Lord Sandwich appointed to the Admiralty.--Haughty Tone assumed
towards Spain.--Death of the Duke of Bedford.--Its Effect on
Parties.--Law Preferments.--Declaration of Spain respecting the
Falkland Islands.--Panegyric of Choiseul by Lord Chatham.--He moves
that the Spanish Declaration be referred to the Judges.--Quarrel
between Wilkes and Maclean.--Motion in the Lords to remit
Pressing.--Artful Speech of Lord Chatham.--Close Struggle on
the Nullum Tempus Bill.--Discussions on the Spanish Declaration
in both Houses.--Explanation of Lord Weymouth.--Wilkes lays a
plan for drawing the House of Commons into a Contest with the
City.--His Success.--The Queen of Denmark throws herself into the
French Faction.--Bill to allow the East India Company to keep a
Regiment of Foot in England.--Meeting and Prorogation of the Irish
Parliament.--Motion to ascertain the Duty of Juries.--Appeal of the
Earl of Pomfret.--Resistance to the Commitment of Printers in the
House of Commons and in the City.--Discussion on Privilege.--The
Lord Mayor appears at the Bar.--Revelation respecting Barré’s
Attack on Mr. Pitt.--Protracted Conflict with the City.--Spain
becomes impatient for the Restitution of the Falkland
Isles.--Character of Dr. Johnson.--Famine in Bengal.
1771.
The deplorable state of the navy, set forth in the most melancholy
colours by the Opposition, had raised so much discontent, that on
the 9th of January, Sir Edward Hawke, almost fallen into a state of
imbecility, found it necessary to resign his command of the Admiralty,
which was immediately conferred on Lord Sandwich, lately appointed
Secretary of State, in the room of Lord Weymouth. The Admiralty, in
which he had formerly presided with credit, was the favourite object
of Lord Sandwich’s ambition; and his passion for maritime affairs,
his activity, industry, and flowing complaisance, endeared him to
the profession, re-established the marine, and effaced great part of
his unpopularity. No man in the Administration was so much master of
business, so quick or so shrewd, and no man had so many public enemies
who had so few private; for though void of principles, he was void of
rancour, and bore with equal good humour the freedom with which his
friends attacked him, and the satire of his opponents.[147]
Before he quitted the Seals, a secret came out, to which his acceptance
of them gave occasion. Not choosing to be dipped in the Spanish
business, he had taken the northern province, exchanging it for the
southern with Lord Rochford. The Spanish Ambassador waited on the
latter, to open with him on the state of the negotiation. But how was
the Prince astonished when the Earl informed him, that orders had been
sent to Mr. Harris, our resident in Spain, to leave Madrid immediately,
if our last-sent proposals should not be accepted! Directions were
given to him at the same time, to order our ships directly out of
the Spanish ports; and no modification was allowed to Harris, but
to take leave. The Prince of Masserano exclaimed bitterly on this
mysterious and hostile step; said, he had been constant in writing
home accounts of the pacific disposition of our Court, and now, when
he expected a favourable answer from Madrid, he learned what amounted
to a declaration of war! For himself, no man had ever been used so
ill: but, on his own treatment he would not descant; the insult to
his Court was so flagrant, that he declared, when the answer should
arrive, he would not deliver it, till he should know how his master
felt the recall of Harris. In this just resentment he quitted Lord
Rochford abruptly. Francés, who was still here, and had not yet heard
of Choiseul’s disgrace, complained to Lord Rochford of the indignity
put on the Crown and Ambassador of Spain, which the Earl endeavoured
to soften and explain away; but neither he nor Lord Sandwich could
defend the measure. The fact was, Lord North had been seized with a
panic on Lord Weymouth’s resignation, who, he concluded, would vaunt of
having advised war; he had figured to himself Lord Chatham, armed with
national vengeance, and the Opposition bellowing against his pacific
inclinations. Instead of striking the peace before any obstructions
could be given to it, he had obtained from the Cabinet Council, four
days after Lord Weymouth’s retreat, the absurd direction to Harris to
leave Madrid,--a rash act, dictated by fear, and from which nothing
but Choiseul’s fall could have extricated him. But fortune smiled on
him, and dissipated and disconnected all his enemies. At this very
time the Bedford faction lost their head. The Duke died on the 14th,
after having lived in a paralytic state above a year.[148] He left the
care of his successor, aged but five years, and the management of his
estate, to the Duchess, with whom were joined his daughter, the Duchess
of Marlborough, and Mr. Palmer, his agent. To Rigby, his favourite, he
bequeathed 5000_l._ Lord Gower was not mentioned in the will, probably
from the hatred borne by the Duchess to her sister-in-law, Lady Gower,
an intriguing, interested Scotch woman, as eager as her husband to see
him Prime Minister. But the union of the party was much loosened by the
Duke’s death; nor did Lord North neglect to strengthen himself against
their Cabals. He offered the Seals of Secretary of State to the Earl
of Suffolk, a young man of thirty-two, totally unpractised in business,
pompous, ignorant, and of no parts, but affecting to be the head of
Grenville’s late party. The young Earl answered with modesty, that as
he could not speak French, he was incapable of treating with foreign
ministers, nor was he conversant in business; he wished for some high
office, but not that of Secretary; and recommended a few of Grenville’s
friends to preferment. He was appointed Lord Privy Seal in the room of
Lord Halifax, Lord North’s uncle, to whom the Seals were given, though
still worse qualified--for he knew nothing, was too old to learn, and
too sottish and too proud to suspect what he wanted.
But they were the great employments of the law which occasioned most
remarks. Judge Bathurst,[149] one of the three Keepers of the Great
Seal, for which he had scarce been thought worthy, was made Lord
Chancellor, and created Lord Apsley, on whose ignorance the profession
punned, calling him Lord _Absque_. De Grey succeeded Lord Chief Justice
Wilmot (who retired) in the Common Pleas; Thurlow was appointed
Attorney, and that abandoned man Wedderburne,[150] Solicitor-General.
The last had certainly no superior in the House of Commons for
eloquence, readiness, argument, or satire; nor in Westminster Hall
for want of principles. His politics, like his pleading, were at the
service of whoever offered him most.[151]
It was remarkable that the Earl of Guilford and Lord Bathurst, fathers
of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, were both living at this
time.
Incensed as the Prince of Masserano had been at the secret recall
of Harris, Choiseul’s fall, and the pacific disposition of the new
French Ministers, convinced him that his King had no assistance to
expect from France. His King, probably, from the same reasoning, had
relaxed some of his pretensions, and sent powers to his Ambassador
to terminate his differences with us, before he was apprised of the
orders given to Harris. The King of France in the meantime prevailed on
Masserano to communicate those powers to our Ministers, engaging his
royal word to bear him harmless in case his master should be offended
with the recall, and with his own Ambassador’s precipitation. Lord
North, reassured by Choiseul’s fall, and by the pacific sentiments
of France, of which the Duc d’Aiguillon had informed Lord Harcourt,
accepted the modification proposed by Spain; and on January the 22nd,
when the Parliament reassembled after the recess, Lord Rochford and
Lord North notified to the two Houses, that the Spanish Ambassador
had that morning signed a declaration relative to the expedition
against the Falkland Islands, which his Majesty had been graciously
pleased to accept, and which should be laid before them on the Friday
following. Mr. E. Burke moved for a call of the House on that day
fortnight, to consider the declaration and acceptance. The delivery of
the declaration was fortunate for peace, for two days after arrived a
positive order to the Spanish Ambassador to quit this country without
delay or excuse,--so offended was the Court of Spain at the recall
of Harris; but the accommodation was signed, and the Prince remained
here.[152] Nor had the threat of war been unfavourable to us; it had
brought to light, and consequently to correction, the nakedness of our
situation; and it had shown Spain and France how soon we could prepare
a force sufficient for our defence,--at least, against any they were
then able to bring against us. On the pacification, Lord Grantham,
Vice-Chamberlain to the King, was named Ambassador to Spain.[153]
The declaration of Spain imported, that his Britannic Majesty having
complained of the violence committed on June the 10th, 1770, at
the island commonly called the Great Malouine, and by the English
Falkland’s Island, in obliging by force the commander and subjects of
his Britannic Majesty to evacuate the port by them called Egmont, a
step offensive to the honour of his Crown, the Prince of Masserano,
Ambassador Extraordinary of his Catholic Majesty, had received orders
to declare, that his Catholic Majesty, _considering the desire with
which he is animated for peace_, _&c._, had seen with displeasure
this expedition, tending to disturb it; and being persuaded of the
reciprocity of sentiments of his Britannic Majesty, &c., his Catholic
Majesty did disavow the said violent enterprise, and, in consequence,
the Prince de Masserano declared that his Catholic Majesty engaged
to give immediate orders that things should be restored in the Great
Malouine, at the port called Egmont, to the state in which they were
before the 10th of June, 1770; for which purpose his Catholic Majesty
would give orders to one of his officers to deliver up to the officer
authorised by his Britannic Majesty the port and fort called Egmont,
with all the artillery, stores, and effects of his Britannic Majesty
and his subjects, agreeable to the inventory that had been made of
them. The Prince of Masserano declared at the same time, in the name of
the King his master, that the engagement of his said Catholic Majesty
to restore to his Britannic Majesty the possession of the port and fort
called Egmont, could not nor ought in anywise to affect the question
of the prior right of sovereignty of the Malouine Islands.
This declaration was, as I have said, accepted, but no notice taken
on our side of the protest of prior right. The act was, in truth,
as appears on the face of it, a mere temporary expedient to prevent
present rupture; Spain relinquishing no claim, nor expressing a
surrender of anything more than Port Egmont--which we accepted with
the air of a sacrifice to which we had very slender pretensions.
Indeed, the worse the grace was with which we seemed to accept the
concession of Spain, the greater in reality was our triumph; for though
the Opposition affected to decry our acquiescence, the humiliation
certainly fell on the King of Spain, who yielded a flower of his crown,
to which we pretended no right but that of convenience and very recent
occupation; and which very convenience had no meaning but that of an
opportunity to annoy Spain thereafter.
When the declaration was laid before the two Houses on the 25th, Lord
Chatham said he would not discuss it then--it would take too many days.
It was only a compromise, only a war prorogued; France not being ready
to declare, had compelled Spain to recede for the present. On the Duc
de Choiseul he made a strained panegyric, pronouncing him the greatest
Minister that had appeared in France since Cardinal Richelieu--that he
was regretted by all ranks of people in that country, and would (he
would venture to prophecy) be recalled! As the portrait seemed to be
intended for a resemblance of himself, there was no doubt but he hoped
the prophecy, too, would be applicable to both. The Duke of Richmond
moved for all transactions with Spain relating to the Falkland Islands,
which Lord Rochford promised should be brought; but Lord Sandwich moved
to restrict the question to such papers only, not extending to any
other matter, which occasioned jealousy and debate. The Duke then asked
for all correspondence with France relating to the same subject. Lord
Rochford said, not a word had passed through our Ambassador (for all
had been verbal, and negotiated with Francés).
In the other House, Burke and Barré declaimed against the pacification.
They asked only for the Spanish papers, which were granted. Some
days after, Mr. Seymour asked if any part of the negotiation with
Spain had passed through the Court of France, and asked to see that
correspondence, which was refused by 173 to 57. Lord Chatham moved
the same day in the other House, that the Judges should be ordered to
attend on the morrow.
When the House met the next day, Lord Chatham desired the two
following questions might be put to the Judges:--
1. Whether, in consideration of law, the Imperial Crown of this Realm
can hold any territories or possessions thereunto belonging, otherwise
than in sovereignty?
2. Whether the declaration or instrument for restitution of the port
or fort called Egmont, to be made by the Catholic King to his Majesty
_under a reservation of a disputed right of sovereignty expressed in
the very declaration or instrument stipulating such restitution_, can
be accepted or carried into execution, without derogating from the
maxim of law before referred to, _touching the inherent and essential
dignity_ of THE CROWN OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Lord Mansfield said, it was needless to refer these interrogatories to
the Judges, since the queries answered themselves--meaning, the reply
to both must be negative; but it required more chicane to give that
negative, and at the same time to argue that the questions did not
fairly flow from the premises. A vote of 69 to 22, refusing to refer
the queries to the Judges, supplied what was wanting in argument.
On the 8th, the Duke of Bolton moved to see the instructions that
had been given to Captain Hunt when he was sent to the Falkland
Islands; but that demand was likewise rejected by 50 odd to 22. Those
instructions had been so hostile, that Lord Chatham owned he had hoped,
if a Parliamentary inspection of them could have been obtained, and
consequently publicity, that they would have provoked Spain to break
the new convention. On this and the former debate Lord Chatham spoke
with infinite wit and much temper, and said, smiling at the youth of
Lord North and Lord Suffolk, that old England was grown very old and
decayed indeed under so many young men!
This pacification cut up by the roots Lord Chatham’s hopes, which had
revived on the prospect of war; but though the nation might have called
for the vigour of his spirited councils had war been declared, nobody
was desirous of making war only to make him necessary,--especially
when we had obtained reparation of an insult to which we had given the
provocation. Wilkes did not wish Lord Chatham’s exaltation, by whom he
had ever been discountenanced personally; and the Earl’s connection
with Lord Shelburne set him at still greater distance from Wilkes, who,
in truth, could but ill maintain his ground at all, and had no support
but from the Common Council and the very mob. He had, indeed, lately
obtained an approbation of his conduct from a majority of the Bill of
Rights, but composed of the least substantial members. Macleane, one of
his most noisy abettors in the House of Commons, and who had lent him
money, had been bought off by the Court; on which Wilkes abused him in
the newspapers. Macleane obliged the printer to discover the author,
on which Macleane challenged Wilkes, and he making no reply, Macleane
printed his challenge. Wilkes disavowed the libels, and affirmed that
he had declared as much to a relation of Macleane, who had brought him
the latter’s defiance, which Wilkes waived as not being the author
of the abuse. Nor did the public think well enough of Macleane to
interest themselves in his quarrel. Courage Wilkes thought he had
displayed sufficiently; and blemishes in his private character, though
set forth in the most odious colours by his adversaries, he had found
could not wean the affections of the people. Yet his confidence in
that particular proved soon afterwards more detrimental to his credit
than all his former errors. Nor did he take any pains to disguise what
he thought of his cause and his partisans; but with an ebriety of
indiscretion he would joke on his own situation and adherents, even
with men averse to his faction, the Scotch excepted, whom he never
spared.
Nor was his cause grown obsolete. New events sprung out of it
continually. To excite reflections on Wedderburne, who had drawn
up the Yorkshire remonstrance, and was now Solicitor-General, Sir
George Saville moved for leave to bring in a bill, ascertaining that
expulsion did not create incapacity. He said he did not well know how
to make a complaint, where the House was both the criminal and the
judge, and when he himself was a party. Wedderburne and Grenville’s
friends evaded the attack by voting for the motion, to prove their
consistence,--a step men in their situation never take but when they
have been inconsistent.[154] The motion was rejected by 167 to 103. The
largeness of the minority was owing to these temporary evasions, and to
the call of the House.
As the storm was blown over, the Duke of Richmond moved the Lords
to address the King to remit pressing, unless the necessity still
remained. Lord Chatham made an artful speech on the state of Europe,
hoping to draw from the Ministers some unguarded expressions. Lord
Halifax opposed the motion; but Lord Hillsborough fell into the snare,
and with great encomiums on Lord Chatham, confessed he had long
thought us in danger, and too weak; feared the peace would not last,
and declared he had often pressed the other Ministers to increase
our force. Lord Craven[155] asked him, Why then had he opposed a
motion for that purpose but last March? Lord Chatham said, he now saw
the motion was improper, for the Ministers owned the peace would not
last; and he begged the Duke of Richmond to withdraw his motion. Lord
Gower, thinking that assurance was the only remedy for indiscretion,
denied point-blank that Lord Hillsborough had confessed any weakness
or apprehensions; and Lord Suffolk, maintaining that the House was in
possession of the question, and that it could not be withdrawn without
leave, the Court Lords would have forced a division, but the Opposition
would not vote.
The same day (Feb. 11), Sir William Meredith, to favour the Duke of
Portland, moved for a bill to take a clause from the bill of Nullum
Tempus, which would assist the Duke’s pursuit of his cause; but the
taking away of which was thought would be a singular hardship on
Sir James Lowther. Lord North had prevailed on Sir James to give up
the most exceptionable parts of that clause; yet the latter was so
obnoxious, that after a long debate, leave was given by 152 to 123 for
the bill to be brought in.[156] The Court party were furious against
the injustice, and seemed glad to be oppressed once, as if one instance
of partiality in their enemies would wipe out all their own arbitrary
attempts and violences. They made all possible interest to defend the
clause; and Charles Fox, the phenomenon of the age, undertook the
patronage of it, and gave as much satisfaction to the party as disgust
to the Opposition by the great talents he exerted on the occasion: yet
acrimony and Dunning’s abilities prevailed that day (20th), and the
bill was committed by a majority of 15. Still the weight of Lord Bute’s
son-in-law effected what eloquence could not; in seven days the tide
turned, and the bill was thrown out, by 164 to 154--a fair struggle of
partiality on each side.
On the 13th, the Spanish declaration was discussed in the House of
Commons. Lord Beauchamp and Lord Palmerston moved the address of
thanks to the King. It was soberly worded, and only thanked for the
communication and acceptance of peace. Lord North had softened the
expressions much more than those in the address of the other House.
This temperance prevented Dowdeswell from making a string of motions,
which he had brought ready drawn; yet he harangued long. Forester,
though attached to Lord Gower, surprised the House by pronouncing the
address premature, as the ratification of Spain was not arrived. The
debate lasted till past three in the morning, though unanimated. Barré
was lively, Burke ill-heard, and Dunning tedious. Colonel Burgoyne made
a fine set speech against the peace; and Lord Irnham, father of Colonel
Lutterell, all zealous courtiers, voted against the address, but it
passed easily.
The Duke of Newcastle[157] moved the address the next day in the Lords.
Lord Camden opposed it, and was answered by Lord Mansfield. Lord
Chatham spoke for two hours, but languidly and ill; Lord Shelburne
better than he had ever done. But it was Lord Weymouth on whom all
expectation hung: he expressed himself with much obscurity and mystery.
He was understood to mean, that the Lords in Opposition had vainly
tried to distinguish between what _he_ had demanded, and what was
now obtained; but that there was no material difference. He said he
had, throughout the negotiation, told the Spanish Ambassador that he
would not hear any talk on the right. When he resigned, he had looked
on the treaty as broken off. His reasons for resigning had been of a
different nature, and were such as he would not declare there. The Duke
of Richmond, stating what he thought Lord Weymouth had said, in order,
if possible, to dive into his meaning, the latter desired to repeat
his own words, which, he said, had only been that he would defend his
own part of the negotiation; that he had not said the present treaty
did or did not agree with what _he_ had demanded--_that_ might be
seen by his letters; that he would not hear _the right_ mentioned
_before_ the Declaration; and that he could not help voting for the
treaty as it now stood. That his resignation had been dictated by
other political reasons, on which he had differed with his brother
Ministers. All this verbal shuffling spoke nothing but treachery,
irresolution, disappointment, or discovery of the mistake he had made.
Wood did not scruple to confess to his friends that he himself had
made a gross mistake, and repented it heartily; which could not but
imply that he had drawn Lord Weymouth into the same error. The death
of the Duke of Bedford had also lowered their importance; Lord Gower
had been sweetened by the boon of the Duke’s Garter, and none of the
faction were willing to sacrifice themselves to Wood’s blunder. Thus
Weymouth was reduced to resort to the clemency of the Court, and to
the occasion it might have for his narrow abilities hereafter. The
address was carried by a proportion of 90 to 30; and by more, when the
Duke of Richmond called for the proxies,--an usage, he said, he did
not like, but had been desired to practise by Lord Rockingham, who was
at Bath, and wished to give his negative to the peace. Lord Temple was
not there, nor Lord Lyttelton, whose son-in-law Anglesey’s cause was
pending, and made him fear to offend.[158] Lord Hardwicke voted for the
pacification, and continued on that side, though he had treated his
brother, the momentary Chancellor, so inhumanly for accepting the Seals
but the last year. A protest of vast length was drawn up, and signed by
sixteen peers. Lord Radnor signed a short one by himself.
The danger of war was no sooner blown over, than the Ministers
precipitated themselves, though not unwarned, into a new difficulty,
which, had it been conducted by the Opposition with the same address
with which it had been planned, might have produced very serious
consequences. The scheme was laid by Wilkes, who had far more
enterprising invention than judgment, and was a better leader of
hussars than a general. Assured of the juries in the City of London,
he pushed on the printers to hazard all lengths, both in abuse and
in publishing the debates with the names of the several speakers,--a
liberty always deemed by Parliament a breach of privilege. But he
did not solely depend on the perseverance of the London juries in
acquitting libellers. The City pretended to exemption from the
jurisdiction of the House of Commons, founding their claim on the
restitution of their Charter by King William, which had been taken away
by Charles the Second, though King William did no more than restore
their ancient rights; but they arrogated their immunity from grants
of ancient Kings. Secure of the attachment of Crosby, the Lord Mayor,
Wilkes hoped the House of Commons would embroil themselves with the
City, where he knew their authority would be resisted. Hints of this
plot had been conveyed to Lord North many months before, and yet he had
not the caution to avoid it. The two George Onslows, the elder very
indiscreet, the younger very intemperate, were, from being the friends
and champions of Wilkes, become his inveterate foes; and between
wantonness and design, he daily inflamed their anger. A complaint being
made to the House of the licentious freedom practised of printing
debates, Colonel Onslow seized the opportunity of venting his rage
against a saucy paper in which he had been most scurrilously treated.
The printers of the debates were ordered to attend, though not without
opposition and a division made by the Aldermen Townshend and Oliver.
To this order no obedience was paid by the offenders; on which, the
elder Onslow moved, February the 19th, that they should be questioned
for contempt; but Lord North, who generally leaned towards moderation,
desired that they might have allowance not to appear till the next day,
which was agreed to; but as they continued to abscond, the House voted
that if the summons were delivered at their own houses, it should be
regarded as if they had been delivered to the printers in person. The
House also addressed the King to order them to be taken into custody;
and their contumacy not ceasing, it was carried on the 25th by a
majority of 160 to 17, that they should be taken into custody.[159]
This was what Wilkes had aimed at, and the consequences will appear
presently.
About this time happened a considerable change in the Court of Denmark.
The King, a weak and capricious little mortal, had early conceived a
marked aversion for his Queen, the youngest sister of England, and had
disgraced their cousin, the Prince of Hesse, for espousing her cause;
as did his grandmother, the first Queen Dowager. Bernsdorffe, his Prime
Minister, was devoted to the Court of Russia, and during the King’s
absence in England and France, the Russian Minister had treated the
Queen with great want of respect. As she was of a dauntless spirit,
she took upon her to order him to quit Denmark; and on the King’s
return, feeling his incapacity and her own courage, she assumed such
an ascendant over him, that she not only got rid of his favourite,
young Count Holke, but, aided by the King’s physician, who was thought
to be equally dear to both their Majesties, she dismissed Bernsdorffe
and all the old Ministry, flung herself into the French faction, and
transferred the whole power of the government to the beloved physician,
Struensee. These despotic acts were accompanied by many extravagances,
and more scandal. She reviewed the troops in a masculine habit, and
when she went to meet her mother, the Princess of Wales, was dressed in
regimentals with breeches of buckskin, though of enormous corpulency.
The Princess lamenting to her the fall of Bernsdorffe, the ancient
servant of the family, the Queen of Denmark said, “Pray, madam, allow
me to govern my own kingdom as I please!” Such early haughtiness was no
omen of a tranquil reign.
On the 4th of March a bill was moved for in the House of Commons
by Sir George Colebrooke,[160] to allow the East India Company to
maintain here a regiment of two thousand men, for supplying recruits
to the defence of their settlements. It was to be composed of foreign
Protestants. The matter was debated without partiality, the Ministry
affecting to take no part in it, and Lord North not attending the
discussion. Yet, if he stood neuter, the Scotch faction at Court were
far from indifferent to the scheme. Sir Gilbert Elliot,[161] in a fine
studied oration, supported it with all his abilities; Dyson laboured
it, and it was carried to commit the bill. One Stewart, a Scot, was
destined for colonel; and I myself heard the Duke of Argyle and Lord
Frederic Campbell exulting on the success, and congratulating one
another _that the King would at least have another regiment at his
command_,--a point of view which numbers of our northern brethren kept
ever in their eye.
The Court was not less triumphant in Ireland, where the Parliament had
at last been suffered to meet. Lord Townshend during its long vacation,
had employed such effectual corruption, that when the Opposition
injudiciously contested an usual address to the King to thank him for
their Lord-Lieutenant (the more likely to pass as no money was asked),
the Court had a majority of twenty-five votes. Next morning, a body of
weavers rose and assaulted the complaisant peers,[162] on which the
Lords would not report the address, but sent to the Lord-Lieutenant to
demand guards, that their members might attend and vote in safety. The
like address having passed the Commons, Mr. Ponsonby, their Speaker,
resigned the chair, rather than carry it to the other House. This step
was imputed to a panic he was believed to have felt, from an idea that
Lord Townshend had got evidence of his having instigated the tumult,
though he himself ascribed it to the Viceroy’s having reflected on
the House of Commons the last year. Lord Townshend not having interest
enough to name a Speaker to his mind, was forced to prefer Perry to a
more obnoxious man, though Perry was a very able man, not well-disposed
to the Court, but thoroughly attached to the interests of Ireland.
These clouds obliged the Lord-Lieutenant,--though he had declared the
Parliament was called to carry on private business, not for the purpose
of giving money,--to determine that it should rise in a fortnight. As
the King of France was more despotic, he at this time annihilated the
Parliament of Paris, and established six superior councils in its room.
Dowdeswell, on the 7th, moved for a bill to ascertain the duty
of juries, but Dunning and others of his own party opposed it,
apprehending danger from meddling with that great palladium of liberty;
so that, except General Conway, who out of candour said a few words,
not a man in the Administration spoke, and the motion was rejected by
160 to 40.
On the 12th of March six more printers were denounced to the House of
Commons for printing their debates; and two more were committed to the
Black Rod by the peers, for reflections on the Lords of the Bedchamber,
by whose votes Lord Pomfret had carried a cause on an appeal. It
was for a considerable estate which had been given against him in
Yorkshire by a jury of the most unbiassed and reputable gentlemen of
the county, who had transported themselves to the spot, and examined
all circumstances with scrupulous exactness. The Earl, who was in
truth little better than a lunatic, had treated their decision with
the utmost indecency and violence, and trusting to his favour with the
King, for whom he was a kind of Don Quixote, had brought an appeal to
the House of Lords. That judicature was of signal reputation in cases
of property, though almost always led by the two or three law Lords
of their own body: yet in Lord Pomfret’s case, though the Ministers
said not a word, and though Lord Camden spoke against him, the cause
was given for the Earl by the notorious partiality of the Court Lords.
The badness of the cause was so flagrant, that Dunning, who pleaded
for Lord Pomfret, having persuaded the Duke of Manchester, a peer in
Opposition, and one or two more, to decree for the Earl, confessed he
was shocked at having convinced them.[163] The Earl himself treated
the lawyers with great virulence; and as if his intellects recommended
him, or the hardship of his case called for still farther protection,
the King, during the litigation, made him a Privy Councillor. The Lords
committed Woodfall, the printer, to Newgate, and fined him 100_l._
The House of Commons was more refractory, and sat till five in the
morning on the commitment of the printers, the Opposition battling on
every individual, and moving after every question to adjourn; so that,
after three and twenty divisions, they wearied out the patience of
the Ministers, who at last yielded to order the printers to attend on
the 14th. This perseverance was the work of Charles Turner[164] of
Yorkshire, the two Burkes, the Aldermen Townshend and Oliver, and five
more of the Opposition, who alone remained in the House against seventy
courtiers.
But delay was not the only defensive weapon used by the offenders. John
Wheble, one of the printers, had been ordered to attend the House of
Commons by a messenger sent to his house. He paid no obedience to the
summons, but taking counsel of Robert Morris, a lawyer and warm member
of the Bill of Rights, who alleged many informalities and invalidity
against the warrant, which was not even signed by the Speaker, Wheble
sent a contemptuous answer to the Speaker, both on the warrant, and on
a proclamation for apprehending him, which by strange negligence had
appeared for three days in the Gazette without being signed, which, in
the opinion of the generality of the law, made it to be deemed of no
force.
On the 14th the Commons sat again till half an hour after four in
the morning, when after being teazed by thirteen more divisions, the
Ministers were glad to let off the printers after reprimanding them on
their knees.
On the 15th, Wheble was apprehended on the strength of the proclamation
by a person tempted by the reward, who carried him before Wilkes,
then sitting alderman; but Wilkes instantly discharged him and bound
him over to prosecute his accuser, though giving the apprehender a
certificate to entitle him to the reward from the Lords of the Treasury.
The same evening, Miller, printer of the _London Evening Post_, against
whom another proclamation had been issued, was taken into custody
by a messenger of the House of Commons; but refusing to attend the
messenger, was seized by him by the arm; on this, Miller sent for a
constable, and gave him charge of the messenger for assaulting him in
his own house. The constable carried the messenger before the Lord
Mayor, and a hearing of the cause was had before the Mayor and the
Aldermen Wilkes and Oliver.
In the meantime, the Serjeant of the House of Commons being informed
of the transaction, went and demanded the bodies of the messenger
and Miller. The Mayor asked him if he had applied to a magistrate to
back the warrant, or to any peace officer to assist him, to which he
answered, No. The Mayor said no power had a right to seize a citizen
of London without authority from him or some other magistrate, nor
should while he held that office; and that he thought both the warrant
and seizure illegal, and therefore declared Miller to be at liberty.
The assault on Miller being proved, the Lord Mayor told the messenger
he must give bail, or be committed to prison. At first he refused, but
the commitment being made out, and signed by the Mayor and the two
Aldermen, the Serjeant-at-arms offered bail for the messenger, and he
and his sureties were bound for his appearance at Guildhall at the next
session.
Such high attacks on their authority roused the House of Commons, and
startled the Ministers. A junto of seven was held at Lord North’s, when
the ruling spirit was moderation. At a larger meeting the next night,
the same temper or fear appeared in most of the assembly, particularly
in Rigby, who had not forgotten that his loss of a former place had
dated from the contest on general warrants; but Sir Gilbert Elliot,
the oracle or mouth of the secret Cabal, pressed for firmness and
penal measures. The elder Onslow, as he told me himself, offered at
that council to prevail on his cousin to drop the prosecution of the
printers; but though the Ministers would not enjoin them to proceed,
they assured the elder that they would support him and his cousin, if
they went on with the complaint. On this encouragement,--
The affair was discussed on the 18th;[165] but the Rockingham party,
instead of seizing so popular a topic of clamour, were, as usual, cool
in the wrong place, and rather zealous for maintaining the dignity of
the House, without inquiring previously whether the House was founded
in its pretensions. If not, to maintain what they had done, only
because they had done it, would be an argument equally for supporting
tyranny or the inquisition, if once established. Even the younger
Burke was zealous against the Lord Mayor. Lord George Germaine spoke
to the same purpose, but the superiority of his understanding made it
suspected that his view was solely aimed at embarking Lord North in a
quarrel with the City and its magistrates. Charles Fox, as if impatient
to inherit his father’s unpopularity, abused the City as his father
used to do; but the Ministers were moderate, and Conway much so, though
against sacrificing the honour of the House. Rigby went farther, and in
hopes the affair would drop, proposed to put it off for some days. As
the Lord Mayor was confined with the gout, Sir W. Meredith, Sir John
Griffin, and Conway pleaded for allowing him farther time; but the
courtiers divided against and rejected that motion; yet afterwards Lord
North himself proposed to insert, in the order for his appearance on
the morrow, the words _if he is able; if not, on the Friday_ following,
which was agreed to.
Alderman Oliver, who was present, not only declared he had signed the
warrant for committing the messenger of the House, but declared he had
advised it; yet no notice was taken. Sir Joseph Mawbey, in hopes of
bringing Wilkes at the head of a mob, moved twice to call him, too,
before them; but the Ministers dreaded his appearance, and would not
join in the motion. Alderman Townshend, in hatred to Wilkes, who had
planned these difficulties, absented himself from the House: thus the
selfish factiousness of Lord Shelburne, and the injudicious candour of
Lord Rockingham and his friends, split the Opposition into impotent
Cabals, and soon accomplished their own annihilation.
It was remarkable, that Lord Halifax was again become Secretary of
State, and that as such was again embroiled with Wilkes, who sent him
word that he had discharged Wheble. It was well said, that in this
contest Colonel Lutterell must vote with the majority of the House, for
_they_ were _his_ constituents.
The next day the Lord Mayor, though labouring under the gout, attended
the House. He was escorted by a thin concourse of people, though
thousands of hand-bills had been dispersed to invite a mob. He told the
House that he had little to say; that he had done his duty according
to his oath, and did avow the charge. For himself, this was all he had
to say; for the City, he demanded to be heard by counsel. The Charters
of the City he desired might be read, which was complied with. After
an hour and a half he grew so ill that he asked leave to retire, which
was granted, and the matter was adjourned till the following Friday.
Dunning moved to grant the City counsel, which Thurlow opposed; but it
being observed that the whole affair was adjourned, it was then dropped.
Lord North moved to send for the City’s book, that they might expunge
the messenger’s recognizance and discharge, which was opposed, but
ordered. An incident, more memorable, perhaps, than the business
itself, from the secret it brought to light, or rather authenticated,
followed next. Charles Fox, with his usual intemperance, moved to
examine Alderman Oliver the next day, whom he should consider, he
said, in a public light, as an assassin of the constitution. Colonel
Barré (for Oliver had retired with the Lord Mayor) said, it became
no man to call another assassin, who assassinated that person behind
his back. Fox, with the same violence replied, When he was a boy at
school, he remembered nothing so well as the clamour against Barré
for assassinating Mr. Pitt behind his back.[166] To that attack
Barré returned this thundering sentence: “If the gentleman would
go _home_, he might learn the name of the person who set me upon
that assassination, which I now so much abhor,” and of which Lord
Holland[167] had always been suspected, and was now proved to be
the instigator. Nor was this the whole that came out; for Barré now
told several persons that Lord Chatham had, on their reconciliation,
acquainted him, that on the very day of Barré’s second attack on him,
Lord Holland had hurried out of the House after him, and had said,
he hoped he did not think that he (Lord Holland) had any hand in
encouraging the outrage, in which he vowed he was not concerned.
On the 20th, Sir Joseph Mawbey offered to the Speaker a letter from
Wilkes, which the Speaker refused to receive; but Mawbey read a copy of
it, which he said should be part of his speech; but Lord Strange denied
he could make it so, as he had said he did not know the contents: nor
would the House attend to it, though he did read it,--so afraid were
they of being embroiled with Wilkes. Sir Gilbert Elliot and the Scotch,
seeing the weakness of the Opposition, had undoubtedly pushed on
this affair as a decisive blow; but the King now grew frightened, and
owned he wished it over, though Lord Rochford endeavoured to keep up
his resolution, and Charles Fox affected to lead the House, till even
Wedderburne asked if Fox was the Minister. The House then sent for the
Lord Mayor’s book, and tore out the messenger’s recognizance. To the
City[168] they allowed counsel, but tied up their hands by restraining
them from speaking on the privileges of the House. Wedderburne,
having been reflected on in the course of the debate, made a defence
of himself, in a most admired speech, which would have excused his
conduct, if a speech could have done it. De Grey, member for Norfolk,
and elder brother of the Attorney-General, besought the House not to
make Wilkes and Oliver of consequence, who were not of any. One Evans,
another printer, whom they had ordered to attend, printed a letter,
disclaiming their authority.
The same day Wilkes, for safety, removed from his house in Westminster
to lodgings in the City, as Lord Shaftesbury did in the reign of
Charles the Second. The Common Council thanked him, the Lord Mayor,
and Oliver, for the stand they made. The Recorder made a sensible
speech against that motion, and refused to put the question for it; but
it was carried without him.
On the 22nd, the Lord Mayor excused himself on his illness, for not
attending the House. After a debate of three hours, they determined
to examine Alderman Oliver, though the Lord Mayor could not appear;
and he was accordingly ordered to make his defence on the following
Monday. Lord North said, he saw the Opposition wanted to protract the
affair, (which, in fact, was all they did attempt,) but should not: he
was very sorry the matter had ever been stirred, but now must be gone
through with. His party were very clamorous for punishment, and for
vindicating the honour of the House,--and with which the Opposition
almost concurred, so far did the _esprit de corps_ possess them. It
is a standing order of the House that breach of their privileges must
supersede all other considerations: on that ground the Courtiers would
suffer no other business to proceed; while in the City a like _esprit
de corps_ began to operate, even some of the Court Aldermen beginning
to favour their Mayor; but the Opposition had not sense enough to avail
themselves of that disposition.
In the meantime a cloud seemed to threaten the negotiation with Spain.
The Prince of Masserano asked Lord Rochford abruptly, when we should
cede the Falkland Islands to them again? This seemed to indicate a
secret article of future restitution. Lord Rochford said, “No minister
would dare for his head, to answer that question.” Monsieur Francés
owned that our Ministers had given no positive promise of restoring
the island, yet the greatest encouragement to Spain to expect we
would restore it. Our Ministers, indeed, had positively declared in
Parliament, that there was no secret article in the treaty;[169]
yet this question of the Spanish Ambassador, the declaration of
Francés, and the dilatory slowness of Spain, had much the air of
dissatisfaction. Spain is not like other countries, that raise their
revenues at home. Spain’s resources depend on the arrival of their
flotas from the West Indies. They had received their galleons, and
were prepared for two years. As they forbore to send out another
plate-fleet, it looked as if the pacification was still incomplete.
Our Ministers, however, triumphing in having avoided a war, set forth
an exultation written by Dr. Samuel Johnson, and very abusive on the
Opposition, the Bill of Rights, Lord Chatham, Junius, and the Lord
Mayor, with most of their names at length,--the very kind of grievance
of which the Court complained. With a lumber of learning and some
strong parts, Johnson was an odious and mean character. By principle
a Jacobite, arrogant, self-sufficient, and overbearing by nature,
ungrateful through pride, and of _feminine bigotry_, he had prostituted
his pen to party even in a dictionary, and had afterwards, for a
pension, contradicted his own definitions. His manners were sordid,
supercilious, and brutal, his style ridiculously bombastic and vicious;
and, in one word, with all the pedantry he had all the gigantic
littleness of a country schoolmaster.
From the East Indies came bad news; a dreadful famine had depopulated
Bengal and swept away multitudes. It was imputed in a great measure
to the servants of the East India Company, who, amidst every species
of tyranny and plunder, had monopolized the chief aliments of the
country.[170] A ship with three supervisors, who had been sent thither
to correct those horrible abuses, had been lost in its passage.