Stanhope Street, Dec. 29th, 1788.
MY DEAREST LORD,
We are in high spirits here at the first majority of 64, and at the
last of 73, which, considering the open and undisguised canvass of
the Prince and the Duke of York, and the very liberal distribution
of promises from both, does the House of Commons a great deal of
honour. Parry fell down in a fit about two hours before the
division of the first day, and was carried home in a chair
speechless, where he remained confined till Monday, when I polled
him by means of a pair with Sir Robert Clayton, which T. Steele
arranged for him. A _certain lady_ in St. James's Square has been
tampering with Parry, and he certainly vented all his grievances
into the compassionate bosom of that active and politic fair one,
who has likewise infused such a political ardour into the mind of
her dear Sir Poddy, that on the first division he was seen to take
down the names of the different speeches and the members, besides
_other occasional notes_. I have not been in St. James's Square
since I have been in town, the manner with which they affect to
treat me being such that _an old English Baron_ cannot put up with;
besides _we are_ not in the best of humours at present, Sir Poddy
being unwell, and unable to attend the last division and _we find_
it difficult to sing the praises of the Prince and the Duke of York
on the usual themes of filial piety, virtue, &c., in the face of a
majority of 73 in favour of a falling Minister.
Sir George Warren was one of the rats, which Lady B. was much
affected at. He and Lady W. dined with us the day before the first
division, and both sung the praises of Mr. Pitt, and expressed the
warmest anxiety for the King's recovery. I was not all surprised,
well knowing his rattish dispositions. Glynne Wynne, whom I have
been working for three years to detach Lord Uxbridge from, has,
with the utmost effrontery, cast his benefactor off, and set him at
defiance, to which he has been led by promises at Carlton House. I
trust we shall be able to do his business on a dissolution, and he
well deserves it, being one of the first of scoundrels.
* * * * *
I subjoin a list of those members who usually have voted with Mr.
Pitt, who have quitted him in the late divisions, _i.e._ _rats_.
Yours sincerely,
B.
Sir Peter Parker.
Sir George Warren.
Sir J. Aubrey.
Sir S. Hannay.
Sir Charles Gould.
James Macpherson.
---- Clevland.
Glynne Wynne.
Gerrard Hamilton.
---- Fraser.
---- Osbaldiston.
The Lonsdales voted against Pitt in the first division, and staid
away the second. The Lansdownes voted with Pitt in the first, and,
I believe, in the second, or staid away.
1789.
DEATH OF THE SPEAKER--MR. GRENVILLE ELECTED IN HIS PLACE--COMMITTEE ON
THE REGENCY--THE HOUSEHOLD BILL--CONDUCT OF THE PRINCES--ADDRESS TO THE
PRINCE OF WALES FROM THE IRISH PARLIAMENT--RECOVERY OF THE
KING--DECISIVE MEASURES OF LORD BUCKINGHAM--IRISH PROMOTIONS AND
CREATIONS--DISSENSIONS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY--MR. GRENVILLE APPOINTED
SECRETARY OF STATE--MR. ADDINGTON ELECTED SPEAKER--LORD BUCKINGHAM
RESIGNS THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.
The one absorbing subject which for the last few weeks had engrossed the
public mind, almost to the exclusion of every other consideration, kept
the Parliament sitting close up to Christmas-day, in the year just
expired. On the 23rd of December, a resolution, vigorously opposed by
Lord North as instituting a fiction in lieu of the royal authority, was
adopted, empowering the Chancellor to affix the Great Seal to such Bill
of Limitations as might be necessary to restrict the power of the future
Regent; but Ministers had no sooner succeeded in carrying their object
to this important stage, than a new impediment presented itself. On the
2nd of January, 1789, Mr. Cornwall, Speaker of the House of Commons,
died. It was immediately decided that Mr. Grenville should be proposed
to succeed him. On all accounts, it was indispensable to hasten this
arrangement, as the functions of the Commons were unavoidably suspended
in the interim. A serious obstacle arose from the informality of the
proceeding, the sanction of the royal approbation being necessary,
according to custom, upon the nomination of a new Speaker. The elastic
character of the Constitution, however, although not providing direct
remedies for such special cases, admits of adaptation to the most
unforeseen exigencies; and so urgent was the pressure of affairs at this
agitating juncture, that the irregularity was passed over by the tacit
consent of all parties.