the Duke of Cumberland, whose upright and consistent conduct had given
him an authority and importance which he had not sought. He was a firm
Whig, and had of late years regarded Pitt as the real head of that great
party. To him therefore the Duke now applied. In a long interview Pitt
explained his views and stated his terms. He demanded that an alliance
with the Protestant powers of Europe should be entered into, to balance
the Family Compact, that general warrants should henceforward be
declared illegal, and that officers dismissed for political reasons
should be restored. Everything seemed to promise success, but Pitt
wished to see Temple, to whom he was bound by ties of relationship,
party, personal friendship, and even pecuniary assistance. After his
interview with Temple it was evident that some obstacle had arisen, and
the negotiation was broken off. The fact is, that Temple, infinitely
Pitt's inferior, had come to terms with George Grenville, and was
planning a family Grenville ministry; and Pitt's lofty view of his
obligations to his brother-in-law prevented him from breaking with him.
The King was thus thrown back, bound hand and foot, into the hands of
his old ministry. They would consent to remain in their places if the
King would pledge himself to dismiss Bute from his friendship, to get
rid of Fox, now Lord Holland, from the Paymastership, turn Mr. Stuart
Mackenzie out of his place as Privy Seal for Scotland, make Lord Granby
Commander-in-Chief instead of the Duke of Cumberland, and give Ireland
to the ministry, which meant the dismissal of the Earl of
Northumberland, Bute's son-in-law, from the Lord-Lieutenancy--a mere set
of personal and vindictive conditions, contrasting finely with Pitt's
political demands. Such as they were the King was obliged to accept
them, but he could not bring himself to like or trust his ministry, and
after a strong, though not perhaps unduly strong, representation from
Bedford against the underhand employment of the King's influence against
his own ministers, he determined that he would rid himself of them, even
at the cost of accepting the Whig Houses. Pitt was again applied to,
talked honestly and simply to the Duke of Cumberland, stating as his
terms an European alliance, the abolition of general warrants, the
repeal of the cider tax, and a change in American taxation, thus in his
two sets of terms clearing himself of all complicity with the follies of
the present Government. But Temple refused to take the position of Prime
Minister except as the head of a Grenville administration, and Pitt with
infinite sorrow gave up the negotiation, sold his house at Hayes, and
declared his intention of retiring to Somersetshire, where an admiring
stranger had lately left him the house of Burton-Pynsent.
[Sidenote: Ministry of the Whig Houses.]
The Duke of Cumberland, finding that Pitt was by some means separated
from the great Whig party, applied directly to its acknowledged family
chiefs, who agreed to form a ministry, putting forward as their head
Lord Rockingham, a sporting man of sound sense and large possessions,
but no power of language or popular government.[9] Under him were the
Duke of Grafton with no parliamentary experience, General Conway, a
sensible man, but without any of the gifts of leadership, to whom was
intrusted the management of the House of Commons, and the veteran Duke
of Newcastle, to whom was given the Privy Seal, with a special
perquisite of the patronage of the Church. With the exception of Lord
Chancellor Northington, there was in fact scarcely any one of the
requisite degree of efficiency in the ministry. Its life could not be a
long one. It is fair to say that Burke, who was now first introduced to
public life by Lord Rockingham, speaks highly of him for enlargement of
mind, clear sense, and unshaken fortitude.
[Sidenote: Question of American taxation.]
This weak Government found on its hands a question of difficulty too
great for it. The Stamp Act had been very badly received in America;
there had been riots in many of the towns, involving much loss of
property; the collectors had been obliged to renounce their offices, and
the stamped paper had been destroyed. Virginia had solemnly protested in
regular form through the House of Burgesses; and a Congress of delegates
of nine or ten of the States had met at New York (October), and passed
resolutions, claiming for the provincial assemblies the exclusive right
of taxation. At home the merchants had begun to feel the effects of the
self-denying determination of the Americans, in a diminution of their
trade, and of the enforcement of the laws against smuggling, in the
impossibility of getting money payments for their goods. The sum due is
stated variously at two to three millions. During the recess of
Parliament the writings and proceedings of the ministry had an air of
weakness, and finally, unable to act vigorously themselves, they
determined to put the matter into the hands of Parliament.
[Sidenote: Return of Pitt, and his declaration of views. 1766.]
[Sidenote: The Stamp Act repealed.]
In January Parliament met, and on the 14th the subject was brought
before the House. There was a great debate. Burke then made his maiden
speech, and was followed by Pitt, who had not yet expressed his views,
and had indeed absented himself from the House for a year. Expectation
was raised to the highest pitch, and in a magnificent speech he
declared, what till that moment had in England been scarcely thought of,
that Parliament had _no right_ to tax the colonies, for taxation and
representation went hand in hand. He however, like the Americans, drew a
line between taxation and customs. Customs he regarded in the light of
trade regulations, and therefore in the hands of the Imperial
Legislature. After a speech of weak acquiescence from Conway, Grenville
made an able reply; he exposed the fallacy of distinguishing between
taxes and duties, alleged many instances of the taxation of
unrepresented bodies, and charged the Americans with ingratitude for
declining to pay for a war so entirely in their own interest as the
last. Pitt, though he had spoken, was, contrary to the rules of the
House, called upon by the general voice to speak again. He rose, and
declared himself ready to answer Grenville on every point. His reply was
such as a statesman must make to a lawyer. "I rejoice," he cried, "that
America has resisted; three millions of people so dead to all the
feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves would have
been fit instruments to have made slaves of the rest." He had not come
down with the "statute book doubled down in dog's ears to defend the
cause of liberty," and as to gratitude, he supposed that all the
bounties to America were for English purposes. There was a trade with
America of £3,000,000 a year, and it was trade which carried England
through the last war. "This you owe to America, and shall a miserable
financier come with a boast that he can fetch a peppercorn into the
Exchequer to the loss of millions to the nation?" He closed by stating
his belief that England could crush America to atoms, but the triumph
would be hazardous. If she fell she would fall like the strong man; she
would embrace the pillars of the State, and pull down the Constitution
with her. He advised the immediate and entire repeal of the Stamp Act,
but that the other rights of Parliament, apart from taxation, should be
clearly declared. There was no doubt much weight in Grenville's
instances of imperfect representation, but they were not wisely urged
against Pitt, who in his first speech had himself pointed out in very
trenchant words the wretched state of the representative system in
England. Indeed, he almost alone seems to have understood the real
meaning of the Wilkes riots, and to have wished to bring Parliament and
the people into harmony. Pitt's bold speech encouraged the ministers to
act, and after a long examination of witnesses, among whom Franklin, who
had come over as an agent to oppose the Act, was the most important, the
Repeal of the Stamp Act was proposed and carried amid the enthusiasm of
the mercantile and liberal world on the 21st of February. For this time
Pitt's political wisdom had saved England from a disastrous breach with
her colonies.
[Sidenote: Weakness of the Government.]
[Sidenote: Pitt becomes Lord Chatham and Prime Minister. July 1766.]
Once embarked on a policy of repeal, the Rockingham ministry continued
to reverse the acts of its predecessors. The trade of America was again
fostered, and Dominique and Jamaica were made free ports; the obnoxious
cider tax was ameliorated, general warrants were condemned, as was also
the practice of depriving military officers of their commands for
political opposition. General Conway was himself the last victim of this
practice. Foreign manufactured silks were also prohibited, and thus the
clamours of the Spitalfields weavers were silenced, which, during
Grenville's administration, had produced a riot directed chiefly against
the Duke of Bedford. But, in spite of these healing measures, the
Government was never strong. The King detested it as being distinctly a
party Government, and the abilities of the ministry were not
conspicuous. They tried in vain to induce Pitt to join them. Upon the
failure of this negotiation the King was glad to have recourse again to
that great man. For the third time since the close of his administration
Pitt had the destinies of the nation in his hand. Twice his Quixotic
attachment to his friend Lord Temple had ruined his plans. He had always
aimed at a broader basis of government than mere personal or party
connection, and during his great administration had succeeded in acting
independently. There was something therefore in common between him and
the King, though no doubt their view of the destruction of party was
different. To Pitt it meant the selection of able men of all political
connections, under his own pre-eminent guidance, to form a ministry,
which should work for the national good, and be responsible to the
nation. To the King it meant the selection of efficient administrators,
without any pre-eminent minister, and answerable to himself. There was
apparently, however, enough in common between them to induce Pitt to
accept the administration, and to break off his connection with Temple,
who insisted, as a condition of his support, that the whole of the
Rockingham party should be dismissed. Pitt, on the other hand,
determined on a fusion with that party. Rockingham himself left the
ministry, but his chief supporters remained under Pitt. Grafton was
nominally Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, Conway and
Shelburne were the Secretaries of State, Charles Townshend Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Lord Northington became Lord President, and was succeeded
as Chancellor by Pitt's friend Pratt, Lord Camden. Pitt himself
surprised the world by taking a peerage as Lord Chatham and the small
office of Privy Seal. In acting thus he no doubt miscalculated his
strength; he felt himself unable from his growing infirmities to
continue to lead the House of Commons, and believed, as he had indeed
good right to believe, that his personal character and influence would
enable him, in whatever position he might be, to blend the ministry from
whatever party he chose them into an harmonious administration. The
effect did not answer his expectations. His acceptance of a peerage was
regarded as the acceptance of a bribe, especially as his avowed
principle in the selection of his colleagues was the same as that
rendered so unpopular by Bute and the King--the destruction of party. He
thus lost his popularity; of party influence he had little or none; he
was deficient in knowledge of party tactics, which during his great
administration had been in the hands of Newcastle. His natural arrogance
had grown on him, and was rendered worse by his irritable state of
health. He tried to win the Bedford party, but would not give them
enough. He introduced a number of Tories and courtiers into the
administration, and thus shocked the great Whig party; and when, as
shortly happened, illness obscured for a time his intellect, the
ministry lost all cohesion and fell to pieces.
[Sidenote: Chatham's comprehensive plans.]
But though thus failing as a tactician, it was impossible for Pitt to be
in office without setting on foot magnificent and beneficial plans. He
immediately began the new foreign policy which he had so often sketched.
Mr. Hans Stanley was despatched to the Courts of Berlin and St.
Petersburg to cement an alliance against the house of Bourbon. But at
Berlin he met but a cold reception. Frederick, whose character was as
mean and selfish as his abilities were great, did not care in the least
for the defence of Protestantism or for the safety of England, now that
his own safety did not depend upon her friendship. Indeed, since Bute's
withdrawal from the war he had hated England heartily, and alleged the
want of continuity in English policy as a reason for engaging in no
alliances. In truth, his mind was already fixed upon his wicked plan for
the dismemberment of Poland. Pitt, now Lord Chatham, was thus foiled at
the outset, and his foreign policy failed. Two other great schemes he
was unable to bring to completion; one for the better government of
Ireland, and the other for what he saw would speedily become a matter of
the greatest importance--the regulation of our Indian conquests. He
intended to do what we have but lately seen done,--assume for the Crown
the sovereignty of India, and confine the Company to their proper and
mercantile pursuits.
In the midst of these vast schemes, having given indications that he
contemplated a Reform Bill, an India Bill, the pacification and better
government of Ireland, alliances which would have forestalled the great
alliances of his son, and a plan which might perhaps have retained
America, Chatham fell ill at Bath, and the Government ceased to have a
natural head.
[Sidenote: Chatham's illness and mental failure. Jan. 1767.]
[Sidenote: Townshend's financial measures.]
While Chatham was thus absent from his post his reckless Chancellor of
the Exchequer brought in a scheme for again raising revenue from
America. The sum was indeed a very small one--£40,000, and raised upon
tea, glass, and paper, and therefore falling, it might be urged, under
the head of those mercantile arrangements which the colonies admitted
the right of Parliament to make; but in the present state of affairs in
America it was a mere act of madness. The repeal of the Stamp Act had
been made conditional on the repayment of property injured in the
riots. This the Assemblies had agreed to only with much grumbling, and
the Assembly of New York had gone so far in its opposition to a
requisition for supplying necessaries to the troops that it had been
suspended. While America was in this irritable condition Townshend's
measure came to inflame the smouldering mass.
[Sidenote: Corruption of Parliament. 1768.]
[Sidenote: Wilkes elected for Middlesex. 1768.]
What Chatham had spoken of as the rotten part of the Constitution was,
early in the year 1768, brought into full play. There was a general
election, in which bribery and the purchase of seats were shamelessly
employed. £4000 is said to have been the average price of a small
borough. Oxford offered to re-elect its members for £7500, to be applied
to the liquidation of a corporation debt; and to show how ridiculously
inefficient the representation was, it may be mentioned that in a
population of eight millions there were only a hundred and sixty
thousand voters. The people were by this time beginning, though perhaps
somewhat blindly, to feel that the representative body did not really
represent them, and, as usual, they fixed upon one individual, and that
not a very worthy one, as a representative of this feeling. Wilkes had
already been a popular martyr and the victim of the vengeance both of
King and Parliament. He now presented himself for election in London. He
was there rejected, but immediately afterwards elected by a large
majority in the county of Middlesex. His election produced riots in
London, and the Government--contrary probably to their own judgment, and
urged by the King--determined to interfere. Wilkes was apprehended as an
outlaw, and riots ensued, which were suppressed only by the use of the
troops. Twenty people were killed and wounded. The military were not
only acquitted when tried upon the charge of murder, but were rewarded
by Government. The anger of the people increased, and in the riots which
ensued in various parts of England the point immediately at issue was
complicated with other social questions, many depressed trades taking
the opportunity of exhibiting their discontent. The Government which had
to deal with this difficulty was the Duke of Grafton's--Chatham
immediately upon his recovery had retired from it, and Lord Shelburne
had also left it. Grafton, without views of his own, had become the mere
tool in the hands of the King and his party. George was set with dogged
obstinacy upon the suppression of insubordination in America and the
destruction of Wilkes in England. Under such circumstances the war with
the people was carried to extremes. When a vacancy occurred in the
representation for Middlesex there was a fresh contest, and Glyn, a
partisan of Wilkes, was elected. In the attendant riots blood had been
shed. The murderers were convicted, but again pardoned and rewarded, and
the anger of the people became still greater. Wilkes's petitions were
neglected, and on his publishing a severe letter against Lord Weymouth,
Secretary of State, the House, instead of leaving the matter to the Law
Courts, declared it a breach of privilege, and unable to pronounce a
libel against a Peer a breach of the privileges of the Commons, they
proceeded, perfectly illegally, to have Wilkes arrested and brought to
the bar of the House, and there tried for libel. Wilkes avowed the
letter, and Lord Barrington, Secretary of War, and one of the "King's
friends," moved his expulsion. A new writ was issued for Middlesex, and
Wilkes was re-elected almost unanimously. The House voted that he could
not sit, and a fresh writ was issued, and Wilkes was again unanimously
elected. Another election was ordered, and this time the Government
contrived to get about three hundred votes for Colonel Luttrell against
eleven hundred given for Wilkes. The House declared that Luttrell was
the member. So iniquitous a decision raised Wilkes into the position of
a great popular leader, and was not carried without many vigorous
protests from the most influential members of the Liberal party. It
tended much to lessen the power of the ministry; both great cities and
great counties held meetings to express their want of confidence in the
present representation and to ask for a dissolution.
[Sidenote: The difficulties in America.]
Nor did the ministry strengthen itself by its dealings with America. The
new imposts of 1767 had been received with great indignation by the
colonists, especially in Massachusetts. There the governor, Francis
Barnard, seems to have been totally destitute of all power of
conciliation. He was backed up by Lord Hillsborough, Colonial Secretary,
scarcely more temperate than himself. The Assembly, in its quarrel with
the governor, issued a circular letter to the other colonies, calling
for their co-operation against the new taxes. They refused to retract
this step at the command of Lord Hillsborough, and were dissolved. The
difficulties of the crisis went on increasing. The customhouse
commissioners were foolish enough to capture and detain an illicit
trader; serious riots were the consequence; the commissioners were
mobbed and their houses robbed. The spirit of resistance spread. The
Society of Sons and Daughters of Liberty, who refused to use imported
goods, multiplied in other colonies. The view of the Government was not
conciliation, but coercion. Troops and ships of war were crowded into
Boston. In England the feeling was strongly against the Americans.
Coercive measures were recommended and applauded; Francis Barnard was
raised to the rank of a Baronet; the conduct of the people of Boston
gravely censured in Parliament; and at length Bedford's section of the
Whigs produced a motion which could hardly fail to excite resistance.
The Duke moved, and the Parliament applauded his motion, that as it was
probable that American juries would sympathize with their countrymen,
the rioters might be withdrawn from their country, in accordance with an
obsolete law of treason of the reign of Henry VIII. This measure, which
seemed to deprive the colonists of their first rights as Englishmen, met
with deserved execration both at home and in America. But to crown all,
and to put the ministers quite in the wrong, some general action on
their part was wanting. This want was supplied when the conciliatory
efforts of Grafton were defeated in his own Cabinet. He suggested the
removal of all taxation of America. English pride forbade the Council to
accept a measure which they thought derogatory to the rights of an
Imperial nation. Therefore, for the mere purpose of asserting the right,
they agreed to the removal of all taxes but one, and insisted that the
tax on tea should be kept. Thus the original principle of the right to
tax was upheld, and the sting still left to rankle in the minds of the
Americans.
[Sidenote: Letters of Junius.]
The unpopularity which their conduct had brought on the ministry was
increased by the vigorous and bitter assaults of Junius. This anonymous
writer, probably Sir Philip Francis, lost no opportunity of attacking,
with the greatest animosity, the Duke of Grafton and his supporters, not
even sparing the King, and by his bold assaults, excellent style, and by
the mystery which hung over him, drew upon himself much public
attention, and directed men's minds to all the weaknesses of the
administration.
[Sidenote: Weakness of the ministry.]
[Sidenote: Camden, Granby and Grafton resign.]
The incompetency of the ministry was indeed becoming obvious. In the
first place it was divided within itself. The Prime Minister, with the
Chancellor and some others, were remnants of the Chatham ministry and
admirers of Chatham's policy. The rest of the Cabinet were either men
who represented Bedford's party, or members of that class whose views
are sufficiently explained by their name, "the King's friends." Grafton,
fonder of hunting and the turf than of politics, had by his indolence
suffered himself to fall under the influence of the last-named party,
and unconstitutional action had been the result which had brought
discontent in England to the verge of open outbreak. Hillsborough, under
the same influence, was hurrying along the road which led to the loss of
America. On this point the Prime Minister had found himself in a
minority in his own Cabinet. France too, under Choiseul, in alliance
with Spain, was beginning to think of revenge for the losses of the
Seven Years' War. A crisis was evidently approaching, and the Opposition
began to close their ranks. Chatham, yielding again to the necessities
of party, made a public profession of friendship with Temple and George
Grenville; and though there was no cordial connection, there was
external alliance between the brothers and the old Whigs under
Rockingham. In the first session of 1770 the storm broke.
Notwithstanding the state of public affairs, the chief topic of the
King's speech was the murrain among "horned beasts,"--a speech not of a
king, but, said Junius, of "a ruined grazier." Chatham at once moved an
amendment when the address in answer to this speech was proposed. He
deplored the want of all European alliances, the fruit of our desertion
of our allies at the Peace of Paris; he blamed the conduct of the
ministry with regard to America, which, he thought, needed much gentle
handling, inveighed strongly against the action of the Lower House in
the case of Wilkes, and ended by moving that that action should at once
be taken into consideration. At the sound of their old leader's voice
his followers in the Cabinet could no longer be silent. Camden declared
he had been a most unwilling party to the persecution of Wilkes, and
though retaining the Seals, attacked and voted against the ministry. In
the Lower House, Granby, one of the most popular men in England,
followed the same course. James Grenville and Dunning, the
Solicitor-General, also resigned. Chatham's motion was lost, but was
followed up by Rockingham, who asked for a night to consider the state
of the nation. Grafton found it nearly impossible to prop up his falling
ministry; the Great Seal went, as Lord Shelburne said, a-begging.
Charles Yorke was indeed induced to take it in spite of his former
political connections, but, overwhelmed apparently by the coldness of
his former friends, he committed suicide. Grafton thus found himself in
no state to meet the Opposition, and in his heart still admiring
Chatham, and much disliking business, he suddenly and unexpectedly gave
in his resignation the very day fixed for Rockingham's motion.
[Sidenote: Want of cordial alliance among the Opposition.]