Produced by MWS, John Campbell and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
This is Volume 3 of 3. The first volume can be found in Project
Gutenberg at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57016.
The second volume can be found in Project Gutenberg at:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57851.
The List of Illustrations has been copied from Volume I. This list
describes six illustrations, two in each volume.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example M^R.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of each chapter.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
VOL. III.
[Illustration: M^R. PITT.
London: Henry Colburn 1846.]
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
BY
HORACE WALPOLE,
YOUNGEST SON OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD.
EDITED, FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS.
WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES,
BY THE LATE
LORD HOLLAND.
Second Edition, Revised.
_WITH THE ORIGINAL MOTTOES._
VOL. III.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1847.
CONTENTS
OF
THE THIRD VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. PAGE
1757. Dismissal and Resignation of Ministers 1
Efforts to form a new Administration 2
Parliamentary Inquiries into the Loss of Minorca 4
Mr. Pitt’s Power and Popularity 5
Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox _ib._
The Inquiries into the Loss of Minorca 7
No Ministry formed 11
The Militia Bill passes _ib._
Great success of the King of Prussia 12
Various Plans for forming an Administration 14
Vote of a Million 16
Bill regulating payment of Seamen’s Wages 19
Duke of Newcastle’s irresolution 21
Rupture of Negotiation between Pitt and Newcastle 22
Duke of Newcastle’s Projects and Difficulties _ib._
CHAPTER II.
1757. Prince of Wales interferes to facilitate arrangements 25
Lord Waldegrave appointed First Lord of the Treasury 26
Resignation of the Duke of Newcastle’s friends 27
Author’s advice to Fox 28
Lord Waldegrave’s projected Ministry abandoned--The
King’s reluctant acquiescence 30
The new Ministry settled 31
Charge on the Public 32
Lord Waldegrave has the Garter 34
King of Prussia defeated by Daun 36
Battle of Hastenbecke _ib._
King overwhelmed with the misfortunes of Hanover 37
Leicester House 38
Disturbances on the Militia Bill 40
France 42
Expedition to Rochfort 44
Officers employed on Expedition to Rochfort 45
CHAPTER III.
1757. Isle of Aix 50
Council of War 51
Conway proposes an Attack on Fouras 53
Attack on Fouras fails 56
Affairs in the East Indies 57
Victory of the Prussians over the Russians _ib._
Convention of Closter Seven 58
The King disavows the Convention of Closter Seven 59
The Duke’s return 60
Duke’s reception at Court, and conduct thereupon 61
The Duke resigns 64
Affairs of Ireland 65
State of Parties in Ireland 68
Inquiry into Miscarriages at Rochfort 75
Court-Martial 78
Lord Mansfield of Cabinet 79
Victories of the King of Prussia 80
Sir John Ligonier made Viscount and Marshal 81
Death of Princess Caroline 82
CHAPTER IV.
1758. Mr. Pitt 84
Five great men 85
Lord Granville _ib._
Sir Robert Walpole 86
Lord Mansfield _ib._
Duke of Cumberland _ib._
Mr. Pitt _ib._
Five great men compared 87
Parliament _ib._
Speech of Mr. Pitt 88
King of Prussia takes Breslau 90
General Clive’s Victory _ib._
Military Appointments 91
Affairs of Ireland _ib._
Picture of some of the Manners of the Age 97
King’s Munificence 100
Affair of the Habeas Corpus 101
Mr. Pratt brings in a Bill 103
Anecdotes on the Navy Bill 106
CHAPTER V.
1758. Death of Archbishop Hutton 107
Affair of Lord Tyrawley 108
New Treaty with Prussia 110
Sequel of the Habeas Corpus 112
Habeas Corpus Bill in Lords 116
Judges’ Opinions on Habeas Corpus Bill 118
Habeas Corpus Bill dropped 121
Leicester House _ib._
Operations of the King of Prussia 122
Expedition to St. Maloes 124
Passage of the Rhine by Prince Ferdinand, and his
Victory at Crevelt 127
Defeats of Prince Ysenberg and M. Chevert 128
CHAPTER VI.
1758. History of Dr. Hensey 130
Election of a Pope 131
Rezzonico elected Pope 133
Taking of Cherbourg _ib._
Cape Breton taken _ib._
Other Events in America 134
Affair at St. Cas 135
Battle of Custrin, and relief of Dresden 138
Disputes with Holland 139
Assassination of the King of Portugal 141
Portugal 143
The English Army in Germany 147
Defeat at Hochkirchen 148
Sieges of Neiss, Cosel, and Dresden raised 149
Parliament meets _ib._
Addresses of Thanks 150
Army voted 151
Affair of Dr. Shebbear 152
Pitt’s behaviour to Conway 154
Pitt’s conduct in Ministry 156
Lord Arran 157
Disgrace of the Cardinal de Bernis 158
Conclusion _ib._
Author’s own Character 159
CHAPTER VII.
1759. Author’s motives for continuing the Work 164
A memorable era 165
Election of Chancellor of Oxford 166
Exchange of Prisoners 167
Death of Princess of Orange 168
Capture of Goree 169
Expeditions to West Indies _ib._
Mr. Pitt’s Character and Ministry 172
Estimates of the year 176
Duty upon Dry Goods 177
Mr. Pitt’s speech on Taxes 178
Mr. Pitt’s sensibility to censure 179
Mr. Pitt’s complaisance to Lord Hardwicke _ib._
Jealousies in Ministry 181
Message on Militia 184
Threats of Invasion from France 185
Havre de Grace bombarded 186
CHAPTER VIII.
1759. Campaign in Germany 188
Battle of Minden 190
Reports of Battle of Minden 191
Lord Granby and Lord G. Sackville 192
Reflections on Lord G. Sackville 193
Lord G. Sackville returns to England 198
Correspondence of French General 199
King of Prussia’s Campaign 200
Battle of Cunnersdorf 201
Prussians defeated 203
King of Prussia saves Berlin and retrieves his Affairs 204
Spain and Naples _ib._
Charles III. of Spain sets aside his eldest son 206
Reasons for setting aside Duke of Calabria examine 207
King of Spain 208
Death of Lady Elizabeth 211
Boscawen defeats the French Flee _ib._
Conquests in America _ib._
Lord G. Sackville 212
CHAPTER IX.
1759. Marshal D’Estrées 216
French worsted in East Indies 217
Wolfe’s Embarrassments _ib._
Conquest of Quebec, and death of Wolfe 219
Perfidy and cruelty of French Government 223
Bankruptcy of France _ib._
Thurot sails 224
Parliament _ib._
Mr. Pitt’s speech 225
Lord Temple resigns the Privy Seal 228
Lord Temple resumes the Privy Seal _ib._
Monument to Wolfe, and Thanks to Officers 229
Admiral Saunders 230
Hawke attacks and destroys Conflans’ Fleet 231
Debates on Extraordinary Commissions 233
Army Estimate 234
Proposals for Peace ineffectual 236
Heir-Apparent’s Court 237
Victorious Officers rewarded _ib._
Warburton made Bishop 239
Ireland _ib._
Tumults in Dublin 241
Irish Parliament 245
CHAPTER X.
1760. War in Germany 247
Prince Ferdinand’s detachment to King of Prussia 248
Value of contemporary Memoir 249
Lord Bath’s Letter 250
Macklyn’s _Love à la Mode_ 250
Lord G. Sackville demands a Court-Martial 251
Earl Ferrers murders his Steward 258
Smollett punished for a Libel 259
Thurot’s Expedition to Ireland 262
Thurot’s death 265
Debate on Trial of Member of House of Commons _ib._
Court-Martial on Lord G. Sackville 266
Sentence of Court-Martial 273
Trial of Earl Ferrers 274
Execution of Earl Ferrers 278
Qualification Bill 279
Militia Bills 280
CHAPTER XI.
1760. General Murray beaten at Quebec 284
French retreat from Quebec _ib._
General Amherst takes Montreal 288
Successes in East Indies 289
Campaign in Germany 290
Prussians defeated, and General Fouquet taken 291
King of Prussia before Dresden 292
Is obliged to raise the siege _ib._
King of Prussia defeats Laudohn 294
Daun compelled to raise the Siege of Schweidnitz, and
retreats 295
Allies take Berlin _ib._
Abandon it 296
King of Prussia beats Daun at Torgau 297
Campaign in Germany _ib._
Duke of Cumberland 300
Earl of Clanrickard _ib._
George the Second dies 302
His Character, and Will 303
Anecdote of George the First’s Will 308
APPENDIX 313
INDEX OF NAMES 319
INDEX OF MATTERS 342
ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. I.
GEORGE II. _Frontispiece_.
MR. PELHAM p. 378
VOL. II.
MR. FOX _Frontispiece_.
DUKE OF BEDFORD 270
VOL. III.
MR. PITT _Frontispiece_.
DUKE OF NEWCASTLE 182
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
CHAPTER I.
Dismissal and Resignation of Ministers--Parliamentary
Inquiries into the loss of Minorca--Mr. Pitt’s Power and
Popularity--Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox--Mr. Pitt’s conduct
on the Inquiries--Passing of the Militia Bill--Great success of
the King of Prussia--Various Plans for an Administration--Vote
for a Million--Bill for regulating the payment of the Wages
of Seamen--Duke of Newcastle’s irresolution--Rupture of the
negotiation between him and Pitt--His Projects and Difficulties.
April 5th.--Lord Holderness went to Lord Temple to notify to him his
dismission. Legge prevailed on Pitt and the rest not to resign, but
to be turned out. The Duke of Devonshire had offered Legge to remain;
but though he was never tardy at abandoning his friends for a richer
prospect, nobody was more steady when it would hurt him to desert.
The next night, Mr. Pitt was discarded: and then George Grenville and
the others resigned. Charles Townshend alone took time to consider:
the income of his place was large, and he did not love Pitt. After
an uncertainty of near three weeks, he resigned; but by a letter to
the Duke of Devonshire avoided as much as possible to have it thought
that he quitted from attachment to Pitt. Resigning with him, and not
for him, Townshend thought entitled him to be restored with Pitt, yet
would not subject him to the King’s displeasure.
All men were curious to see the new Administration. None was formed.
Lord Egremont had consented to accept the Seals of Secretary of
State, but soon desired to be excused. He had miscarried with Lord
Granville, had not succeeded better by assiduous court to Newcastle,
and now attaching himself to Fox, had his hopes soon blasted with
this blossom of an Administration. Doddington, who had gone in
and out too often to lose any reputation by one more promotion or
disgrace, was ready to take anything. Sir George Lee, who could not
give up the hopes of being Prime Minister, though never thought of
but when he could not be so, prepared to accept the Chancellorship
of the Exchequer; and Lord Winchelsea, uniform in detesting the
Grenvilles, immediately entered upon his old office, the Admiralty,
with a motley board, composed of Boscawen, (one of the last set,)
Rowley, (of the foregoing,) Moyston, his own nephew, Lord Carysfort,
and young Sandys. Elliot was offered to remain, but refused; and W.
Gerard Hamilton was designed for the seventh.
Yet an Admiralty did not make an Administration. No man of abilities
or reputation would enlist--even Sir Thomas Robinson refused to take
the Seals again. Yet the Duke embarked with satisfaction, telling
Mr. Conway, the King could not be in a worse situation than he had
been--“Yes, Sir,” said Conway, “but he will, if Mr. Pitt gets the
better.” And Fox, to gratify at least some of his views in this
revolution, procured a grant for himself and his two sons of the
reversion of Doddington’s place of Clerk of the Pells in Ireland. The
King had forbidden the Duke, who negotiated this business, to mention
the Peerage for Lady Caroline, which he would never grant; but he
would give him Doddington’s place for his child--“Say children, Sir,”
replied the Duke. “With all my heart,” said the King; “it is the
same thing to me.” He cared not how many reversions he granted from
his successor. Still it was impossible for Fox himself to accept any
ministerial post till the inquiries were at an end; the whole tempest
would have been directed at his head.
Indeed many had such intentions: at a meeting of Pitt’s friends and
the Tories, it was agreed to push the scrutiny into the military
part with great vehemence. Charles Townshend accepted the office of
manager: and George, on moving for more papers, made severe remarks
on the want of miners at Minorca; which Fox excused, saying, it was
hoped that the Minorchese, who had assisted in digging the mines,
would have contributed to their defence. To keep miners there on
the establishment had been thought too expensive. “Are they more
expensive to the Government,” replied Townshend, “than sinecures?”
alluding to Fox’s new reversion. Pitt, at the meeting I have
mentioned, promised his support, but feared he should not be able to
speak five minutes for his cough. He was aware that Newcastle had
left too little power to Fox in their joint Administration, for it to
be possible with any degree of decency to brand the one, and slide
over the errors of the other, with whom Pitt wished to unite. Yet the
temper of the nation left him master to take whatever resolution he
pleased. The rashness of throwing Government into imminent confusion
at such a juncture, struck both the enemies and friends of Fox. His
ambition was glaring; his interestedness, not even specious. Pitt had
acted during his short reign with a haughty reserve, that, if it had
kept off dependents and attachments, at least had left him all the
air of patriot privacy; and having luckily from the King’s dislike
of him, and from the shortness of the time, been dipped but in few
ungracious businesses, he came back to the mob scarce
“---- shorn of his beams.”
The stocks fell; the Common Council voted the Freedom of the City
both to Pitt and Legge;[1] Sir John Barnard alone gave a negative.
Allen of Bath procured them the same honour from thence; and for some
weeks it rained gold boxes: Chester, Worcester, Norwich, Bedford,
Salisbury, Yarmouth, Tewkesbury, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Stirling, and
other populous and chief towns following the example. Exeter, with
singular affectation, sent boxes of heart of oak. On the other hand,
a paper was affixed to the gate of St. James’s, with these words, “A
Secretary of State much wanted; honesty not necessary; no principles
will be treated with.”
Such venom was not likely to bias Newcastle to Mr. Fox. It was the
King’s wish that they should unite; and many messages passed; but in
vain. It was pretended that the Duke had promised his Majesty never
to join Pitt, unless by command. The King said, he would abdicate
sooner than give him such command; and complaining bitterly of his
ingratitude; imputing to him a refusal made by Lord Duplin to be
made Chancellor of the Exchequer; and his leaving his Majesty at
the mercy of Mr. Pitt, by not uniting with Fox. His Grace, who
scrupled not to wipe out one imputation by deserving another,
wrote a penitential letter, and sent it by Munchausen, lamenting
his disgrace, after so many years of service, and hoping, when the
inquiries should be at an end, that he might again have admission
to the closet, where he should be ready to protest and promise
whatever his Majesty expected. He had scarcely written this letter,
but he laboured anew to obstruct the junction of his friends with
Fox. In general, they outran his intentions: Lord Lincoln hated Fox;
the little tools feared him. Murray and Hume Campbell and Arundel
sincerely wished to bring them together.
The Princess, who looked on any settlement in which Fox was concerned
as an establishment of the Duke’s power, frowned on the new
revolution; and though Fox made very humble overtures to Leicester
House, they were flatly rejected. Pitt grew less and less austere to
Newcastle; and now, when this vain man was arrived at the period of
detected misgovernment with regard to his country, of ingratitude and
disobedience to his master, of caprice, duplicity, and irresolution
towards all factions; when under prosecution by Parliament, and
frowned on by his sovereign; at this instant were the hopes, the
vows of all men addressed to him! The outcast of the Ministry, the
scorn of the Court, the jest of the people, was the arbiter of
Britain: her King, her patriots, her factions, waited to see into
what scale he would fling his influence!
In the meantime, the inquiries began, April 19th. I shall give but
a summary account of them: it would be ridiculous to enter into the
detail of a pantomime, from which nothing was intended, expected,
or produced. The Townshends pretended to be managers against the
Ministers: Hume Campbell and Lord Royston acted with spirit and
sense for their friends: Ellis was agent for Fox. The latter himself
meddled a little, pointing out where inconveniences might arrive to
Government from probing intelligence too nicely. The examination
began with reading all the papers in order; intelligence, letters,
orders, &c. But no kind of check had been held over the offices from
whence the materials came. The clerks had been left at liberty to
omit, abridge, secrete, what they pleased. No questions were asked,
no proofs of authenticity demanded, no witnesses examined; and, for
fear of discovering our channels of intelligence, no names were
inserted in the extracts. And as the offices had been suffered to
curtail at their discretion, so they had had as impartial liberty to
send as much useless and perplexing lumber as they could amass. The
very dates of the letters filled three and twenty sheets of paper!
All this was read over in a hurry, yet was so tiresome, that before
half a day was wasted, the House was almost empty. Yet three or four
hundred men were supposed to extract a judgment from so crude and
slovenly a process!
Pitt, it was expected, would take advantage of illness, and not
appear. But he refined on that old finesse; and pretending to
wave the care of a broken constitution, when his country demanded
his service, and as a pledge of his sincerity in the scrutiny, he
came to the discussion in all the studied apparatus of a theatric
valetudinarian. The weather was unseasonably warm; yet he was dressed
in an old coat and waistcoat of beaver laced with gold: over that, a
red surtout, the right arm lined with fur, and appendent with many
black ribands, to indicate his inability of drawing it over his
right arm, which hung in a crape sling, but which, in the warmth of
speaking, he drew out with unlucky activity, and brandished as usual.
On his legs were riding stockings. In short, no aspiring Cardinal
ever coughed for the Tiara with more specious debility. This mummery
was covered over with candour: he acquiesced in every softening term
proposed by the advocates of the late criminals: his justice shrunk
behind apprehensions of personality: moderation was the sole virtue
of a censor. The loss of Minorca he avowed he meant to charge on the
whole Government--for the whole Government could not be punished.
On the second day, indeed, he trespassed a little upon all these
gentle virtues, and threatened to _secede_, and publish to the world
the iniquity of the majority: but recollecting how much more useful
to him the majority might be than the world, he recomposed himself,
and was content that the majority should be responsible for whatever
defects the public might find in the judgment given by the House.
George Townshend proposed several resolutions: the drift of all was
to show that the Administration had chosen to believe a threatened
invasion on Great Britain, rather than a design on Minorca. These
motions were contested, modified, balanced, by appendent questions
proposed by the Courtiers. Henley, the Attorney-General, scrupled
not in the very outset to propose approbation. Pitt said he should
prefer printing the examination, and leaving the public to judge
for themselves. Hume Campbell pleaded that such procedure in the
House of Commons would be abdicating their share of Government. The
Ministerial party endeavoured, though with ostentatious decency,
to load the late Admiral; but in general their arguments tended to
nothing but to prove that _Minorca had been lost by the common course
of office_. The questions of the Opposition were corrected till all
sting was taken out of them; and still others were coupled to them,
that made the votes of the House seem a mere set of questions and
answers, in which the whole advantage remained to the respondent.
These things passed not without divisions, but as the majority felt
itself a majority, it was not modest; it stated roundly in favour of
its principals. Yet on the last day of the Committee, the Courtiers
moving a resolution, that no greater force could have been sent
to the Mediterranean under Mr. Byng, Triumph itself blushed at so
palpable a falsehood, and the victorious majority shrunk to 78, many
retiring, and many of the more independent sort joining the minority.
By this might be seen what Mr. Pitt had in his power, had he exerted
himself. The alarm, however, was so great, that a conclusive vote of
acquittal, nay, of approbation, which it had been determined should
be proposed by Lord Granby and Lord George Cavendish, was dropped
with evident marks of dismay; and the late Cabinet, to their great
disappointment, were forced to sit down contented, without receiving
the thanks of the House of Commons for the loss of Minorca.
The conclusion of the inquiries, however, from which at least it had
been supposed a new Administration would arise, facilitated nothing.
No approbation given pointed out nobody as deserving power again:
nobody being stigmatized, nobody seemed excluded. Pitt had declined
triumph, consequently had gained none. A field of negotiation was
still open, till three men who knew, hated, and could not trust one
another, might settle some such plan of agreement as would still
leave those who should unite the hopes and the prospect of betraying
or overpowering their new allies.
In the meantime, as if to show how long a great nation can carry
on itself without any Government, there were no Ministers, even in
the midst of a formidable war, but those baby politicians, the Duke
of Devonshire and Lord Holderness: the former with much importance
declaring, that he would retain the Treasury but till some new
system should be completed: yet he was delighted with the plaything
of power, and wished his holidays might be protracted. For the King
himself, his very office seemed annihilated. While the three factions
were caballing, he had not even an option. Whatever Administration
should be settled, he was to receive when presented to him. Lord
Mansfield held the Seals of the Exchequer _pro tempore_; and the
House of Commons was so devoid of a Minister, that the office of
proposing the Ways and Means devolved on Nugent, one of the Lords of
the Treasury.
The House of Lords were employed on the militia. Lord Hardwicke
opposed, but would not divide against it. The Duke of Bedford and
Lord Temple joined to support it; and it passed at last by 64 to 48.
While this ridiculous scene was acting at home, our foreign affairs
wore a more respectable aspect. Count Rantzau, the Danish Minister,
mentioned to Lady Yarmouth, on the part of France, a neutrality
for Hanover. She discreetly refused to meddle in it. He then, in
concert with the Minister of the Empress-Queen, proposed it in
form, but the terms[2] were so humiliating, that the King rejected
them with dignity and scorn. In truth, as Elector, his situation
deserved compassion. At this instant, the French had seized in their
own name the county of Bentheim, a purchase his Majesty had made
himself: the rest of his territories they pretended to hold for the
Empress-Queen. Under this depression, news came of a great victory
obtained by the King of Prussia over the Austrians. He had planned
his measures with such intelligence, that he previously ventured
to send the King word, that he should make four attacks at once on
the quarters of the enemy, and expected to find them unprepared. He
confirmed his designs by success, carried every attack, possessed
himself of their magazines, and when he dispatched the courier, was
within thirty miles of Prague, hoping to be master of Bohemia by the
15th of the month, and to be able to detach a body of twenty-five
thousand men to support the Duke of Cumberland. The Austrian Generals
disagreed; their Foot behaved ill: in general, their troops thought
the Prussians irresistible.
The Hero-King, who dared to prophesy, because he left so little to
chance, pursued his blow; Marshal Brown retiring to the other side
of Prague. The King of Prussia with a strong Army on one side,
Marshal Schwerin at the head of another from behind, fell on Brown
at once, forced his camp, and took it with all his tents, baggage,
and 250 pieces of cannon. Prince Charles, Brown, and Lucchesi, were
wounded, and shut up in Prague. The King of Prussia lost little in
numbers, exceedingly in one man, Marshal Schwerin, who making his
attack before his second line was formed, and seeing his first line
repulsed, seized a pair of colours, and fell with them in his hand.
The glory of the day, that thus remained indubitably with the King,
did not recompense him for the loss of such a servant.
The primate of Ireland, who suspected that he should have little part
in the Bedford Administration, had stayed in England to negotiate
between Newcastle and Pitt, hoping that if Fox was entirely set aside
here, the Duke of Bedford might in pique resign his new empire before
he took possession of it; at least, would not be countenanced in any
depression of him (the Primate). Lord George Sackville laboured in
the same cause; and about the second week in May an interview was
brought about between Pitt and Lord Hardwicke--as the latter said,
_by chance_. Pitt insisted that Newcastle should not interfere in
the House of Commons, nor with the province of Secretary of State;
that is, with neither domestic nor foreign affairs, but should
confine himself to the Treasury; yet there too Pitt pretended to
place George Grenville as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Potter
and James Grenville. Legge, whom he meant to remove, having conceived
insuperable aversion to him since harnessed with himself in the
trammels of popularity, he named for the head of the Admiralty, with
a Peerage. For Lord Temple he demanded the Garter and some Post in
the Cabinet. The terms were lofty; yet considering his interest in
the people, and his experience of Newcastle’s engrossing chicanery,
he was justifiable in endeavouring to clip the wings of so volatile
a constitution.
The death of the Duke of Grafton, who had so often transacted
Newcastle’s variations, arrived now to facilitate his
re-establishment. The Duke of Devonshire was charmed with the
bubbles of the Chamberlain’s office, and in three days accepted
the White Stick and Golden Key, leaving the Treasury open. Yet
in a week more the treaty between Newcastle and Pitt was broken
off. Newcastle had negotiated for support, not for a master. Lord
Hardwicke, notwithstanding his predilection for Pitt, owned that Fox
was the more practicable: and George Grenville, finding that the
coalition was impeded by what was demanded for him, desired to wave
the Exchequer. But Pitt, not apt to bend to difficulties, replied
to this concession, that it became Mr. Grenville to make it, but he
himself should not relax.
During this parley, the King demanded support from the two Houses.
Lord Waldegrave moved the Address, and a million was proposed. Lord
Temple would have reduced it to 300,000_l._ Lord Holderness pleaded
his Majesty’s noble refusal of a neutrality for Hanover, and the
claim he had to assistance. Lord Temple would have restricted the
money to English purposes. The Duke of Bedford supported the Motion
of the Court, reflected on Pitt’s all-sufficience, and the Address
passed without a division. In the other House it occasioned a good
Debate, though no division. Nugent expatiated on the King’s merit to
Britain: that he had said, “While Europe is in danger, Hanover shall
not be safe.”
Pitt dropped several artful sentences, hostile to those that had
been or might be Ministers, convertible into excuses for himself,
if he should again become a Minister. He said, he should not oppose
the gross sum upon any foot but on the gift being offered without
an iota of restriction: that indeed he had predicted his own fate
when he acted on the restrictive plan: that he would support whoever
had contributed to set this Government going again: that everybody
was free to speak his sentiments on this measure, for no man could
tell who would be Minister, who would be trusted with this million:
that if it was to be confined to Great Britain and America, he would
consent to give a million: but now this might be dispensed to the
troops of Hanover, though we had already given them 200,000_l._ He
had heard of his own all-sufficience; he knew our insufficience.
This might be the plan of a few great Lords who did not mind tossing
in one or two hundred thousand pounds more: but the people had lost
all confidence, seeing how surreptitiously their money was taken and
given.
He would not ask a question on the victory, the news of which were
arrived that morning--he did not wish to relax, because the King of
Prussia was successful. That King, who saw all, did all, knew all,
did everything, was everything! If you would deal with such great
masses, and not take little things, and think they would make a great
one, there might still be hopes--don’t go on subsidizing little
Princes here and there, and fancy that all together they will make
a King of Prussia. That Prince had never asked a subsidy, at least
while he had had any part in the Administration; yet had raised the
spirits of everybody, who hoped for a decent end of the war; for
they were offensive operations that must bring about a peace. For
the King, he said, though his Majesty did not serve so absolutely
for nothing as the King of Prussia did, nor were the coffers of
Hanover so exhausted but they might stop a gap till next winter,
yet their Majesties had gone hand in hand together: but he dreaded
the war being transferred to Flanders--_he had rather feed it in
Germany_. If the King’s Hanoverian ministers had been negligent in
their preparations, this victory would not repair their remissness:
the Duke’s authority must fetch up their negligence.
He hoped the Ministers would not go to market this summer for German
Princes, with whom we should find ourselves hampered next winter.
Had any illumination broken in upon that poor piddling plan, which
carried the approbation of a whole nation along with it? The King of
Prussia with 170,000 men was worth giving one or two hundred thousand
pounds to--but don’t let a _conciliabulum_ of Ministers, when they
happen to dine together, settle another subsidiary plan, at once
minute and extravagant. Were he Minister, he would have deprecated
this measure, nay, would have said more against it, than he would say
in the House of Commons. He added some hints on his own popularity,
and on the independence of the country gentlemen who favoured him.
Fox took up some of Pitt’s expressions: if a _conciliabulum_ might
not decide our measures, he hoped at least _one_ man should not
dictate them. With regard to independence, he supposed every man
there was independent--but who were these particularly applauded
for their independence? Were they those, who, two years ago, lay
under the irremissible crime of being Tories? or, who this year
had the unknown merit of being so? These and other taunts drew on
some warmth. Conway, too, offended Pitt by vindicating the Duke of
Devonshire, whom Pitt had seemed to censure as concerned in what he
called _this surreptitious vote of credit_. Lord George Sackville
naturally closed with Pitt, when Conway seemed to debate with
Fox:--Charles Townshend and Lord Egmont had another squabble; and
at last the million was voted. In one of the Debates at this time,
Pitt talked much on Ximenes, who, he afterwards owned to Fox, was his
favourite character.
Another Bill, brought in by George Grenville on a good-natured
principle, called out the passions and feelings of men at this
extraordinary crisis. It was the custom in the Navy not to pay
punctually the wages of the seamen, but to keep back some part, lest
the natural profuseness of that wandering people should disperse them
as often as they were masters of a little sum. Grenville proposed
more frequent terms of payment. The superiors of that class in the
House of Commons, who, according to the nature of mankind, liked
that others should endure what they had endured, and who are apt to
attribute their own proficience to an education under which they had
begun with suffering, had opposed this compassionate reformation;
and indeed the profession were but too well founded in the advantages
resulting from the established hardships! Fox divided against the
Bill, though without speaking; and it was carried in that House by
above 60 to 42.
When it came to the Lords, it was warmly opposed by Lord Winchelsea.
The Duke of Bedford, too honest to be always biassed by faction,
supported it against his friends, as he had the Militia Bill. Lord
Denbigh, a man whose parts were better than his character, spoke
out in very plain terms: he said, he should be for measures, not
men: good measures he would support, whoever proposed them, be his
name William, Holles, or even _Harry_--and observing all the Bishops
withdrawn but two, he supposed, he said, they were gone to dinner--he
hoped they would not return to vote! The Dukes of Newcastle and
Devonshire, Lord Hardwicke, and many others had retired, which gave
but too fair a handle for that satire on the Bench. The Bill was
rejected by 23 to 18.
The _inter-ministerium_ (if I may be permitted to use a new word on a
new occasion; and truly as there never was such a being as the Duke
of Newcastle, one may be allowed to describe him, his actions, and
their consequences in a novel language,) had now lasted seven weeks.
On the last rupture of the treaty with Pitt, his Grace thought he
had determined to take the sole burthen of the State upon himself.
He even sent his Majesty word that he would be at Kensington on the
24th, and would declare his final resolution--but he put the King
off; he had fixed on nothing--and while he prevented any other man
from having power, his own idea of being Minister was in a manner
answered. Lord Lincoln, Lady Catherine Pelham, and Lord Ashburnham,
the private chorus, that had not the less part in the drama for
being cyphers, earnestly dissuaded him from coming in again without
an union with Leicester House. To advise him to be governed by his
fears, was governing him. He reverted to another interview with Pitt
at Lord Royston’s, where Lord Hardwicke was present.
Pitt, the more he foresaw incompliance on the Duke’s part, knew
how much more grace he should wear (if forced to come to public
explanation), by stipulating some advantages to his country, asked
if they meant to send abroad any part of the new granted million,
as Lord Granville and Fox had declared for doing. Newcastle said,
he was not bound by their declarations--“and you, Mr. Pitt, you are
not bound against sending any of it, are you?” Pitt replied he was;
“and you, my lord, though you are not _bound_ to send any more money
abroad, are not you inclined to it?” Newcastle would not explain.
Lord Hardwicke proposed to wave this point _ad referendum_; knowing
how easily they should settle the nation’s concerns, if they could
agree upon their own. They then passed to the article of Chancellor
of the Exchequer. Pitt urged that he had had it before for one of
his friends; Newcastle, that it would mark his having no power at
the Treasury. Neither would yield. Even on the first Lord of the
Admiralty, Newcastle haggled, pretending the King would not be
brought to dismiss Lord Winchelsea.
They parted in discontent; though the Duke, in all his messages by
the Primate, Lord George Sackville, and others, had promised how
reasonable he would be. This was exactly the manner in which he had
formerly treated Fox, departing from his own concessions before he
had time to ratify them. Lord Hardwicke behaved more uniformly;
declared he would not take the Seals again; desired nobody should
be displaced for him; if the Presidentship of the Council, or the
Privy Seal should be vacant, he would gladly accept either: for Lord
Anson he peremptorily insisted on the Treasurership of the Navy. Pitt
now found his error; by facilitating Newcastle’s escape from the
inquiries, he remained at the mercy of that Duke, not the Duke at his.
May 27th.--The Duke of Newcastle did go to Kensington, and after a
long audience, promised to be sole Minister, permitting Fox to be
Paymaster, but with no power. Sir Thomas Robinson was to be Secretary
of State, Sir George Lee, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Hume Campbell
modestly asked the Treasurership of the Navy[3] under this Ministry,
in addition to his office of Lord Register--and probably would have
had it, or something equivalent: Newcastle’s greatest want now was
of men who would take anything to support him. Lord Egmont was much
solicited to be of the band; but he, the great opposer of the Duke
of Cumberland and Fox, would have stipulated for more power to the
latter, and did insist on a Peerage for himself, which would have
destroyed his whole utility: it was not in the placid House of Lords
that Newcastle expected to be worried. The Duke of Dorset was to be
displaced (for Lord George Sackville had been designed for Pitt’s
Secretary at War), Lord Gower was to be Master of the Horse, and
Lord Hardwicke Privy Seal. The Duke of Newcastle was to retire to
Claremont for two or three days, and take a final inspiration from
his oracles.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A card was published representing Pitt and Legge, like Don
Quixote and Sancho Panza, in a triumphal car, with this motto,
---- Et sibi Consul
Ne placeat, serves curru portatur eodem.--JUV.
[2] Vienna, June 4.--Marshal Daun has detached from his Army a
regiment of Hussars and some light troops, in order to cover the
western side of Bohemia from the incursions of the Prussians. The
Empress Queen has communicated to several of the Courts with whom
she is in friendship, the conditions that were proposed for bringing
about a neutrality in favour of the Electorate of Hanover. According
to the overtures made on this occasion, the King of Great Britain,
in quality of Elector of Hanover, would have been considered as a
party not concerned in the present war, in consequence of which
neither his troops nor those of his Allies were to act against those
of the Empress Queen and her Allies. He would likewise have engaged
not to assist the King of Prussia either with troops or money.
The passage through that part of his Electorate which lies on the
left of the Aller was to have been granted to the troops of her
Imperial Majesty and her Allies, they paying for provisions, forage,
and waggons; besides which, they were to be allowed to establish
magazines and hospitals in such places as should be assigned them in
the Electorate. The town of Hamelen was to be given up as a security,
either into the hands of the Empress or of some of her Allies, or
to the guarantees of the Convention, which were proposed to be the
Empress of Russia and the King of Denmark. Besides all this, it was
to be stipulated in this Convention, that the Hanoverian troops
should be quartered in such places only as should be agreed upon, and
their number not augmented. (_Extract from printed journal._)
[3] When he found another designation of that office, he demanded
that Lord Edgecumbe should be removed, and the Duchy of Lancaster
given to himself for life--yet he had said on the inquiries, on which
he pretended to date his new merit, that it would be ungrateful in
any man not to defend Newcastle; in him it would be infamous.