Account of the Negotiations between the Duke of Grafton’s
Administration and Lord Rockingham, Mr. Grenville, and the Bedford
Party; and their final Failure.
1767.
The negotiation with the Bedfords continuing, Lord Northington
thrust himself into it, and prevailed on the King to allow a place
to Grenville, provided it was not the Treasury; and Grenville had
acquiesced. Lord Temple put off his journey into the country. Alarmed
at this, I went to Lord Holland, where finding Mr. Mackenzie, I
communicated my suspicions to both, knowing how much Lord Bute would
dread such a coalition; but it came to nothing. Lord Gower said there
must be great alterations: Grenville would support without a place,
but Lord Temple must have a considerable one, (though acquiescing in
Grafton’s retaining the Treasury,) and an equal share of power as he
had demanded from Lord Chatham. The Duke of Grafton said, he would have
nothing to do with such conditions; yet he was exasperated against Lord
Chatham, who would neither resign nor come forth, yet was continually
sending Dr. Addington privately to the King to assure his Majesty he
should be able to appear in a month or two. The King offered the Duke
to nominate to all places, if he would remain; but he refused, and
said he had sacrificed himself for Lord Chatham, who had given him
such a dose that nothing should prevail on him to be minister longer.
He was not less enraged at Charles Townshend, with whom he declared
he would not sit in Council. He made the same declaration against the
Duke of Richmond. This increased Conway’s difficulties. The Rockinghams
offended him as deeply, by meditating to place Lord Albemarle, a
younger general, at the head of the army. Conway complained too of the
King’s acquiescing to re-admit Grenville; he had been told at Court,
he said, that he must stay to exclude Grenville; now even to Grenville
the door was open. However, the alarm I had given remedied much: Lord
Bute came to town, and Mackenzie put off his journey to Scotland. Lord
Northington pressing the Bedfords on the King, received so sharp a
reprimand, that he left Court, nor would stay to read the King’s speech
to the Council, which Conway was obliged to do.
Amidst this confusion the Parliament rose on the 2nd of July, after one
of the longest sessions that was almost ever known. The City bestowed
its freedom on Charles Townshend for his behaviour on the East India
business and the Dividend Bill, for which in truth he had deserved
nothing but censure. Somebody, a little more sagacious, inserted in
the papers the following epigram:--
The joke of Townshend’s box is little known;
Great judgment in the thing the cits have shown.
This compliment was an expedient clever
To rid them of the like expense for ever.
Of so burlesque a choice th’ example sure
For city-boxes must all longing cure.
The honour’d ostracism at Athens fell
Soon as Hyperbolus had got the shell.
As times show men, the fluctuation and difficulties of those I am
describing brought forth some symptoms, though not so fully as it
appeared afterwards, of the singular cast of the Duke of Grafton’s
mind. Hitherto he had passed for a man of much obstinacy and firmness,
of strict honour, devoid of ambition, and though reserved, more
diffident than designing. He retained so much of this character,
as to justify those who had mistaken the rest. If he precipitated
himself into the most sudden and inextricable contradictions, at least
he pursued the object of the moment with inflexible ardour. If he
abandoned himself to total negligence of business in pursuit of his
sports and pleasures, the love of power never quitted him; and when
his will was disputed, no man was more imperiously arbitrary. If his
designs were not deeply laid, at least they were conducted in profound
silence. He rarely pardoned those who did not guess his inclination:
it was necessary to guess, so rare was any instance of his unbosoming
himself to either friends or confidants. Why his honour had been so
highly rated, I can less account; except that he had advertised it, and
that obstinate young men are apt to have high notions before they have
practised the world and essayed their own virtue.
Mr. Conway telling the Duke that Lord Rockingham desired to treat
with his Grace, he commissioned Conway to bring them together. In the
mean time Lord Gower reproaching the Duke with negotiating at once
with the Bedfords and Rockinghams, as Conway had foreseen, the Duke
denied even to Conway the having authorized him to settle a meeting. We
were struck with this, and recollected how easily his Grace had been
engaged by Lord Chatham to accept the Treasury, after the most vehement
protestations against it; and how often and how lightly of late he had
refused, and then consented to remain there. Now, on having seen the
King at Richmond, his Grace protested against holding the Treasury if
Lord Temple was to be associated to equal power.
On the 5th of July the King sent likewise for Conway to Richmond, and
showed him all Lord Chatham’s letters.[23] His Majesty had sent for the
latter; Lady Chatham wrote to the King that it was impossible for her
lord even to _write_. In the evening the King had offered to go to him.
Lord Chatham himself then _wrote_ to decline that honour, pleading his
health was worse than ever. His Majesty then asked Conway’s advice. The
latter proposed taking Lord Rockingham’s party. The King listened, but
asking what the Marquis himself would expect, and Conway replying, the
Treasury, the King seemed surprised, protested he had heard no mention
of that, and asked, what was then to become of the Duke of Grafton?
There seemed some mystery in this behaviour. Either Grafton had kept
his eye on the Treasury, or the King had suffered him to allure Lord
Rockingham with false hopes. The King and the Duke had misunderstood
or deceived each other; which was the more likely, the characters of
both will tell. One point, however, was clear, that the King had had
the shrewdness to penetrate the Duke’s character earlier than anybody
else had, and had found that of all the various ministers he had tried,
no man would be more pliant in the closet or give him less trouble. In
truth the Duke was the reverse of Grenville; acquiesced in whatever his
Majesty proposed, and ever was as ready to leave the room as the King
was desirous he should. He was just the minister whose facility and
indolence suited the views of the King, the Princess, and the Favourite.
His Majesty next commissioned Conway to treat with Lord Rockingham,
with _no_ restrictions but that the Duke of Grafton and the Chancellor
should be retained in the Administration, though the Treasury should
be ceded to Rockingham. Whether the King forgot having allowed this
last condition to be offered, or hoped to evade it, the following
negotiations made it plain that he had never intended to fulfil it, if
he could form any system without being reduced to that necessity. Two
reasons combined to rivet in his Majesty an aversion to having Lord
Rockingham for his First Minister; the one general and permanent, the
other temporary: the Marquis and his party had and did persist in the
exclusion of Lord Bute and his connection. If possessed of power at the
eve of a new Parliament, he would be able to influence the elections
to the exclusion of that connection. The King was not desirous of
giving himself a minister who would thus be master both of him and the
Parliament.
Mr. Conway having sent for the Duke of Richmond back to London, I was
desired to meet him on the subject. I was averse, as having no opinion
of the abilities of that party; yet yielded, as it was thought I had
most weight of any man with that Duke; but though I loved and esteemed
him, I knew how much he was swayed by the intemperate and inconsiderate
folly of the Cavendishes; and I accordingly declared that, should the
negotiation succeed, I would have nothing farther to do with that
set. When Mr. Conway had opened the proposal to the Duke, the first
difficulty that started was on Lord Camden. The Duke said, they would
not put a negative on him, but he would be the King’s man. I asked if
they expected that every man should depend on King Rockingham, and
nobody on King George? “But,” said the Duke, “he will be Lord Bute’s
man, as Lord Northington had been.” I said, “If Lord Bute desires to
make another breach, will he ever want a tool?” “Oh! but they must
have a permanency.” “I know none,” I said, “but holding the Government
for life by patent.” The Duke said, a junction with the Bedfords
would secure it. “How,” said I, “my lord, will their coming under you
make them less impatient to be above you? But have they in _their_
negotiation stipulated anything for _your_ friends? Ask them; if they
cannot say they did, it will be proof they did not. You have insisted
on Mr. Conway’s resigning: here he is, on the point of doing so; and
now you do not know what to do with him. Will you refuse the Government
now when it is offered, and yet continue to oppose and impede it?” The
Duke said, he had not opposed everything last session more than Mr.
Conway. “No!” said Conway, eagerly and with warmth; “what does your
Grace think of the land-tax?” In short, we could come to no agreement.
Conway was much hurt, yet persisted in his intention of resigning,
though his brother and I painted to him his obligations to the Duke of
Grafton, and the unreasonableness of those who claimed his promise,
though they knew not to what end; and who adhered to their resolution
of proposing to the Bedfords to join them, though Conway declared
against that junction, and though they had no reason to expect the King
would admit them on these terms.
As we had not been able to settle even preliminaries, the King again
pressed the Duke of Grafton to undertake the whole, and remain at
the head of the Treasury, promising him his fullest support. The
Duke replied, with vehemence, that if his Majesty proposed his
being minister, he would take his horse, ride out of England, and
never return. This peremptory, and, as the King thought, invincible
repugnance, suggested a new plan to his Majesty, at which Mr. Conway
and I were more disturbed than at all the other difficulties. It was
to make Lord Hertford minister, who, we knew, was too fond of his
interest, to be proper for that post. Fortunately Lord Hertford,
sensible of his own unfitness, started, and said it was impossible. The
King said, “You all give me advice, but none of you will serve me in
my necessity.” Lord Hertford recommended Lord Egmont. “He will never
accept the Treasury,” said the King, “but you may confer with him; I
give you full power to do what you please.” Lord Hertford said, he
himself never spoke in Parliament, and consequently could not be proper
for his Majesty’s service. Yet he feared losing the King’s favour by
refusing; and by expressions, which his son Lord Beauchamp dropped,
we feared he would consent to take the Treasury for a time, on the
grant of a ducal title. I told him there were but three options: to
take the Rockinghams, and get rid of them again as soon as possible; to
engage Mr. Conway to accept the Treasury, which I could scarce think
practicable; or to place the Duke of Northumberland there, since, if
Lord Bute _would_ govern, he and his friends ought to stand in the
front of the battle, instead of exposing others to danger for him. It
would, besides, encourage others to list, as marking certainly that the
King’s favour would accompany the Administration. Lord Hertford said,
the King would not take that step before the new elections, lest the
unpopularity should affect them; though no doubt he would willingly
make the Duke of Northumberland minister afterwards.
I went at night to Lord Holland. He ranted for an hour; said the King
might make a page[24] first minister, and could maintain him so; that
Mr. Conway, when turned out, ought never to have been replaced; that
it had been wrong to restore General A’Court and others; and that a
king of England could always make what ministry he pleased;--he had
forgotten that himself had tried for six weeks in the last reign with
all the influence of the Crown, and could not succeed. All I could get
from him was, that Lord Bute had not seen the King in private for two
years--an assertion I believed as much as the rest.
In the meantime Lord Rockingham, on the strength of the overtures made
to him, had sent a formal message to Woburn to invite the Bedfords to
enter into the Administration with him. The Duke of Bedford returned
for answer, that he was not averse to Lord Rockingham having the
Treasury; for the rest, he would consult his friends.
If Lord Rockingham thus exceeded the offers made to him, the King
laboured no less to prevent their taking place. The Queen asked Colonel
Fitzroy if he had any weight with his brother, and whether the Duke of
Grafton would leave the King in that distress? The King told Fitzroy he
had rather see the devil in his closet than Mr. Grenville.
Lord Rockingham himself then went to Woburn, whence Rigby had been
despatched to settle measures with Mr. Grenville. The answer given to
the Marquis was, that Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville desired nothing for
themselves; would support the future Administration, and hoped their
friends would be taken care of; but could give no further answer, till
they knew if the bottom was to be wide enough.[25] This oracular and
evasive reply did not yet open the eyes of the Marquis, who had so
fixed it in his idea that Bute would betray him, and, indeed, had made
it so natural he should, that the most flimsy veil could hide from him
what no art ought to have been able to conceal. What imaginable reason
ought to have persuaded Rockingham that Grenville was willing to be his
substitute?
This negotiation, and these general terms, Lord Rockingham communicated
to the Duke of Grafton; who, whether offended at the indecency to the
King, or affronted at the slight put on himself by their treating
through him for his own place, grew much reconciled to keeping it
himself. The Duke said to Lord Rockingham:--“Your Lordship would not
leave his Majesty one nomination. He had excepted nobody but the
Chancellor, and I told your Lordship he ordered me to except myself
too; but I told you from myself I would give up the Treasury to you.
By the terms you now ask, you certainly do not mean to come in.” Lord
Rockingham had sense or irresolution enough almost to own he did not.
On the report of this conference, the King said he would be at liberty
to alter, accept, or reject any part of their plan as he should see
cause.
The negotiation having gone so far, it was necessary to proceed till
it should produce either agreement or rupture. The Duke of Grafton and
Mr. Conway accordingly were empowered by his Majesty to treat in form
with the Marquis. On the 15th of July they asked his terms. He spoke
vaguely, but highly. At night, Lord Hertford showed me the following
notes of a letter, which he, his brother, and the Duke had drawn to
send in the Duke’s name to the Marquis:--
“My dear Lord,--After having delivered to his Majesty the answer which
your Lordship communicated to General Conway and myself this morning,
I was commanded to acquaint your Lordship that the King will expect
to receive from your Lordship the plan on which you and your friends
would propose to come in, in order to extend and strengthen his
Administration, that his Majesty may be enabled to judge how far the
same shall appear consistent with his Majesty’s honour and the public
service.”
I by no means liked this letter. Grenville and Rigby I knew wished to
prevent Rockingham’s acceptance, as they must come in under him, or
remain out of place. If he declined, they would become more united,
and Grenville would attain the ascendant. A list I could not imagine
they would deliver, which would disgust all that were to be proscribed;
nor could they easily agree to form a list. All they could wish was,
an opportunity to break off the treaty, and impute the rupture to the
King’s defence of Lord Bute’s tools. This letter furnished every one of
these opportunities. _To extend and strengthen_, implied a resolution
of retaining the present system, of which both the Rockinghams and the
Bedfords complained. _Consistent with his honour_, bespoke fidelity to
Lord Bute’s friends; and _expect_, sounded harsh and peremptory. Mr.
Conway had already objected to that word. I wished to have the letter
so expressed that the King’s friends might be able to show it, and
exasperate mankind against the unreasonableness of the Opposition. I
accordingly altered it thus:--
“My dear Lord,--After having delivered to his Majesty the answer which
your Lordship communicated to General Conway and myself this morning,
I was commanded to acquaint your Lordship that the King _wishes your
Lordship would specify to him_ the plan on which you and your friends
would propose to come in, in order _to form an extensive and solid
Administration_; that his Majesty may be enabled to judge how far the
same _may be advantageous to his Majesty’s and the public service_.”
These corrections were approved by the Duke, Lord Hertford, and Mr.
Conway; yet the Duke came and told me the next day that he had restored
the words _extend and strengthen the Administration_. This had been
done no doubt by his Majesty’s order; but though I wished, as much
as his Majesty, to break off the negotiation, I saw how improper the
method was: it was treating for a change and refusing to make it at
the same time. Accordingly Lord Rockingham returned an answer as
understanding it in that manner; but, withal, nothing could surpass the
insolence of that answer. It was long, and, in our hurry, I forgot to
keep a copy of it; but it concluded with hoping his Grace had explained
to the King that he (Rockingham) had laid down for a principle that
this Administration was at an end; and, therefore, if his Majesty liked
_he_ should form a new one, he desired previously to have an interview
with his Majesty.
Impertinent as the body of the letter and the assumption to himself of
forming an Administration were, it seemed but reasonable that the King
should see the man whom he had sent for to be his minister: and to have
refused him an audience on the arrogance of his style, would, probably,
be falling into the snare they had laid for breaking off the treaty.
Under this dilemma, the Duke of Grafton desired me to draw up an
answer. I did, and was so lucky as not only to please all the persons
concerned--the King, the Duke, and Mr. Conway, but to embarrass Lord
Rockingham and his Council so entirely, that they could neither answer
it nor get out of the perplexity with tolerable honour or conduct. Here
is the letter:--
“My dear Lord,--I have laid your Lordship’s letter before his Majesty,
and have the satisfaction of acquainting your Lordship that his
Majesty’s gracious sentiments concur with your Lordship’s in regard
to the forming a comprehensive plan of administration; and that his
Majesty, desirous of uniting the hearts of all his subjects, is ready
and willing to appoint such a comprehensive Administration as may
exclude no denomination of men attached to his person and government.
When your Lordship is prepared to offer a plan of administration formed
on these views, his Majesty is willing your Lordship should yourself
lay the same before him for his consideration.”
Lord Rockingham having received this letter, owned to the Duke of
Grafton and Mr. Conway that it was the most artful letter he ever saw,
and would puzzle him and his friends to answer. The Chancellor told
Lord Hertford he never saw anything so ably drawn; not a word could be
mended. As it passed for the Duke of Grafton’s composition, I allowed
for what quantity of applause might be attributed to that belief. The
letter, however, remained unanswered: Lord Rockingham only pressing the
Duke for an audience of a quarter of an hour with the King; but the
Duke told him it could not be obtained.
At night, Mr. Conway and I going home with Lord Hertford to supper,
the latter found a most pathetic letter from the King, which said the
Duke of Grafton had just been with him, and had peremptorily declared
he would not go on without Mr. Conway; and therefore his Majesty called
upon Mr. Conway, in the most earnest manner, not to leave him exposed
to Lord Rockingham, who had insulted him so much. The Duke of Grafton,
the latter said too, had promised the King to desire Mr. Walpole would
use all his interest with Mr. Conway; to whom his Majesty engaged
to give the Blues on Lord Ligonier’s death, and any civil place, if
he did not like that of Secretary of State. Mr. Conway cried out at
once, it was impossible. I immediately saw that if I persuaded him
_then_ to stay, he would dispute, and thence would confirm himself
in his resolution. I determined, therefore, to let the first burst
of his feeling pass over without contradiction, that I might work on
him another way. I walked about the room with as melancholy an air
as I could put on, only dropping now and then, that it was the most
serious crisis I ever knew. At supper I spoke not a word. When the
servants were retired, his brother, Lady Hertford, and his own wife,
Lady Ailesbury, attacked him in the most eager manner, pressing him
to comply with the King. He resisted as firmly; I jogged Lord Hertford
privately, who understood me, and said no more: but the two ladies were
out of patience, thinking me on Mr. Conway’s side. Still I would not
speak, but seemed to be lost in thought, though I attended to every
word he said, to learn where his principal objection lay, and soon
found it was to Lord Chatham. When we rose up to go away, the ladies
pressed me to give my opinion, which I had expected, and intended
to bring them to do. I then spoke with tears in my eyes; said I was
sensible of the honour the King had done me; but, for the King nor
anybody, would I give Mr. Conway any advice in so important a moment,
till I had considered the question most cooly and thoroughly. He was
much pleased, and said that was very fair. I then knew I should do
what I would; Lord Hertford proposed that he and his brother should go
early the next morning to the Duke of Grafton, but I shifted that off,
and winked to Lord Hertford, who then said, he would go first, and Mr.
Conway should come to me in the morning to talk the matter over. The
moment I got home, I wrote back to Lord Hertford to explain my meaning,
and desired he would not come to me till an hour after the time
appointed for meeting his brother at my house.
The next day (the 18th), Mr. Conway came to me, I told him he had
convinced me that while the treaty was going on, he could not with
honour engage to the King to undertake a share of the Administration,
which would encourage the King to break off the treaty: but if Lord
Rockingham and his friends continued unreasonable, I thought him bound
in honour to extricate the King from the difficulties in which he
had, by his promise of resignation, involved him. That if he (Conway)
refused, his Majesty, rather than give up all Lord Bute’s friends,
would certainly set up some one of them: such a step would drive the
Opposition into the last violences, and might end in a civil war. That
the nation was now quiet and satisfied; and that all sober men, not
ranked in any faction, would not bear to see the King taken prisoner.
That all men saw through the pretences of the several factions; that
all danger of arbitrary power was over, when the most Lord Bute
pretended was, to save a few of his friends from being displaced:
but that another danger was growing upon us, a danger I had always
feared as much as the power of the Crown,--danger from aristocracy,
and from those confederacies of great lords. I showed him that the
present dissatisfactions were nothing but combinations of interested
and ambitious men; that Lord Rockingham and his party had deserted
their principles by adopting Grenville and the Bedfords, who had been
the instruments of Lord Bute’s bad measures, besides having been
criminal in other excesses without his participation. I dwelt on the
outrageous behaviour of the Duke of Richmond the day before, who
had told me that if Conway should refuse to act with Grenville when
united with them (the Rockinghams), they would bid him go about his
business; and that he himself would tell Conway so to his face (the
greatest excess, in truth, of which I ever knew the Duke of Richmond
guilty; whose friendly heart was uncommonly unaccustomed to resent a
difference of opinion in those he loved, and who in a few days after
this heat gave a clear proof of his firm attachment to Conway). I
continued to say to the latter, that I saw he must do something, though
I did not well know what: if anything, I thought that, to show he did
not act from interest, and to strike a great stroke in character, he
must resume the seals of Secretary of State, but refuse the salary.
The Rockinghams might then say what they pleased; that I myself had
always defied all parties on the strength of my disinterestedness: and
I then offered him half my fortune, which he generously refused, but
he was exceedingly struck--as I knew he would be--by a proposal that
would place his virtue in so fair a light. How well soever I knew the
method of drawing him to my opinion, it is but justice to say that,
had I been so inclined, I never could have swayed him to any wrong
act; nor had I so often occasion to lead him towards my sentiments as
to fix his irresolution, which wandered constantly from one doubt to
another, and paid too much deference to what men would say of him.
This was the case in the transaction I am relating. Lord Rockingham and
his friends did not weigh a moment what Mr. Conway owed to the King,
to the Duke of Grafton, to his country, or to himself. They availed
themselves of what had been more a threat than a promise, in order
to blow up the Administration and create confusion. To Conway they
had not paid the least deference, acquiesced in nothing he proposed
to them or for them, and most arrogantly pretended to involve him,
against his repeated declaration, in a system composed for their own
convenience, and by their own wilful blindness with his and their
country’s most grievous enemies. Could I employ too much art to set
him above such treatment? He told me he had had some such thought as I
mentioned, and would certainly follow my advice; but he would resign
first on the next Wednesday (this was Friday), and then he should be
able to talk with more authority to the Rockinghams. We agreed to keep
this a secret from all the world; and I was only to give the Duke of
Grafton and Lord Hertford hopes. I said, he might be sure I would keep
the secret for my own sake; circumstances might change, and I would
not pledge myself to the King, and be reproached afterwards if he was
disappointed. I said, too, that I would not go to Court (as I ought to
have done after the King’s letter), that I might give no jealousy; but
would let the King know the reason of my absenting myself. “I like
policy,” said I, “but I will always speak truth, which I think the best
policy.” Conway grew impatient at his brother’s not coming, and went
to the Duke of Richmond. Lord Hertford arrived the next moment. I bade
him be satisfied, but would not tell him on what grounds. He did not
approve his brother’s resigning, but I convinced him it was necessary
to yield that point in order to carry the greater. We agreed, indeed,
that to his brother he should not give it up, that his brother might
not suspect our being too much in concert. We then went to him. The
Duke of Richmond told him that they had sent for the Bedfords to town.
Lord Hertford and I disputed about the resignation before Mr. Conway;
and as I wanted to prepare the Duke of Grafton, I said I was sure I
could convince the last. Lord Hertford said I could not. “Well,” said
I, two or three times, “you shall see I can. I will go to him--shall
I?” Conway said, “Well, go.” Lord Hertford kept his brother in dispute.
I went, gave the Duke hopes; told him, he himself must retain his
place, but must let Mr. Conway resign. He said, if it would satisfy Mr.
Conway’s delicacy, he would. I thus carried all my points, and knew I
was doing right. At the same time I must confess there was a moment in
which, reflecting on my success, and on the important service I had
rendered to the King in so distressful and critical an hour, I was
tempted to think of myself. I saw I might have written to the King, or
asked an audience, or made any terms I pleased for myself. My brother
had just been at the point of death, and presented me with the near
prospect of losing half my income. What would remain, would depend on
the will of every succeeding First Lord of the Treasury; and it was
determined in my own breast that I would pay court to none. I resisted,
however; and in this favourable shining hour, resolved to make no one
advantage for myself. I scorned to tell either my friend or myself, and
sat down contented with having done the best for him, and with shutting
the door against a crew I hated or despised: yet I had one more
struggle to come before the victory was complete.
At night the two brothers and I saw the Duke of Grafton again. Our
intelligence agreed that Grenville had said to his friends that he
had reserved himself at liberty to oppose. This showed what headlong
voluntary dupes Lord Rockingham and his friends had made themselves.
On the 20th, a meeting was held at the Duke of Newcastle’s, of Lord
Rockingham, the Duke of Richmond and Dowdeswell, with Newcastle
himself, on one part; and of the Duke of Bedford, Lord Weymouth, and
Rigby on the other. The Duke of Bedford had powers from Grenville to
act for him, but did not seem to like Lord Rockingham’s taking on
himself to name to places. On the latter asking what friends they
wished to prefer, Rigby said, with his cavalier bluntness, “Take the
Court Calendar and give them one, two, three thousand pounds a-year.”
Bedford observed that they had said nothing on measures: Mr. Grenville
would insist on the sovereignty of this country over America being
asserted. Lord Rockingham replied, he would never allow it to be a
question whether he had given up this country: he never had. The Duke
insisted on a declaration. The Duke of Richmond said, “We may as well
demand one from you, that you never will disturb that country again.”
Neither would yield. However, though they could not agree on measures,
as the distribution of places was more the object of their thoughts and
of their meeting, they reverted to that topic. Lord Rockingham named
Mr. Conway; Bedford started; said, he had no notion of Conway; had
thought he was to return to the military line. The Duke of Richmond
said, it was true Mr. Conway did not desire a civil place; did not know
whether he would be persuaded to accept one; but they were so bound to
him for his resignation, and thought him so able, they must insist.
The Duke of Bedford said, Conway was an officer _sans tache_, but not
a minister _sans tache_. Rigby said, not one of the present Cabinet
should be saved. Dowdeswell asked, “What! not one?”--“No”--“What! not
Charles Townshend?” “Oh!” said Rigby, “that is different; besides,
he has been in opposition.” “So has Conway,” said Dowdeswell; “he
has voted twice against the Court, Townshend but once.” “But,” said
Rigby, “Conway is Bute’s man.” “Pray,” said Dowdeswell, “is not
Charles Townshend Bute’s?” “Ay, but Conway is governed by his brother
Hertford, who is Bute’s.” “So is Charles Townshend by his brother,[26]
who is Bute’s.” “But Lady Ailesbury[27] is a Scotchwoman.” “So is Lady
Dalkeith.[28]” From this dialogue the assembly fell to wrangle, and
broke up quarrelling. So high did the heats go, that the Cavendishes
ran about the town, publishing the issue of the conference, and taxing
the Bedfords with treachery.
Notwithstanding this, the same evening the Duke of Bedford sent to
desire another interview, to which Lord Rockingham yielded; but the
Duke of Richmond refused to be present. So much, however, were the
minds on both sides ulcerated by former and recent disputes, and so
incompatible were their views, that the second meeting broke up in
a final quarrel; and Lord Rockingham released the other party from
all their engagements. The Duke of Bedford desired they might still
continue friends--that was, at least, agree to oppose together. Lord
Rockingham said, No; they were broken for ever.[29]
It was at this meeting that the Duke of Newcastle appeared for the
last time[30] in a political light. Age and feebleness at length wore
out that busy passion for intrigue, which power had not been able to
satiate, nor disgrace correct. He languished above a year longer, but
was heard of no more on the scene of affairs.
Chance and folly having thus dispersed those clouds that were only
formidable by their assemblage, the task grew easier to re-establish
some serenity; yet the principal actor could not help distinguishing
his superior absurdity before the act was closed.
The Duke of Richmond acquainted me, on the 22nd, that Lord Rockingham
was going to the King to thank his Majesty for his gracious offers,
to ask pardon for having dealt with Grenville and the Bedfords, and
to acquaint him that he could not undertake the Administration.
One should rather have expected that when he confessed his error in
applying to them, he would propose to accept without them. I said, not
with much ardour, that I hoped they would now accept alone; and I asked
what was to become of Conway? The Duke replied, _They had told him he
must go on_. “Well, my lord,” said I, “but then you cannot continue
to oppose.” “No,” replied the Duke, “if the King should offer us full
power, he might be sure now that we could not make use of it against
his friends; yet I do not know whether we should undertake. I think we
must at least allow our friends to take on with the Court.” I commended
this noble behaviour, and approved the admission of their friends; but
their first thoughts had been too right to last.
Lord Rockingham went to Court, and asked an audience; but instead
of the decent part he had meditated, he sillily entered into former
complaints against Lord Bute. The King, as unnecessarily frank, owned
that he had never intended to give him the Treasury, but to keep the
Duke of Grafton. Thus they parted, each more soured than they had met.
The King complained that Lord Rockingham had taxed him with breach of
his word, and that he had not offered to accept without Grenville, &c.
Lord Rockingham, that the King had not asked him to undertake--as if
the language he had held, had been conciliatory. His party resented
highly what they called the King’s insincerity; and the Duke of
Richmond, dining with Conway and me, expressed the utmost warmth,
declaring they would accept nothing under as full powers as had been
granted to Lord Chatham. Conway endeavoured to moderate; but as I
could go farther than it was proper for Conway to do, I ridiculed the
ascribing as much importance to Lord Rockingham as to Lord Chatham;
and said the former could only compose an Administration in dumb show,
so few of the party being speakers, and none of any rank among them,
but his Grace, having any parts. I asked how they could treat Mr.
Conway so ill? They had called on him to resign; had that very morning
acknowledged he must stay, and had advised him to stay; and now the
Duke said, they had only meant he should stay just for the present
moment. But there was no allaying the Duke’s heat; and indeed, unless
they would have acquiesced in the only rational plan, a junction
with the Administration, without insisting on the pre-eminence of
Rockingham, it was indifferent to me whether they were pacified or not.
The difficulty, however, was increased to Conway by the regard they had
paid to him, and which had widened their breach with the Bedfords. But
besides their having allowed the necessity of his staying in place,
their struggle for him was not only what he had deserved at their
hands, but had much the appearance of having been but a decent tribute,
since they had owned to the Bedfords that they doubted his accession;
and what was yet stranger, they had stickled for him, when they were
morally certain he was not only averse to, but would not accede to,
their coalition with Grenville. Every part of the miscarriage had
flowed from their own fault. They had conjoined men to their plan
without the King’s leave, even without asking it, had refused on the
terms he had offered; and had concluded by affronting him to his face;
had owned they had no excuse for opposing any longer; and now were
desirous Mr. Conway should oppose with them, only because they had been
to blame. Such inconsistencies could not be wiped out by their having
made use of his name against his consent. Yet, as Conway’s delicacy
was great, I told the Duke of Grafton, when he sent for me the next
morning, that it was of absolute necessity that his Majesty should once
more offer the Administration in form to Lord Rockingham, as nothing
but the positive refusal of the latter would induce Mr. Conway to go
on. I knew, I said, it was not very civil to his Grace to advise him to
propose again a successor to himself; but my confidence that Rockingham
would again refuse, and the benefits resulting thence, encouraged me
to press that advice. The Duke, though disinclined to the measure, was
persuaded. I sent Lord Hertford to the King with the same counsel;
said, I was sure they would refuse; if they did, I besought his Majesty
to express no resentment, but to soothe them, and say, that though
they would not undertake the Administration, he yet hoped they would
support it, and suffer their friends to enlist, which at least would
produce a defection from their party.
The Duke acquainted the King with my advice, who expressed extreme
repugnance to it, yet consented to follow it, though it was very
grievous, he said, to humble himself again to Lord Rockingham, who, but
the preceding day, had taxed him with an ancient breach of promise.
To Lord Hertford his Majesty observed, that it was very extraordinary
advice to come from me. Lord Hertford explained that my reasons were
founded upon the hopes of carrying Mr. Conway clearly from Lord
Rockingham, on a new refusal of the latter; and for fear his Majesty
should be reduced, if Conway wavered, again to deliver himself up to
Mr. Grenville. The King replied, he would sooner meet Grenville at the
end of his sword than let him into his closet; and that there must
be men in England who would form an Administration for him, and not
let him be reduced to that mortification. His Majesty would not yield
to send for Lord Rockingham, but allowed the offer to be once more
renewed,--a consent from which I drew a remarkable observation: as
his Majesty yielded on the first proposal (for he saw the Duke before
the conversation with Lord Hertford), it was plain he did not always
consult the Princess or Lord Bute, having now allowed the Duke to make
the offer, before the latter quitted the closet.
The Duke, Mr. Conway, and I, consulted on the best method of delivering
the message. Conway thought it was best to do it, as I had advised, in
a free, friendly way, exhorting the Marquis to let them all re-unite in
their old system; and Conway added, “If they refuse, your Grace and I
must then do the best we can.”
At night, the Duke, Conway, and Lord Rockingham met. The Duke, in the
King’s name, offered him the Treasury, in the amicable way agreed
on. Lord Rockingham was all reserve, and would only say, this was no
message. The Duke offended, and naturally cold and shy, would not
repeat positively that it was; and thus the meeting broke off.[31]
Having engaged the King and Duke in so bold and hazardous a step, I
trembled lest it should take another turn than I expected: and though
my advice had not been completely followed, yet as it sufficed to
disgust Conway, I rejoiced that it had ended so fortunately, especially
as I doubted from recollecting circumstances and from Lord Rockingham’s
demand of a precise message, whether he would not have accepted; in
which case the King would probably have flown off and Conway have
been offended the other way, if the terms, when offered and accepted,
had not been granted. That Rockingham fluctuated between ambition and
distrust was evident, for late that very night the Duke of Richmond
came to Lord Hertford’s door and sent for me down to his chariot,
when, though ashamed of the silly message imposed upon him, he made me
this frantic and impertinent proposal from Lord Rockingham, which I
was desired to deliver to Mr. Conway,--that the latter would engage
the King to allow the Marquis to try again to get the Bedfords--the
Bedfords whom, two days before, Rockingham and all his party had
absolutely broken with, and published as the most treacherous of men,
and who had proscribed Conway himself. Should the Bedfords again
refuse, the Marquis notified that he would then deign to accept the
Administration. I neither wished his acceptance, nor chose to run any
farther risks of it. Conway, to whom I communicated it, treated this
senseless proposal as it deserved; and the Duke of Richmond did not
attempt to defend it.[32]