EDMUND BURKE
_To face p. 187, Vol. II_]
"Fox already shines as greatly in place as he did in opposition, though infinitely more difficult a task," Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on May 5. "He is now as indefatigable as he was idle. He has perfect temper, and not only good humour, but good nature, and, which is the first quality in a Prime Minister of a free country, has more common sense than any man, with amazing parts that are neither ostentatious nor affected." Not all Fox"s tact, however, could avert ill-feeling between Shelburne and himself, and this was aggravated by the clashing of the duties of their offices in the matter of the treaty with America, for while the negotiations with the revolted colonies belonged to the department of Home Affairs over which the Earl presided, the arrangement of a peace with the foreign countries with which England was at war came within the province of the Foreign Office! "In addition to the difficulties naturally arising from this division of responsibility, the two Secretaries differed on policy. Fox desired an immediate recognition of American Independence, in the hope of detaching the Americans from the French alliance, and so putting England in a better position for dealing with her enemies; Shelburne agreed with the King that the acknowledgment should be a condition of a joint treaty with France and America, for England would then have a claim to receive some return for it."[215]
[215] Hunt: _Political History of England (1760-1801)_.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by Emery Walker._
_From a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds_
WILLIAM PETTY, EARL OF SHELBURNE
(AFTERWARDS MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE)
_To face p. 189, Vol. II_]
Before any definite rupture came, however, Lord Rockingham caught the influenza, and died on July 1, 1782. Nicholls has stated that when Fox was asked who was to succeed Rockingham, he replied, "I think it must be the Earl of Shelburne; he is first oar, and I do not see how we can resist his claim";[216] and according to other reports Fox himself aspired to be the leader of the party. Little credence, however, must be given to these chroniclers, for Fox was overtly opposed to Shelburne; and he must have known that the King would never summon him to the head of affairs. Burke and the rest of the Rockingham party resisted the claims of Shelburne and suggested the Duke of Portland, who himself claimed to have a better right than anyone else to be Prime Minister.
Fox actually went to the King to propose that the vacant office should be given to the Duke of Portland. "Mr. Fox reached the royal closet only in time enough to learn that Lord Shelburne had just gone out with the appointment of First Lord of the Treasury. Mr. Fox, expressing great astonishment on hearing this, asked his Majesty, "If under these circ.u.mstances he had any objection to his (Fox"s) naming the new Secretary of State." To this his Majesty replied, "That, sir, is already done." On which Mr. Fox rejoined, "Then, I trust, your Majesty can dispense with my services." The King replied hastily. "That, also, sir, is done.""[217] Thereupon the Duke of Portland, Lord John Cavendish, and Burke[218] also retired, as well as many other officials, and after an interval, Keppel, who had remained at the Admiralty, joined them. Their places were filled by Lord Grantham, Earl Temple, and William Pitt.
[216] Nicholls: _Recollections and Reflections_.
[217] Huish: _Public and Private Life of George III_.
[218] "Burke, who manifested the greatest reluctance to quit the Pay Office, required rather to be impelled in making that sacrifice, than appeared to feel any spontaneous disposition towards resigning so lucrative an appointment, of which he had scarcely tasted the first fruits."--Wraxall: _Historical Memoirs of My Own Times_.
William Pitt, like his great opponent Fox, had established himself with his first speech, which secured the encomiums of all who were present.
"We had a debate on Monday, when Mr. Pitt for the first time made such a speech, that it excited the admiration very justly of every man in the House. Except he had foreseen that particular species of nonsense which Lord Nugent was to utter, his speech could not be prepared; it was delivered without any kind of improper a.s.surance, but with the exact proper self-possession which ought to accompany a speaker. There was not a word or a look which one would have wished to correct. This, I believe, in general was the universal sense of all those who heard him, and exactly the effect which his speech had on me, at the time I heard it." So wrote Anthony Storer to Lord Carlisle on February 28, 1781; and Wraxall was not less complimentary. "It was in reply to Lord Nugent that Pitt first broke silence, from under the Gallery on the Opposition side of the House. The same composure, self-possession, and imposing dignity of manner, which afterwards so eminently characterized him when seated on the Treasury Bench, distinguished him on this first essay of his powers, though he then wanted three months to have completed his twenty-second year. The same nervous, correct, and political diction, free from any inaccuracy of language, or embarra.s.sment of deportment, which, as First Minister, he subsequently displayed, were equally manifested on this occasion. Formed for a popular a.s.sembly, he seemed made to guide its deliberations, from the first moment that he addressed the members composing it."[219] Burke declared that the young man "was not merely a chip of the old block, but the old block itself"; Walpole doubted "whether he will not prove superior even to Charles Fox"; while Fox, the most generous of men, when some one said to him, "Pitt will be one of the first men in the House of Commons," replied, "He is already."
Pitt, although but twenty-three years of age, felt so sure of himself that he declined an offer of office from Rockingham, declaring "he would never accept a subordinate post under Government;" and, although he was a barrister without practice and with an income of less than 300, refused Lord Shelburne"s invitation to become Vice-Treasurer of Ireland with a salary of 5,000, and thereupon was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
[219] _Historical Memoirs of My Own Times._
The King, at the opening of Parliament on December 5, stated that he had offered to declare the American colonies free and independent; but what it cost him calmly to make this announcement may be deduced from the fact that afterwards he asked anxiously, "Did I lower my voice when I came to that part of my speech?"[220] According to Nicholls, even now, when conquest was impossible, peace was certainly made against the wishes of George, "who, though he probably had no desire to remove the Earl of Shelburne, determined to make that n.o.ble Earl feel his displeasure. The "Household Troops" were therefore ordered to express in Parliament their disapproval of the peace."[221] The King, however, always denied that he intrigued against this Minister, but it is a regrettable fact that the sovereign"s word in such matters cannot be accepted; and Shelburne certainly believed the royal influence was directed against him, at least until the formation of the Coalition, the success of which would place George in the awkward position of having to bestow the seals of office upon the men he regarded as his enemies.
[220] Walpole: _Last Journals_.
[221] _Recollections and Reflections._
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by Emery Walker. From a bust by T. Nollekens, R.A._
WILLIAM PITT
_To face p. 192, Vol. II_]
"Charles is mad, and ruining himself, I fear to all intents and purposes," Lady Sarah Napier wrote to Lady Susan O"Brien, July 9, 1782.
"It _is said_ that there is to-night a meeting of thirty-six members and Lords at Lord Fitzwilliam"s, all _violent_ and vowing opposition; if this is _true_ they will have force enough to do double mischief but not to _crush_ Lord Shelburne, whose cards they are playing by giving him the fairest opportunity to court popular favour, by opposing good measures and fairness to violence, instead of sticking to him like leeches as they ought to have done and preventing his doing mischief."
Fox certainly was desirous to depose Shelburne and upon consideration saw that this could be done if he and his friends coalesced with Lord North and his party. Lord North, who was alarmed lest the House of Commons should inst.i.tute an inquiry into his conduct in having carried on the war after its issue was clear, saw that this union of parties would protect him, and, after much negotiation, an arrangement was effected on February 16, 1783, the terms of which were that, in the event of a change of Administration, the Duke of Portland should be First Lord of the Treasury, North and Fox Secretaries of State, and that the other offices should be divided between the two parties.
The day after the Coalition was settled, there was a debate on the Articles of Peace, and the government was left in a minority, the figures being 208-224. Thereupon Shelburne resigned.
The King then pressed Pitt to form a government, when he refused on the 27th made overtures to Gower, and eventually endeavoured to detach North from the Coalition, by offering him the Treasury if he would desert Fox.
The King then sent for the Duke of Portland, and offered to give way on all points except that Thurlow must remain Lord Chancellor. The Duke, who knew Thurlow"s intractability and feared his influence over the King, refused to yield to this stipulation, and negotiations were broken off. George"s mind threatened to give way under the sense of humiliation from which he was suffering, and William Grenville was impressed by his mental agitation and the "inconceivable quickness" of his utterances. On March 23 he again invited Pitt to form an administration, declaring that, "after the manner I have been personally treated by both the Duke of Portland and Lord North, it is impossible that I can ever admit either of them into my service." Pitt, however, refused to lead such a forlorn hope, and George again announced his intention to go to Hanover[222] and was with difficulty weaned from his purpose by Thurlow.
"There is nothing easier, sir, than to go over to Hanover," said the latter. "It may not, however, prove so easy to return from thence to this country, when your Majesty becomes tired of Germany. Recollect the precedent of James II, who precipitately embraced a similar expedient.
Your Majesty must not think for a moment of adopting so imprudent and hazardous a step. Time and patience will open a remedy to the present evils."[223] Only then did George give way, and on April 2 accept the Coalition Ministry.
[222] "The present King [George IV]," Lord Holland wrote, "told me a story of his father"s plan of retiring to Hanover, and described, with more humour than filial reverence, his arrangement of the details, and especially of the liveries and dresses, about which he was so earnest that it amounted almost to insanity."--_Memorials of Fox._
[223] Wraxall: _Historical Memoirs of My Own Times_.
The Coalition was, however, foredoomed to a brief existence. It was unpopular in the country, where it was regarded as an unnatural alliance, from which was apprehended, as Wilberforce happily put it, "a progeny stamped with the features of both parents, the violence of the one party, and the corruption of the other."
"Lord North, for twelve years, with his war and contracts, The people he nearly had laid on their backs; Yet stoutly he swore he sure was a villain If e"er he had bettered his fortune a shilling.
Derry down, down, down, derry down.
"Against him Charles Fox was a sure bitter foe, And cried, that the empire he"d soon overthrow; Before him all honour and conscience had fled, And vowed that the axe it should cut off his head.
Derry down, down, down, derry down.
"Edmund Burke, too, was in a mighty great rage, And declared Lord North the disgrace of his age; His plans and his conduct he treated with scorn, And thought it a curse that he"d ever been born.
Derry down, down, down, derry down.
"So hated was he, Fox and Burke they both swore, They infamous were if they enter"d his door; But, prithee, good neighbour, now think on the end, Both Burke and Fox call him their very good friend!
Derry down, down, down, derry down.
"Now Fox, North, and Burke, each is a brother, So honest, they swear, there is not such another; No longer they tell us we"re going to ruin, The people they _serve_ in whatever they"re doing.
Derry down, down, down, derry down.
"But Chatham, thank heaven! has left us a son; When _he_ takes the helm, we are sure not undone; The glory his father revived of the land, And Britannia has taken Pitt by the hand.
Derry down, down, down, derry down!"
The King, as a matter of course, thwarted the new ministers from the outset, and made no secret that he wished that Lord North, whom now he hated as much as Fox, was "eighty or ninety or dead." He quarrelled with the Administration over the amount of an allowance to the Prince of Wales, and saw an opportunity to dismiss it on the question of Fox"s India Bill, by which measure powers were sought to transfer the control of the great dominion that Warren Hastings had built up from the East India Company to a Board of seven commissioners, who should hold office for five years and be removable only on an Address to the Crown from either House of Parliament. This was bitterly opposed by the merchant cla.s.s, who saw in it a precedent for the revocation of other charters; but the clause that aroused the greatest bitterness was that in which it was laid down that the appointment of the seven commissioners should be vested in Parliament, and afterwards in the Crown. This was, of course, equivalent to vesting the appointments and the enormous patronage attaching thereto in the Ministry, and "it was an attempt,"
said Lord Thurlow, "to take the diadem from the King"s head and put it on that of Mr. Fox." The Bill was fought with every weapon, but it pa.s.sed the Commons by 208 to 102, and in the Lords there was no division on the first reading. The King, however, was determined the measure should make no further progress, and he gave Lord Temple a paper written in his own royal hand: "That he should deem those who should vote for it not only not his friends, but his enemies; and that if he (Earl Temple) could put this in stronger words, he had full authority to do so."[224]
The result of this was that ministers found themselves in a minority of twelve on a question of adjournment, and the Bill itself was thrown out on December 17, by 95 to 76.
[224] "It is said and believed that Lord Temple used the King"s name and got many votes by it; even at the last critical moment, Lord Graham did all he could to bring the old Duke of Montrose to the House against the Bill; but the old soul n.o.bly resisted, and told him he was too old to turn fool or knave, having as yet deserved neither of these epithets during a long life. But poor pitiful changelings who tremble at the King"s name were soon found, and as you know they carried it on Wednesday."--Lady Sarah Napier to Lady Susan O"Brien, December 19.
The same day the King contemptuously dismissed the Ministry, declining to receive in person their seals of office. It is interesting, as showing how history is made, to compare three contemporary accounts of how the princ.i.p.al members of the Administration were notified that their services were dispensed with. Lady Sarah Napier wrote: "On Thursday night, the Duke of Portland, Lord North, and Charles [Fox] were deliberating in Council together what was to be done, when at twelve o"clock comes a messenger to Lord North and Charles to deliver up the seals immediately. The Duke of Portland guessed he had a _billet doux_ of the same nature and went home to seek it."[225] The Locker Ma.n.u.scripts gave another account. "Lord North received his dismissal with characteristic humour. He was in bed when the despatch arrived, and being informed that Sir E. Nepian, the Under-Secretary, desired to see him, he replied that in that case Sir Evan must see Lady North too; and he positively refused to rise. Sir Evan was accordingly admitted to the bedroom, and, on informing Lord North that he came by his Majesty"s commands to demand the seals of his office, Lord North gave him the keys of the closet where they were kept, and turned round to sleep."[226] Wraxall gives yet a third story of the incident. "Lord North, having deposited the Seal of his office in the hands of his son Colonel North, one of his Under-Secretaries, who could nowhere be found for a considerable time, the King waited patiently at St. James"s till it should be found. Mr. Pollock, first clerk in Lord North"s office, who had already retired to rest, being called out of his bed in consequence of the requisition of his Majesty, went in search of Colonel North.
After a long delay, he was found, and produced the Seal, which being brought to the King about one o"clock in the morning, he delivered it into Lord Temple"s hands, and then returned to the Queen"s House."[227]
[225] _Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox._
[226] Quoted in Ma.s.sey"s _History of the Reign of George III_.
[227] _Historical Memoirs of My Own Times._
The King at once sent for Pitt, who, now in his twenty-fifth year, accepted the position of Prime Minister, and so there was:
"A sight to make surrounding nations stare, A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy"s care."[228]