch like the sun in his might. Now the doctrine that the King ought always to be guided by the advice of parliament, and never rule by inherent authority and with separate views, would be fully estab lished as constitutional and binding. Now reUgious tests might be abolished, and the Test and Corporation Acts, with the disabling statutes against Catholics, might -be trampled under foot. Now, at last, the pious hopes of Wilberforce could be realised, and traffic in slaves be suppressed in every portion of the British empire. Now Parliamentary Reform might be achieved, and the de struction of the corrupt system which prevailed in the department of political economy under Lord North's ministry might be completed. Peace might perhaps now be secured on honourable terms, and the dove with its olive-branch could not be sent forth over the troubled waters from any ark more fitly than from the British cabinet. Such were his thoughts when he accepted again, and for the third time, the portfolio of foreign affairs. Lord 328 ENGLISH PREMIERS, Grenville, known in Pitt's cabinet as William Wyndham Grenville, was then premier, and the entire ministry, which was named "All the Talents," cheerfully acknowledged Fox as their chief. But his promotion was to be another lesson on the vanity of human wishes. He had weathered the storm only to founder in the port. He had overcome in some degree the bitter animosity of men who had long assailed him as the enemy of his country, but it was only to find himself face to face with a more relentless foe, whom neither promises nor performances could propitiate. Already the seeds of disease were at work within him, when the remains of Nelson were interred in St. Paul's Ca thedral ; and the fatigue he experienced in attending the funeral service caused some anxiety to his loving friends. His constitution had been robust, and no chronic sufferings had checked his career of pleasure, or famiUarised him with the aspect of death and the grave. His spirits began to flag, for the corruptible body dragged the mind earth ward ; and disease is singularly distressing to those who are used to uninterrupted health. He had tUl of late spent hours every day in shooting and chess, in studying ApoUonlus Rhodius, Lucretius, and Greek plays. But the idleness of which he was so fond, caUing it, after Burke, " the best of all earthly blessings," was in his case always busy. He could not but feel acutely the progress of a disorder which threatened his rural pursuits and his classical studies no less than his ministerial activity. He had little faith in doctors or drugs ; and for this he can CHARLES JAMES FOX, 329 hardly be blamed, considering the low state of medical science in his day. His physicians veiled their ignorance by looking -wise, and recommending quiet. But Fox was too earnest in his desire to abolish slaverj^ not to defend the cause of the negro to the last. Pitt had at the same time denounced and extended the Infamous traffic ; he had delayed Its extinction when it depended only on his wiU to abolish It for ever ; but Fox, with Lord GrenviUe and Sir Samuel RomlUy at his side, lived just long enough to strike Its death-blow. He wrote despatches from his sick chamber with ease and per spicuity, and his conversation was still the delight of his friends. It was not tUl quite the last stage of his Ul ness that he dictated his letters, being unaccustomed to that practice, and finding It difficult at first. Like Chatham, who re-entered office when no longer equal to its duties. Fox found himself obliged to occupy an almost inactive post. He had often looked forward to some such honourable leisure ; but not under the painful conditions In which it now came to him. His coUeagues proposed that he should be made a peer ; but when Lord Howick was ushered into his room, and made known the wishes of the cabinet, the patient looked significantly at Mrs. Fox, and said, after a short pause, " No, not yet ; I think not yet." The fact Is, he had made an early deter mination, of which his wife only was aware, never to be created a peer. He was unwilHng to become a sleeping- partner In the affairs of government so long as any hope 330 ENGLISH PREMIERS, of recovery remained ; but his symptoms becoming more serious, he was obliged to do so. " I must put the plan in execution," he said to Lord Holland, "sooner 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." " The peerage," he added, during the same conversation, " seems the natural way, but that cannot be, I have an oath in heaven against it ; I wUl not close my politics in that foolish way, as so many have done before me." During his iUness Fox's bedside was cheered by fre quent readings. His secretary, his wife, his nephew, and niece took It in turns to amuse him by this means. The books he chose were generally novels ; but he also listened to Crabbe's " Parish Register," which the author had sent him In manuscript, and in which Fox proposed several alterations that were made before the poem appeared. The poet owed some preferment to Fox's intercession with Lord Chancellor Thurlow, and had for some time ceased to publish any more tales. An accidental encounter with Fox, when the latter was shooting in Suffolk, led Crabbe to send his manuscript to be criticised by the great Whig statesman. He was much pleased with the line of policy his colleagues pursued, and with their dealings with per sons as well as things. This circumstance served to ren der him more cheerful, and he would often break off a conversation on politics abruptly with some such words as CHARLES JAMES FOX, 331 these addressed to Lord HoUand : " Now, young one, read me the Sth book of YlrgU." His London residence at this time was on the site now covered by the Duke of Sutherland's stately mansion. From this he was removed in August to the beautiful villa of his friend the Duke of Devonshire. When wheeled about through the gardens and galleries of Chis wick, the pictures and flowers, the sculptures and spacious apartments richly adorned by art soothed and relieved his mind ; but he does not appear to have sought consolation from deeper wells. He was content with the broken cis terns ; and when Mrs. Fox, who had many religious feelings, consulted Lord HoUand and others about " the means of persuading Mr. Fox to hear prayers read by his bedside," they agreed to request a discreet young clergy man who was staying In the house to stand behind the curtain of the bed and go through the office In a faint but audible voice. The secretary made some demur, but the sufferer himself remained unusually quiet. His main object was to soothe and satisfy his affectionate wife. Towards the end of the prayers, Mrs. Fox knelt on the bed and joined her husband's hands. He seemed to close them faintly, and smiled on her with great tenderness ; but no language of contrition for a disorderly youth escaped his lips. " I die happy, Liz," were the last words he uttered ; and In the evening of the 13th of September,* 1800, he expired without a groan, and with apparent serenity. * Lord Holland, " Memoirs of the Whig Party." 332 ENGLISH PREMIERS, It was an end which would better have become a serious Christian. But it is not for us to pass sentence on a man so benevolent In his disposition and designs. We may rather be surprised at his possessing so much virtue, not having the gift of faith. We may hope that his good deeds, his gratitude to all who had ever served him, his constant uneasiness till he had repaid their kind ness, his uniform longings for peace, and his general phi lanthropy, have been taken into account by the Merciful Judge who makes allowances for aU. " Perhaps no human being," said Gibbon, " was ever more perfectly exempt from the taint of malevolence, vanity, or false hood." If the language In which Fox, at an early period of life, approved the French Revolution was not sufficiently guarded, we ought to remember that the real character of the agents In that frightful convulsion did not become apparent till they rose to unlimited power, and that before they became drunk with blood many moderate lovers of freedom in this country felt some degree of sympathy with their cause. In this number we must Include Pitt " among the foremost," * Sir Samuel Romllly, Earl Grey, and others whose opinions in our day would hardly be thought dangerous. If Fox Incurred the displeasure and dislike of his royal master, it Is pleasing to reflect that the King's long-cherished animosity softened down at the last ; that he bore testimony to Fox's respectful * Jesse, "Life and Reign of George III.," vol. iU. p. 165. CHARLES JAMES FOX, 333 behaviour, and to the regular and punctual manner in which he performed his ministerial duties ; that he heard the news of his death not with satisfaction, as some have asserted, but with regret ; and observed that " the country could then iU afford to lose such a man ;" and that, addressing Lord Sidmouth, recently returned from Chiswick, he said, " I Httle thought that I should ever live to regret Mr. Fox's death." George lY. affirmed, In a conversation with Mr. Croker, that his father was per fectly satisfied, and even pleased, with Mr. Fox, In aU their intercourse after he came Into office. On the 10th of October he was interred with great pomp In Westminster Abbey. Eighteen Inches only separate him from his Ulustrious rival; and to this circum stance Sir Walter Scott alludes In his well-known lines : " Genius and taste, and talent gone, For ever tombed beneath the stone, Where — taming thought to human pride — The mighty chiefs sleep side by side. Drop upon Fox's grave the tear, 'TwUl trickle to his rival's bier. O'er Pitt's the mournful requiem sound, And Fox's shaU the notes rebound. The solemn echo seems to cry — ' Here let their discord with them die. Speak not for those a separate doom Whom Fate made brothers in the tomb ; But search the land of Uving men, ' Where wilt thou find their Uke again ?' " « There are some particulars In the life of Fox on which • " Marmion," Introd. to Canto I. 334 ENGLISH PREMIERS, I have purposely touched but Hghtly, because I shall find it necessary to revert to them in sketching the career and character of the only man of his time who could be caUed his equal — ^WiUiam Pitt. END OF VOL. I PEISTKB BY yiETUE AND CO., CITY KOAU, LOMBUS. YALt UNIVtHSl I T LItJMAI-tT 3 9002 08866 0361 >»J«" ^ ^: '^l ¦> ,V - ^ -^ |.i ¦¦ . ir*-- .' ^, ' ^^¦^^'^4 S;*** '¦ " -i^/y ^ .p^