Whitehall, Dec. 7th, 1788.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
There is nothing particularly worth mentioning to you with respect
to Willis, more than what I told you in my last letter. He
expressed himself very strongly to Pitt as to his hopes of the
King's recovery, and said that there was no symptom which he saw in
him, or could learn from the other physicians, which he had not
seen much stronger in other people who have recovered. He has, I
understand, already acquired a complete ascendancy over him, which
is the point for which he is particularly famous. He had the
boldness yesterday to suffer the King to shave himself in his
presence. The King was much more composed than he has ever been,
slept uncommonly well the night before last; said in the morning
that he found himself much better, for that Dr. Willis had settled
his mind; and was remarkably quiet the whole of yesterday. The
account this morning is also, I understand, very favourable. I have
just seen a man who saw a note of Willis's dated late last night,
in which he says that he is confident the King would do very well.
He is to continue entirely with him, and to have the complete
management of him. The other physicians are, however, to see him,
in order to keep him in bodily health.
It is quite ridiculous to see how angry the Opposition are at the
report of the physicians, and particularly at what Warren said,
which, I understand, was very different from what they had
expected. They go so far as to say, that if Fox had been present he
would not have dared to give such an evidence. They hope to mend it
by a subsequent examination before a Committee of the House: the
object of Willis being examined is so great, that I think we shall
consent to something of this sort. Not only his opinion will have
great weight, but it will also make the others very cautious what
they say in opposition to it.
The behaviour of the two Princes is such as to shock every man's
feelings. What do you think of the Duke of York's having a meeting
of the Opposition at his house on Thursday, before the House of
Lords met, and then going down there to hear the examinations read?
After that, they closed the day, by both going in the evening to
Brooks's. The truth is, that the Duke is entirely in his brother's
hands, and that the latter is taking inconceivable pains to keep
him so, in order that he may not see what a line is open to him if
he had judgment to follow it.
The assurances of support which Pitt receives from all quarters are
much beyond the expectations which we had formed. It is also clear
that, whatever object Thurlow might at one time have had in view,
he has now taken his determination of abiding by the present
Government, and supporting their measures with respect to the
Regency. I imagine that Lord Stafford and Lord Weymouth have
chiefly influenced his resolution--their line having been clear and
decided from the beginning.
On the other hand, there seems great reason to believe that the
Prince of Wales is inclined to go to all the lengths to which that
party are pushing him. They have for several days been spreading a
report that he has expressed a determination not to accept of the
Regency under any restrictions or in any manner at all short of
regal power; and that the Duke of York was commissioned by him to
have declared this on Thursday, if anything had been said that
could at all have led to it. The story of to-day is, that the three
Royal Dukes have assured him of their resolution to refuse it if
tendered to them on similar terms, and that they have authorized
Fox to say this in the House of Commons. There is no knowing what
sort of effect this may produce with respect to the measures of the
present moment: that must depend entirely on the sort of turn that
the people in general may take upon it at first. But it is very
evident that by such a step the Prince will do himself a permanent
mischief which he will never be able to repair, and which we shall
probably all of us have much reason to regret. It is quite clear
that, having once proposed these restrictions, as thinking them
necessary for the interest of the King (and on that ground only
could we propose them), no other motive whatever can be a
justification for abandoning them, as long as there can be found
one individual or set of individuals who will undertake to carry on
the Government, and as long as Parliament continues to think the
proposal right and equitable. What all this may produce, God only
knows. Our reliance can only be on the discharge of what we owe to
the King in gratitude and duty, and in the decided manner in which
we have put all considerations out of the question which can
personally affect our own interests.
In the midst of all this confusion, and while his sons and brothers
are struggling to gain entire possession of his authority, the King
may recover his reason. What a scene will present itself to him!
and how devoutly must he pray, if he is wise, to lose again all
power of recollection or reflection.
The struggle was now beginning in earnest between the Ministers and the
Prince of Wales. The point at issue apparently narrowed itself to the
restrictions; but there lay beneath this question of royal expediency a
great constitutional principle, which was gradually developed in the
progress of the subsequent debates. It was not alone that Mr. Fox and
his party demanded the Regency without any limitations whatever, but
that they demanded it as a right; setting up the doctrine that when the
Sovereign, from any cause, became incapacitated, the Heir Apparent had
an indisputable claim to the executive authority during the continuance
of the incapacity, just as he would have on the demise of the Crown. It
was strange enough that this doctrine, which Mr. Pitt denounced as
"treason against the Constitution," should have been maintained by the
avowed champions of popular liberty; and that it should have been
reserved for the Ministers of the King to defend the interests of the
people against the encroachments of royalty. Mr. Pitt asserted that the
right of providing a remedy for the suspension of the regular powers of
Government rested solely with the people, "from whom," he added, "all
the powers of Government originate." The language he held upon this
occasion is remarkable not only from its constitutional soundness, but
for the perspicuity with which it states the actual question in contest,
stripped of all disguises and evasions. "To assert an inherent right in
the Prince of Wales to assume the Government, is virtually to revive
those exploded ideas of the divine and indefeasible authority of
Princes, which have so justly sunk into contempt and almost oblivion.
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." It will be seen that in the end the Prince of Wales
was obliged to abandon his claim of right, and that the steadfastness of
Pitt finally secured the recognition of the principle which placed in
the hands of Parliament the settlement of the conditions under which His
Royal Highness was to enter upon the Regency.
This glance at the subject is a little in advance of the correspondence;
but it will be useful as a key to the points of discussion thrown up in
its progress. The fulness and freshness of the letters, written daily,
and containing the most minute history of those proceedings that has yet
appeared in print, requires such slight elucidation as to render it
undesirable to interrupt their continuity by commentaries, except where
it may become necessary to direct attention to some special matter.
Both parties were now gathering their allies around them, and preparing
for a contest which was not very creditable to the political character
of the Opposition. In the meanwhile a third party was forming, which,
trying to reconcile hopeless antagonisms, ran its head against a
crotchet, resisting the restrictions on the one hand, and supporting Mr.
Pitt, as Minister, on the other, for the sake of his popularity and
transcendant abilities. This line of conduct is justly described by Mr.
Grenville as "absolute nonsense."