of the greatest importance, was the conduct and character of the Prince
of Wales. True to the traditions and customs of his family, he had
allied himself to the enemies of his father, and not only in his
political but in his domestic life had much outraged the King's
feelings. From the respectable and somewhat repellant family life of the
Court, the princes, one and all, took refuge in a disorderly and
licentious life. The stern propriety of the father, and the somewhat
unlovely rigidity of the mother, undid the work which their thoroughly
domestic character should have done. The Prince of Wales had everything
in his favour upon his entrance into life. Good-looking, of pleasant
manners, of considerable ability, and views at all events nominally
liberal, there was nothing to prevent his great popularity.
Unfortunately the profligacy of his life, which the world might have
pardoned, was the mark of a thoroughly depraved character, which led him
into breaches of honour. This fault became very obvious in the year
1787. For some time he had been clamouring for the payment of his debts,
and on the King's refusal to discharge them, he had in a huff reduced
his establishment and pretended to live like a private gentleman.
Meanwhile he had been entangled in an awkward love affair. Mrs.
Fitzherbert, a Roman Catholic lady, had attracted his attention, and
refused to listen to his advances unless he would marry her. This he
did. Now, by the Act of Settlement, marriage with a Roman Catholic
invalidated all claims to the throne, but by a second statute, the Royal
Marriage Act, any marriage contracted without the royal consent was
null. By pleading the second, the Prince could therefore avoid the
action of the first, but by so doing was virtually taking away the
character of his wife, and obviously evading the law. With this slur
upon his character, he came to the Parliament for the payment of his
debts. The charge against him was raised by Rolle, the member for
Devonshire, and Fox, completely duped by his royal friend, was induced
to give the fact a flat denial. The Prince completed his treachery by
afterwards disavowing his instructions to Fox. Such conduct naturally
produced a temporary coolness between them. After so strong a denial,
however, it was impossible to refuse the Prince's demand, and his debts
were paid, to the amount of £160,000.
[Sidenote: Trial of Warren Hastings. Feb. 1788.]
The work of the last year was completed by the commencement, in
February, of the trial of Warren Hastings. The trial took place in
Westminster Hall, the Peers sitting as judges, presided over by the Lord
Chancellor, and the accusations being supported by the managers
appointed by the House of Commons, assisted by the most eloquent men in
England, among their number, Fox, Burke, Sheridan, and Wyndham. The very
talents of the accusers, together with the exaggerated and unlawyer-like
style of Burke, tended to the safety of the accused. The trial became a
mere exhibition of rhetoric; people crowded to hear the speeches, but
withdrew as the legal points were argued, or the evidence produced,
while Burke's language was so intemperate that the Lord Chancellor and
even the House of Commons censured him. At the same time, in 1789, the
gradual change of popular feeling was shown in the trial of Stockdale
for libel against the promoters of Hastings' trial. He was prosecuted at
the demand of the Commons, at the Government expense, but was acquitted.
Three years afterwards Burke himself renounced sixteen of his charges,
and all interest in the end of the trial gradually disappeared.
[Sidenote: First motion for abolition of the slave trade. May 9, 1788.]
The year was marked not only by the completion of old questions, but by
the appearance of a new one. This was the question of the slave trade.
The horrors of this trade had for many years been before the public, and
the opposition to slavery had so far been organized, that it had been
determined to assault--what it was believed might be overthrown without
much difficulty--the actual trade in slaves, and leave the abolition of
slavery itself for a future occasion. The horrors of the trade could
scarcely be exaggerated. Ships built for the purpose were employed, in
which the allowance of room for a slave was five feet and a half in
length by one foot four inches in breadth. The extreme height between
decks was five feet eight inches, but this was occupied by shelves, upon
which the slaves were packed. Sixteen hours a day they remained below,
chained to the deck, fed upon a pint of water and two feeds of horse
beans. Such conditions of life, for weeks together, in the tropics, not
being conducive to health, they were brought up and forced to jump upon
the deck, under the influence of the whip, for the sake of exercise. If
any difficulty arose, they were tossed overboard without scruple, and
English law courts held underwriters answerable for such loss, as
arising from the natural perils of the sea. No charge of murder, or even
manslaughter, was ever dreamt of. These facts were elicited by a
Parliamentary Committee, presided over by Whitbread, from witnesses who
had previously described the excellent arrangements of the ships and the
cheerful merry dancing of the slaves upon the voyage. Before any action
could be taken upon these revelations, an event occurred which for a
moment threatened the stability of the ministry.
[Sidenote: The King's illness. Nov. 1788.]
[Sidenote: The Regency Bill.]
In November, after some months of illness, the King was declared
incapable of carrying on the business of the country. His illness
assumed the form of insanity, and even if he should survive, as was
thought doubtful, it seemed plain that a regency would be inevitable.
The King's physicians, following the ignorant practice with regard to
lunatics which obtained at that time, prescribed the strictest and most
galling constraints, separated the King from his wife, refused him the
use of knife and fork and razor, and intrusted him to coarse and cruel
servants. Having by this means intensified the symptoms, they proceeded
to pronounce them incurable. Fortunately for the King, Lady Harcourt was
bold enough to recommend Dr. Willis, who, originally a clergyman, had
for nearly thirty years been managing a private asylum for lunatics,
where he had met with much success. On being summoned, he at once
declared he could cure the King, and the Queen and Pitt placed him in
his hands with implicit confidence. Thus when, after some prorogation,
Parliament assembled in December, a committee which had examined the
medical evidence expressed a hope of the King's recovery. Armed with
this report, Pitt moved for an examination of precedents before
arranging the regency, while Fox, forgetful of the Prince's late
duplicity, and clutching eagerly at the power which seemed just within
his grasp, asserted that precedents were useless, as "the heir-apparent
had an inherent right to assume the reins of government." As Pitt
immediately pointed out, this was to rob the Parliament of all power in
the matter, although it had twice been regarded as competent to change
the succession to the throne. The vehemence of the Whig party in fact
overreached itself, and enabled Pitt, who firmly believed that he was on
the point of being driven from office, with a somewhat ostentatious show
of carelessness as to the favour of the future King or Regent, to
produce a Bill nominating indeed the heir-apparent as the Regent, but
under strict limitations. The principle he laid down was that, as the
King would in all probability recover, he should, on resuming his
functions, find things as little altered as possible. He therefore
refused to the Prince of Wales the right of making Peers, or granting
places, in reversion or for any term except during his Majesty's
pleasure, while the care of the King's person and household was left in
the Queen's power. Nothing, probably, but the feeling that the Prince
was thoroughly immoral could have allowed Pitt to produce so stringent a
Bill. It was not indeed passed, for the necessity of passing it was
prevented by the recovery of the King. This had been the work of Dr.
Willis, who, by mingled kindness and firmness, the removal of all the
ridiculous restraints the King's doctors had laid upon him, had
succeeded in restoring his self-respect and bringing him back almost to
his usual state of sanity, although for some weeks longer he
persistently believed, while showing the tenderest affection for the
Queen, that he was deeply in love with one of the ladies of the Court.
[Sidenote: Pre-eminence of Pitt.]
Pitt's faithful adherence to George during his illness, and the firmness
with which he had insisted on keeping things unchanged, though at the
risk of total loss of favour for himself, bound the King to him more
closely than ever, and for many years to come his position was quite
unassailable. Up to this time Pitt's policy had been enlarged and
liberal in all directions. He had contrived to realize his father's
plan, and resting on the authority of the Crown, but independent as a
minister, had destroyed the monopoly of power so long held by the great
Whig factions. This he had done without subserviency and without
deserting the Liberal principles in which he had been trained, but he
could not but feel that he rested primarily on the royal support, and
insensibly his policy had become the royal policy, and he was pledged to
support the influence of the Crown. This gradual and almost unobserved
change was called into active exhibition by the events which were
happening in Europe.
GEORGE III.--_CONTINUED_.
1789-1820.
_First Lords of the Treasury._ | _Chancellors of the Exchequer._
Dec. 1783 Pitt. | Dec. 1783 Pitt.
March 1801 Addington. | March 1801 Addington.
May 1804 Pitt. | May 1804 Pitt.
Jan. 1806 Grenville. | Jan. 1806 Petty.
April 1807 Portland. | April 1807 Perceval.
Oct. 1809 Perceval. | June 1812 Vansittart.
June 1812 Liverpool. |
_Secretaries of State._
June 1789 Carmarthen. | Jan. 1806 Spencer.
W. Grenville. | Fox.
June 1791 Dundas. | Sept. 1806 Spencer.
W. Grenville. | Howick.
July 1794 Portland. | April 1807 Canning.
W. Grenville. | Hawkesbury.
March 1801 Pelham. | Oct. 1809 Wellesley.
Hawkesbury. | Ryder.
May 1804 Harrowby. | Feb. 1812 Castlereagh.
Hawkesbury. | Ryder.
June 1812 { Castlereagh.
{ Sidmouth.
[Sidenote: Effect of the French Revolution in England.]
The year which followed the King's recovery saw the opening of the Great
Revolution in France. This event produced ultimately an entire
alteration in the character of Pitt's policy, and a split between Burke
and Fox which virtually annihilated for the time the Whig party, and
rendered Pitt absolutely pre-eminent; but it was not till more than a
year had passed that its full effect was felt in England, although from
its first outbreak it had a tendency to exaggerate party differences,
and brought into more striking contrast the principles of those who,
like Pitt, desired the maintenance of a strong royal power, of those
who, like Burke, looked no further than the establishment of an
aristocratic constitution, and of those who saw with pleasure every
advance towards the realization of those dreams of class equality which
for more than a century had been stirring in Europe. When at length the
influence of the Revolution became irresistible, England was in a
position abroad to take a leading part in the European opposition to its
principles, and at home social changes had occurred which rendered such
a course of policy inevitable.
[Sidenote: Political development of England.]
Although Pitt was probably aware that he was not a great war minister,
or fitted, as his father had been, to inspire the nation with
enthusiasm in the midst of danger, he by no means forgot to uphold the
dignity of his country; and his management of foreign affairs certainly
raised England from the depression into which she had sunk after the
loss of her colonies, and the disadvantageous peace contracted with
France and Spain at the close of the war.
[Sidenote: Affair of Nootka Sound.]
One of the first instances in which this reviving spirit was shown was
the affair of Nootka Sound. Spain, raising the arrogant claim that to
her belonged the whole west coast of America, seized an English ship in
Nootka Sound, in Vancouver's Island, and destroyed our settlement there.
Upon this, Pitt, drawing closer his alliance with Prussia and Holland,
and going so far as to increase largely the number of men in the navy,
managed to exact from Spain a withdrawal of this claim and a restoration
of English property, granting in exchange an assurance that illicit
trade with the Spanish colonies should be checked.
[Sidenote: Forms an alliance with Holland.]
But far more important than this single exhibition of determination
against a country so decayed as Spain was the successful policy which
Pitt pursued with regard to the general policy of Eastern Europe. The
first opening which occurred was in Holland. In that country there
existed, as usual, a constant strife between two great parties, the
party of the Republicans and the party of the Prince of Orange. Of old
the republican party had meant the party of the aristocratic and wealthy
merchants of the country. The party of the Prince of Orange had almost
without exception been favoured by the bulk of the people. But ideas had
been rapidly growing; republicanism had assumed a somewhat different
meaning. The war between ruler and aristocracy had been changing to a
rivalry between the ruler, supported by the lovers of order and fixed
authority, and those whose views were of a more democratic stamp. But
the democrats of Holland still regarded themselves as the legitimate
descendants of the republican party, and inherited the foreign policy of
their predecessors. Like them, they sought the support and assistance of
France, while the Stadtholder and his friends regarded England as their
chief support. The agitation in Holland had been so vigorous that the
Prince of Orange had been forced to withdraw to Nimeguen, leaving the
Government in the hands of his rivals. In this there was a manifest
danger to England. If the democrats remained in possession of the
country Holland would become little else than a dependency of France,
instead of what it had so often been, the firm ally of England. At the
present moment France was more particularly ready to give it support.
Vergennes, the French minister, was anxious to retain some sort of
prestige for the Government, which was rapidly sinking in power and
credit under the reckless and wasteful management of Calonne. No better
opportunity could have been afforded him than the chance of undertaking
a successful piece of diplomacy, or of war, in behalf of a democratic
party, whose opinions had much in harmony with the rapidly increasing
revolutionary feeling of France. Moreover, the commercial world of
France was full of hostility to the late treaty with England; and as
Vergennes had contracted that treaty, he hoped to wipe out some of his
unpopularity by raising difficulties as to the completion of that part
of it which touched upon the French trade with India. There the Dutch
and French interests both led them to oppose England as far as possible,
and a war would almost certainly have commenced had not Vergennes died.
At the same time Calonne gave place to Lomenie de Brienne, and it was
uncertain what course he would pursue. The question was brought to a
crisis by a curious act of ill-judged violence on the part of the
democrats, who seized upon the person of the Princess of Orange while
she was visiting the Hague, it was believed for the purpose of
attempting some reconciliation. As the Princess of Orange was the sister
of the King of Prussia, he was able to use the attack upon so near a
relative as a fair pretext for interfering on behalf of royalty. He
marched 20,000 men to the frontiers under the Duke of Brunswick, thus
affording Pitt the opportunity he desired of reconnecting England with
European allies. He made common cause with Prussia, promising the
assistance of the English fleet, and sent to demand from France an
explanation of the 15,000 men they had assembled at Givet. The French
refused an explanation, promised assistance to the States-General, and
proceeded to send their troops into the country. The united arms of
Prussia and England were entirely successful, the Stadtholder was
restored to power with even less restriction than usual. The friendship
thus begun ripened into alliance; and Holland, now entirely in the
English interest, joining with England and Prussia, a sort of triple
alliance was entered into for securing the peace of Europe, and to
support the principle of the balance of power, in which Pitt was a firm
believer.
[Sidenote: His efforts to oppose Russia.]
The rising influence of Russia was the great object of Pitt's dread. The
progress of that country was very threatening; its vast bulk and unknown
resources, and the success which had hitherto attended its progress
since the time of Peter the Great, had rendered it a very formidable
element in the European system. Chatham had indeed regarded its growth
as advantageous to Europe, the counterpoise at once to the power of the
French and of the Prussians. His son took a different view, justified by
the evident attempts of the Empress to increase her power at the expense
of Turkey, and thus to secure the Black Sea, if not the Mediterranean,
and by the ever-increasing influence which she exercised over both
Prussia and Austria. Even the great Frederick had found himself obliged
to court his formidable neighbour; again and again his brother, Prince
Henry, had visited St. Petersburg; while Joseph II. of Austria was
entirely led away by the Czarina's greatness. Already the greater part
of Poland had been absorbed by that Empire; there now remained two
powers at either extremity of the great mass of Russia which might
easily have suffered a similar treatment. These were Turkey and Sweden.
In the year 1787 the aggression for which Europe was waiting took place.
The Emperor Joseph had a meeting with the Czarina, and travelled with
her in her carriage as she went to visit the Crimea. He was there
thoroughly dazzled by the greatness of the scheme which she unfolded to
him. Turkey and Greece were to be conquered, and the old Empire of the
East to be re-established. In exchange, it was hinted that something
like a Western Empire should be constituted, and Italy, as of old, be
placed under the Austrian sway. But the success of the Czarina and the
Emperor was hampered by the sudden and vigorous assaults upon Russia
from the side of Sweden under its King Gustavus III. This attack in its
turn threatened to be neutralized by the intervention of the Danes, who
were connected in friendship with the Czarina. Such, then, was the
position of affairs which Pitt had to consider, in reference always to
what he believed of vital importance, the European balance,--on the one
side, Austria, Russia, and Denmark; on the other, Turkey and Sweden.
[Sidenote: Alliance with Prussia, Holland and Sweden.]
[Sidenote: Procures the Convention of Reichenbach.]
There were three countries against which Pitt could put in practice what
appears to have been his fixed plan of European action; desirous of
peace, and thinking few questions of sufficient importance to authorise
him in plunging Europe into war, he hoped, by a show of superior power
on the part of himself and his allies, to uphold the dignity of England
and the existing balance of power. He began with the weakest. He drew
closer his friendship with Prussia, and his threats in union with that
power were sufficient to detach Denmark from its allies, thus to rid
Sweden of the enemy in its rear, and to allow it to carry on its
aggressive movements, which seemed so successful as a diversion in
favour of Turkey. An alliance with Holland, Sweden, and Prussia secured
the maintenance of peace on the part of Denmark. He then turned to
Austria; for the danger from the joint attack on Turkey had become
really imminent when the strong fortress of Oczakow had fallen into the
hands of the Czarina's favourite Potemkin. The opportunity was
favourable. Joseph II. had died, in 1790, just as all his plans, whether
of aggressive ambition on the side of Turkey or of domestic reform in
Flanders, had seemed to terminate in failure; while in Flanders a spirit
of insurrection, too powerful for him to suppress, had been excited by
certain reforms which he there introduced. Indeed, domestic dangers had
threatened him on all sides. His successor, Leopold, was desirous of
securing the friendship of French and German powers to aid him in his
election to the Imperial Crown; and under threat of an immediate
invasion from Prussia, which Pitt had instigated, and impressed with the
rising danger to all monarchies from the events which were occurring in
France, he consented to conclude in August 1790 the Convention of
Reichenbach and to withdraw from the Turkish war. Twice, then, Pitt's
policy of intervention, combined with threats, but without actual
warfare, had been thoroughly successful. The position of England began
to stand higher abroad, and the country had again been brought into
close connection with its old German allies.
[Sidenote: Fails in his intervention with Russia.]
His third intervention was less successful. The Czarina, left to herself
both by friends and enemies, persisted in her course, and the fall of
Ismail in December was marked by astonishing barbarities. Pitt thought
to act upon the Russian Empress as, in conjunction with Prussia, he had
acted upon Austria. He demanded that a peace should be made upon the
_status quo_ before the war, and threatened to support his demand by
arms. An increase of the fleet was indeed ordered, but Pitt was mistaken
both in the temper of the English and in that of the Russian Empress.
The isolated threat of one country standing without allies did not seem
to her very terrible; to the people of England the danger of a Russian
aggression was of little importance. Pitt found it necessary to change
his policy and withdraw his threat, and was content to allow Russia to
conclude a peace by which she obtained the territory between the Bug and
the Dniester and the fortress of Oczakow.
[Sidenote: Industrial development of England.]