LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 1759 — 1788.
 
 I 

 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM PITT. 
 
 By EARL STANHOPE. 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES.— Vol. I. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1867. 
 
 [ The right of Translation is reserved.']
 
 ISAAC FOOfl 
 LIBRARY 
 
 LONDON' : PRINTKD BV W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STBKET, 
 AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 DA 
 
 ftSi 
 
 v.i 
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 
 
 Iisr my small volume of 'Miscellanies' (the 
 Second Edition of which appeared in 1863) 
 will be found various additional Letters from 
 Mr. Pitt — as to the Duke of Rutland, the Earl 
 of Harrowby, and Sir Walter Farquhar — many 
 of which did not come into my hands until 
 after my account of his Life was completed and 
 published. I have not attempted to embody 
 these Letters with my present edition, first 
 because they are none of them essential to the 
 narrative ; and secondly, because in regard to 
 books of large compass I think it unjust to the 
 purchasers of the earlier copies to make any 
 important changes in the later, except only in 
 correction, if need be, of proved and admitted 
 
 errors. 
 
 S. 
 
 January, 1 8t>7.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 According to the desire expressed on his death- 
 bed by Mr. Pitt, the papers which he left were 
 in the first instance delivered to Ins early friend 
 Dr. Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln. After the de- 
 cease of the Bishop and of the last Lord Chat ham. 
 these MSS. devolved to my cousin, William 
 Stanhope Taylor, Esq., grand nephew of Mr. Pitt . 
 When Mr. Taylor also died, the papers came 
 into the possession of another grand nephew of 
 Mr. Pitt through his younger sister — Colonel 
 John Pr ingle, who has in the kindest manner 
 and without the smallest reserve placed them in 
 my hands. 
 
 The Bishop of Lincoln, in his examination of 
 these MSS. and in pursuance of the discretion 
 assigned him, appears to have destroyed nearly 
 all the letters adi! ■• ed to Mr. Pitt by mem- 
 bers of Mr. Pitt's family. Among those that 
 now remain in the collection there is not one 
 
 a 3
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 from his mother, from either of his sisters, or 
 from either of his brothers, until the time when 
 his eldest brother became his Cabinet colleague. 
 The letters addressed to him by the Bishop 
 himself, and by several other personal friends, 
 have also been removed. 
 
 On the other hand, there still exists the series 
 of letters which Mr. Pitt wrote to his mother. 
 These from the first she appears to have care- 
 fully preserved, and they were, I presume, 
 returned to him after her death. A few blanks 
 in the series may, indeed, here and there be 
 traced, and some accident appears to have be- 
 fallen the concluding portion. Since October, 
 1799, only one letter to Lady Chatham is left, 
 bearing the date of January 5, 1802, besides 
 another of September 17 following, to her 
 companion, Mrs. Stapleton. There are also 
 very confidential letters addressed by Mr. Pitt 
 to his brother, Lord Chatham, though some 
 are missing from the series, and though none 
 among them bears an earlier date than 1794. 
 Of these letters, both to his mother and his 
 brother, which will be wholly new to the public, 
 I have inserted the greater portion in my nar- 
 rative. 
 
 I have also largely availed myself of the series
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 of MS. letters addressed to Mr. Pitt by King 
 George the Third. This is, I believe, quite 
 complete, although on the other hand there are 
 now preserved very few drafts of Mr. Pitt's own 
 communications to the King. 
 
 There are in this collection many letters from 
 Mr. Pitt's colleagues and other men of note in 
 politics ; and also drafts or coj)ies, although not 
 equally numerous, of his letters to them. 
 
 In 1842 my much valued friend the late Duke 
 of Rutland entrusted to me, in the original 
 MSS., the correspondence between his father 
 and Mr. Pitt, and gave me leave to put it into 
 type. The copies, of which the number was 
 fixed at one hundred, were confined to a circle 
 of friends ; but I had the Duke's sanction to 
 insert some considerable extracts in the Quar- 
 terly Review, No. 140, and in my own collected 
 Essays. 
 
 In 1849 I had an opportunity, through the 
 kindness of the late Lord Melville, to examine 
 the papers at Melville Castle, and to take several 
 transcripts. No letter from Mr. Pitt of an 
 earlier date than 1794 is, so far as I saw, there 
 preserved. In 1852 I obtained permission from 
 the present Lord Melville to print for private 
 circulation the most important of these papers
 
 V1U PREFACE. 
 
 in a small volume, which I entitled " Secret 
 Correspondence connected with Mr. Pitt's Return 
 to Office in 1804." 
 
 I may observe that the letters of Mr. Pitt to 
 his friend before the peerage begin " Dear Dun- 
 das," while on the other side it is always " My 
 dear Sir." 
 
 I have also obtained some communications of 
 considerable value through the kindness of the 
 Duke of Bedford, of Lord St. Germans, of Mr. 
 Dundas of Arniston, and of other gentlemen, to 
 whom my warm thanks are due ; and I need 
 scarcely advert to the great interest and im- 
 portance of several published collections, more 
 especially the Malmesbury, the Buckingham, and 
 the Cornwallis Papers, and the biographies of 
 Lord Sidmouth and Mr. Wilberforce. 
 
 Stanhope. 
 
 Chevening, January 23, 1861.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 Preface Page v 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1759 — 1780. 
 
 Birth of William Pitt — Early signs of great promise — Feeble health 
 in boyhood — Education — At seventeen admitted M.A. at Cam- 
 bridge — Study of elocution — Death of his father — Economical 
 habits — Entered at Lincoln's Inn — Attends Parliamentary debates 
 
 — Introduction to Fox — Called to the Bar — Joins the Western 
 Circuit — M.P. for Appleby 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1781 — 1782. 
 
 Enters the House of Commons — State of parties — Attaches himself 
 to Lord Shelburne — Goostree's Club — Pitt's first speech — Con- 
 gratulated by Fox — Vindication of his father's opinions, and state- 
 ment of his own, on the American war — On the Western Circuit, 
 and in the Court of King's Bench — General character at the Bar — 
 Readiness of debate — Speeches on Parliamentary Reform — Ap- 
 pointed Chancellor of the Exchequer — Letters to his mother . . 49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1782 — 1783. 
 
 Acknowledgment of American independence — Proposed cession of 
 Gibraltar — Preliminary treaties with France and Spain — Confer- 
 ence between Pitt and Fox — Coalition of Fox and North — Defeat 
 of Lord Shelburne — Pitt's great speech in vindication of the 
 Peace — Resignation of Lord Shelburne — Pitt refuses the offer of 
 the Treasury — Resigns office of Chancellor of the Exchequer — 
 Duke of Portland's Ministry — Pitt in private life — Again brings 
 forward Parliamentary Reform, but is defeated — Prince of Wales 
 
 — Marriage of Lord Chatham S7
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1783. 
 
 Pitt's excursion to France — Abbe' de Lageard — Keturn to England — 
 Fox's India Bill — Great speech of Burke — Bill passes the Com- 
 mons, but is thrown out by the Lords — Dismissal of Fox and 
 North — The Royal Prerogative — Pitt appointed Prime Minister 
 
 — Resignation of Lord Temple — The new Cabinet . . Page 129 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1784. 
 
 Difficulties of Pitt's position — His India Bill — His public spirit — 
 Fox's popularity declines — Proceedings of the " Independents " — 
 Party conflicts in the Commons — Address to the King — Pitt 
 attacked in his coach — Revulsion of national feeling — Schemes 
 of Fox — The Great Seal stolen — Dissolution of Parliament .. 1G9 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1784. 
 
 Pitt elected for the University of Cambridge, and Wilberforce for the 
 County of York — Fox's Westminster Contest — Numerous defeats 
 of Fox's friends — New Peerages — Meeting of Parliament — Pre- 
 dominance of Pitt — Disorder of the Finances — Frauds on the 
 Revenue — Pitt's Budget — His India Bill — Westminster Scrutiny 
 
 — Restoration of Forfeited Estates in Scotland — Letters to Lady 
 Chatham — Promotions in the Peerage — Lord Camden President 
 of the Council 204 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1784 — 1785. 
 
 Gibbon's character of Pitt — Pitt's application to business — Parallel 
 between Pitt and Fox — The King's Speech on the opening of 
 Parliament — Westminster Scrutiny — Success of Pitt's Financial 
 Schemes — Reform of Parliament — Commercial intercourse with 
 Ireland — The Eleven Resolutions — Pitt's Speech — Opposed by 
 Fox and North — • Petition from Lancashire against the measure — 
 Opposition in the Irish House of Commons — Bill relinquished by 
 the Government — Mortification of Pitt 236
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. XI 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1785 — 1786. 
 
 Four-and-a-half Fund — Marriage of Pitt's sister, Lady Harriot — Pitt 
 purchases a Country Seat — Embarrassment of Lady Chatham's and 
 of Pitt's private affairs — The Rolliad — Captain Morris's Songs — 
 Peter Pindar — Pitt's Irish Propositions — Contemplated Treaty of 
 Commerce with France — Proposed Fortifications of Portsmouth and 
 Plymouth — Pitt's Sinking Fund — Impeachment and Trial of 
 Warren Hastings — New Peers Page 276 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 17S6 — 1787. 
 
 State of the Ministry — William Grenville — Lord Mornington — 
 Henry Dundas — Lord Carmarthen — Death of Frederick the 
 Great — Margaret Nicholson's attempt on the life of George the 
 Third — Death of Pitt's sister, Lady Harriot — Treaty of Com- 
 merce with France — State of Ireland — Dr. Pretyman hecomes 
 Bishop of Lincoln and Dean of St. Paul's — Parliamentary Debates 
 on French Treaty — Mr. Charles Grey — Proceedings against 
 Hastings resumed — Unanimous testimony to Sheridan's eloquence 
 — Pitt's measures of Financial Reform — The Prince of Wales 
 and Mrs. Fitzherbert — Attempted Repeal of the Test Act — 
 Settlement in Botany Bay "08 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1787 — 1788. 
 
 State of parties in Holland — Differences respecting the French trade 
 in India — Prussian troops enter Holland — Deatli of the Duke of 
 Rutland — France and England disarm — Trial of Hastings — India 
 Declaratory Bill — Budget — Claims of American Loyalists — First 
 Steps in Parliament for the Abolition of the Slave Trade — 
 Exertions of Wilberforce and Clarkson — Pitt's Resolution — Sir W. 
 Dolben's Bill — Horrors of the Middle Passage — Controversies on 
 Slavery 339
 
 Xll CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 1788. 
 
 Official changes and appointments — Treaties of Defensive Alliance 
 with Holland and Prussia — Mental alienation of the King — Pitt's 
 measures — Prince of Wales consults Lord Loughborough — Mani- 
 festation of national sympathy — Objects of Pitt and Thurlow — 
 Meeting of Parliament — The King's removal to Kew — Fox's 
 return from Italy Page 375 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Letters and Extracts of Letters from King George the Third to 
 Mr. Pitt i— xxiii
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM PITT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1754 — 1780. 
 
 Birth of William Pitt — Early signs of great promise — Feeble health 
 hi boyhood — Education — At seventeen admitted M.A. at Cam- 
 bridge—Study of Elocution — Death of his father — Economical 
 habits— Entered at Lincoln's Inn — Attends Parliamentary debates 
 — Introduction to Fox — Called to the Bar — Joins the Western 
 Circuit — M.P. for Appleby. 
 
 William Pitt the elder, best known by his subse- 
 quent title as Earl of Chatham, married in 1754 Lady 
 Hester Grenville, only daughter of Hester, in her own 
 right Countess Temple. William Pitt, their second son, 
 was born on the 28th of May, 1759, at Hayes, near 
 Bromley, in Kent. 
 
 The house and grounds of Hayes, which had been 
 purchased by Lord Chatham, were disposed of by his 
 eldest son some years after his decease. So far as can 
 be judged at present, the house has been but little 
 altered since his time. The best bedroom is still 
 pointed out as the apartment in which William Pitt 
 was born ; it is most probably also the apartment in 
 which Ins father died. 
 
 vol. i. t>
 
 2 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 Besides William, Lord and Lady Chatham had two 
 sons and two daughters. John, the eldest son, was 
 born in 1756, and James Charles, the youngest, in 
 1761. The daughters were Hester, born in 1755, and 
 Harriot, born in 1758. Lord Chatham designed his 
 eldest son for the army, and his third for the navy, 
 while the second, who had early given signs of great 
 promise, was reserved for the Bar. 
 
 The year 1759, in which William Pitt was born, was 
 perhaps the most glorious and eventful in his father's 
 life. The impulse given to the war by that great 
 orator and statesman was apparent in unexampled vic- 
 tories achieved in every quarter of the globe. In 
 Germany we gained the battle of Minden, in North 
 America we gained the battle of Quebec. In Africa 
 we reduced Goree, and in the West Indies Guadaloupe. 
 In the East we beat back the son of the Emperor of 
 Delhi and the chiefs of the Dutch at Chinsura. Off 
 the coast of Brittany we prevailed in the great naval 
 conflict of Quiberon ; off the coast of Portugal in the 
 great naval conflict of Lagos. " Indeed," — so Horace 
 Walpole at the close of this year complains in a letter to 
 Sir Horace Mann — " one is forced to ask every morning 
 what victory there is, for fear of missing one ! " 
 
 But years rolled on, and fortune changed. In 1761 
 Mr. Pitt on a difference with his colleagues resigned 
 the Seals. The King on this occasion bestowed on 
 him a pension of 3000?. a-year for three lives, and 
 raised Lady Hester to the peerage in her own right as 
 Baroness Chatham. 
 
 In the summer of 1765 the retired statesman went
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 3 
 
 with his family to reside at Burton Pynsent, an estate 
 of 3000£. a-year in Somersetshire, which had been most 
 unexpectedly bequeathed to him by an entire stranger, 
 Sir William Pynsent. 
 
 On a sudden in July, 1706, Mr. Pitt was called back 
 to office, it may be said almost unanimously, by the 
 public voice. But by a grievous error of his own, he 
 determined to leave the House of Commons. He ac- 
 cepted together with the Privy Seal the title of Earl of 
 Chatham. 
 
 At this period his two elder sons, and his daughter 
 Hester, were residing at Weymouth for the benefit of 
 their health, under the charge of their tutor, the Rev. 
 Edward Wilson. That gentleman reports little William 
 as "perfectly happy" in retaining his father's name. 
 Three months before he had said to his tutor in a very 
 serious conversation, and hi reference, as it must then 
 have been, to his mother's peerage, " I am glad I am 
 not the eldest son ; I want to speak in the House of 
 Commons like Papa." l 
 
 There is another story, which belongs to almost the 
 same period, but which is of more doubtful authen- 
 ticity, as depending only on distant recollection. Lord 
 Holland tells us that the Duchess of Leinster once 
 related to him a conversation, at which she was present, 
 between her sister, the first Lady Holland, and her 
 husband, Lord Holland. The lady, in remonstrating 
 with the gentleman on his excessive indulgence to all 
 
 1 Letter to the Countess of Chat- printed in the Chatham Corre- 
 ham, dated August 2, 1766, and spondence. 
 
 B 2
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 his children, and to Charles Fox in particular, added, 
 " I have been this morning with Lady Hester Pitt 
 (Lady Chatham), and there is little William Pitt, not 
 eight years old, and really the cleverest child I ever 
 saw ; and brought up so strictly and so proper in his 
 behaviour, that, mark my words, that little boy will be 
 a thorn in Charles's side as long as he lives." 2 
 
 As the "little boy" grew up, he evinced to all 
 around him many other tokens of Ins genius and ambi- 
 tion. In April, 1772, during a few days' absence, we 
 find Lady Chatham write as follows to her husband : — 
 " The fineness of William's mind makes him enjoy with 
 the highest pleasure what would be above the reach of 
 any other creature of his small age. The young Lieu- 
 tenant may not perhaps go quite so deep." 3 This 
 young Lieutenant was Lord Pitt, the eldest son, whom 
 William, though three years the junior, had already 
 on all points excelled. 
 
 To the same effect there is other not more discrimi- 
 nating, but more disinterested testimony. In the sum- 
 mer of 1773 the two brothers had gone with Mr. 
 Wilson for the sake of sea-bathing to Lyme. There 
 Hayley the poet became well acquainted with them. 
 In his Memoirs he describes William Pitt as "now a 
 wonderful boy of fourteen, who eclipsed his brother in 
 conversation." And he adds : — " Hayley often reflected 
 on the singular pleasure he had derived from his young 
 acquaintance ; regretting, however, that his reserve had 
 
 2 Memorials of Fox, by Lord 
 John Russell, vol. i. p. 25. 
 
 3 See the Chatham Correspond- 
 ence, vol. iv. p. 207.
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 5 
 
 prevented his imparting to the wonderful youth the 
 epic poem he had begun." 4 The very youngest critic 
 that ever perhaps any poet chose ! 
 
 But at this period William Pitt had himself become 
 a poet. He had written a tragedy in five acts, and in 
 blank verse, entitled ' Laurentius, King of Clarinium.' 
 We learn by a note of Lady Chatham that it was 
 represented for the first time at Burton Pynsent, Au- 
 gust 22, 1772, and it was acted again in the spring of 
 the ensuing year. There is a prologue, which was 
 " spoken by Mr. Pitt," and of which a copy is signed in 
 his own hand. All the parts were sustained by the five 
 brothers and sisters, and the spectators were only their 
 parents, with Lord and Lady Stanhope, and a very few 
 other family friends. The manuscript of this play is 
 still preserved at Chevening. I showed it to Lord 
 Macaulay in one of the country visits — alas ! too soon 
 concluded — which I had the great pleasure to receive 
 from him ; and Lord Macaulay speaks of it as follows 
 in Ins excellent biographical sketch of Mr. Pitt, the 
 last of all his published compositions : — " The tragedy 
 is bad of course, but not worse than the tragedies of 
 Hayley. It is in some respects highly curious. There 
 is no love. The whole plot is political ; and it is 
 remarkable that the interest, such as it is, turns on 
 a contest about a Kegency. On one side is a faithful 
 servant of the Crown ; on the other an ambitious and 
 unprincipled conspirator. At length the King, who 
 had been missing, re-appears, resumes his power, and 
 
 4 Memoirs of William Hayley, written by Himself, vol. i. p. 127.
 
 6 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 rewards the faithful defender of his rights. A reader 
 who should judge only by internal evidence, would 
 have no hesitation in pronouncing that the play was 
 written by some Pittite poetaster, at the time of 
 the rejoicings for the recovery of George the Third, 
 in 1789." 
 
 But while Lord and Lady Chatham watched with no 
 common pleasure the intellectual promise of their se- 
 cond son, they were frequently distressed by his delicate 
 health. " My poor William is still ailing : " such is the 
 constant burthen of his father's letters during his boy- 
 hood. There were great fears that so frail a plant 
 would never be reared to full maturity. 
 
 It was no doubt on account of his feeble health in 
 boyhood that little William was not sent to any public 
 or private school. He was brought up at home by the 
 tuition of Mr. Wilson, and under his father's eye. Lord 
 Chatham was indeed most careful of the education of 
 his family. Bishop Tomline assures us that " when his 
 Lordship's health would permit, he never suflered a day 
 to pass without giving instruction of some sort to his 
 children ; and seldom without reading a chapter of the 
 Bible with them." 5 
 
 Under Mr. Wilson, William Pitt studied the classics 
 in Greek and Latin, and the elements of mathematics. 
 In spite of the frequent interruptions from ill-health he 
 made most rapid progress. He had so peculiar a dis- 
 crimination in seizing at once the meaning of an author, 
 that as Mr. Wilson once observed, he never seemed to 
 
 5 Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 5.
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 7 
 
 learn, but only to recollect. At fourteen he was as 
 forward as most lads at seventeen or eighteen, and was 
 considered already ripe for college. 
 
 Without any disparagement to Mr. Wilson, it was cer- 
 tainly from Lord Chatham that young William profited 
 most. Lord Chatham was an affectionate father to all 
 his children. He took pleasure, as we have seen, in 
 teaching them all. But he discerned— as who would not ? 
 — the rare abilities of William, and applied himself to 
 unfold them with a never-failing care. From an early 
 age he was wont to select any piece of eloquence he met 
 with and transmit it to his son. Of this I have seen a 
 striking instance in a note from him to Lady Chatham, 
 which is endorsed in pencil " Ma. 1770," and which was 
 thought to have no literary value. It was kindly pre- 
 sented to me in answer to my request for autographs to 
 oblige some collectors among my friends; and it was 
 designed to be cut up into two or three pieces of hand- 
 writing. But I found the note conclude with these 
 words : " I send Domitian as a specimen of oratory for 
 William." Now, " Domitian " was one of the subsidiary 
 signatures of the author of ' Junius,' and the letter in 
 question seems to be that of March 5, 1770. 6 The 
 words of Lord Chatham prove what has sometimes 
 been disputed, that the eloquence of the author of 
 ' Junius ' was noticed and admired by the best judges, 
 even when his compositions were concealed under 
 another name. 
 
 In the same spirit Lord Chatham used to recommend 
 
 6 See WoodfalTs Junius, vol. iii. p. 249.
 
 8 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 to his son the best books as models. Thus he bid him 
 read Barrow's Sermons, which he thought admirably- 
 calculated to furnish the copia verborum. Thus again 
 he enjoined upon him the earnest study of the greatest 
 Greek historians. Bishop Tomline says : — " It was by- 
 Lord Chatham's particular desire that Thucydides was 
 the first Greek book which Mr. Pitt read after he came 
 to college. The only other wish ever expressed by his 
 Lordship relative to Mr. Pitt's studies was, that I would 
 read Polybius with him." 
 
 But I have yet to notice what for Lord Chatham's 
 object was his main plan of all. In 1803 my father, 
 then Lord Mahon, had the high privilege, as a relative, 
 of being for several weeks an inmate of Mr. Pitt's house 
 at Walmer Castle. Presuming on that familiar inter- 
 course, he told me that he ventured on one occasion to 
 ask Mr. Pitt by what means he had acquired his ad- 
 mirable readiness of speech — his aptness of finding the 
 right word without pause or hesitation. Mr. Pitt replied 
 that whatever readiness he might be thought to possess 
 in that respect was, he believed, greatly owing to a prac- 
 tice which his father had impressed upon him. Lord 
 Chatham had bid him take up any book in some foreign 
 language with which he was well acquainted, in Latin 
 or Greek especially. Lord Chatham then enjoined him 
 to read out of this work a passage in English, stopping, 
 where he was not sure of the word to be used in English, 
 until the right word came to his mind, and then pro- 
 ceed. Mr. Pitt stated that he had assiduously followed 
 this practice. We may conclude that at first he had 
 often to stop for awhile before he could recollect the
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 9 
 
 proper word, but that lie found the difficulties gradually 
 disappear, until what was a toil to him at first became 
 at last an easy and familiar task. 7 
 
 To an orator the charm of voice is of very far more 
 importance than mere readers of speeches would find it 
 easy to believe. I have known some speakers in whom 
 that one advantage seemed almost to supply the plac< 
 of every other. The tones of William Pitt were by 
 nature sonorous and clear ; and the further art how to 
 manage and modulate his voice to the best advantage 
 was instilled into him by his father with exquisite 
 skill. Lord Chatham himself was pre-eminent in that 
 art, as also in the graces of action, insomuch that these 
 accomplishments have been sometimes imputed to him 
 as a fault. In a passage of Horace Walpole, written 
 with the manifest desire to disparage him, we find him 
 compared to Garrick. 8 
 
 To train his son in sonorous elocution Lord Chatham 
 caused him to recite day by day in his presence pas- 
 sages from the best English poets. The two poets most 
 commonly selected for this purpose were Shakespeare 
 and Milton, and Mr. Pitt continued through life familiar 
 with both. There is another fact which Lord Macaulay 
 has recorded from tradition, and which I also remember 
 to have heard : — " The debate in Pandemonium was, as 
 it well deserved to be, one of his favourite passages ; 
 and his early friends used to talk, long after his death, 
 
 7 Already related by rtie in my 
 Aberdeen Address, March 25, 1S5S. 
 p. 20. 
 
 8 Memoirs of George II., vol. i. 
 p. 479. 
 
 B 3
 
 10 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 of the just emphasis and the melodious cadence with 
 which they had heard him recite the incomparable 
 speech of Belial." 
 
 Being at fourteen so forward in his studies, William 
 Pitt was sent to the University of Cambridge. He was 
 entered at Pembroke Hall in the spring of 1773, and 
 commenced his residence in October the same year. 
 Mr. Wilson in the first instance attended him to Cam- 
 bridge, and resided with him for some weeks in the 
 same apartments, but solely for the care of his health, 
 and without any concern in the direction of his studies. 
 He had been commended to the especial care of the 
 Bev. George Pretyman, one of the two tutors of his 
 college ; and it was not long ere that gentleman became 
 both his sole instructor and his familiar friend. 
 
 George Pretyman, whom I have already cited and 
 called by anticipation Bishop Tomline, was born at 
 Bury St. Edmunds in 1750. Proceeding to Cambridge 
 he showed not indeed any brilliant ability, but a keen 
 and unflinching application. He made himself an ex- 
 cellent mathematician, as well as an excellent scholar, 
 and in 1772 he was the Senior Wrangler for the year. 
 I shall have occasion to show how in after life the 
 friendship of Mr. Pitt as Minister raised him to high 
 honours in the Church, and above all to the Bishopric 
 of Lincoln. In 1803 he assumed the name of Tomline, 
 on the bequest of a large estate. He was translated 
 to the See of Winchester in 1820, and he died in 1827. 
 It was Bishop Tomline to whom, as we shall see, 
 Mr. Pitt bequeathed his papers for examination. Some 
 years later the Bishop evinced his attachment to the
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 11 
 
 memory of his pupil and his patron by undertaking 
 the Memoirs of his Life. This work he did not live to 
 finish. The first part, which was published in 1821, 
 and which now lies before me, in three octavo volumes, 
 extends only to the close of 1792. Great expectations 
 had been formed on the appearance of this work. I am 
 certainly not going beyond the truth if I say that such 
 expectations of it were much disappointed. It does 
 indeed impart to us an authentic and important though 
 rather meagre account of Pitt in his earlier years. It 
 does indeed contain some, though very few, extracts 
 from his private correspondence. But nearly the whole 
 remainder of this biography is a mere compilation. 
 It gives us for the most part Pitt's measures from the 
 ' Annual Eegister,' and his speeches from the Parlia- 
 mentary debates. It was composed, as an Edinburgh 
 reviewer said at the time, not by the aid of his 
 Lordship's pen, but rather " by his Lordship's sharp and 
 faithful scissors ! " 9 
 
 At Cambridge William Pitt was still intent on his 
 main object of oratorical excellence. Immediately after 
 his arrival we find him attend a course of lectures on 
 Quintilian. 1 But his health at this period gave cause 
 for great alarm. From a boy he had shot up far too 
 rapidly to a tall, lank stripling, with no corresponding 
 development of breadth and muscle. In the first few 
 weeks of his college-life he was seized with a most 
 serious illness. For nearly two months he was confined 
 to his rooms, and reduced to so weak a state that upon 
 
 9 Edinburgh Eeview, July, 1821, I 1 See the Chatham Correspoud- 
 p. 452. I ence, vol. iv. p. 295.
 
 12 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 his convalescence lie was four days in travelling to 
 London. 
 
 Returning under such unfavourable circumstances, 
 his father kept kirn at home for half a year. During 
 this interval he was placed under the care of th£ 
 family physician, Dr. Addington. This gentleman 
 recommended early hours, with exercise every day on 
 horseback, and a careful system of diet. But he fur- 
 ther prescribed liberal potations of port-wine. It was 
 a remedy which certainly accorded well with the young 
 man's constitution. He took it at this time with mani- 
 fest advantage, and he adhered to it through life. It 
 was his elixir of strength amidst all his toils and cares, 
 but perhaps in the long run with no good effect. While 
 it must frequently have recruited his energies, it may 
 be suspected of combining with these toils and cares to 
 undermine his constitution. 
 
 Alarming as it seemed at the time, the illness of Pitt 
 in the autumn of 1773 proved in truth the turning 
 point of his disorder. By attention to Dr. Addington's 
 rules he much more than recovered his lost ground. 
 In July, 1774, some weeks before the commencement 
 of the autumn term, he was permitted to return to 
 Cambridge — " the evacuated seat of the Muses," as 
 Lord Chatham calls it in his somewhat affected 
 epistolary style. 2 William Pitt renewed at once his 
 study of Quintilian and Thucydides, but did not pursue 
 that study by night. " The Historic Muse " — thus he 
 writes to his father — " captivates extremely, but at the 
 
 2 Chatham Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 364.
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 13 
 
 same time I beg you to be persuaded that neither she 
 nor any of her sisters allure me from the resolution 
 of early hours, which has been stedfastly adhered to, 
 and makes the academic life agree perfectly." 3 Nor 
 did he at this time neglect his daily ride nor yet his 
 daily draughts of port-wine. He had no relapse nor 
 material check, and by slow but sure degrees gained 
 strength. "At the age of eighteen," says his tutor, 
 " he was a healthy man, and he continued so for many 
 years." 
 
 In December, 1774, the family circle of Mr. Pitt 
 was agreeably extended. His eldest sister, Lady 
 Hester, became the wife of Charles Lord Mahon. 
 There was already some relationship, since the first Earl 
 Stanhope had married Miss Lucy Pitt, an aunt of Lord 
 Chatham. But besides this tie of kindred the two 
 families had for many years past been on terms of 
 most friendly intercourse ; and in public life Lord Stan- 
 hope was one of the few remaining followers of Lord 
 Chatham. The " Great Earl " was on this account 
 much pleased at the alliance, and also as having formed 
 a most favourable opinion of his future son-in-law. In 
 an unpublished letter of this period, dated November 
 28, 1774, addressed to Mr. James Grenville, he describes 
 Lord Mahon as follows : — 
 
 " Though the outside is well, it is by looking within 
 that invaluable treasures appear ; a head to contrive, 
 a heart to conceive, and a hand to execute whatever is 
 good, lovely, and of fair repute. He is as yet very new 
 
 3 Chatham Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 35S.
 
 14 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 to our vile world, indeed quite a traveller in England. 
 I grieve that he has no seat in Parliament, that 
 wickedest and best school for superior natures." 
 
 Lord Mahon had been educated at Geneva, where he 
 imbibed an ardent zeal both for liberty and science. 
 Between him and William Pitt there now grew up a 
 warm feeling of friendship. Lord Mahon was about six 
 vears the elder, but in their intercourse this difference 
 might be compensated by the superiority of talent in 
 William. Under Lord Chatham's guidance the two 
 young men looked forward to the same course in poli- 
 tics, and there seemed every probability that the 
 confidence between them would through life continue 
 unimpaired. 
 
 In the spring of 1776, and at the age of seventeen, 
 Mr. Pitt was admitted to the Degree of Master of Arts 
 at Cambridge, without any examination, according to 
 the unwise privilege which was still at that time con- 
 ceded to the sons of Peers. His tutor tells us that 
 " while Mr. Pitt was an undergraduate he never omitted 
 attending chapel morning and evening, or dining in the 
 public hall, except when prevented by indisposition. 
 Nor did he pass a single evening out of the college 
 walls. Indeed most of his time was spent with me." 4 
 
 On taking his degree Mr. Pitt did not, according to 
 the common practice, take his leave of college. On the 
 contrary he continued to live for the most part as 
 before at Pembroke Hall until near the period when he 
 came of age. Thus his whole residence at the University 
 
 4 Life of Pitt, by Tomline, vol. i. p. 7.
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 15 
 
 was protracted, although with considerable intervals 
 of absence, to the unusual length of almost seven years. 
 " In the course of this time," adds his tutor, " I never 
 knew him spend an idle day, nor did he ever fail to 
 attend me at the appointed hour." 
 
 It was during these graduate years at Pembroke Hall 
 that Mr. Pitt laid in his principal stores of knowledge. 
 They were in many branches very considerable. In 
 mathematics, the especial pride of Cambridge, he took 
 great delight. He frequently alluded in later life to 
 the practical advantage which he had derived from 
 them, and declared that no portion of his time had been 
 more usefully employed than that whicli he devoted to 
 this study. He was master of eveiything usually 
 known by the academic "wranglers," and felt a great 
 desire — but Mr. Pretyman did not think it right to 
 indulge the inclination — to fathom still farther the 
 depths of pure mathematics. " When," adds Mr. Prety- 
 man, "the connection of tutor and pupil was about to 
 cease between us, he expressed a hope that he should 
 find leisure and opportunity to read Newton's Principia 
 again with me after some summer Circuit." 
 
 The general rule of Mr. Pretyman was to read with 
 his pupil alternately classics and mathematics. In the 
 former as in the latter the knowledge of Pitt became 
 both extensive and profound. He had never indeed, 
 according to the fashion at public schools, applied him- 
 self to Greek or Latin composition. He had never 
 mastered the laborious inutilities of the ancient metres. 
 But as to the true and vivifying aim of classic study 
 — the accurate and critical comprehension of the classic
 
 16 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 authors — lie was certainly in the first rank. There 
 was scarce a Greek or a Latin writer of any eminence 
 among the classics the whole of whose works Pitt and 
 Pretyman did not read together. The future states- 
 man was a nice observer of their different styles, and 
 alive to all their various excellences. So anxious was 
 he not to leave even a single Greek poet unexplored, 
 that at his request Mr. Pretyman went through with 
 him the obscure rhapsody of Lycophron. " This," says 
 his preceptor, "he read with an ease at first sight, 
 which, if I had not witnessed it, I should have thought 
 beyond the compass of human intellect." 
 
 How well amidst all the cares of office Pitt retained 
 through life his classic knowledge is shown among 
 several other testimonies by one which Lord John 
 Eussell has recorded. Lord Harrowby said that, being 
 with Mr. Pitt at his country-house, he and Lord Gren- 
 ville were one day waiting for Mr. Pitt in his library : 
 they opened a Thucydides, and came to a passage 
 which they could not make out. They continued to 
 puzzle at it till Mr. Pitt, coming in, took the volume 
 and construed the passage with the greatest ease. 5 
 
 Of the modern languages, French was the only one 
 that Pitt acquired. Once and once only in his life, as 
 we shall find, he passed a few weeks in France. During 
 
 5 Memorials and Correspondence 
 of Fox, by Lord John Russell, vol. 
 ii. p. 3. I have myself heard Lord 
 Harrowby relate the same story, 
 with this addition, that the two 
 gentlemen were waiting to join 
 
 Mr. Pitt in an afternoon ride, and 
 that Mr. Pitt, coming into the 
 room ready to go out, translated 
 the passage in a moment, hat in 
 hand.
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 17 
 
 this excursion and before it he applied himself to the 
 language of the country, which he learnt both to speak 
 and write with ease. In its literature also he was by 
 no means unversed. My father told me that he had 
 been present at an animated argument between Lord 
 Grenville and Mr. Pitt on the merits of Moliere. 
 
 Besides his primary studies in mathematics and in 
 ancient languages Pitt gave great attention to the 
 public lectures in Civil Law, of which he felt the 
 importance as bearing on his future profession. He also 
 attended the lectures upon experimental philosophy, 
 to which he was incited by the zealous example of his 
 relative at Chevening, and in winch, as is said, he took 
 great pleasure. 
 
 Of the English books which he read at Cambridge, 
 there was none, as Mr. Pretyman records, which gave 
 Pitt greater satisfaction than ' Locke's Essay on the 
 Human Understanding.' He drew up for himself a 
 complete and correct analysis of that important work. 
 We may further conclude, from the early zeal with 
 which he espoused the principles of Adam Smith in 
 the House of Commons, that even at the University 
 he had been an assiduous reader of the 'Wealth of 
 Nations.' 
 
 Pitt — so Mr. Pretyman tells us — was not an admirer 
 of Dr. Johnson's style, and still less of Gibbon's. As 
 writers he much preferred Robertson and Hume. He 
 was fond of Middleton's ' Life of Cicero,' and fonder still 
 of Lord Bolingbroke's political works. These last had 
 no doubt been earnestly commended to him by Lord 
 Chatham ; for in a letter at an earlier period addressed
 
 18 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 to Thomas Pitt we find Lord Chatham praise them in 
 the highest terms. Of one of them, namely, the ' Re- 
 marks on the History of England,' published under the 
 name of Sir John Oldcastle, he says that they are " to 
 be studied and almost got by heart for the inimitable 
 beauty of the style." 6 Pitt appears to have retained 
 through life an equal admiration of them. At Walmer 
 Castle my father heard him more than once declare 
 that there was no loss in literature which he more 
 lamented than that scarce any trace remained to us of 
 Bolingbroke's Parliamentary speeches. 
 
 But whatever the studies of Pitt, whether in the 
 ancient languages or in his own, the aim of public 
 speaking was kept steadily in view. He continued with 
 Mr. Pretyman the same practice of extemporaneous 
 translation which with his father he had commenced. 
 We further learn from his preceptor that " when alone 
 he dwelt for hours upon striking passages of an orator 
 or historian, in noticing their turn of expression, and 
 marking their manner of arranging a narrative. A few 
 pages sometimes occupied a whole morning. It was a 
 favourite employment with him to compare opposite 
 speeches upon the same subject, and to observe how 
 each speaker managed his own side of the question. 
 The authors whom he preferred for this purpose were 
 Livy, Thucydides, and Sallust. Upon these occasions 
 his observations were not unfrequently committed to 
 paper, and furnished a topic for conversation with me 
 at our next meeting. He was also in the habit of copy- 
 
 6 To Thomas Pitt, May 4, 1754.
 
 Chap. I. LIFE OF PITT. 19 
 
 ing any eloquent sentence or any beautiful or forcible 
 expression which occurred in his reading." 
 
 We have seen that as an undergraduate Mr. Pitt 
 made few acquaintance, and went into no society. It is 
 probable that at fourteen and fifteen his fellow-colle- 
 gians might regard him as a boy. But after taking his 
 degree at the age of seventeen he began to mix freely 
 with other young men of his own age at Cambridge. 
 There he laid the foundations of several of the future 
 friendships of his life. His manners at this time are 
 described as gentle and unassuming, and free from all 
 taint of self-conceit. Those who in after years con- 
 fronted night by night in the House of Commons the 
 haughty and resolute Prime Minister, armed on all 
 points, and ever self-possessed, had great difficulty in 
 believing how far in his social hours he could unbend. 
 Yet the testimony as follows of Mr. Pretyman at Cam- 
 bridge will be found confirmed by several others a 
 little later, but to the same effect : — " He was always 
 the most lively person in company, abounding in play- 
 ful wit and quick repartee ; but never known to excite 
 pain, or to give just ground of offence." 
 
 " But though " — thus Mr. Pretyman proceeds to say 
 — "his society was universally sought, and from the 
 age of seventeen or eighteen he constantly passed his 
 evenings in company, he steadily avoided every species 
 of irregularity." This remark of his preceptor is by no 
 means to be limited to his college years. Then and 
 ever afterwards the strictness of his morals was main- 
 tained. Indeed throughout his life it became for want 
 of a better the favourite taunt of his opponents. Who-
 
 20 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 ever looks through the Whig satires or epigrams of that 
 day which proceeded from the wits at Brooks's — some 
 of them remarkable for their talent and spirit — will be 
 surprised at the number of sarcasms on that account 
 aimed in various forms at the " immaculate young 
 Minister." To be of an amorous temper is there as- 
 sumed as among the most essential qualifications of a 
 statesman ! 
 
 The residence of Pitt at Cambridge was varied by 
 occasional trips to London ; above all, when Lord 
 Chatham brought forward any important motion in the 
 House of Lords. Thus in January, 1775, we find him 
 report as follows on the next day after the debate to 
 Lady Chatham : — 
 
 " I can now tell you correctly : my father has slept 
 well, without any burning in the feet or restlessness. 
 He has had no pain, but is lame in one ankle near the 
 instep, from standing so long. No wonder he is lame ; 
 his first speech lasted above an hour, and the second 
 half an hour — surely the two finest speeches that ever 
 were made before, unless by himself ! He will be with 
 you to dinner at four o'clock." 7 
 
 There are also on record two letters to his mother, 
 giving a full report of the great debate, which in like 
 manner he attended in May, 1777. 8 
 
 But chief of all was the scene on the memorable 
 7th of April, 1778, on the final, and as it has been 
 called the dying, speech of Lord Chatham. His eldest 
 
 7 See the Chatham Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 377. 
 
 8 See the Chatham Correspondence, vol. iv. pp. 435, 43S.
 
 1778. LIFE OF PITT. 21 
 
 son and also his youngest were at this time absent 
 on foreign service. It devolved on William conjointly 
 with Lord Mahon to support between them their vener- 
 able parent, as with feeble steps but no faltering spirit 
 he tottered in through the assembled Peers, and raised 
 for the last time his eloquent voice in his country's 
 cause. Need I again relate what I have elsewhere told 
 — how on rising to reply he fell back in convulsions — 
 how his son and son-in-law, aided by the Peers around 
 him, bore him forth to a private chamber — how he was 
 removed to Hayes — and how on the 11th of May fol- 
 lowing the great orator and statesman died ? 
 
 At the death of Lord Chatham all parties, seemingly 
 at least, combined to do him honour. The House of 
 Commons granted 20,000£. for the payment of his debts. 
 An Act of Parliament passed, annexing an annuity of 
 4000?. for ever to Ins Earldom. A public funeral and a 
 monument to his memory were unanimously voted. 
 
 The public funeral took place in Westminster Abbey 
 on Tuesday the 9th of June. William Pitt, in the 
 absence of his elder brother, walked as the chief 
 mourner, supported on one side by Lord Mahon, and on 
 the other by Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc, the head of the 
 Pitt family. Late the same afternoon we find him write 
 as follows from Lord Mahon's house in Harley Street to 
 Lady Chatham, who had remained at Hayes : — 
 
 " Harley Street, June 9, 1778. 
 " My deak Mother, 
 
 " I cannot let the servants return without letting 
 you know that the sad solemnity has been celebrated so
 
 22 LIFE OP PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 as to answer every important wish we could form on 
 the subject. The Court did not honour us with their 
 countenance, nor did they suffer the procession to be as 
 magnificent as it ought; but it had notwithstanding 
 everything essential to the great object, the attendance 
 being most respectable, and the crowd of interested 
 spectators immense. The Duke of Gloucester was in 
 the Abbey. Lord Rockingham, the Duke of Northum- 
 berland, and all the minority in town were present. 
 The pall-bearers were Sir G. Savile, Mr. Townshend, 
 Dunning, and Burke. The eight assistant mourners 
 were Lord Abingdon, Lord Cholmondeley, Lord 
 Harcourt, Lord Effingham, Lord Townshend, Lord 
 Fortescue, Lord Shelburne, and Lord Camden. All our 
 relations made their appearance. You will excuse my 
 not sending you a more particular account, as I think 
 of being at Hayes to-morrow morning. I will not tell 
 you what I felt on this occasion, to which no words are 
 equal ; but I know that you will have a satisfaction in 
 hearing that Lord Mahon as well as myself supported 
 the trial perfectly well, and have not at all suffered 
 from the fatigue. The procession did not separate till 
 four o'clock. Lady Mahon continues much better, and 
 has had no return of her complaint. 
 
 " I hope the additional melancholy of the day will not 
 have been too overcoming for you, and that I shall 
 have the comfort of finding you pretty well to-morrow. 
 I shall be able to give you an account of what is thought 
 as to our going to Court. And I am ever, my dear 
 Mother, 
 
 " Your most dutiful and affectionate son, 
 
 " W. Pitt."
 
 1778. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 23 
 
 Shortly afterwards William Pitt accompanied his 
 mother and sister Harriot to Burton Pynsent, where he 
 remained with them during the summer and autumn 
 months. But in October we find him again at Pem- 
 broke Hall. 
 
 At this time there occurred a transaction chiefly 
 remarkable as the first that brought Mr. Pitt into 
 public notice. Some communications had passed at the 
 beginning of the year between Sir James Wright, a 
 friend of Lord Bute, and Dr. Addington, the friend and 
 physician of Lord Chatham. Acting without authority, 
 they had sought to bring the two statesmen into concert 
 with each other. But after Lord Chatham's death their 
 gossiping interviews gave rise to a bitter controversy. 
 Lord Mountstuart, eldest son of Lord Bute, taking part 
 in this, addressed a letter to the newspapers on the 
 23rd of October. The second Lord Chatham was still 
 on foreign service, so that the duty of reply devolved 
 on William Pitt. Accordingly he published a letter 
 dated Harley Street, October 29th, going fully through 
 the documents adduced, and showing that his father, so 
 far from courting, had without hesitation rejected every 
 idea of a political union with Lord Bute. 9 
 
 The state of his father's fortune, as bearing on his 
 own, must here also be referred to. Lord Chatham had 
 been himself a younger son of small patrimony. In 
 public life he had been most disinterested. In private 
 
 9 All the papers on this no 
 longer interesting subject will be 
 found in the Annual Eegister for 
 1778, pp. 244-264. For a fuller 
 
 account of it I venture to refer to 
 my History of England, vol. vi. 
 p. 321.
 
 24 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 life he had been a little unthrifty. Notwithstanding 
 the unexpected bequest of Burton Pynsent, he was, as 
 we have seen, much embarrassed when he died. William 
 Pitt therefore found it requisite even from his early 
 years to practise strict economy. When in 1773 he 
 began his college-life, he was most amply cared for 
 on every point of study or of health. In other respects 
 he received but a scanty supply. One of his first 
 calculations at Cambridge was how most cheaply — 
 whether on meadow or in stable — he could keep his 
 horse. 1 
 
 At the death of his father economy became more 
 than ever requisite for William. The generosity of 
 Parliament did indeed enable his eldest brother to 
 maintain — and no more than maintain — the family 
 honours. His mother also was in comfortable circum- 
 stances, from the receipt of the pension of 3000?. 
 granted in 1761 for three lives ; although, as appears 
 from many passages in the Pitt Correspondence, she 
 was often distressed by the non-payment of arrears. 
 But William himself could only look forward, on 
 coming of age, to an income of between 250?. and 300?. 
 a year. Meanwhile, whether at Cambridge or in London, 
 he does not appear to have received any fixed allow- 
 ance. He was wont to write home from time to time, 
 naming the moderate sum which the payment of his 
 bills and his other late expenses would require. 
 
 Under such circumstances as to fortune there arose 
 for Pitt the question of the purchase of chambers at 
 
 1 See his Letter in the Chatham Papers, vol. iv. p. 355.
 
 1778. LIFE OF PITT. 25 
 
 Lincoln's Inn ; and on that subject we find him write to 
 Lady Chatham as follows : — 
 
 " Pembroke HaU, Nov. 30, 1778. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for thinking of my 
 finances, winch are in no urgent want of repair ; but if 
 I should happen to buy a horse they will be soon ; and 
 therefore, if it is not inconvenient to you, I shall be 
 much obliged to you for a draft of 50?., which I think 
 will be sufficient for the current expenses of this quarter. 
 " Another object presents itself, which would require 
 a more considerable sum, and which I wish to submit to 
 your consideration. It will very soon be necessary for 
 me to have rooms at Lincoln's Inn, and upon the whole 
 I am persuaded the best economy in the end M'ould be 
 to purchase, though I do not know what means there 
 may be of advancing the sum necessary for that pur- 
 pose. While I was in town I saw a set which are to be 
 disposed of, and which have no other fault than being 
 too dear and too good. At the same time I heard of 
 none at an inferior price, which were not as much too 
 bad. The whole expense of these will be eleven 
 hundred pounds, which sounds to me a frightful sum, 
 although I know that if I do not sink so much out of 
 my capital, the annual diminution of my income (if I 
 was to hire) would amount to near the interest of that 
 sum. The rooms are in an exceeding good situation 
 in the new buildings, and will be perfectly fit for habi- 
 tation in about two months. Soon after that time it 
 will be right for me to begin attending Westminster 
 Hall during that term, and these chambers will be more 
 convenient than any other residence. If I should take 
 vol. i. c
 
 26 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. F. 
 
 these, the sum to be paid immediately is somewhat 
 more than three hundred, and the remaining eight 
 about next Easter. I have done no more than to secure 
 that they may not be engaged to any other person till 
 I have returned an answer, and I shall be glad to know 
 your opinion as soon as possible. You will be so good 
 as to consider how far you approve of the idea, if it be 
 practicable, and whether there are any means of ad- 
 vancing the money out of my fortune before I am of 
 age. If in either light you see any objection to the 
 scheme, I shall without any difficulty lay it aside, and 
 shall probably at any time hereafter, when it becomes 
 convenient, be able to suit myself without much trouble, 
 as there will always be rooms vacant. If, however, you 
 approve of it, I should be rather inclined to embrace 
 this opportunity. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 The purchase of the chambers in question was happily 
 effected. It appears that Earl Temple, Lady Chat- 
 ham's eldest brother, supplied the money required, as 
 an advance upon the fortune to which his nephew would 
 be entitled when he came of age. But it is certainly 
 striking to find the future Prime Minister, destined in a 
 few years more to dispense in his country's service tens 
 of millions of pounds sterling, speak of eleven hundred 
 as " a frightful sum." 
 
 Being duly entered at Lincoln's Inn, Pitt began to 
 keep his terms. These involved only occasional visits, 
 of a few days each, to London. But the young lawyer 
 eagerly availed himself of such opportunities to attend 
 any remarkable debate that might take place in Parlia-
 
 1779. LIFE OF PITT. 27 
 
 merit. It is said that on one of these occasions he was 
 introduced, on the steps of the throne in the House of 
 Lords, to Mr. Fox, who was his senior by ten years, 
 and already in the fulness of his fame. Fox used after- 
 wards to relate that, as the discussion proceeded, Pitt 
 repeatedly turned to him and said, " But surely, Mr. 
 Fox, that might be met thus : " or, " Yes, but he lays 
 himself open to retort." What the particular criticisms 
 were, Fox had forgotten ; but he said that he was much 
 struck at the time by the precocity of a lad who through 
 the whole sitting was thinking only how all the speeches 
 on both sides could be answered. 2 
 
 I proceed with some extracts from Pitt's family 
 correspondence : — 
 
 " Hotel, King Street, Feb. 11, 1779. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " I flatter myself that a letter from me may not 
 be unwelcome, though it cannot have the merit of 
 much news to recommend it, neither of a public nor 
 private sort. To begin with the second, which I 
 believe pretty generally claims precedence, nothing- 
 has, I am afraid, yet been obtained on the subject of 
 the arrears. I saw Mr. Coutts on Tuesday, who told 
 me that Mr. Crauford had been ill, which had delayed 
 the presenting of the memorial, but that he now 
 expected to hear of its effect every day. I shall renew 
 my inquiry in a short time, and wish I may receive a 
 
 favourable account of the seven quarters 
 
 "I am to meet my sister at Hayes on the subject of 
 
 2 I give this Holland House tra- 
 dition, which is no doubt quite 
 authentic, in the very words of 
 
 Lord Macaulay (Biographies, p. 
 147, ed. 1860).
 
 28 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 your commission, as soon as she can find a leisure mo- 
 ment. Her great business is that of secretary to Lord 
 Mahon, whose ' Electricity ' is almost ready for the press, 
 and will rank him, I suppose, with Dr. Franklin. I have 
 just been dining with a brother philosopher of his, Dr. 
 Priestley, at Shelburne House. His Lordship is very 
 cordial in his inquiries after you ; and if you continue 
 in the West till next summer, ' will think it his duty to 
 make them in person at Burton.' He is very obliging 
 to me. . . . 
 
 "You will have the goodness to excuse the haste of a 
 letter written in my way to the Opera. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 " Nerot's Hotel, Thursday, Feb. 18, 1779. 
 
 " At present I hope to set out Sunday or Monday ; 
 and nothing probably can tempt me to any delay except 
 the prospect of an interesting debate, which, however, 
 I do not foresee at present. 
 
 " If it should happen, I will certainly write to you 
 next post. I have been for two or three days an au- 
 ditor at one or other of the Houses, but without any 
 great entertainment. To-day I had the honour of being 
 squeezed with the Duke of Cumberland in the gallery 
 of the House of Commons, and hearing the Speaker 
 deliver the thanks to Admiral Keppel." 
 
 " Nerot's Hotel, Wednesday night (1779). 
 
 " I have heard no news of any kind. James is 
 gone with my sisters to the ball as a professed dancer, 
 which stands in the place of an invitation ; a character 
 which I do not assume, and have therefore stayed 
 away."
 
 1779. LIFE OF PITT. 20 
 
 " Nerot's Hotel, Tuesday, Half-past Two (1779). 
 
 * I was just going to mount my horse about an 
 hour ago, when the most violent of all April showers 
 prevented me, and by that means it is now so late that 
 I have no chance of reaching Hayes by dinner. Con- 
 sequently I must at all events give up the hope of 
 enjoying much of your company this evening; which 
 being the case, the double temptation of a seat in the 
 gallery of the House of Commons, and a ticket for the 
 Duchess of Bolton's in the evening, determined me to 
 defer it till to-morrow morning. 
 
 " Nothing less than the concurrence of all these cir- 
 cumstances could Itave been sufficient to alter my reso- 
 lution of coming to you to-day ; and even now I should 
 be almost afraid that the engagement which called me 
 from Hayes last night, and that which detains me here 
 at present, might completely stamp me for a fine 
 gentleman, if the House of Commons did not come in 
 to support the gravity of my character. I shall cer- 
 tainly be with you to-morrow, at as early an hour as 
 the raking of this evening will permit." 
 
 " Nerot's Hotel, June 19, 1779. 
 
 "You will easily imagine that the principal 
 subject of conversation here is the Kescript which has 
 been delivered within these few days from Spain ; and 
 that subject, I am sure, does not afford matter of agree- 
 able consideration. 
 
 " The situation of public affairs is undoubtedly in 
 most respects rendered still more melancholy and de- 
 plorable by that event, and all the dangers that have 
 for some time been apprehended are accelerated and 
 increased. 
 
 " There seems, however, to be less despondency than
 
 30 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 might be expected in such circumstances ; and I am 
 willing to flatter myself that it may, in the midst of 
 many evils, be productive of some good effects at home, 
 and that there may still be spirit and resources in the 
 country sufficient to preserve at least the remnant of a 
 great empire. I was very glad to be present at the 
 debate on this subject in the House of Lords, which, 
 though not so good in point of speaking as many I have 
 heard, could not fail of being extremely interesting. 
 My brother, as well as his friend the Duke of Rutland, 
 took their seats on this occasion, and added two to a 
 respectable minority. Lord Shelbume spoke as usual 
 with great ability, and made the roughest invective I 
 ever heard against several of the Ministry, Lord North 
 in particular." 
 
 " Pembroke Hall, June 28, 1779. 
 
 " I left Lord and Lady Mahon and Harriot in 
 town, not likely, I imagine, to quit it for some time. 
 Unless the Parliament should continue sitting, they will 
 probably have as solitary a vacation there, as I propose 
 to myself here. This place has so many advantages for 
 study, and I have unavoidably lost so much time lately, 
 and can spare so little for the future, that I cannot help 
 wishing to continue here a considerable part of the 
 summer. It is, however, quite indifferent to me whe- 
 ther that part be at the beginning or end ; and at all 
 events, if there is any particular time at which you 
 wish to see me at Burton, I shall alwavs be in readiness 
 to obey your summons immediately." 
 
 " Pembroke Hall, July 3, 1779. 
 
 " Within a short time the scenes of Cambridge 
 are become doubly interesting to me, as I have lately 
 found very good reason to hope that the University
 
 1779. LIFE OF PITT. 31 
 
 may furnish me with a seat in Parliament possibly at 
 the General Election. It is a seat of all others the 
 most desirable, as being free from expense, perfectly 
 independent, and I think in every respect extremely 
 honourable. You will not wonder that I am not in- 
 different to such an object, and my wishes on this occa- 
 sion will, I trust, coincide with yours for me. You will 
 perhaps think the idea hastily taken up, when I tell 
 you that six candidates have declared already ; but I 
 assure you that I shall not flatter myself with any vain 
 hopes, or stir a step without all the certainty which the 
 nature of the case admits. Hitherto I have not pursued 
 my inquiries far enough to form quite a confident 
 opinion, and till I have, I shall keep the idea a perfect 
 secret, which is indispensably necessary to its success. 
 I may probably very soon be enabled to judge, and 
 may be obliged to declare my intentions ; but you shall 
 undoubtedly hear as soon as possible the further progress 
 of this business." 
 
 The design here communicated as a secret was soon 
 afterwards publicly announced. Mr. Pitt wrote to 
 several persons of weight and influence, asking their 
 support. Amongst others we find him on the 19th of 
 July address a letter to the Marquis of Eockingham, the 
 chief, in name at least, of the Opposition at that time. 
 But his Lordship was cold and ungracious. He left 
 Mr. Pitt for upwards of a fortnight without any answer 
 at all ; and on the 7th of August he thus replied : — 
 
 " I am so circumstanced from the knowledge I have 
 of several persons who may be candidates, and who 
 indeed are expected to be so, that it makes it impossible 
 for me in this instance to show the attention to your
 
 32 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 wishes which your own as well as the great merits of 
 your family entitle you to." 3 
 
 In the same month of August Mr. Pitt wrote to 
 Lady Chatham on a wholly different and still more 
 interesting subject: — 
 
 "Nerot's Hotel, King Street, Saturday, Aug. 21, 1779. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " The accounts which have been received within 
 these few days of the French and Spanish fleets have 
 brought the apprehension of danger nearer to our doors, 
 and rendered the suspense on public affairs still more 
 anxious than ever. While the idea prevailed, which it 
 did for a little while, of a force actually landing at 
 Plymouth, I was also more particularly solicitous, 
 because your neighbourhood to that place, though not 
 such as to expose you at all to anything immediately 
 very serious, might, I feared, be productive of great 
 inconvenience and distress. That report first reached 
 me at Chevening, and I came to town immediately with 
 the intention of setting out for Burton to-day, thinking 
 that it might be more satisfaction to you, and feeling 
 that it would be so to myself, to be near you at such a 
 time. I find, however, to-day that it is understood that 
 the enemy had retired from the coasts without attempt- 
 ing anything, and an engagement with Sir Charles 
 Hardy seems to be the first event which people now 
 expect. I do not learn that any official account has yet 
 been received from him, but fresh intelligence is 
 expected every moment. On the whole the present 
 alarm seems subsided ; and indeed the exterior of 
 
 3 These letters were first pub- 
 lished by Lord Albemarle in his 
 
 Memoirs of Lord Rockingham, 
 vol. ii. p. 422.
 
 1779. LIFE OF PITT. 33 
 
 London has been, as far as I have seen, very little 
 affected by the state. There has been none of the 
 confusion, and hardly any of the signs of anxiety which 
 might be expected at such a moment. I still, however, 
 feel very impatient to see you, as, although I think 
 you must have been out of the reach of any great 
 alarm, I cannot help being somewhat anxious to be 
 more fully assured of it. I shall therefore leave London 
 to-morrow (as I had before intended), and probably 
 make the best of my way to Burton, in which case I 
 shall arrive before this letter. If, however, I should 
 before that time find less reason to be in so much haste, 
 I may perhaps contrive to take Stowe in my way." 
 
 It would seem, however, that this intended visit t<» 
 Stowe did not take place. Lord Temple was at this 
 time in declining health, and he expired on the follow- 
 ing 11th of September. He was succeeded as second 
 Earl by his nephew George, eldest son of George Gren- 
 ville, the late Prime Minister. The new Peer, born in 
 1 753, had for some years been one of the members for 
 the county of Buckingham, in which representation he 
 was now succeeded by his next brother, Thomas Gren- 
 ville, who was born in 175.3, and who survived till 
 1846. Their third brother, William Wyndham Gren- 
 ville, afterwards Lord Grenville, was born in 1759. 
 All three were of course first cousins of Mr. Pitt ; and 
 each will be found to play a part, more or less im- 
 portant, in my future narrative. 
 
 Having passed the autumn weeks with Lady Chat- 
 ham at Burton Pynsent, Mr. Pitt went back to Cam- 
 bridge as usual in October, when his correspondence 
 with his mother recommences : — 
 
 C 3
 
 34 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 "Pembroke Hall, Oct. 15, 1779. 
 
 " I find everything going on admirably well relative 
 to my object here, which I think it will be a satis- 
 faction to you to know." 
 
 " Nerot's Hotel, Nov. 23, 1779. 
 
 "I cannot imagine that, according to any idea of 
 law or right, any subsequent grant would affect any- 
 thing but what might remain from the produce of the 
 fund after yours should be discharged. Those there- 
 fore whose grants were later could have no right to be 
 paid but out of the surplus after the payment to you, 
 and their claims do not justify yours being in arrear. 
 .... The pleas in your favour appear certainly so 
 strong that it would be wrong to leave the matter as 
 it stands at present, and I do not myself see how there 
 can be any objections (in point of delicacy) to seeking 
 redress by whatever is the projDer method. Com- 
 plaining of any abuses in the management of the fund 
 cannot convey anything improper towards the Great 
 Person from whom the grant originally came ; and in 
 any other light I do not conceive any reason for a 
 moment's hesitation. Whatever you may resolve upon, 
 I flatter myself that my brother or I being upon the 
 spot there will be very little trouble in the detail." 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, Dec. 18, 1779. 
 
 " My residence here is for the present very comfort- 
 able, and when everything is finished, of which at last 
 there really seems to be a near prospect, will be as 
 complete as a lawyer can aspire to. In that state I 
 flatter myself I shall see it when I return hither after 
 Christmas. I now think of going to Cambridge for a 
 short time towards the end of next week, and shall 
 indeed only wait for those means from you which are,
 
 1780. LIFE OF PITT. 35 
 
 I am sorry to say, necessary to enable me. I trust I 
 need not say how unwilling I am to make any demands 
 at so inconvenient a time, but the approach of Christ- 
 mas, and the expense of moving, oblige me to beg you 
 to supply me with a draft of 601." 
 
 " Pembroke Hall, Jan. 3, 1780. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " I was very unwillingly prevented last post-day 
 from thanking you for your last letter, and sending 
 you a proper certificate of my health, which I think 
 it will be a satisfaction to you to receive. The charge 
 of looking slender and thin when the doctor saw me I 
 do not entirely deny ; but if it was in a greater degree 
 than usual, it may fairly be attributed to the hurry 
 of London, and an accidental cold at the time. Both 
 those causes have equally ceased on my removal hither, 
 and as my way of life has ever since been as fattening 
 as any one could desire, I believe I now possess as 
 much embonpoint as I have naturally any right to. 
 I had followed the doctor's advice by drinking asses' 
 milk before I received your letter ; and so easy a pre- 
 scription I have no objection to obeying, though I 
 believe it unnecessary, for some time longer. The use 
 of the horse I assure you I do not neglect, in the 
 properest medium ; and a sufficient number of idle 
 avocations secure me quite enough from the danger 
 of too much study. On the whole, I think I may give 
 in short a very satisfactory account of myself, as I 
 really feel perfectly well, and yet do nothing that even 
 an invalid need be afraid of. Among the principal 
 occupations of Cambridge at this season of Christmas 
 are perpetual college feasts, a species of exercise in 
 which, above all others, I shall not forget your rule 
 of moderation. The character, too, of candidate sup-
 
 36 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 plies me always with some employment, which, without 
 deserving the name of business, fills up a good deal of 
 time. . . . My business here is in a prosperous train, 
 but nothing materially new is to be expected at present. 
 The new year in some measure seems to promise a 
 happy one to Ministry, if not to the country. It can 
 hardly promise and keep its word to both. . . . 
 
 " I am, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 « W. Pitt." 
 
 " Pembroke Hall, Jan. 12, 1780. 
 
 " I do not know whether to hope that your western 
 climate has been as much milder than ours as usual ; 
 for the weather we have had, though very sharp for 
 above a fortnight, has been uncommonly pleasant, and 
 such as I think you would enjoy. Within two or 
 three days the frost has been too hard for riding, which 
 is the only thing I quarrel with in it ; and even that 
 I can forgive, while it makes walking so excellent. 
 Your moor must be in the perfection of winter beauty ; 
 but I suppose with hardly any cattle upon it, except 
 stalking horses. 
 
 " The Cambridgeshire fens are nearly enough related 
 to it to put me often in mind of it, though I confess the 
 family likeness, with such a difference of features, is 
 not much to the advantage of this country. 
 
 " The counties in this part of the world are beginning 
 to awaken, aDd most of them will, I hope, adopt the 
 Yorkshire measures. 4 I do not yet hear anything to 
 the honour of the West, which I am sorry for." 
 
 The great petition agreed and was signed by upwards of 8000 
 
 upon at York in December, 1779. 
 It prayed for Economical Reform, 
 
 freeholders.
 
 1780. LIFE OF PITT. 37 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, Feb. 9, 1780. 
 
 " You will, I hope, have excused my trusting entirely 
 to my more constant correspondent Harriot for your 
 knowing that I was established in town. I have really 
 been a good deal engaged, and in some measure neces- 
 sarily, having begun to attend as a lawyer at West- 
 minster Hall ; to which I confess has also been added 
 occasionally the less professional pursuit of Opera, 
 Pantheon, &c., &c, so that my time between business 
 and pleasure may be fully accounted for. I am now 
 going to a scene where both are united, I mean the 
 House of Lords, who are to enter to-day on the con- 
 sideration of Lord Shelburne's motion. The pleasure 
 of it would be a good deal heightened if there were 
 any present prospect of its having any considerable 
 effect. The ground is certainly very strong, and some 
 accessions to the minority are expected ; but I fear 
 there is little chance of their being for some time 
 numerous enough to turn it into a majority.'' 
 
 " Grafton Street, 5 Feb. 26, 1780. 
 
 " You will not, I believe, be sorry to hear that in the 
 House of Commons yesterday, on a motion for the 
 List of Pensions, which the Ministry strenuously 
 opposed, the minority was 186 against 18S. This, I 
 think, looks like the downfall of those in power ; and 
 I am willing to hope that the views of Opposition are 
 really such as would make that event a blessing for 
 the country. The principles on which some persons 
 at bottom probably act (I need not explain whom I 
 mean) I have as little confidence in as any one, but 
 I think they are so deeply pledged for what is right that 
 no harm can be apprehended from them at present." 
 
 5 Where at this time Lady Harriot Pitt resided in company with 
 Lady Williams.
 
 38 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 "Lincoln's Inn, March 14, 1780. 
 " My Parliamentary engagements still continue, and 
 have now afforded me a scene which I never saw 
 before, a majority against a Minister. 6 I was in the 
 gallery till near three this morning, when this great 
 phenomenon took place. The debate was the most 
 interesting imaginable, and not the less so from Sir 
 Fletcher Norton's unexpected and violent declarations 
 against Lord North. What the consequence will be 
 cannot be guessed, but I have no ideas of Ministry 
 being able to stand. There are rumours of Parliament 
 being to be dissolved soon after Easter, which oblige me 
 to work double tides in the business of canvassing. My 
 prospect, though not more certain, is as favourable as 
 ever. Harriot will, I know, have sent Burke's speech, 
 which I think will entertain you both with real beauties 
 and ridiculous affectations. I have heard two less 
 studied harangues from him since in reply, that please 
 me much more than this does now that it is upon 
 paper." 
 
 " Grafton Street, April 4, 1780. 
 
 " Last night was the masquerade, the pompous pro- 
 mises of which the newspapers must have carried to 
 Burton. Harriot went with Lady Williams to Mrs- 
 Weddel's (who is, I believe, a sister of Lady Rocking- 
 ham's) to see masks. She was very much pleased with 
 it, principally, I fancy, because it was the first thing of 
 the kind she has seen. I was there as well as at a 
 much more numerous assemblage at a magnificent 
 Mr. Broadhead's, to which some few ladies did not like 
 to go, from little histories relative to the lady of the 
 
 6 On the clause in Mr. Burke's 
 Bill for abolishing the Board of 
 
 Trade, when the numbers were : 
 for the clause, 207 ; against it, 199.
 
 1780. LIFE OF PITT. 39 
 
 house. Those did not prevent its being the most 
 crowded place I ever was in. The company I was 
 not conversant enough in masks to judge of. I con- 
 cluded my evening at the Pantheon, which I had never 
 seen illuminated, and which is really a glorious scene. 
 In other respects, as I had hardly the pleasure of 
 plaguing or being plagued by any body, I was heartily 
 tired of my domino before it was over." 
 
 " Hai-ley Street, April 20, 1780. 
 
 " All my feelings with regard to the paper enclosed 7 
 I need not express. I am sure I should be far indeed 
 from wishing to suggest a syllable of alteration. The 
 language of the heart, of such a heart especially, can 
 never require or admit of correction. May it remain 
 as it deserves, a lasting monument of both the subject 
 and the author. My pen does not easily go from this 
 topic to that of common news, nor of that have I much 
 to tell you. It is, however, an essential satisfaction to 
 assure you that I find my sister Mahon mended greatly 
 in looks and strength, and in all respects since I have 
 been absent ; more indeed than I could have flattered 
 myself. If the weather should not be very unfavourable 
 she will go with Harriot to-morrow to Hayes, and I 
 
 7 Lady Chatham had consulted 
 her son on the inscription which 
 she had drawn up for the pedestal 
 of a marble urn to the memory of 
 her husband in the grounds of 
 Burton Pynsent. The inscription 
 will be found printed at length in 
 the Chatham Correspondence, vol. 
 iv. p. 53L 
 
 When, after Lady Chatham's 
 death, the estate of Burton Pyn- 
 sent was sold, the urn, with its in- 
 
 scription, was transferred to the 
 gardens at Stowe. Upon the dis- 
 persion of the family relics at 
 that place the urn passed into a 
 stranger's hands. But it has subse- 
 quently been recovered by another 
 relative, James Banks Stanhope, 
 Esq., M.P., who has raised the in- 
 teresting monument once again in 
 his gardens at Bovesby Park, in 
 Lincolnshire.
 
 40 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 hope return soon quite in established health. You 
 will be glad too to hear that I have every reason to be 
 satisfied with my visit to Cambridge, which gives me as 
 promising an expectation as is possible in the circum- 
 stances. It seems not unlikely that there may be an 
 election there even before the end of this Parliament. 
 
 " With regard to the business of my account 8 there is 
 certainly no occasion to have it re-stated. I am only 
 sorry it has already occasioned you so much trouble, 
 and still more so to think that your affairs are still so 
 full of such embarrassment. I hope it will not be 
 necessary to think of selling the arrears." 
 
 "Lincoln's Inn, May 2, 1780. 
 
 "I was yesterday present at a great debate in the 
 House of Commons, where, according to the old custom, 
 which is, I fear, pretty nearly re-established, arguments 
 and numbers were almost equally clear on opposite 
 sides. The idea of a Dissolution seems not to prevail 
 so much as it did, which is indeed very natural." 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, June 1, 1780. 
 
 "The 'London Courant' will have given you, I 
 believe, a pretty accurate account of what passed at 
 Buckingham, which was not of a very pleasant kind. 
 But it is a satisfaction that the person for whom we are 
 the most interested had much the better in all respects. 
 Lord Temple has been at Stowe since, so that we have 
 none of us had an opportunity of meeting. These un- 
 fortunate divisions weaken if they do not extinguish all 
 hope for the public." 9 
 
 8 The account of bis fortune, 
 &c., during bis minority. 
 
 9 At a Meeting of the County of 
 
 Bucks (as reported in the ' Lon- 
 don Courant,' May 31, 1780) Earl 
 Temple proposed an Association
 
 1780. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 41 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, Juno 8, 1780. 
 
 " The accounts which the papers will have given you 
 of the religious mobs which have infested us for some 
 days, will make you, I know, desirous to know in what 
 state we now are. I have the satisfaction to tell you 
 that from the appearance of to-night everything seems 
 likely to subside, and we may sleep again as in a 
 Christian country. Lincoln's Inn has been [surrounded] 
 with flames on all sides, but itself perfectly free from 
 danger. 
 
 " The only objects of resentment seem to have been 
 public characters and the residences of Roman Catholics 
 or felons. None of those you are particularly interested 
 for have been exposed to any inconvenience or appre- 
 hension, or anything else than the disagreeable and dis- 
 graceful sight which such uncontrolled licentiousness 
 exhibits." 
 
 "Lincoln's Inn, Thursday (June, 1780). 
 "You should certainly have found me a better cor- 
 respondent, but that my time has really been infinitely 
 taken up. Besides the military transactions of the 
 times, I have had to assume within these few days the 
 pacific character of a barrister-at-law, and now want 
 nothing but my wig and gown to qualify me for the 
 Western Circuit. Lincoln's Inn has continued unin- 
 sured during the whole of this scene. It was, however, 
 thought necessary that we should show our readiness 
 to defend ourselves. Accordingly several A T ery respect- 
 able lawyers have appeared with muskets on their 
 shoulders, to the no small diversion of all spectators. 
 
 for Economical Reform. Lord 
 Mahon moved an amendment to 
 include the object of Parlia- 
 
 mentary Eeform ; and a sharp 
 debate but no decision ensued.
 
 42 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 Unluckily the appearance of danger ended just as we 
 embodied, and our military ardour has been thrown 
 away." 
 
 " Cambridge, July 7, 1780. 
 
 " I heard yesterday from Lord Mahon on the 
 subject of my canvass, who mentions that he and my 
 sister were to remove from town in a day or two. I 
 trust the country air will bring back her strength, and 
 add to the progress of her recovery, which for some time 
 has scarcely kept pace with our expectations." 
 
 We learn from Bishop Tomline that Mr. Pitt was 
 called to the Bar on the 12th of June, 1780. But a 
 family bereavement, though little foreseen, was now 
 close impending. Lady Mahon, a sister to whom Mr. 
 Pitt was tenderly attached, died at Chevening on the 
 18th of July. She was only twenty-five years of age, 
 but her health had never completely rallied from the 
 birth of her last child. She left three daughters : the 
 first her namesake, who, as Lady Hester Stanhope, 
 will re-appear in the latter part of my narrative ; 
 secondly, Griselda, who in 1800 married John Tekell, 
 Esq., and who died without issue in 1851 ; and, 
 thirdly, Lucy, who iD 1796 married Thomas Taylor, 
 Esq., and who died in 1814, leaving three sons and 
 four daughters. To this youngest niece, born in 
 February, 1780, Mr. Pitt had been godfather. 
 
 In the course of the ensuing year Lord Mahon mar- 
 ried again. The object of his choice was Louisa, only 
 child of the Hon. Henry Grenville, who had filled in 
 succession the posts of Governor of Barbadoes and
 
 1780. LIFE OF PITT. 43 
 
 Ambassador at Constantinople. He was a younger 
 brother of Lady Chatham ; so that as the first Lady 
 Mahon was sister, the second was first cousin of 
 Mr. Pitt. Of this second marriage were born three 
 sons : first, my father, the fourth Earl Stanhope ; 
 secondly, Charles Banks, a Major in the army, who 
 was killed at the head of his regiment at the battle of 
 Corufia ; and, thirdly, James Hamilton, a Lieutenant- 
 Colonel in the army, who married a daughter of the 
 Earl of Mansfield, and who died in 1825. 
 
 In the August following, we find Mr. Pitt join for a 
 short time the Western Circuit, and give a hasty report 
 of his proceedings. 
 
 " Dorchester, Aug. 4, 1780. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 "You will be glad to have early information of 
 my having arrived prosperously at this place, and taken 
 upon me the character of a lawyer. I have indeed 
 done so, yet no otherwise than by eating and drinking 
 with lawyers ; and so far I find the Circuit perfectly 
 agreeable. I write this in the morning, lest I should 
 not have time after. There is not, to be sure, much 
 probability of my being overwhelmed with business, 
 but I may possibly have my time filled up with 
 hearing others for the remainder of the day ; and, 
 therefore, to show how much I profit by our last con- 
 versation, I make sure of the present moment. I could 
 also give you another instance, for, thanks to the sun 
 and an eastern aspect, I was burnt out of my bed this 
 morning before seven o'clock. My gown and wig do 
 not make their appearance till two or three hours 
 hence, as great part of the morning is taken up by the
 
 44 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 Judges going to church, where it does not seem the 
 etiquette for counsel to attend. 
 
 "You will not suppose that I have much news to 
 tell you. The only thing worth mentioning is a 
 curious enclosure which came to me by last night's 
 post in a cover franked ' TJio. Pitt.'' Adieu. 
 
 " Your ever dutiful and affectionate Son, 
 
 "W.Pitt." 
 
 " Exeter, Aug. 9, 1780. 
 " My deae Mother, 
 
 " I have but just time to write one line to tell 
 you that I received your packet yesterday. Having 
 been in Court till now, I fear I am too late for the 
 regular post. ... I have not forgot the Bonds of 
 Award, and will return them as soon as I can find time, 
 but so much is employed either in the hall or at table 
 that I have not much to dispose of. Lord Mahon's 
 letter was to inquire after you, and to tell me that a 
 Dissolution was expected very soon. It must be rather 
 uncertain, but I shall not be surprised if an express 
 overtakes me with the news. If it should, I shall take 
 Burton flying in my way to Cambridge. 
 
 " Believe me, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt. 
 
 " I shall leave this place on Saturday and proceed to 
 Bodmin, unless summoned away by a Dissolution." 
 
 On the 1st of September accordingly the Parliament 
 was dissolved. Pitt repaired in all haste to Cam- 
 bridge, and an arduous contest began. But when it 
 closed, he found lnmself at the bottom of the poll. 
 He announced the result the same evening in a note, 
 as follows : —
 
 1780. LIFE OF PITT. 45 
 
 " Pembroke Hall, Sept. 16, 1780. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " Mansfield and Townshend have run away with 
 the prize, but my struggle has not been dishonour- 
 able. 
 
 "lam just going to Cheveley * for a day or two, and 
 shall soon return to you for as long as the law will 
 permit, which will now be probably the sole object with 
 me. I hope you are all well. 
 
 " Your ever dutiful and affectionate 
 
 "W.Pitt." 
 
 Mr. Pitt appears to have paid his customary visit to 
 Lady Chatham in the autumn; but on his return to 
 town, his letters to her represent him as thoroughly 
 immersed in the cares of his new profession. 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, Nov. 23, 1780. 
 
 " I do not wonder that you seem to consider me 
 rather as an idle correspondent, which, much against 
 my will, I feel that I have been. 
 
 " If I had been able to give you any information 
 worth knowing of what passed in Parliament, I cer- 
 tainly would ; but really there has been nothing deci- 
 sive, and all seems to be put off till after Christmas. 
 You will, I am sure, be ready to excuse a little either 
 of ignorance or laziness, when I assure you that ever 
 since Term began I have been almost every day in 
 Westminster Hall the whole time between breakfast 
 and dinner, and that the rest of the day is sufficiently 
 taken up by necessary business and incidental avoca- 
 tions which are unavoidable." 
 
 1 The seat of the Duke of Rutland in Cambridgeshire.
 
 46 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 At this very time, however, an opening to public 
 life unexpectedly appeared. The brave and lamented 
 Granby had been a friend and follower of Chatham. 
 His eldest son, who was senior by five years to William 
 Pitt, became one of the Members for the University of 
 Cambridge, and in 1779 succeeded his grandfather as 
 Duke of Rutland. Mindful of his hereditary friend- 
 ships, he sought the acquaintance of William Pitt in 
 the first years of Pitt at Cambridge. When Pitt came 
 to live in London, the two young men quickly grew 
 intimate, and the warm attachment between them was 
 continued during the whole of the Duke's life. 
 
 It was natural, under such circumstances, that the 
 Duke of Rutland should feel most sincere concern at 
 the exclusion of Pitt from the House of Commons. 
 He spoke upon the subject to Sir James Lowther, 
 another ally of his house, and the owner of most exten- 
 sive borough influence. Sir James quickly caught the 
 idea, and proposed to avail himself of a double return 
 for one of his boroughs to bring the friend of his friend 
 into Parliament. The Duke mentioned the offer to 
 Pitt ; and Pitt, who was writing on the same day to his 
 mother, added a few lines in haste to let her know. 
 But it was not until after he had seen Sir James 
 himself that he was able to express his entire satis- 
 faction at the prospect now before him. 
 
 "Lincoln's Inn, Thursday night, Nov., 1780. 
 " My deae Mothee, 
 
 " I can now inform you that I have seen Sir 
 James Lowther, who has repeated to me the offer he
 
 1780. LIFE OF PITT. 47 
 
 had before made, and in the handsomest manner. 
 Judging from my father's principles, he concludes that 
 mine would be agreeable to his own, and on that 
 ground — to me of all others the most agreeable — to 
 bring me in. No kind of condition was mentioned, 
 bnt that if ever our lines of conduct should become 
 opposite, I should give him an opportunity of choosing 
 another person. On such liberal terms I could cer- 
 tainly not hesitate to accept the proposal, than which 
 nothing could be in any respect more agreeable. 
 Appleby is the place I am to represent, and the elec- 
 tion will be made (probably in a week or ten days) 
 without my having any trouble, or even visiting my 
 constituents. I shall be in time to be spectator and 
 auditor at least of the important scene after the 
 holidays. I would not defer confirming to you this 
 intelligence, which I believe you will not be sorry to 
 hear. 
 
 " I am, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 "W.Pitt." 
 
 " Dec. 7, 1780. 
 
 " I have not yet received the notification of my 
 election. It will probably not take place till the end 
 of this week, as Sir James Lowther was to settle an 
 election at Haslemere before he went into the north, 
 and meant to be present at Appleby afterwards. The 
 Parliament adjourned yesterday, so I shall not take my 
 seat till after the holidays. ... I propose before 
 long, in spite of politics, to make an excursion for a 
 short time to Lord Westmorland's 2 and shall pro- 
 bably look at my constituents that should have been at 
 
 Apthorp, in Northamptonshire.
 
 48 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. I. 
 
 Cambridge, in my way. I have hopes of extending to 
 Burton in the course of the Christmas recess." 
 
 But the pleasure of Pitt at his approaching entrance 
 into Parliament was grievously dashed by another 
 domestic calamity. The sudden news came that his 
 youngest brother, James Charles, who was absent on 
 service, and already a Post-Captain, had died in the 
 West Indies. William set off immediately for Burton 
 Pynsent, and from thence wrote as follows to 
 Mr. Pretyman : — 
 
 "Dec. 1780. 
 
 " You will, I know, be anxious to hear from me. 
 I have to regret the loss of a brother who had every- 
 thing that was most amiable and promising, everything 
 that I could love and admire ; and I feel the favourite 
 hope of my mind extinguished by this untimely blow. 
 Let me, however, assure you that I am too much tried 
 in affliction not to be able to support myself under it ; 
 and that my poor mother and sister, to whom I brought 
 the sad account yesterday, have not suffered in their 
 health from so severe a shock. I have prevailed on 
 them to think of changing the scene and moving towards 
 Hayes, which is a great comfort to me, as the solitude 
 and distance of this place must now be insupportable. 
 I imagine that we shall begin our journey in a few 
 days." 3 
 
 3 Life of Pitt, by Bishop Tomline, vol. i. p. 26.
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 49 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1781 — 1782. 
 
 Enters the House of Commons — State of parties — Attaches himself 
 to Lord Shelhurne — Goostree's Club — Pitt's first speech — Con- 
 gratulated by Fox — Vindication of his father's opinions, and state- 
 ment of his own, on the American war — On the Western Circuit, 
 and in the Court of King's Bench — General character at the Bar 
 — Readiness of debate — Speeches on Parliamentary Reform — 
 Appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer — Letters to his mother. 
 
 On the 23rd of January, 1781, when the Parliament 
 met again, Mr. Pitt took his seat as member for 
 Appleby. That date marks both the commencement 
 and the close of his public life, for it was on the anni- 
 versary of the same day that he died. 
 
 At the time when Mr. Pitt first entered the House 
 of Commons Lord North was still at the head of public 
 affairs. Himself the most good-humoured and amiable 
 of men, he might often as a Minister seem harsh, and 
 still more often unfortunate. Yielding his own better 
 judgment to the personal wishes of the King, he con- 
 tinued to maintain the fatal war against the revolted 
 colonies, with a failing popularity and with a doubtful 
 mind. His principal reliance at this time in debate 
 was on Lord George Germaine, the Secretary of State, 
 and on Henry Dundas, the Lord Advocate for Scot- 
 land. 
 
 The Opposition arrayed against him consisted, in 
 fact, of two parties. They had been recently recon- 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 ciled, and almost always voted together ; yet still, as 
 appeared shortly afterwards, the union between them 
 was by no means thorough and complete. Of these 
 two parties the largest by far in point of numbers was 
 founded on the old Whig connexion of the Great 
 Houses, or, as they loved to call themselves, the " Revo- 
 lution Families." Men of this stamp could seldom — 
 as Horace Walpole once complained of the Duke of 
 Portland — extend their views beyond the high wall of 
 Burlington House. To them birth and rank seemed 
 the principal qualities for leadership. In former years 
 they had chafed at the ascendency of the elder Pitt ; 
 and now they could never look on Burke in any other 
 light than as a toiling and useful subordinate, to be 
 rewarded on occasion with some second-rate place, and 
 not worthy to sit in council with a Wentworth or a 
 Cavendish. 
 
 With such views they had for many years acknow- 
 ledged as their leader the Marquis of Eockingham, 
 head of the house of Wentworth, a nobleman of vast 
 estates, of highly honourable character, but of very 
 slender ability either for business or debate. But their 
 leader in the Commons and the true impelling and 
 guiding spirit of their whole party was Charles James 
 Fox. Born in 1749, a younger son of the first Lord 
 Holland, he had entered Parliament at only nineteen as 
 member for the close borough of Midhurst. His youth 
 had been marked by a course of wild extravagance and 
 by the assertion of strong anti -popular rjolitics. On 
 two occasions he had held a subordinate office under 
 Lord North. But soon breaking loose from these tram-
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 51 
 
 mels and joining the ranks of Opposition, side by side 
 with Burke, he had made himself most formidable to his 
 recent chief. His admirable eloquence and his powers 
 of debate — never exceeded in any age or in any nation 
 — his generous and open temper, and the warm attach- 
 ment, which ensued from it, of his political friends, 
 cast into the shade his irregular life and his ruined 
 fortunes, and extorted the wonder even of his enemies. 
 Under him at this time were two men whose genius 
 would have made them capable of leading, but who 
 were proud to serve under so great a chief. There was 
 Edmund Burke, the first philosophical statesman of Ins 
 country ; there was Bichard Brinsley Sheridan, the first 
 of her dramatists in recent times, who had already pro- 
 duced some masterpieces of wit upon the stage, and was 
 shortly to produce other masterpieces of oratory in the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 Besides this main body of the old Whig aristocracy, 
 there was also in Opposition a smaller band of the old 
 adherents of Lord Chatham. It comprised the Earl of 
 Shelbume and Lord Camden, who had filled the offices 
 of Secretary of State and Chancellor in Chatham's last 
 administration, and who to the close of his life had 
 enjoyed his highest confidence. Lord Shelburne was 
 indeed looked upon as the leader of his party since his 
 death. There were also among its chief men Mr. 
 Thomas Townshend, an active and useful politician, 
 who spoke often and not without effect ; Mr. Dunning, 
 unri vailed in his own time for success at the Bar ; and 
 Colonel Barre, a bold and unsparing, and therefore the 
 more applauded debater. 
 
 d 2
 
 52 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 It was almost as a matter of course that Mr. Pitt 
 on entering Parliament attached himself closely to this 
 party. So had his eldest brother on coming of age. 
 So had his friend the Duke of Rutland, on succeeding 
 to the title. So had also his kinsman Lord Mahon, 
 who had been returned at the General Election for the 
 borough of High Wycombe, then a close corporation 
 under the control of Lord Shelburne. So had also Mr. 
 John Jeffreys Pratt, the only son of Lord Camden, and 
 born in the same year as Mr. Pitt, who had come in for 
 another close corporation, that of Bath. 
 
 But besides these, as I may term them, hereditary 
 ties, Mr. Pitt began at this time to form some intimate 
 friendships with other young men, chiefly, like himself, 
 entering upon life, and more or less closely linked with 
 him in politics. Such were Henry Bankes, of Corfe 
 Castle in Dorsetshire, whom he had known well at 
 Cambridge ; Edward, the eldest son of Mr. Eliot, of 
 Port Eliot, in Cornwall, who some years later became 
 his brother-in-law ; Richard Pepper Arden, afterwards 
 Lord Alvanley ; Robert Smith, at this time member 
 for Nottingham, and head of a great banking-house in 
 London. Unlike the rest, he was seven years the senior 
 of Pitt, and yet he survived him thirty-two. 
 
 But, of all the intimacies formed at this time by 
 Mr. Pitt, there was none that ripened into more cordial 
 friendship than that with Mr. Wilberforce. The son of 
 a banker at Hull, and the owner of a good estate in 
 Yorkshire, William Wilberforce, though born hi the 
 same year as Pitt, was sent three years later to Cam- 
 bridge. There the two young men were but slightly
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 53 
 
 acquainted; but, at the General Election of 1780 , Wil- 
 berforce was, after a sharp contest, returned for the 
 town of Hull, and meeting Pitt both in flic House of 
 Commons and in social circles, thev rapidly grew 
 friends. 
 
 These young men and several others — about twenty- 
 five in all — besides their resort at the larger clubs, as 
 Brooks's and White's, formed at this time a more 
 intimate society called Goostree's, from the name of 
 the person at whose house they met in Pall Mall. Pitt 
 was one of the chief frequenters of this little club, and 
 during one winter— probably that from 1781 to 1782 — 
 is said to have supped there every night. How delightful 
 was his conversation in his easier hours Mr. Wilberforce 
 has warmly attested : 
 
 " He was the wittiest man I ever knew, and, what 
 was quite peculiar to himself, had at all times his wit 
 under entire control. Others appeared struck by the 
 unwonted association of brilliant images; but every 
 possible combination of ideas was present to his mind, 
 and he could at once produce whatever he desired. I 
 was one of those who met to spend an evening in 
 memory of Shakespeare at the Boar's Head in East- 
 cheap. Many professed wits were present, but Pitt 
 was the most amusing of the party, and the readiest 
 and most apt in the required allusions." 1 
 
 Another of the Boar's Head party, Mr. Jekyll, gives 
 of it a similar account : 
 
 " We were all in high spirits, quoting and alluding 
 
 1 Life of Wilberforce, by bis Sons, vol. i. p. 18.
 
 54 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 to Shakespeare the whole day, and it appeared that 
 Mr. Pitt was as well and familiarly read in the poet's 
 works as the best Shakespearians present." 2 
 
 The clubs of London, Goostree's not excepted, all 
 at this time afforded a dangerous temptation. Fox, 
 Fitzpatrick, and their circle, had long since set the 
 example of high play. It had become the fashion; 
 and Wilberforce himself was nearly ensnared by it. 
 On the very first day that he went to Boodle's he won 
 twenty-five guineas of the Duke of Norfolk. His diary 
 at this period records more than once the loss of a 
 hundred pounds at the faro-table. He was reclaimed 
 from this pursuit by a most generous impulse — not 
 because he lost in private play to others, but because he 
 saw and was pained at seeing others lose to him. Of 
 the young member for Appleby he proceeds to speak as 
 follows : 
 
 " We played a good deal at Goostree's, and I well 
 remember the intense earnestness which Pitt displayed 
 when joining in those games of chance. He perceived 
 their increasing fascination, and soon after suddenly 
 abandoned them for ever." 
 
 It was not long before Mr. Pitt took part in the 
 debates. He made his first speech on the 26th of 
 February, in support of Burke's Bill for Economical 
 Beform. Under the circumstances, this first speech 
 took him a little by surprise. Lord Nugent was 
 speaking against the Bill, and Mr. Byng, member for 
 Middlesex, asked Mr. Pitt to follow in reply. Mr. Pitt 
 
 2 Note to Bishop Toralinc's Life, vol. i. p. 43.
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 55 
 
 gave a doubtful answer, but in the course of Lord 
 Nugent's speech resolved that he would not. Mr. Byng, 
 however, had understood him to assent, and had said 
 so to some friends around him ; so that the moment 
 Lord Nugent sat down, all these gentlemen, with one 
 voice, called out " Mr. Pitt ! Mr. Pitt ! " and by their 
 cry probably kep^ down every other member. Mr. 
 Pitt, finding himself thus called upon, and observing 
 that the House waited to hear him, thought hiirfself 
 bound to rise. The sudden call did not for a moment 
 discompose him ; he was from the beginning collected 
 and unembarrassed, and, far from reciting a set speech, 
 addressed himself at once to the business of reply. 
 Never, says Bishop Tomline, were higher expectations 
 formed of any person upon his first coming into Par- 
 liament, and never were expectations more completely 
 fulfilled. The silvery clearness of his voice, his lofty 
 yet unpresuming demeanour, set off to the best advan- 
 tage his close and well arrayed though unpremeditated 
 arguments, while the ready selection of his words and 
 the perfect structure of his sentences were such as 
 even the most practised speakers often fail to show. 
 Not only did he please, it may be said that he aston- 
 ished the House. Scarce one mind in which a reverent 
 thought of Chatham did not rise. 
 
 No sooner had Pitt concluded than Fox with ge- 
 nerous warmth hurried up to wish him joy of his 
 success. As they were still together, an old member, 
 said to have been General Grant, passed by them and 
 said, " Aye, Mr. Fox, you are praising young Pitt for his 
 speech. You may well do so ; for, excepting yourself,
 
 56 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 there is no man in the House can make such another ; 
 and, old as I am, I expect and hope to hear you both 
 battling it within these walls, as I have heard your 
 fathers before you." Mr. Fox, disconcerted at the 
 awkward turn of the compliment, was silent and looked 
 foolish ; but young Pitt, with great delicacy and readi- 
 ness, answered, " I have no doubt, general, you would 
 like to attain the age of Methuselah ! " 3 
 
 j.Wter Mr. Pitt several other members spoke, and the 
 debate was continued until midnight, when, on a divi- 
 sion, the measure of Burke was rejected by a majority 
 of 233 against 190. 
 
 It deserves to be noted that warmlv as the merits of 
 Pitt's first speech were acknowledged by his hearers, 
 those merits are scarcely to be traced in the meagre 
 report of it which alone remains. So imperfect indeed 
 was still, and for many years afterwards, the Parlia- 
 mentary system of reporting, that it totally fails to give 
 any just idea of the great orators of the time, except in 
 a few salient passages, and unless, as was the case with 
 Burke in his chief speeches, they prepared their own 
 compositions for the press. For this reason, among 
 others, I shall forbear from inserting in my narrative 
 any but very few and very brief extracts of Mr. Pitt's 
 published speeches, which my readers can, if they desire 
 it, find elsewhere. 
 
 Next day the young orator wrote to Lady Chathani 
 as follows : 
 
 3 This anecdote was put on I words. See the Memorials of Fox 
 record by Fox's nephew, Lord by Lord John Kussell, vol. i. p. 
 Holland, and I give it in his own | 262.
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 57 
 
 " Tuesday night, Feb. 27, 1781. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " If the length of the debate yesterday, and of a 
 late supper after it, had not made me too lazy this 
 morning, I intended to have been at Hayes to-day. To- 
 morrow I must be early in the House of Commons, to 
 attend the Lyme election, and am therefore doubtful 
 whether I can ride to Hayes and back again in time, 
 which makes me wish to write to you one line at least, 
 in case I should not. 
 
 " I know you will have learnt that I heard my own 
 voice yesterday, and the account you have had would 
 be in all respects better than any I can give if it had 
 not come from too partial a friend. All I can say is 
 that I was able to execute in some measure what I 
 intended, and that I have at least everv reason to be 
 happy beyond measure in the reception I met with. 
 You will, I dare say, wish to know more particulars 
 than I fear I shall bo able to tell you, but in the mean 
 time you will, I am sure, feel somewhat the same plea- 
 sure that I do in the encouragement, however unmerited, 
 which has attended my first attempt. 
 
 " I hope when I come to find you better than I left 
 you, and I trust that will not be later than Thursday at 
 furthest. Pray give my love to Harriot, and best com- 
 pliments to Mrs. Stapleton. 4 
 
 " Your most dutiful and affectionate son, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 " It is a curious fact," writes Lord Macaulay, " well 
 remembered by some who were very recently living, 
 
 4 Mrs. Stapleton was an aunt 
 of the first Lord Combermere. 
 She was the friend and frequent 
 
 visitor, and at last for many years 
 the. constant companion, of Lady 
 Chatham. 
 
 D 3
 
 58 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 that soon after this debate Pitt's name was put up by- 
 Fox at Brooks's." 
 
 The merits of Mr. Pitt's performance continued for 
 some days to be discussed in political circles. Lord 
 North said of it, with generous frankness, that it was 
 the best first speech he had ever heard. Still more 
 emphatic was the praise of Mr. Burke. When some 
 one in his presence spoke of Pitt as " a chip of the old 
 block," Burke exclaimed, " He is not a chip of the old 
 block: he is the old block itself!" Dr. Goodenough, 
 subsequently Bishop of Carlisle, exults in one of his 
 letters that the great Lord Chatham is now happily 
 restored to his country. " All the old members recog- 
 nised him instantly : to identify him there wanted only 
 a few wrinkles in the face." 5 
 
 It appears that a little time previously, Pitt had made 
 the earliest trial of his debating powers in a party of 
 some young friends. Mr. Jekyll, who was at this time 
 like himself a barrister on the Western Circuit, thus 
 relates the fact : — " When he first made his brilliant 
 display in Parliament, those at the Bar who had seen 
 little of him expressed surprise ; but a few who had 
 heard him once speak in a sort of mock debate at the 
 Crown and Anchor Tavern, when a club called the 
 Western Circuit Club was dissolved, agreed that he had 
 then displayed all the various species of eloquence for 
 which he was afterwards celebrated." 6 
 
 5 To the Eev. Edward Wilson, 
 Feb. 27, 1781. Life of Lord Sid- 
 mouth, by Dean Pellew, vol. i. 
 p. 27. 
 
 6 See a valuable note (of which 
 I shall give the rest in another 
 place) contributed to Bishop Tom- 
 line's Life, and inserted in that
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 59 
 
 On the 31st of May Mr. Pitt made his second speech 
 in the House of Commons. The subject was a Bill to 
 continue an Act of the last Session for the appointment 
 of Commissioners of Public Accounts. When Lord 
 North, who had argued the question at considerable 
 length, sat down, Fox and Pitt rose together. But Fox, 
 with a feeling of kindness to the young member, imme- 
 diately gave way, 7 and Pitt, proceeding in a strain of 
 forcible eloquence, contended that the House of 
 Commons, which the constitution had entrusted with 
 the power of controlling the public expenditure, could not 
 in the faithful discharge of their duty delegate any part 
 of that trust to persons who were not of their own body. 
 
 In the division which ensued Colonel Barre and Mr. 
 Pitt were appointed Tellers on the same side. It was 
 far from affording any cause of triumph to the young 
 orator, since Lord North carried his negative by 98 
 votes against 42. 
 
 A few days later we find Mr. Wilberforce refer to this 
 second speech as follows in a Tetter to a friend at Hull . 
 — " The papers will have informed you how Mr. William 
 Pitt, second son of the late Lord Chatham, has distin- 
 guished himself. He comes out as his father did, a 
 ready-made orator, and I doubt not but that I shall one 
 day or other see him the first man in the country. His 
 
 work at vol. i. p. 42. The Bishop 
 does not name the writer, hut de- 
 scribes him as " very intimate with 
 Mr. Pitt on the Western Circuit," 
 and as " holding an honourable 
 station in the Court of Chancery " 
 in 1820 ; adding other circum- 
 
 stances also which plainly identify 
 his correspondent with Mr. Jekyll. 
 7 See ToTuline's Life, vol. i. p. 33. 
 Lord Macaulay, by a trifling over- 
 sight, has transferred this incident 
 to Pitt's first speech (Biographies, 
 p. 152).
 
 60 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 famous speech, however, delivered the other night did 
 not convince me, and I stayed in with the old fat fellow 
 (Lord North)." 
 
 In the same month of May Wilberforce himself had 
 for the first time taken part in the debates. He seems 
 on this occasion to have attracted little notice. But ere 
 long he gained the success which his abilities and cha- 
 racter deserved, and by degrees grew into high favour 
 with the House as an earnest and excellent speaker. 
 
 Mr. Pitt spoke for the third time this Session on the 
 12th of June, upon a motion of Mr. Fox tending to con- 
 clude a peace with the American colonies. It does not 
 appear that the young orator had any thoughts of 
 taking part in this debate, but he was unexpectedly 
 called up by several misrepresentations of his father's 
 sentiments. Here is his own account to Lady Chatham 
 the next clay. 
 
 " June 13, 1781. 
 
 " The business of yesterday was a triumph to Oppo- 
 sition in everything but the article of numbers, which 
 was indeed some abatement of it — 172 to 99. I found 
 it necessary to say somewhat which was very favourably 
 and flatteringly received, in answer to Mr. Eigby and 
 Mr. Adam, who chose to say that my father and every 
 other party in the kingdom who had objected only to 
 the internal taxation of America, and had asserted at 
 that time the other rights of this country, were acces- 
 sories to the American war. This you may imagine I 
 directly denied, and expressed as strongly as I could how 
 much he detested the principle of the war. I gave several 
 general reasons which occurred to me for the necessity, in 
 every point of view, for an inquiry into the state of the
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 61 
 
 war (which was what Mr. Fox moved for), but avoided 
 saying anything direct on the subject of independence, 
 which in that stage of the business I thought better 
 avoided. I hope you will excuse the haste of this ac- 
 count, as I have a person waiting for me whilst I write." 
 
 But besides thus vindicating the opinions of Lord 
 Chatham in regard to the American war, Mr. Pitt took 
 occasion to state with the utmost force his own. " A 
 Noble Lord who spoke early " (here he alluded to Lord 
 Westcote) " has in the warmth of his zeal called this a 
 holy war. For my part, though the Eight Hon. gentle- 
 man who made the motion and some other gentlemen 
 have been more than once in the course of the debate 
 severely reprehended for calling it a wicked or accursed 
 war, I am persuaded, and I will affirm, that it is a most 
 accursed, wicked, barbarous, cruel, unnatural, unjust, and 
 diabolical war. . . . The expense of it has been enormous, 
 far beyond any former experience, and yet what has the 
 British nation received in return ? Nothing but a series 
 of ineffective victories or severe defeats — victories only 
 celebrated with temporary triumph over our brethren 
 whom we would trample down, or defeats which fill the 
 land with mourning for the loss of dear and valuable re- 
 lations slain in the impious cause of enforcing uncon- 
 ditional submission. Where is the Englishman who on 
 reading the narrative of those bloody and well fought 
 contests can refrain lamenting the loss of so much 
 British blood shed in such a cause, or from weeping on 
 whatever side victory might be declared ? " 
 
 In reply to Pitt rose Henry Dundas, Lord Advocate, 
 the same who was destined through many coming years
 
 62 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 to be not only one of Pitt's Cabinet colleagues, but the 
 most trusted and relied on of all. He defended, as lie 
 had always done and as he was bound to do, the whole 
 course of the American war ; but as regarded his young 
 adversary in that debate, he could not refrain from com- 
 plimenting " so happy an union of first-rate abilities, 
 high integrity, bold and honest independence of conduct, 
 and the most persuasive eloquence." 
 
 The debate on this occasion was summed up by Fox 
 with his usual admirable ability, but his motion to go 
 into Committee was rejected as we have seen by over- 
 whelming numbers. 
 
 These three were the only speeches made by Mr. Pitt 
 in that Session. It closed on the 18th of July. A little 
 time afterwards, when a member of the Opposition 
 happened to remark to Mr. Fox, "Mr. Pitt, I think, 
 promises to be one of the first men in Parliament," Fox, 
 without the smallest touch of jealousy, said at once, 
 " He is so already." 
 
 In the summer of that year, as in the preceding, Mr. 
 Pitt went the Western Circuit. It proved to be for the 
 last time. His whole career at the Bar was indeed so 
 short as to leave little opportunity for the display of his 
 abilities. He was eager to apply himself to it, and re- 
 solved to neglect no business, however small. It used 
 to be related by Mr. Justice Kooke how Pitt had dangled 
 seven days with a junior brief and a single guinea fee 
 waiting till a cause of no sort of importance should come 
 on in the Court of Common Pleas. On another occasion, 
 however, in the Court of King's Bench, there being a 
 motion for a Habeas Corpus in the case of a man who was
 
 1781. LIFE OF PITT. 63 
 
 charged with murder, we are assured that Mr. Pitt made 
 a speech which excited the admiration of the Bar, and 
 drew down some words of praise from Lord Mansfield. 
 
 On the Circuit he had but little business, yet at Salis- 
 bury in the summer of 1781 he was employed by Mr. 
 Samuel Petrie as junior counsel in some bribery causes 
 that had resulted from the Cricklade Election Petition. 
 There are reports of two speeches that he made in these 
 causes, each report, however, extending only to a few 
 lines ; and in giving judgment on the point which the 
 second of these speeches involved, Mr. Baron Perryn 
 said that " Mr. Titt's observations had great weight with 
 him." 8 
 
 It further appears that in the course of these trials 
 Pitt received some high compliments from Mr. Dunning, 
 the leader of the Bar. " I remember also," thus writes 
 Mr. Jekyll, one of his brother barristers upon this 
 Circuit, " that in an action of Crirn. Con. at Exeter he 
 manifested, as junior counsel, such talents in cross-ex- 
 amination, that it was the universal opinion of the Bar 
 that he should have led the cause." 
 
 Of his general character at the Bar, we find Mr. 
 Jekyll speak as follows : " Among lively men of his own 
 time of life, Mr. Pitt was always the most lively and 
 convivial in the many hours of leisure which occur to 
 young unoccupied men on a Circuit, and joined all the 
 little excursions to Southampton, Weymouth, and such 
 parties of amusement as were habitually formed. He 
 
 8 See the Report of the Cricklade Case (as published by Mr. Petrie), 
 p. 301 and 321, ed. 1785.
 
 64 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II 
 
 was extremely popular. His name and reputation of 
 high acquirements at the University commanded the 
 attention of Iris seniors. His wit, his good humour, and 
 joyous manners endeared him to the younger part of the 
 
 Bar At Mr. Pitt's instance an annual dinner took 
 
 place for some years at Kichmond Hill, the party con- 
 sisting of Lord Erskine, Lord Eedesdale, Sir William 
 Grant, Mr. Bond, Mr. Leycester, Mr. Jekyll, and others. 
 After he was Minister he continued to ask his old 
 Circuit intimates to dine with him, and his manners 
 were unaltered." 
 
 The Circuit of this summer having ended, Mr. Pitt 
 passed some autumn weeks with his mother at Burton 
 Pynsent, and during a part of this time they were joined 
 by Mr. Pretyman. But in the first days of October we 
 find him on a visit in Dorsetshire, and at the close of 
 that month again in chambers. 
 
 " Kingston Hall, 9 Oct. 7, 1781. 
 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " I have delayed writing to you longer than I 
 intended, which I hope is of little consequence, as 
 Harriot will have brought you all the news I could 
 have sent — an account of that stupid fete at Fonthill, 1 
 which, take it all together, was, I think, as ill imagined, 
 and as indifferently conducted, as anything of the sort 
 need be. She will, I hope, also have acknowledged that 
 although somewhat duller, she found it much less for- 
 midable than she imagined, which was one great point 
 
 9 The seat of his friend Henry Bankes, Esq. 
 
 1 The well-known seat of William Beekford, Esq.
 
 
 1781. LIFE OF FITT. 65 
 
 in its favour. By meeting Lord Shelburne and Lord 
 Camden, we were pressed to make a second visit to 
 Bowood, which, from the addition of Colonel Barre and 
 Mr. Dunning, was a very pleasant party. Since that 
 time I have been waging war, with increasing suc- 
 cess, on pheasants and partridges. I shall continue 
 hostilities, I believe, about a week longer, and then 
 prepare for the opening of another sort of campaign in 
 Westminster Hall. Parliament, I am very glad to hear, 
 is not to meet till the 27th of November, which will 
 allow me a good deal more leisure than I expected." 
 
 "Lincoln's Inn, Oct. 24, 1781. 
 
 " I rejoice that the prospect of seeing you at Hayes 
 draws nearer, and I flatter myself too with the hopes of 
 finding your course of amendment much increased and 
 confirmed. There is no fresh news in town. The last 
 account from America seems, if anything were wanting, 
 to complete our prospect there." 
 
 Parliament met again on the 27th November. Only 
 two days before had come the tidings of the surrender of 
 Lord Cornwallis at York Town. It was necessary for 
 that reason to new-cast the Royal Speech. The Ministers 
 were grievously depressed, while their opponents gathered 
 strength and energy in the same proportion. On the 
 Address, an amendment was moved by Fox, and both he 
 and Burke put forth all their powers of debate. So also 
 next day, on the Report of the Address, did Pitt. Such 
 was the applause in the House when he sat down that 
 it was some time before the Lord Advocate, who rose 
 immediately, could obtain a hearing. 
 
 The speech of Henry Dundas on this occasion was
 
 66 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 not a little surprising. In a tone of great frankness* 
 and paying the highest compliments to Pitt, he let fall 
 some hints of discordant views or erroneous conduct in 
 the Ministry to which he still belonged : but he would 
 no further explain himself. So acute a politician must 
 have clearly discerned the tottering state of Lord North, 
 and may not have felt unwilling, even at this time, to 
 connect himself with a young statesman of popular 
 principles and rising fame. 
 
 Compliments to the young statesman were, however, 
 by no means peculiar to Dundas. We are told in a 
 youthful letter from Sir Samuel Eomilly, that in one 
 of these debates before Christmas, 1781, "Fox, in an 
 exaggerated strain of panegyric, said he could no longer 
 lament the loss of Lord Chatham, for he was again living 
 in his son, with all his virtues and all his talents." 2 
 
 About a fortnight after the Address, Pitt made his 
 second speech of the Session, and his last before the 
 holidays. Horace Walpole, who was still in his old 
 age a most keen observer of everything that passed 
 around him, has an entry as follows in his journal : — 
 "December 14th, 1781. Another remarkable debate 
 on Army Estimates, in which Pitt made a speech with 
 amazing logical abilities, exceeding all he had hitherto 
 shown, and making men doubt whether he would not 
 prove superior even to Charles Fox." 
 
 In this speech Mr. Pitt gave a surprising proof of the 
 readiness of debate which he had already acquired, or 
 I may rather say which he had from the first displayed. 
 
 2 Life of Roniilly, by his Sons, vol. i. p. 192.
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 67 
 
 Lord George Germaine had taken occasion two days 
 before to declare that, be the consequences what they 
 might, he would never consent to sign the independence 
 of the colonies. Lord North, on the contrary, had shown 
 strong symptoms of yielding. Pitt was inveighing with 
 much force against these discordant counsels at so 
 perilous a juncture, when the two Ministers whom he 
 arraigned drew close and began to whisper, while Mr. 
 Welbore Ellis, a grey-haired placeman, of diminutive 
 size, the butt of Junius, under the by-name of Grildrig, 
 bent down his tiny head between them. Here Pitt 
 paused in his argument, and glancing at the group ex- 
 claimed, " I will wait until the unanimity is a little 
 better restored. I will wait until the Nestor of the 
 Treasury has reconciled the difference between the 
 Agamemnon and the Achilles of the American war." 
 
 A few days later, Parliament adjourned for several 
 weeks of Christmas holiday. No sooner had it re- 
 assembled than the Opposition resumed their attacks 
 with fresh spirit and success. Mr. Fox made the first 
 onset on the 24th of January, 1782 : it was directed 
 against the Earl of Sandwich, as First Lord of the 
 Admiralty. Pitt spoke several times to enforce these 
 charges, which were renewed in various forms. 
 
 "I support the motion," he said, "from motives of a 
 public nature, and from those motives only. I am too 
 young to be supposed capable of entertaining any per- 
 sonal enmity against the Earl of Sandwich ; and I 
 trust that when I shall be less young it will appear that 
 I have early determined, in the most solemn manner, 
 never to allow any private and personal consideration
 
 68 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 whatever to influence my public conduct at any one 
 moment of my life." 
 
 It should be observed that these remarkable words 
 have been put on record, though not so stated, from 
 the personal testimony of Mr. Pretyman, who appears 
 to have been present in the gallery that evening. They 
 are not to be found in the corresponding passage of the 
 ' Parliamentary Debates.' 3 
 
 Lady Chatham having before that period returned to 
 Hayes, there was probably scarce a week in which she 
 did not receive a visit from her son. His letters to her 
 during this spring are accordingly few and of little inte- 
 rest. Here, however, are some extracts : — 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, Wednesday (Jan. 1782). 
 
 " I am very unlucky in having been prevented by the 
 weather this morning from mounting my horse ; and 
 the more so because fresh engagements arise every 
 hour which make it difficult for me to have the pleasure 
 of looking at you at Hayes. I thought it impossible 
 that anything should interfere with my intention to- 
 morrow ; but (what is very mal a propos, considering 
 how seldom it has occurred) I have some law business 
 just now put into my hands, which must be done with- 
 out delay." 
 
 " March 9, 1782. 
 
 " I came to town yesterday in time for a very good 
 debate ; and a division which, though not victorious, is 
 as encouraging as possible — 216 against 226, on a ques- 
 
 3 Compare Bishop Tomline's 
 Life, vol. i. p. 52, with the Pari. 
 Hist. vol. xsii. p. 939. The Bishop 
 
 has in like manner supplied some 
 expressions of Mr. Dunning in the 
 same debate.
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 69 
 
 tion leading directly to removal, is a force that can 
 hardly fail. Another trial will be made in the course 
 of the week, and probably on Thursday, on which day 
 I shall be able to attend without much inconvenience. 
 To-morrow morning I return to Salisbury, and unluckily 
 the hour at which I must set out will not give me a 
 chance of seeing you first. Knowing of some little busi- 
 ness that I shall be engaged in there, it is of importance 
 to me to be in time. I trust to have the pleasure of 
 finding you here at my next glimpse of London." 
 
 " Goostree's, half-past one (March 16, 1782). 
 
 " After an excellent debate we have lost our question 
 by a division of 230 against 227, which is indeed every- 
 thing but a victory." 
 
 It is not necessary that I should go through in detail 
 the long series of able and vigorous attacks upon the 
 Government by which the Parliamentary annals of this 
 spring are distinguished. In several of them Mr. Pitt 
 took part with great applause. Sometimes the Ministers 
 underwent defeat, and sometimes they only escaped it 
 by most narrow majorities. Notwithstanding the King's 
 wishes and entreaties, their resignation could be no 
 longer deferred. It was announced on the 20th of 
 March to the House of Commons by Lord North, 
 speaking, as ever, with excellent taste and temper ; 
 and the King, though coldly and ungraciously, con- 
 sented to accept the Marquis of Kockingham as his new 
 Prime Minister. 
 
 In the distribution of offices w r hich ensued it was 
 sought to combine both the parties in Opposition. Mr.
 
 70 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 Fox and Lord Shelburne became joint Secretaries of 
 State, Lord Camden President, the Duke of Grafton 
 Privy Seal, and Lord John Cavendish Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer. He was recommended to that office 
 mainly by his name and rank ; but still, as to his mental 
 qualities, does not quite deserve to be called, as Lord 
 Brougham calls him, "the most obscure of mankind." 
 Lord Thurlow, whose energy had gained him both the 
 personal favour of the King and the political guidance 
 of the House of Peers, was continued Lord Chancellor. 
 Henry Dundas, in like manner, was continued Lord 
 Advocate. Burke was promoted to the lucrative office 
 of Paymaster, but not deemed worthy of a seat in the 
 Cabinet. No more was Thomas Townshend, who ac- 
 cepted the post of Secretary-at-War. Other rich offices 
 were bestowed on Barre and Dunning, the latter being 
 also shortly afterwards raised to the peerage as Lord 
 Ashburton. 
 
 The son of Chatham was not included in the new 
 arrangements. Some ten days before Lord North had 
 announced his resignation, but while that resignation was 
 foreseen as close impending, Pitt had taken occasion, in 
 the House of Commons, to use words to the following 
 effect : — " For myself, I could not expect to form part 
 of a new administration ; but were my doing so more 
 within my reach, I feel myself bound to declare that I 
 never would accept a subordinate situation." Young as 
 he was, he had determined that he would not be held as 
 committed to measures in framing which he had no 
 share. He had determined that he would serve his 
 Sovereign as a Cabinet Minister, or not at all.
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 71 
 
 Such a resolution is only to be justified by the con- 
 sciousness and by the reputation of extraordinary powers. 
 Even at the present time such a resolution might justly 
 excite surprise, and be regarded as presumptuous from 
 a young man not yet twenty-three ; but in the time of 
 Pitt it must have seemed more surprising and more pre- 
 sumptuous still. The Cabinet was then a much smaller 
 body than at present. In 1770, on the first formation of 
 his Government, Lord North made it of seven. In 
 
 1783, as we shall see hereafter, Pitt himself made it of 
 seven also. Admission to such an assembly was of 
 course a much higher distinction than it could be to 
 Cabinets of fourteen and sixteen ; and some men even 
 of the most powerful intellects, as Burke and Sheridan, 
 were never to the end of their lives invited to enter its 
 doors. 
 
 It is said indeed that Pitt had no sooner sat down 
 than he felt he might have gone too far, and consulted 
 Admiral Keppel, who was next him, whether he should 
 not rise again and explain. This was told by Sir Eobert 
 Adair to the Earl of Albemarle, as derived from Keppel 
 himself. 4 All three authorities are entitled to high re- 
 spect ; yet it does not seem very likely that the deter- 
 mination announced by Pitt could have been formed at 
 the spur of the moment, or could therefore have been 
 liable to so sudden a revulsion. The statement of 
 Bishop Tomline, on the contrary, implies that the de- 
 termination of Pitt was deliberate, and not announced 
 till some days after it was formed. 
 
 See the Memoirs of Lord Rockingham, vol. ii. p. 423.
 
 72 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 Certain it is that Mr. Pitt showed no irresolution 
 when, upon the change of Government consequent on 
 Lord North's resignation, he had before him the choice 
 of several subordinate posts. These offers came to him 
 through his friend Lord Shelburne, for with Lord Rock- 
 ingham he had no more than a slight acquaintance. 
 The Vice-Treasurership of Ireland was especially pressed 
 upon him. It was an office of light work and high pay, 
 the latter being computed at no less than 5000£. a-year. 
 It was an office to which Pitt might the rather incline 
 because his father had formerly held it ; but the young 
 barrister preferred his independence with chambers and 
 not quite 300?. a-year. 
 
 Mr. Pitt did not evince the smallest displeasure or 
 resentment at his own omission from the highest rank 
 of offices. He publicly expressed, on several occasions, 
 his good opinion of the Government ; and he cheerfully 
 gave it his general support, while still pursuing his own 
 independent line. 
 
 The question to which, beyond any other at this time, 
 Mr. Pitt applied himself, was to amend the representa- 
 tion of the people in the House of Commons. Parlia- 
 mentary Reform had followed close in the wake of Eco- 
 nomical Reform. The lavish expense and the ill success 
 of the American war in its concluding stages led many 
 persons to forget that the prosecution of that war, even 
 at such expense, had been for some years a popular 
 object with the country at large, as might be amply 
 shown by the avowal, at the time, of the Opposition 
 chiefs themselves. It was now on the contrary con- 
 tended, from the experience of the last fifteen or twenty
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 73 
 
 months, that the members for the close boroughs had 
 been the main strength on which the war party relied. 
 A cry against these boroughs rapidly arose, and the 
 cause of Parliamentary Ileform was espoused with great 
 ardour by many persons — by no one with greater than 
 by the llev. Christopher Wyvill, a clergyman of an old 
 family in Yorkshire. His 'Correspondence' upon this 
 subject, which he subsequently published, extends over 
 six volumes and twenty years ; and affords the best ma- 
 terials for the history, at that time, of a cause not until 
 long afterwards destined to prevail. 
 
 Under the influence of Mr. Wyvill and other zealous 
 party men, a general meeting of the friends of Parlia- 
 mentary Reform was convened in London. It was held 
 at the house of the Duke of Richmond, who was then 
 Master of the Ordnance and a member of the Cabinet 
 in the new administration. Here it was determined that 
 the question should be immediately submitted to the 
 House of Commons. Mr. Pitt was fixed upon as the 
 fittest person to bring it forward, and the offer being 
 made to him he undertook the task. 
 
 On the 7th of May, after the House had been in due 
 form called over — a practice at that time customary to 
 secure a full attendance — Pitt brought forward this 
 great question in a speech of considerable length. To 
 combine in his support all classes of Reformers, he care- 
 fully refrained, both in his speech and motion, from any 
 specific statement of a plan : he moved only for a Select 
 Committee to examine into the state of the representa- 
 tion. With resolute boldness he inveighed against 
 "the corrupt influence of the Crown — an influence 
 
 VOL. I. e
 
 74 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 which has been pointed at in every period as the fertile 
 source of all our miseries — an influence which has been 
 substituted in the room of wisdom, of activity, of exer- 
 tion, and of success — an influence which has grown up 
 with our growth and strengthened with our strength, but 
 which unhappily has not diminished with our diminution, 
 nor decayed with our decay." Such is one of the very 
 few sentences that can well be cited from the abridged 
 and most tame report of his animated speech ; but in 
 arguments, of which only the mere groundwork is pre- 
 served, he declared himself the enemy of the close 
 boroughs — the strongholds of that corruption of which 
 he had complained. He pointed out the great anomaly 
 (for an anomaly all must own it to be) that some decayed 
 villages, almost destitute of population, should send mem- 
 bers to Parliament under the control of the Treasury, or 
 at the bidding of some great Lord or Commoner, the 
 owner of the soil ; and he asked emphatically, " Is this 
 representation ? " He further appealed to the memory 
 of a person of whom he said that every member of the 
 House could speak with more freedom than himself ; and 
 he declared, as of his own knowledge, that this person 
 (I need scarcely say that he referred to his father) — a 
 person, he added, not apt to indulge in vague or chi- 
 merical speculations inconsistent with practice and ex- 
 pediency — had held the opinion that unless a more solid 
 and equal system of representation were established, 
 this nation, great and happy as it might have been, 
 would come to be confounded in the mass of those 
 whose liberties were lost in the corruption of the people. 
 When Pitt sat down, as he did amidst loud applause, a
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 75 
 
 veteran reformer, Mr. Alderman Sawbridge, rose and 
 seconded the motion he had made. 
 
 The new Government was by no means united on this 
 question. The Duke of Kichmond, for example, had 
 been among its first promoters. But the sentiments of 
 Lord Kockingham, so far as we can trace them through 
 the haze of faulty grammar and confused expressions in 
 his letter to Mr. Pemberton Milnes, 5 were secretly ad- 
 verse. Those of Burke were openly hostile. It was 
 with some difficulty that Fox, who took the contrary 
 part, prevailed on him to stay away from the debate. 
 Fox himself spoke in favour of the motion ; so also did 
 Sheridan and Sir George Savile. On the other hand 
 Pitt found himself opposed by his cousin Thomas Pitt 
 of Boconnoc, who objected to the motion as too vague 
 and undefined ; by his coming friend, the Lord Advo- 
 cate ; by Rolle, the member for Devonshire ; and by seve- 
 ral besides. On dividing, the motion was lost by only 
 twenty votes in a House of more than three hundred 
 members, the numbers being 161 against 141. Lord 
 Macaulay has observed that the Eeformers never again 
 had so good a division till the year 1831. 
 
 On the 17th of May a branch of the same subject was 
 again brought forward by Alderman Sawbridge, who pro- 
 posed a Bill " to shorten the duration of Parliaments." 
 Both Fox and Pitt spoke in favour of the motion, but it 
 was rejected by a large majority. Mr. Burke could not 
 be withheld from taking part in this debate or from re- 
 
 5 As published by Lord Albemarle in his Memoirs of Lord Rocking- 
 ham, vol. ii. p. 395. 
 
 E 2
 
 76 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 verting to the former question. Thus in a private letter 
 to a friend in Ireland does Sheridan describe the scene : 
 ' ' On Friday last Burke acquitted himself with the most 
 magnanimous indiscretion, attacked William Pitt in a 
 scream of passion, and swore Parliament was and always 
 had been precisely what it ought to be, and that all 
 people who thought of reforming it wanted to over- 
 turn the Constitution." 6 
 
 On the 19th of June Mr. Pitt spoke with much warmth 
 and ability in support of a Bill which had been intro- 
 duced by Lord Mahon for preventing bribery at elec- 
 tions. Mr. Fox, though with many expressions of cour- 
 tesy to Pitt, took the opposite side, and " this," says 
 Bishop Tomline, " was, I believe, the first question upon 
 which they happened to differ before any separation took 
 place between them. I must, however, remark that al- 
 though they had hitherto acted together in Parliament, 
 there had been no intimacy or confidential intercourse 
 between them." 7 
 
 In Committee on this Bill, Lord Mahon consented to 
 give up several points in the hope to render the measure 
 more palatable to the House. Thus he struck out the 
 words that forbade candidates to hire horses or carriages 
 for the conveyance of voters to the poll. But the clause 
 still provided that the money for this purpose should 
 not be paid to the elector on any account whatever, 
 under the penalties of disfranchisement for ever of the 
 elector, and of incapacity to the candidate of sitting in 
 
 6 See the Memorials of Fox, edited by Lord John Kussell, vol. i. 
 p. 322. 
 
 ' Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 81.
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 77 
 
 that Parliament. Mr. Pitt supported this clause, which 
 Mr. Fox and other gentlemen thought too severe, and 
 on a division it was rejected by a majority of 26. " This 
 incapacitating clause contained," said Lord Mahon, " the 
 very pith and marrow of my Bill," — which thus muti- 
 lated he declined any further to proceed with. 
 
 On the 25th of June both Fox and Pitt spoke in sup- 
 port of a motion which was levelled at Lord North and 
 his colleagues. It was to direct the payment into the 
 Exchequer of the balances remaining in the hands of 
 Mr. Bigby, late Paymaster of the Forces, and of Mr. 
 Ellis, late Treasurer of the Navy. The motion was 
 opposed by Lord North, and rejected by a majority of 11, 
 showing how powerful was still the party of the late ad- 
 ministration in the House of Commons. 
 
 During the three months that had elapsed since the 
 late administration fell, vehement differences had al- 
 ready arisen in the new. The Chancellor was on ill 
 terms with most of his colleagues, and w T as suspected of 
 caballing against them. Fox and Shelburne, as joint 
 Secretaries of State, were jealous of each other, and the 
 more so since the line between then- departments had 
 not been accurately drawn. The negotiations for peace 
 were no easy task. The affairs of Ireland had grown 
 to be most critical, and could not be adjusted without 
 some conflict of opinion. So early as mid-April we find 
 Fox in one of his private letters complain of " another 
 very teasing and wrangling Cabinet." 8 
 
 To quell these dissensions among his colleagues there 
 
 8 Memorials, by Lord John Russell, vol. i. p. 315.
 
 78 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 was needed a man of energy as Premier. Lord Eock- 
 ingham on the contrary, with the best intentions, was 
 on every point timid, feeble, indecisive. It seems im- 
 possible that he could have much longer kept together 
 the jarring elements that were, at least nominally, com- 
 mitted to his charge ; but in the course of June he fell 
 sick, and on the 1st of July he died. 
 
 The Cabinet at once fell asunder. His Majesty sent 
 for Lord Shelburne and offered him the vacant post ot 
 First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Shelburne accepted 
 the offer. Most of the other Ministers acquiesced in it, 
 but Fox was fully determined not to bear the dominion 
 of his rival. He leagued himself with his chosen friend 
 Lord John Cavendish, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 and they both came to the conclusion that the fittest man 
 for Prime Minister was Lord John's brother by marriage, 
 the Duke of Portland, at that time Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland. Portland was in all points the very counter- 
 part of Eockingham. Like him he was a man of high 
 birth, of princely fortune, of honourable character, of 
 nervous shyness, and of very moderate abilities. It was 
 plainly designed that Fox's own pre-eminent abilities 
 should govern the country under his Grace's name. 
 
 In fulfilment of their resolution Fox and Cavendish pro- 
 ceeded to press upon the King the nomination of the 
 Duke of Portland to the Treasury. But the King saw 
 no reason to revoke his appointment of Lord Shelburne, 
 and on His Majesty's refusal the two Ministers resigned. 
 They were followed by the Duke of Portland from Dub- 
 lin Castle, as also by Burke, Sheridan, and some few 
 others from the lower ranks of office, and they continued
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 79 
 
 to be supported by a considerable body of adherents in 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 But from the public they obtained little sympathy. 
 The resignation of Fox was in general regarded as in- 
 defensible on any public grounds. Among his indepen- 
 dent friends many of the most high-minded disapproved 
 it. Such was especially the case with Sir George Sa- 
 vile. It seemed to carry out to their worst extreme the 
 oligarchical principles at that time of the great Whig 
 houses. Was it to be borne in a free country that no 
 man but the heir of some one of these houses should ever 
 be deemed fit for the highest place in public affairs ? 
 And there was another circumstance which, as Horace 
 Walpole remarks in one of his letters of this date, added 
 not a little to the ridicule of this pretension. " It is not 
 merely," he says, "that a few great families claim the 
 hereditary and exclusive right of giving us a head, but 
 they will insist upon selecting a head without a tongue ! " 
 
 Fortified as he hoped by popular opinion, but exposed 
 to unfavourable chances in the House of Commons, the 
 new Prime Minister proceeded to fill up the vacant 
 offices. Earl Temple, the first cousin of Pitt, was ap- 
 pointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with his brother 
 William Grenville as Chief Secretary. The seals of 
 Secretary of State, as relinquished by Fox and Shel- 
 burne, were entrusted to Thomas Townshend and Lord 
 Grantham. The place of Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 was offered to Pitt, and by him accepted. And thus 
 did Pitt attain one of the highest offices of Government 
 only a few weeks after he had completed the age of 
 twenty-three.
 
 80 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 In the new administration the leadership of the House 
 of Commons was nominally vested in the senior member, 
 Mr. Secretary Townshend ; but it was Pitt on whom 
 Lord Shelburne relied to confront the great orators 
 ranged in the Opposition ranks ; and in fact, as ap- 
 peared in the sequel, it was Pitt who took the prominent 
 part in every debate. 
 
 The Parliament was quickly prorogued after a day of 
 Ministerial explanations in both Houses. In the Com- 
 mons, Pitt, whose writ was not yet moved, whose ap- 
 pointment even was not yet announced, was able to take 
 part in the debate, and there was now for the first time an 
 altercation conducted with some keenness between him 
 and Fox. " The late Eight Hon. Secretary," said the 
 young orator, " is to be looked upon as public property, 
 and as such I have a right to question him as to his 
 conduct in resigning an important post. ... It was in my 
 opinion a dislike to men, and not to measures ; and there 
 appears to be something personal in the business ; for if 
 the Eight Hon. gentleman had such an aversion as he 
 now professes to the political sentiments of Lord Shel- 
 burne, how came he only three months ago to accept 
 him as a colleague ? " 
 
 In the other House Lord- Shelburne defended the 
 stand which he had made against the dictation of Fox 
 and Cavendish, by Ms adherence to the maxims of one 
 whom he called his master in politics, the late Earl of 
 Chatham. " That noble Earl," he said, " always declared 
 that the country ought not to be governed by any oli- 
 garchical party or family connection, and that if it was 
 to be so governed, the Constitution must of necessity
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 81 
 
 expire. And on these principles," added Shelburne, 
 " I have always acted." 
 
 The familiar letters of Mr. Pitt to his mother will 
 best portray his feelings and conduct at this time and 
 for some time afterwards. I shall either insert them at 
 length, or extract from them as usual all passages of 
 interest, and with these extracts the present chapter 
 shall conclude. 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, June 27, 1782. 
 
 " My brother tells me he has mentioned to you that 
 Lord Rockingham is ill, which is unfortunately in the 
 way of anything more at present ; but Lord S. told me 
 yesterday that Lord R. had expressed himself as wishing 
 to do something that might give you a security for the 
 future. You are very good in thinking of communicat- 
 ing any share of what I am sure your own occasions 
 may demand entire ; mine are not so pressing but that 
 they will wait very tolerably at present ; and I shall 
 expect that Westminster Hall will, in good time, supply 
 all that is wanting. 
 
 " The Circuit begins on Tuesday sennight. I hope to 
 call in my way westward, if not certainly in my return ; 
 and I shall undoubtedly be able to make some stay after 
 it is over, though my plan for the remainder of the 
 summer is not quite settled. I hope Mrs. Stapleton is 
 by this time added to your society, and as well as usual. 
 My brother, I believe, has not informed you of a match 
 of which the world here is certain, but of which he assures 
 me he knows nothing, between himself and the beauty 
 in Albemarle Street. 9 There is no late public news ; 
 
 9 Mary Elizabeth, daughter of 
 the Right Hon. Thomas Towns- 
 hend. The match in question did 
 
 not take place for upwards of a 
 year. 
 
 E 3
 
 82 LIFE OP PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 but our fleet is, I believe, sailing, which will probably 
 furnish some very important. Lord Kockingham's very 
 precarious state occasions a great deal of suspense, and 
 if it ends ill, may, I am afraid, produce a great deal of 
 confusion. Whether that may not happen any way is 
 indeed more than one can be sure of as things stand." 
 
 " Tuesday, July 2, 1782. 
 "MY DEAE MOTHEE, 
 
 "lam much obliged to you for your letter, but 
 very sorry to think that the unavoidable engagement 
 which produced the interval in my letters left you in 
 that state of suspense which distance too naturally 
 produces. I hope you will have received at the due 
 time the letter I wrote last Saturday. After what I 
 then mentioned, it will not be a surprise to you to hear 
 that the event of Lord Eockingham's death took place 
 yesterday morning. What the consequences of it will 
 be to the public cannot yet quite be foreseen. With 
 regard to myself, I believe the arrangement may be of 
 a sort in which I may, and probably ought to take a part. 
 If I do, I think I need not say you pretty well know 
 the principles on which I shall do it. In this short time 
 nothing is settled, and I only saw what were the strong 
 wishes of some who foresaw the event. But how different 
 pretensions will be adjusted is a matter of great uncer- 
 tainty. As soon as I am able to let you know parti- 
 culars, I will do it by a safer conveyance, and give you 
 notice. You will not wonder if I write in some haste. 
 I am very glad to hear that Harriot is better. 
 
 " The business depending will probably be settled one 
 wav or other before I need decide about the Circuit, 
 
 " I am, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt.
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 83 
 
 " My poor servant John has had a violent attack of his 
 old complaint, which has been of a very serious nature. 
 He is getting better, and I hope in a good way, though 
 still very ill. I think he seems very much to wish to 
 see his wife, though he does not care directly to send 
 for her. But I believe if vou would have the goodness 
 to send her up by the coach, and furnish what is wanting 
 for her journey, it would be a great comfort to him, as 
 he will, I fear, in no case be quite well a good while. I 
 have got a servant that will do in his stead for the 
 present." 
 
 " Friday, July 5, 1782. 
 
 "You will, I am sure, be impatient to hear something 
 more from me. Things begin to be pretty near settled, 
 and on the whole I hope well for the country, though 
 not precisely as one would have wished. Fox has 
 chosen to resign, on no ground that I can learn but 
 Lord Shelbume being placed at the Treasury. Lord J. 
 Cavendish also quits, which is not surprising, as he 
 accepted at first merely on Lord Rockingham's account. 
 Other inferior changes will take place in some depart- 
 ments ; but the bulk stand firm. My lot will be either 
 at the Treasury as Chancellor of the Exchequer, or in 
 the Home department as Secretary of State. The 
 arrangement cannot be finally settled till to-morrow or 
 next day, but everything promises as well as possible in 
 such circumstances. Mr. Townshend certainly makes 
 part of this fresh arrangement, and probably in a more 
 forward post, which is to me an infinite satisfaction. 
 Lord Shelburne's conduct is everything that could be 
 wished. Parliament adjourns in a day or two, and little 
 or nothing can pass there till next Session. The prin- 
 cipal thing I shall have to regret will be the probability 
 of this delaying my having the happiness of seeing
 
 84 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 you ; though I trust it will not do that for the whole 
 summer. 
 
 " I have written in great haste, and at first with a view 
 to the post ; but I believe it will become more the dis- 
 cretion which I must now have about me not to send it 
 by that conveyance. I forgot to say that Mr. J. Gren- 
 ville either continues in his present situation or takes a 
 new one; perfectly disapproving of the step Fox has 
 taken. This I am sure you will be glad to hear." 
 
 "Grafton Street, July 16, 1782. 
 
 " Our new Board of Treasury has just begun to enter 
 on business ; and though I do not know that it is of the 
 most entertaining sort, it does not seem likely to be 
 very fatiguing. In all other respects my situation 
 satisfies, and more than satisfies me, and I think 
 promises everything that is agreeable. . . . Lord North 
 will, I hope, in a very little while make room for me in 
 Downing Street, which is the best summer town house 
 possible." 
 
 " Grafton Street, July 30, 1782. 
 
 "I am not able to tell whether I can succeed as 
 I wish for your Welsh friend. Of all the secrets of my 
 office I have in this short time learnt the least about 
 patronage. I rather believe this branch belongs almost 
 entirely to the First Lord, though certainly recommen- 
 dations will have their weight there. I think I need 
 not say that I will try as far as I can with propriety. 
 Harriot's request, or rather her neighbour's (for I cer- 
 tainly do not charge Harriot with being too pressing a 
 solicitor), is, I am afraid, of a sort which I cannot much 
 forward ; but I will consider whether I can do anything, 
 and let her know. In the mean time she may be per-
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 85 
 
 fectly assured that I am not yet so tired of being asked 
 as to take it very ill of her to have been the channel of 
 it. I expect to be comfortably settled in the course of 
 this week in apart of my vast, awkward house." 
 
 "Grafton Street, Aug. 10, 1782. 
 
 " I must certainly plead guilty to the charges you 
 have to make against me as a correspondent, which, 
 however, I hope you will have less cause for in future. 
 At the same time, though I am very far from pretending 
 never to have an hour of leisure, you may imagine that 
 business may sometimes come at such a time as to pre- 
 vent writing, or at least to prevent writing with great 
 accuracy. I had understood before from Lord Shelbunx i 
 the substance of what you mention out of his letter to 
 you, which is certainly on the whole very favourable ; 
 and as I am sure he will not be disposed to lose any 
 time in the business, I have no sort of doubt that you 
 will soon perceive the good effect. 1 
 
 " My secretary, whom you wish to know, is a person 
 whose name you may probably never have heard, a Mr. 
 Bellingham, an army friend of my brother. You will 
 wonder at a secretary from the army ; but as the office 
 is a perfect sinecure, and has no duty but that of re- 
 ceiving about four hundred a year, no profession is 
 unfit for it. I have not yet any private secretary, nor 
 do I perceive, at least as yet, any occasion for it." 
 
 "Downing Street, Sept. 5, 1782. 
 
 " I have not had so much of a Hayes life as you seem 
 to imagine, as I have been able to go there but for two 
 nights this fortnight. I hope to be able to steal a few 
 
 As regarded the payment of arrears in Lady Chatham's pension.
 
 86 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. II. 
 
 days before long for shooting, though I find the vacation 
 by no means a recess from business. I wish I could see 
 a prospect of its allowing me to look in upon you at 
 Burton." 
 
 " Downing Street, Sept. 12, 1782. 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for your letter, which I 
 received yesterday on my return from Cheveley, where I 
 had been for two days. A short visit for such a distance ; 
 but as my brother was going there, I thought it worth 
 the exertion, and it was very well repaid by a great 
 deal of air and exercise in shooting, and the finest 
 weather in the world. The finest part of all indeed is a 
 fine east wind, which, as the fleet is just sailed for 
 Gibraltar, is worth everything. I assure you I do not 
 forget the lessons I have so long followed, of riding in 
 spite of business ; though I indeed want it less than 
 ever, as I was never so perfectly well. All I have to do 
 now is to be done quite at my own hours, being merely 
 to prepare for the busy season ; which is very necessary 
 to be done, but which at the same time is not a close 
 confinement. We are labouring at all sorts of official 
 reform, for which there is a very ample field, and in 
 which I believe we shall have some success." 
 
 " Sunday (Dec. 1782). 
 
 " The Gibraltar business, I reckon, stands fairer since 
 our last debate ; but I shall not be sorry if, finally, it 
 does not come in question at the conclusion of the treaty, 
 of which there is some chance. 
 
 " I shall be impatient to receive orders at the Treasury 
 on a subject where I cannot well be the first to give 
 them." 2 
 
 2 The settlement of Lady Chatham's arrears.
 
 1782. LIFE OF PITT. 87 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1782 — 1783. 
 
 Acknowledgment of American independence — Proposed cession of 
 Gibraltar — Preliminary treaties with France and Spain — Confer- 
 ence between Pitt and Fox — Coalition of Fox and North — Defeat 
 of Lord Shelburne — Pitt's great speech in vindication of the 
 Peace — Kesignation of Lord Shelburne — Pitt refuses the offer of 
 the Treasury — Resigns office of Chancellor of the Exchequer — 
 Duke of Portland's Ministry — Pitt in private life — Again brings 
 forward Parliamentary Reform, but is defeated — Prince ofWalee 
 — Marriage of Lord Chatham. 
 
 As the autumn advanced, and the period for the reas- 
 sembling of Parliament drew near, the new Ministers 
 became more and more impressed with the difficulties 
 which they might expect in the House of Commons. 
 It seemed most desirable that they should endeavour 
 to gain strength from the ranks of Opposition. The 
 Opposition at that time consisted, as we have seen, 
 of two parties, as yet wholly unconnected and wide 
 asunder — the party of Mr. Fox and the party of 
 Lord North, and with either of these a junction might 
 perhaps be made. On that point, however, the wishes 
 of the First Lord of the Treasury and of his Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer were by no means the same. 
 Lord Shelburne, as was natural, resented the violence 
 of Fox against himself, and inclined far rather to a 
 coalition with Lord North. But Pitt positively de- 
 clared that nothing should induce him to concur in this
 
 88 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 last scheme. He retained his strong aversion to the 
 conduct of the American war and to its authors, but 
 was willing and desirous to rejoin those who, like Fox, 
 had been united with him in opposing that war and in 
 hurling Lord North from power. 
 
 The wishes of Pitt in this direction were earnestly 
 supported by several other members of the Cabinet, 
 as by General Conway and by Admiral, now Viscount, 
 Keppel. They had long been adherents of Fox ; and, 
 though continuing in office, chafed at their separation 
 from him. But the repugnance of Lord Shelburne was 
 as yet unconquerable. Amidst these jarring counsels 
 the time went on to the meeting of Parliament : no 
 resolution was taken, and no overtures in any quarter 
 were made. 
 
 The meeting of Parliament had been fixed for the 
 26th of November. It was further prorogued to the 
 5th of the following month, in hopes that the peace 
 might meanwhile be concluded. Provisional articles 
 with America, to be hereafter inserted in a treaty of 
 peace, were indeed signed at Paris on the 30th of 
 November. By these the revolted colonies were in ex- 
 plicit words acknowledged ; but the terms with France 
 and Spain were found to require much longer time 
 for their adjustment. On these there was also a mate- 
 rial disagreement among the Ministers. Lord Shel- 
 burne was desirous of yielding Gibraltar to the 
 Spaniards, receiving in return Porto Rico or some 
 other West India island. Lord Keppel, the Duke of 
 Grafton, and several more members of the Cabinet, 
 were warmly opposed to this exchange. We learn from
 
 178S 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 89 
 
 a cautious passage — the last in my preceding chapter — 
 of Pitt's letters to his mother, that Pitt himself was 
 among the Ministers who stood firm against Lord 
 Shelburne's project, and who finally prevailed. 1 
 
 It may be suspected that, on account of this twofold 
 difference — as to the junction with Fox and as to the 
 exchange of Gibraltar — the cordiality between the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer and his chief had become 
 a little impaired. 
 
 It would seem that through the autumn Lord North 
 among his friends had talked much— and as some of 
 them thought, too much — of "absence, neutrality, mo- 
 deration." 2 When the two Houses met on the 5th of 
 December, he appeared in his place and spoke with 
 great temper and forbearance. Put nothing could 
 exceed the vehemence of Burke and Fox. Burke 
 especially, who, in the explanations of July last, had 
 called Lord Shelburne " a Borgia and a Catiline," now 
 inveighed against his "duplicity and delusion," and 
 compared him to a serpent with two heads! Some 
 discrepancy there certainly was to complain of in the 
 explanations of the Ministers. In the House of Peers 
 Lord Shelburne had said that the acknowledgment of 
 American independence under the Provisional Articles 
 was only contingent and conditional ; while in the 
 Commons both Pitt and Conway declared that, in their 
 
 1 An extract from the MS. Me- 
 moirs of the Duke of Grafton, 
 giving a full account of the dis- 
 sensions in the Cabinet relative to 
 Gibraltar, has been already pub- 
 
 lished by me in the Appendix, 
 p. xxvi., to the seventh volume of 
 my History of England. 
 
 2 Letter of Gibbon to Holroyd, 
 Oct. 14, 1782.
 
 90 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 judgment, this acknowledgment must be regarded as 
 positive and final. 
 
 The first part of this Session, which commenced on 
 the 5th of December, was soon interrupted by the 
 approach of the Christmas holidays, and the Parliament 
 was adjourned for one month. There had been already 
 some very keen debates. In all these Pitt had taken 
 the lead on the part of Government, and had main- 
 tained the contest, on no unequal terms, with the great 
 orators of the Opposition ; and it deserves to be noted 
 — so natural is the supremacy of genius in popular 
 assemblies — that he had taken this chief part without 
 giving any offence to his nominal leader, Mr. Secretary 
 Townshend. That gentleman — once his father's friend, 
 as now his own — continued to act with him on most 
 cordial terms. 
 
 During these short holidays we find Pitt, in the 
 following note, summon Lord Mahon to London, pro- 
 bably to concert with him a measure on Parliamentary 
 Keform. 
 
 " Downing Street, Dec. 28, 1782. 
 " My dear Lord, 
 
 "lam in great hopes you will be able to come 
 directly to town. This is just the time in which we 
 must fix on something ; and, I think, in a day or two 
 we could go through all the necessary discussion before 
 any practical steps are taken. 
 
 " Yours most affectionately, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 The preliminary treaties with France and Spain (for 
 with Holland there as yet was only a truce concluded)
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 91 
 
 being at last brought to an adjustment, were signed at 
 Paris on the 20th of January, 1783. On the 27th they 
 were carried down to both Houses of Parliament — to 
 the Peers by Lord Grantham, to the Commons by his 
 brother Secretary, Townshend. Ample time was left 
 for their consideration, the Addresses to the King in 
 reply being fixed for the 17th of the ensuing month. 
 
 It has been admitted by nearly all the writers on 
 that point in the present century that the conditions of 
 these treaties were to the full as favourable as, with 
 such vast odds against us, we had any right to expect 
 or to demand. To the Americans we conceded only 
 the independence which, in fact, they had already 
 won. We gave back to the French Chandemagore and 
 Pondicherry, the settlement of Senegal, and the island 
 of St, Lucia. We gave back to the Spaniards Minorca 
 and both the Floridas. But we retained our Indian 
 empire, that mighty counterpoise to the colonies which 
 we lost on another continent. We retained the rock 
 of Gibraltar, against which the two great Bourbon 
 monarchies had tried their strength in vain. And, as 
 Lord Macaulay with much force observes, England 
 preserved even her dignity, for she ceded to the House 
 of Bourbon only part of what she had conquered from 
 that House in previous wars. 
 
 At the time, however, such considerations were by 
 no means duly weighed. No sooner were the terms 
 of the treaties divulged than considerable murmurs 
 arose. The necessity of such concessions was already 
 half forgotten, while the concessions themselves rose 
 full in view. Even those who had most loudly de-
 
 02 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 nonnced "a ruinous war" showed equal force of lungs 
 in crying out against " a ruinous peace." Under such 
 circumstances the Cabinet found it far from easy to 
 frame the Addresses to be moved in both Houses, 
 and to express at least a qualified approval of the 
 treaties. " We agreed," so writes the Duke of Grafton 
 in his manuscript Memoirs, " that no triumphant words 
 could be carried or ought to be proposed. Those which 
 pleased most w r ere the most moderate, and such were 
 adopted." 
 
 At the time when the treaties were brought down to 
 Parliament the administration of Lord Shelburne was 
 nearly rent asunder by divisions. Already had Keppel 
 retired from the Admiralty, and Kichmond ceased to 
 attend the meetings of the Cabinet. Other changes 
 soon ensued. Grafton and Conway expressed them- 
 selves as much dissatisfied, and Lord Carlisle threw up 
 his office of Lord Steward. 
 
 Thus estranged in great part from his colleagues, 
 and pressed by the want of a majority in Parliament 
 to approve the treaties, Lord Shelburne gave way at 
 last to the earnest representations of Pitt. He reluct- 
 antly agreed that Fox and his friends should be invited 
 to re-enter the service of the Crown. Certain it is 
 that, so late as February, 1783, such a junction might 
 have been effected without the smallest sacrifice of 
 public principle on either side. Pitt at once availed 
 himself of this authority. He called upon Fox by ap- 
 pointment at Fox's house, but the conference between 
 them was not a long one. No sooner had Fox heard the 
 object of the visit, than he asked whether it was intended
 
 1783. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 93 
 
 that Lord Shelburne should remain First Lord of the 
 Treasury. Pitt auswered in the affirmative. " It is 
 impossible for me," Fox rejoined, " to belong to any ad- 
 ministration of which Lord Shelburne is the head." 
 " Then we need discuss the matter no further," said Pitt ; 
 " I did not come here to betray Lord Shelburne ;" and so 
 saying he took his leave. Bishop Tomline adds to the 
 account which he has given of this interview, " This 
 was, I believe, the last time Mr. Pitt was in a private 
 room with Mr. Fox, and from this period may be dated 
 that political hostility which continued through the re- 
 mainder of their lives." 3 
 
 In another direction some active steps were taken of 
 his own accord by Henry Dundas, who, under the ad- 
 ministration of Lord Shelburne, besides continuing Lord 
 Advocate of Scotland, filled the office of Treasurer of the 
 Navy. He had several conferences with William Adam, 
 a confidential friend of Lord North. " There is no longer 
 any prospect," he said, " none at least for the present, 
 that there will be any overture for a coalition to Lord 
 North from the present Ministry. Lord Shelburne and 
 I have pushed it, but we could not get the other Ministers 
 to agree to it. . . . If Lord Shelburne resigns, Fox and 
 Pitt may yet come together and dissolve Parliament, 
 and there will be an end of Lord North. I see no means 
 
 3 Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 89. 
 From the narrative of the Bishop 
 it might at first sight be inferred 
 that the interview between Fox 
 and Pitt took place towards the 
 close of the year 1782 ; but the 
 exact date was February 11, 1783, 
 
 as appears both from a letter of 
 William Grenville (Courts and 
 Cabinets of George III., vol. i. p. 
 148) and a statement of Henry 
 Dundas (Fox Memorials, vol. ii. 
 p. 33).
 
 94 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 of preventing this but Lord North's support of the 
 Address." And at parting he said again, "Nothing 
 will answer but an absolute, unconditional support." 
 
 The object of Dundas in these hints was to alarm Lord 
 North into compliance. But he had overshot the mark. 
 Lord North was on the contrary roused into resent- 
 ment, and altogether demurred to such a peremptory 
 tone. In this altered mood of the late Prime Minister' 
 and with the unabated hostility of Fox, it was plain, 
 taking into account the public temper of the time, that 
 were these two great party leaders to league themselves 
 together, they might certainly command a majority 
 against the Government on the conditions of the peace. 
 
 To this combination, however, there were, or there 
 should have been, the strongest obstacles upon both 
 sides. No two statesmen could be more estranged from 
 each other in thought, word, or deed. Not only had 
 Fox during many years opposed all the measures of 
 Lord North's administration, but he had exhausted 
 against him personally the whole vocabulary of invec- 
 tive ; he had pronounced him " void of honour and ho- 
 nesty ;" he had thundered for his condign punishment ; 
 he had declared, and this but eleven months before, that 
 he would rest satisfied to be called " the most infamous 
 of mankind " could he for a moment think of making 
 terms with such a man. 4 North, on his part, though in 
 gentler terms, had no less for many years arraigned 
 and denounced the principles of Fox. Yet now, as the 
 overthrow of Lord Shelburne rose before them as a 
 
 4 See his speech in the House of Commons of March 5, 1782.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 95 
 
 tempting prize, these two eminent men, in an evil hour 
 for their own fame, were gradually drawn together. The 
 secret agent and channel of communication at the out- 
 set was on Lord North's side his eldest son George North, 
 whose own leanings were to the Whigs. There was 
 also on that side William Eden, who some months since 
 had been Chief Secretary in Ireland, and was now per- 
 haps a little impatient for another office. On Fox's part 
 may be mentioned especially his kinsman and close 
 friend Colonel Fitzpatrick, and another of his friends, 
 John Townshend. 
 
 The first interview between Fox and North took place 
 on the I4th of February, at the house of Mr. George 
 North. Both the statesmen showed a frank and manly 
 temper. They agreed to treat Reform of Parliament as 
 an open question between them. They agreed to lay 
 aside all former animosity, Fox declaring that he hoped 
 their administration would be founded 6n mutual good- 
 will and confidence, which was the only thing that could 
 make it permanent and useful. They also agreed to 
 oppose the Address upon the Peace, and Lord North 
 drew up the amendment to be moved by Lord John 
 Cavendish. This amendment went no further than to 
 reserve to the House the right at a later period of dis- 
 approving the terms ; but there was also another clause 
 expressing the regard of Parliament for the American 
 loyalists which was less likely to be palatable to the 
 Whigs, and which therefore Lord North himself under- 
 took to move in a separate form. 
 
 Meanwhile Lord Shelburne finding that he had no- 
 thing to hope from Fox, had determined to apply to
 
 96 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 Lord North, even though aware that this step, if it suc- 
 ceeded, would cost him the secession of Pitt from 
 office. It was settled that Eigby, as a personal friend 
 of Lord North, should go to him and propose an inter- 
 view with Shelburne. The veteran jobber, whetted by 
 the appetite of office, waited accordingly on the late 
 Prime Minister ; but by that time Lord North had con- 
 cluded his treaty with Fox, and he therefore replied to 
 Eigby in few words, " I cannot meet Lord Shelburne 
 now. It is too late." 
 
 According to notice the Address upon the Peace was 
 moved in both Houses on the 17th of February. In the 
 Lords it was carried by 69 votes against 55. In the 
 Commons it was moved by Mr. Thomas Pitt, while at 
 the special request of William, his friend Wilberforce 
 stood forth as seconder. Lord John Cavendish then 
 moved his amendment, not soaring in his speech above 
 his usual mediocrity. But both North and Fox put 
 forth all their powers. Already was the rumour rife of 
 their confederacy, giving rise to no small amount of re- 
 probation. Fox avowed it only so far as the vote of 
 that evening was concerned, but defended it on broader 
 grounds. "It is not in my nature," he said, "to bear 
 malice or live in ill will ; my friendships are perpetual, 
 my enmities not so." In support of the Government 
 Townshend was clear and full, Dundas acrimonious and 
 able. Pitt, who did not rise till four o'clock, could pro- 
 duce no strong impression on an exhausted House. But 
 he was himself exhausted, and his speech was not good. 
 " There were perhaps few occasions," says Bishop Tom- 
 line, " upon which he spoke with less effect."
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 97 
 
 In one passage of this speech which was in reply to 
 Sheridan, Pitt dealt severely with what he called his 
 dramatic turns and his epigrammatic points. These he 
 advised Sheridan rather to reserve for the stage, where 
 they would always obtain, as they always deserved, the 
 plaudits of the audience. Tins taunt was unworthy both 
 of the man and of the occasion, and exposed Pitt to the 
 severest retort that he ever in his life received ; for 
 Sheridan sprang on his feet again, as he declared " only 
 to explain," and with admirable wit and readiness said, 
 " If ever I again engage in those compositions to which 
 the Right Hon. gentleman has in such flattering terms 
 referred, I may be tempted to an act of presumption. I 
 may be encouraged by his praises to try an improve- 
 ment on one of Ben Jonson's best characters in the play 
 of the Alchymist — the Angry Boy ! " 
 
 At length a little before seven in the morning the 
 keen orations ended, the impatient numbers were ar- 
 rayed, and the combined Oppositions were found to pre- 
 vail by a majority of sixteen. 
 
 Before he retired to bed that morning Mr. Pitt found 
 time for a hasty note. 
 
 " Downing Street, 
 " Tuesday morning, quarter before Seven, 
 " My dear Mother, (Feb. 18, 1783.) 
 
 " You are, I hope, enough used to such things in 
 the political world as changes, not to be much surprised 
 at the result of our business in the House of Commons. 
 An amendment was moved on our Address, expunging 
 all commendation of the peace, and the two standards of 
 Lord North and Fox produced 224 against us, 208 for 
 
 VOL. I. f
 
 9b LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 us. This I think decisive. It comes rather sooner than 
 I imagined, though certainly not quite unexpected. We 
 shall at least leave the field with honour. I am just 
 going to bed, and am perfectly well in spite of fatigue. 
 
 " Your ever dutiful 
 
 « w. Pitt." 
 
 Notwithstanding this great defeat Lord Shelburne did 
 not at once resign. He had some vague hopes of still 
 maintaining his position, and determined at all events 
 to expect a second blow. He had not long to wait. So 
 early as the 21st Lord John Cavendish brought forward 
 another string of Resolutions pledging the House to pre- 
 serve inviolate the terms of the peace, but declaring that 
 its concessions were too large. The debate which en- 
 sued has not often been surpassed in interest. By that 
 time the new Coalition was openly avowed, and as one 
 of its main authors, Colonel Fitzpatrick, confesses in a 
 private letter, was universally cried out against. Two 
 independent members, Thomas Powys, member for 
 Northamptonshire, and Sir Cecil Wray, who had long 
 been followers of Fox, rose in succession to denounce 
 the " unnatural alliance." Many others who could not 
 speak could at least mutter and growl. Fox had not 
 much to say in defence of his own consistency, but that 
 little he said to the best advantage, and he endeavoured 
 to vindicate the Coalition on public grounds, while ad- 
 verting to the loss of Ins friends in manly and becoming 
 tenns. 
 
 If, as may be thought, Pitt had lost some ground in 
 the debate of the 17th, he much more than retrieved
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 99 
 
 that ground in the dehate of the 21st. That second 
 speech in its energy and eloquence surpassed any other 
 that he had yet delivered, and must be ranked among 
 the very highest oratorical achievements of his life. 
 Kising immediately after Fox he thus began : — 
 
 " Revering, Sir, as I do the great abilities of the 
 Right Honourable gentleman who spoke last, I lament 
 in common with the House when those abilities are mis- 
 employed, as on the present question, to inflame the ima- 
 gination and mislead the judgment. I am told, Sir, ' he 
 does not envy me the triumph of my situation this day,' 
 a sort of language which becomes the candour of that 
 Honourable gentleman as ill as his present principles. 
 The triumphs of party, Sir, with which this self-appointed 
 Minister seems so highly elate, shall never seduce me to 
 any inconsistency which the busiest suspicion shall pre- 
 sume to glance at. I will never engage in political en- 
 mities without a public cause. I will never forego such 
 enmities without the public approbation, nor will I be 
 questioned and cast off in the face of this House by one 
 virtuous and dissatisfied friend." 
 
 From this introduction Pitt proceeded to what still 
 remains by far the most able and convincing among the 
 many vindications of the peace. " But, Sir," he said, " I 
 fear I have too long engaged your attention to no real 
 purpose. For I will not hesitate to surmise, from the 
 obvious complexion of this night's debate, that it has 
 
 ■i 
 
 arisen rather in a desire to force the Earl of Shelburne 
 from the Treasury, than in any real conviction that 
 Ministers deserve censure for the concessions they have 
 made. ... Of the Earl of Shelburne I will say that his 
 
 f 2
 
 100 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 merits are as much above my panegyric as the arts to 
 which he owes his defamation are below my notice. . . . 
 I repeat then that it is not this treaty, it is the Earl of 
 Shelbnrne alone whom the movers of this question are 
 desirous to wound. This is the object which has raised 
 this storm of faction — this is the aim of the unnatural 
 Coalition to which I have alluded. If, however, the 
 baneful alliance is not already formed, if this ill-omened 
 marriage is not already solemnized, I know a just and 
 lawful impediment, and in the name of the public safety 
 I here forbid the Banns ! " 
 
 Of Lord North in particular the son of Chatham spoke 
 in terms to the full as bitter as Chatham had ever used. 
 " In short, Sir, whatever appears dishonourable or in- 
 adequate in this peace is strictly chargeable to the Noble 
 Lord in the blue riband, whose profusion of the public 
 money, whose notorious temerity and obstinacy in pro- 
 secuting the war which originated in his pernicious and 
 oppressive policy, and whose utter incapacity to fill the 
 station he occupied, rendered a peace of any description 
 indispensable to the preservation of the State." To the 
 memory of Chatham Pitt appealed with reverent affec- 
 tion. " My earliest impressions were in favour of the 
 noblest and most disinterested modes of serving the 
 public ; these impressions are still dear, and will, I 
 hope, remain for ever dear to my heart ; I will cherish 
 them as a legacy infinitely more valuable than the 
 richest inheritance." And the great orator (for so we 
 may already term hiin) concluded with some lines of 
 Horace expressing a thought not less lofty than his 
 own.
 
 1783. 
 
 LIFE OF FITT. 
 
 101 
 
 " Laudo manentem ; si celeres quatit 
 Pennas resigno quas dedit — 
 
 probamque 
 
 Pauperiem sine dote quaaro." 5 
 
 Tlie speech of Pitt on this occasion may be regarded 
 as by far the greatest piece of oratory delivered either 
 in ancient or in modern times by any man under twenty- 
 five. Its exact length was of two hours and three- 
 quarters ; and some persons who could find no other 
 fault with it were inclined to blame it as too long. 
 Marvellous as it appears when we consider the speaker's 
 age, we must deem it more marvellous still on learning 
 the circumstances of ill health under which he spoke. 6 
 
 Kising after Pitt, Lord North, assailed as he had been, 
 and provoked as he might be, did not lose his customary 
 candour, but began by a tribute of just praise to the 
 " amazing eloquence " of the last speaker. To Fox, as 
 his new ally, he referred in frank and becoming terms : 
 u In the early part of that gentleman's career, when I 
 had the happiness to possess his friendship, I knew that 
 he was manly, open, and sincere. As an enemy I have 
 always found him formidable, and a person of most ex- 
 traordinary talents, to whatever Minister he may be 
 
 5 Horat. Carm. lib. iii. 29. 
 Bishop Tornline relates, that being 
 under the gallery while Mr. Pitt 
 delivered this speech, a young 
 man, afterwards a distinguished 
 member of Opposition, turned 
 round to him and asked eagerly, 
 " Why did he omit ' Et mea, vir- 
 tute me involvo ? ' ' An omis- 
 sion, adds the Bishop, generally 
 considered as marking the mo- 
 
 desty and good sense of Mr. Pitt. 
 
 6 " Pitt's famous speech 
 
 Stomach disordered, and actually 
 holding Solomon's Porch door 
 open with one hand while vomit- 
 ing during Fox's speech, to whom 
 he was to reply." — Wilberlbrce's 
 Diary, &c. (Life, vol. i. p. 26). 
 " Solomon's Porch " was the por- 
 tico behind the old House of 
 Commons.
 
 102 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 opposed. But in proportion as I had reason to dread him 
 while his principles were adverse to mine, now that they 
 are congenial we shall, with the greater certainty of 
 success, unite with one mind and one heart in the cause of 
 our common country. And let me hail it as an auspicious 
 circumstance in our country's favour, that those who were 
 divided by her hostilities are cemented by her peace." 
 
 Lord North then proceeded to give grounds for his 
 belief that the resources of America were reduced to 
 the lowest ebb: — " In Monday's debate I asked, — if 
 Congress are unable to raise a farthing to carry on ' a 
 war in the heart of their own country, is it to be sup- 
 posed that their contributions would be either liberal 
 or cheerful for extending their hostilities to a foreign 
 one ? I have had an opportunity since of satisfying 
 myself more fully of the fact, and I find my information 
 to be authentic in every respect. In most of the States 
 they have refused to pay the tax levied by Congress for 
 the service of the war. The Rhode Islanders in parti- 
 cular rose forcibly on the officers who came to collect it, 
 and drove them away. In Massachusetts the tax was dis- 
 counted in the province, and consequently never carried 
 to the public account." From these facts Lord North en- 
 deavoured to show that, had we insisted on better terms 
 of peace, the Americans must have yielded them. Yet 
 how often before had hopes of this kind been expressed, 
 and how constantly had they been disappointed ! 
 
 At past three in the morning the House proceeded to 
 divide, when the Opposition found their former majority 
 of sixteen increased by one, the numbers being — for the 
 Government 190, and against it 207.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 103 
 
 This second division decided the fate of Shelburne. 
 On the 23rd he called a meeting of his Cabinet in the 
 morning, and of his supporters in the evening ; and to 
 both these meetings announced his intended resignation. 
 Next morning accordingly he went to the King and did 
 resign. A few days afterwards, and as a posthumous 
 act of his authority, his steady adherent Thomas Towns- 
 hend, the Secretary of State, was raised to the peerage 
 as Lord Sydney. 
 
 In laying down his office, Lord Shelburne did not, 
 however, advise the King to bestow it upon any chief of 
 the new Coalition. He rather pressed upon His Majesty 
 an idea which Dundas and other friends had pressed 
 upon himself — to make Mr. Pitt Prime Minister. The 
 Chancellor concurred in the same counsel to his Sove- 
 reign ; and George the Third, eager to escape the yoke 
 already fitted to his neck — the yoke of the great Whig 
 houses — grasped at the suggestion. He sent at once to 
 Mr. Pitt, offering him the headship of the Treasury, with 
 full authority to nominate his colleagues. Thus was the 
 whole power of the State, without stint or reservation, 
 laid at the feet of a younger son of a far from wealthy 
 family — of a junior barrister who had received but very 
 few briefs — of a stripling who had not quite attained 
 the age of twenty-four. It is perhaps the most glorious 
 tribute to early promise that any history records. 
 
 Pitt, however, was not dazzled. He asked, in the 
 first place, for a day to consult and to decide. But the 
 views and the conduct of the young statesman will best 
 appear from the correspondence at this period of Henry 
 Dundas, the Lord Advocate, with his brother at Edin-
 
 104 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 burgh, and with Pitt himself. To that correspondence, 
 which in 1854 was kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. 
 Dundas of Arniston, I shall add, according to their dates, 
 Mr. Pitt's letters to his mother. 
 
 The Lord Advocate to his brother, President Dundas. 
 
 " February 24, 1783. 
 
 " Lord Shelburne last night, to a numerous meeting 
 of those who had come into office with him, announced 
 his intention of submitting to His Majesty, this day, the 
 necessity of new-arranging his Government. I am 
 going this day to Court, but I suppose it will be 
 Wednesday before we resign. I cannot yet say what 
 will be the result of all this confusion. Thank God, we 
 have got peace. I wish all this may not disturb the 
 definitive treaty, where several things still remain to be 
 settled. You cannot conceive how much Lord North 
 has fallen in character in the course of this fortnight, 
 from his forming a connection with Charles Fox. In 
 short, it is a contradiction to the whole tenor and prin- 
 ciples of his life for thirty years back. In great confi- 
 dence I send you a copy of a letter I this morning wrote 
 to Lord Shelburne. 7 You will see it is not for common 
 eye. I perhaps may write to you again this night or 
 to-morrow. I am not very sanguine that anything will 
 come of it, but I was resolved to lay it fairly before him. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " H. D." 
 
 7 Urging that Lord Shelburne 
 should advise the King to send 
 
 for Mr. Pitt as the next Prime 
 Minister.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 105 
 
 TJie Lord Advocate to his brother. 
 
 • My dear Lord, " February 25, 1783. 
 
 " I cannot be more particular than I was yester- 
 day, except to say that my project in regard to Mr. Pitt 
 was yesterday laid before the King by Lord Shelburne 
 and the Chancellor, who is warm and sanguine in the 
 belief of the success, as are Lord Gower and that whole 
 set of interest. The King received it eagerly, and in- 
 stantly made the offer to Mr. Pitt, with every assurance 
 of the utmost support. Mr. Pitt desired to think of it. 
 I was with him all last night, and Mr. Eigby and I have 
 been with him all this morning, going through the state 
 of the House of Commons. I have little doubt that he 
 will announce himself Minister to-morrow, and I have as 
 little doubt that the effects of it upon the House of 
 Commons will be instantly felt. Not a human being 
 has a suspicion of the plan, except those in the imme- 
 diate confidence of it. It will create an universal con- 
 sternation in the allied camp the moment it is known. 
 
 Still, secrecy ! 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "H. P." 
 
 Mr. Pitt to Lady Chatham. 
 
 " Tuesday morning, half-past Nine, 
 " My dear Mother, Feb. 25, 1783. 
 
 " I wished more than I can express to see you 
 yesterday. I will, if possible, find a moment to-day to 
 tell you the state of things and learn your opinion. In 
 the meantime the substance is, that our friends, almost 
 universally, are eager for our going on, only without 
 Lord Shelburne, and are sanguine in the expectation of 
 
 f 3
 
 106 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 success — Lord Shelbume himself most warmly so. The 
 King, when I went in yesterday, pressed me in the 
 strongest manner to take Lord Shelburne's place, and 
 insisted on my not declining it till I had taken time to 
 consider. You see the importance of the decision I 
 must speedily make. I feel all the difficulties of the 
 undertaking, and am by no means in love with the 
 object. On the other hand, I think myself bound not 
 to desert a system in which I am engaged, if probable 
 means can be shown of carrying it on with credit. On 
 this general state of it I should wish anxiously to know 
 what is the inclination of your mind. I must endeavour 
 to estimate more particularly the probable issue by 
 talking with those who know most of the opinions of 
 men in detail. The great article to decide by seems 
 that of numbers. 
 
 " Your ever dutiful and affectionate, 
 
 "W.Pitt." 
 
 Mr. Pitt to Lady Chatham. 
 
 " Wednesday night, Feb. 26, 1783. 
 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " The Levee to-day has decided nothing. Many 
 opinions are in favour of the step in question, and none 
 apparently more than the principal one; but the diffi- 
 culties are notwithstanding many. It must however, I 
 think, end one way or other to-morrow. 
 
 " Your ever dutiful, 
 
 " W. Pitt."
 
 1783. LIFE OF FITT. 107 
 
 Mr. Pitt to the Lord Advocate. 
 
 "Thursday, Feb. 27, 1783, 
 " My dear Lord, Two o'clock. 
 
 "I have just been at your house to tell you, 
 which I must do with great pain, what has passed in my 
 mind since I saw you on a subject which seemed then 
 on the point of coming to another issue. I am anxious 
 to apprise you of it the first moment possible. What 
 you stated to me this morning seemed to remove all 
 doubt of my finding a majority in Parliament, and on 
 the first view of it, joined to my sincere desire not to 
 decline the call of my friends, removed at the same 
 time my objections to accepting the Treasury. I have 
 since most deliberately reconsidered the ground, and, 
 after weighing it as fully as is possible for me to do, my 
 final decision is directly contrary to the impression then 
 made on me. I see that the main and almost only 
 ground of reliance would be this, — that Lord North and 
 his friends would not continue in a combination to op- 
 pose. In point of prudence, after all that has passed, 
 and considering all that is to come, such a reliance is 
 too precarious to act on. But above all, in point of honour 
 to my own feelings, I cannot form an administration 
 trusting to the hope that it will be supported, or even 
 will not be opposed, by Lord North, whatever the influ- 
 ence may be that determines his conduct. The first 
 moment I saw the subject in this point of view, from 
 which I am sure I cannot vary, unalterably determined 
 me to decline. I write this while I am dressing for 
 Court. I have to beg a thousand pardons for being the 
 occasion of your having so much trouble in vain. This 
 resolution will, I am afraid, both surprise and disappoint 
 you ; but you will not wonder at any reconsideration of
 
 108 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 so important a subject, or at my finally forming what- 
 ever decision is dictated by my principles and feelings. 
 I am, with the deepest sense of the friendship you have 
 shown me in all this business, " Yours, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 The Lord Advocate to his brother. 
 
 " Thursday, Feb. 27th, 1783, 
 " My dear Lord, Five o'clock, p.m. 
 
 " Things are in a more extraordinary state than 
 
 I could have conceived. I send you copies of three 
 notes I received from the Chancellor in the course of 
 yesterday. I was with Mr. Pitt this morning from 
 8 o'clock till 11, and parted with him perfectly resolved 
 to accept First Lord of the Treasury ; Lord Gower 
 President of the Council ; in short, a Government con- 
 sisting of a coalition with the Bedford interest and the 
 present administration, joined by a great defalcation 
 from the parties both of Lord North and Mr. Fox, and 
 in a very short time Lord North himself supporting, for 
 he and Fox have differed much. All this was settled at 
 
 II o'clock, and I communicated the same to the Chan- 
 cellor and Lord Gower, all of whom are in immense 
 spirits. They will soon be damped, for the Chancellor, 
 Lord Gower, Lord Aylesford, Lord Weymouth, Lord 
 Mount Stuart, Mr. Eigby, and Mr. [Thomas] Pitt, dine 
 with me, when, in place of our hailing the new Minister, 
 I must communicate to them a letter I have received 
 from Mr. Pitt within this hour, a copy of which I likewise 
 send. How it will all end, God only knows. I don't think 
 I shall give myself any more trouble in the matter. 
 
 "It is just upon dinner, and I must close. 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " H. DtJNDAS."
 
 1783. LIFE OF TITT. 109 
 
 Mr. Pitt to Lady Chatham. 
 
 " My DEAR MOTHER, " Sunday, March 2, 1783. 
 
 "I have been coming to yon all the morning, 
 which I expected to have been entire leisure, but have 
 been kept till now. I know nothing of the approaching 
 arrangements, further than that Lord North has been 
 with the King. I rejoice much at Lord Sydenham's 8 
 honours. Lord Grantham will not be overlooked. 
 Whether I refuse depends merely upon whether any- 
 thing is offered. Taking I must consider as out of the 
 question, as well as continuance in office under any 
 arrangement which can be made ; though I believe my 
 former friends are not as much disinclined for it as I am. 
 I am going this fine day to dine with Mr. Wilberforce, 
 at Wimbledon, and shall be back early to-morrow morn- 
 ing, to settle some Treasury business, and a Bill which I 
 must bring in to-morrow ; after which I shall be a free 
 man, and shall be able to see you again with a little 
 more certainty. 
 
 "Ever, my dear Mother. &c, 
 
 "W. Pitt." 
 
 It was not long ere authentic rumours spread abroad ol 
 the high offer to Pitt, which had thus been tendered and 
 refused. How the public at the time talked or thought 
 of it, may be surmised from a passage as follows, in 
 the diary of the Duke of Grafton : " The good judgment 
 of so young a man, who, not void of ambition on this 
 
 8 This was the title at first de- I hend, but the title of Sydney was 
 signed for Mr. Thomas Towns- I finally preferred.
 
 110 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 trying occasion, could refuse this splendid offer, adds 
 much to the lustre of the character he had acquired, for 
 it was a temptation sufficient to have overset the reso- 
 lution of most men." 
 
 Meanwhile, though holding office only till the choice 
 of his successor, Pitt found it requisite to bring in a 
 measure which admitted no delay. It was necessary at 
 the conclusion of peace to regulate in one way or other 
 our commercial intercourse with North America. The 
 views of Pitt upon this question were of the largest kind. 
 He thought that the feelings of animosity produced by 
 the war ought, as far as possible, to end with the war 
 itself. He desired to treat the United States on points 
 of commerce nearly as though they had been still de- 
 pendent colonies. But many other members of weight, 
 as Lord Sheffield and Mr. Eden, took a far more jealous 
 view; and the measure which Pitt actually proposed 
 was not a final, only a temporary Bill. Even thus it 
 was, said Pitt, "undoubtedly one of the most comj)li- 
 cated in its nature, and at the same time one of the 
 most extensive in its consequences, that ever had been 
 submitted to Parliament." It was a good deal discussed 
 during the remainder of the Session. The Bill was 
 several times committed and re-committed with a variety 
 of amendments, and at last under the next adminis- 
 tration was further altered by the Lords. It was no 
 doubt a money Bill. " But I am of opinion," said Fox, 
 " that the order of the House respecting money Bills is 
 
 often too strictly construed It would be very 
 
 absurd indeed to send a loan Bill to the Lords for their 
 concurrence, and at the same time deprive them of the
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. Ill 
 
 right of deliberation." 9 At last there was passed a tem- 
 porary Bill, merely vesting in the King, for a limited 
 time, the power of regulation, and it afterwards came to 
 be renewed from year to year. 
 
 Disappointed in Pitt, the King had next endeavoured 
 to break the Coalition by appealing in the most earnest 
 manner to Lord North to undertake the government 
 singly. Lord North again and again refused, and the 
 King found it necessary to admit into his service both 
 the Coalition chiefs. But the rival pretensions of then" 
 followers caused a new and well-nigh insuperable diffi- 
 culty. At one moment it seemed probable that Fox 
 and North would relinquish the task which they had 
 assumed, and declare themselves unable to form the 
 government which they had announced. Fresh over- 
 tures to Pitt ensued. 
 
 The Lord Advocate to his brother. 
 
 " Friday, (March) 21 (1783), 
 " My dear Lord, Five o'clock. 
 
 " Last night the Duke of Portland waited upon 
 the King, and informed him that he could not form an 
 administration, he and Lord North having differed as 
 to one particular. The King instantly sent for Mr. Pitt, 
 and told him so. Mr. Pitt sent for me to come to him 
 this morning at eight. I went and met the Duke of 
 Kutland there. The result was that if they could not 
 agree, and the country by that means (was) kept in 
 anarchy, he would accept of the Government, and make 
 an administration, which would indeed have been a 
 
 Speech of Fox, May 8, 1783.
 
 112 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 strong one, himself at the head of it. But he insisted 
 to have the secret kept, because he was determined to 
 have it distinctly ascertained before going again to the 
 King, that North and Fox, after making a profligate 
 conjunction, had quarrelled among themselves about 
 the division of the spoils. Mr. Pitt and the Duke of 
 Rutland have this instant called at my house to inform 
 me that the Coalition had again taken place, for that the 
 Duke of Portland and Mr. Fox had yielded the point in 
 dispute. The disputed point was whether Lord Stormont 
 should be President of the Council. So I suppose we 
 shall instantly have their arrangement published, and 
 they will kiss hands on Monday. 
 
 " Yours, &c, 
 
 " H. DlJNDAS." 
 
 The Lord Advocate to his brother. 
 
 "March 24, 1783. 
 
 " I went to Langley on Saturday, and at two this 
 morning was called up by an express from Mr. Pitt. I 
 have seen him this morning, and although I shall not 
 be sanguine upon anything till it is actually fixed, I 
 flatter myself Mr. Pitt will kiss hands as First Lord of 
 the Treasury on Wednesday next." 
 
 The Lord Advocate to his brother. 
 
 " March 25, 1783. 
 
 " I have just time to write to you, that since yester- 
 day I have altered my mind ; and it is now my opinion 
 that Mr. Pitt will not accept of the government. How 
 all this anarchy is to end God only knows. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "H.D."
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 113 
 
 The letters which passed, so late as the 24th, between 
 the King and Mr. Pitt will be found with the rest of their 
 correspondence at the close of the present volume. They 
 evince how earnest was His Majesty in pressing, and 
 how resolute the young statesman in continuing to 
 decline, the highest political prize. 
 
 Thus for several weeks, at a most critical juncture of 
 public affairs, was the country left without a government. 
 Murmurs began to rise on every side. In the House of 
 Commons there had already been a motion reflecting on 
 these delays by Mr. Coke of Norfolk, and another to 
 the same effect was announced by the Earl of Surrey. 
 Thus pressed, the Coalition did at last consent to coalesce. 
 On the 31st of March, the very day which had been 
 fixed for Lord Surrey's motion, Pitt rose in his place and 
 announced that he had that day with His Majesty's 
 permission resigned the office of Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. 
 
 Lord Surrey, however, rose again and insisted on 
 making his motion. After some debate he was induced 
 to withdraw it, but declared that he should certainly 
 bring it forward again in a few days unless a new ad- 
 ministration was announced. He had no further delays 
 to complain of, for on the 2nd of April the new Minis- 
 ters kissed hands. 
 
 In the Cabinet thus formed, there was carried out 
 the favourite idea of Fox, of a mere nominal headship 
 of the Treasury; for the First Lord was declared to 
 be His Grace of Portland. Under him were Fox and 
 North as joint Secretaries of State, and with coequal 
 authority, but far different shares of real power. The
 
 114 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 gentler spirit of Lord North was, on most occasions, 
 content to yield, while under the wing of the Duke of 
 Portland, Fox was in fact Prime Minister. Lord John 
 Cavendish returned to the Exchequer, and Lord Keppel 
 to the Admiralty. Lord Stormont was President, and 
 Lord Carlisle Privy Seal. The Great Seal was put into 
 commission, the King having striven in vain to keep 
 Lord Thurlow in office. The new Cabinet, therefore, 
 consisted of seven persons only. 
 
 An anxious wish had been felt to include Mr. Pitt in 
 these Cabinet arrangements. His own intended succes- 
 sor, Lord John Cavendish, pressed him to resume the 
 post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, intending in that 
 case to take another office for himself. But Pitt 
 would not listen to such overtures, nor consent to take 
 any part in a combination of which he strongly dis- 
 pproved. 
 
 In the appointments outside of the Cabinet, Burke 
 returned to his old place of Paymaster, and Sheridan 
 became Secretary of the Treasury. The Vice-Royalty 
 of Ireland was bestowed on the Earl of Northington, son 
 of the late Chancellor, and a friend of Fox, while a 
 young man of the highest promise, William Windham, 
 of Norfolk, went as Secretary. Lord Sandwich, with 
 certainly a most tame submission to those who had once 
 so bitterly arraigned him, consented to take the Ranger- 
 ship of St. James's and Hyde Parks ; a post of no 
 political importance, but to which at that time a large 
 salary was joined. 
 
 The new government being formed, and having 
 entered on its duties, Fox, without hesitation, took the
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 115 
 
 lead in the House of Commons. Indeed, it was in con- 
 templation to call Lord North, by writ, to the House of 
 Peers. But the idea, if not relinquished, was at least 
 postponed. 
 
 Thus did the Coalition triumph — if indeed the word 
 triumph can be used whenever power is attained through 
 the sacrifice of fame. Even at the outset this " unna- 
 tural alliance," for so it was commonly termed, was 
 rebuked with great bitterness in the House of Com- 
 mons. There the bitterness might be in some measure 
 mitigated by the admirable suavity of Lord North, and 
 by the warm attachment of so many friends to Fox. 
 But in the country there was no such counteraction. 
 " Unless a real good government is the consequence of 
 this junction, nothing can justify it to the public ; " such 
 was the remark at the time of one of its main promo- 
 ters. 1 And when Fox, on taking office, appealed to his 
 old constituents at Westminster, he did indeed succeed 
 in obtaining re-election, but the multitude received him 
 with hootings and hissings, and his eloquent voice could 
 not be heard. 
 
 Such was the public indignation. Nor yet did it 
 quickly cool. On the contrary, it became more ardent 
 when the Ministry formed by tins alliance had been 
 tried and been found to fail. A year later there were 
 echoes from every part of England to the austere re- 
 proach against the Coalition, expressed by Mr. Wilber- 
 force to the freeholders of Yorkshire. The Coalition, 
 he said, was a progeny that partook of the vices of 
 
 1 Letter of Colonel Fitzpatrick to his brother, Feb. 22, 1783, as 
 printed in the Fox Memorials.
 
 116 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 both its parents — the corruption of the one and the 
 violence of the other. 
 
 Nor yet in present times have the ablest historical 
 writers formed any very different opinion. Lord John 
 Kussell and Lord Macaulay might be suspected of some 
 leaning to the views of Mr. Fox ; yet both, unable to vin- 
 dicate this fatal Coalition, have given judgment against 
 it with perfect candour and fairness. Lord Macaulay, 
 above all, treats as a mere empty pretext the ground 
 that was urged by Fox for this alliance — his objections 
 to the terms of peace. There is not, says Lord Mac- 
 aulay, the slightest reason to believe that Fox, if he had 
 remained in office, would have hesitated one moment 
 about concluding a treaty on such conditions. 
 
 In the month that preceded the formation of the Fox 
 and North government, there had been several Parlia- 
 mentary debates. Mr. Townshend had been called to 
 the House of Lords, so that Mr. Pitt, during that period, 
 was in name as well as fact the leader of the House of 
 Commons. On the 31st of March, in the discussion 
 which ensued after his announcement that he had finally 
 resigned the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, he 
 took occasion to explain the principles of his future 
 course.' " I desire," he said, " to declare that I am 
 unconnected with any party whatever. I shall keep 
 myself reserved, and act with whichever side I think is 
 acting right." 
 
 Accordingly in the remainder of the Session, which 
 was protracted till the middle of July, Pitt did not 
 attend in his place as a mere party man. It also fre- 
 quently happened that the charms of advancing summer
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 117 
 
 drew hiin from the House of Commons to the villa of 
 his friend Wilberforce at Wimbledon. " Eliot, Arden, 
 and I will be with you before curfew, and expect an 
 early meal of peas and strawberries " — such is one of 
 the notes at this period which Pitt wrote, and Wilber- 
 force preserved. " One morning " — so Wilberforce re- 
 lates — " we found the fruits of Pitt's earlier rising in the 
 careful sowing of the garden-beds with the fragments of 
 a dress-hat with which Ryder had over night come down 
 from the opera." 
 
 How different I may observe the real Pitt of private 
 life from him whom in the following year the authors of 
 the ' Rolliad ' portrayed ! They make him even at the 
 tea-table maintain his stately manner and his parlia- 
 mentary language. 
 
 " Pass muffins in Committee of Supply, 
 And buttered toast amend by adding dry." 
 
 Here are some further extracts from Wilberforce's 
 diary at this time : " May 26th, House. I spoke. 
 Dinner at Lord Advocate's ; Mr. and Mrs. Johnstone, 
 Thurlow, Pepper, Pitt. After the rest went we sat till 
 six in the morning. — Sunday, July 6th, Wimbledon. 
 Persuaded Pitt and Pepper to church. — July 11th, Fine 
 hot day. Went on water with Pitt and Eliot fishing. 
 Came back, dined, walked evening. Eliot went home ; 
 Pitt stayed." 
 
 Yet it must not be supposed that Pitt was neglecting 
 his duty in the House of Commons. We find, for ex- 
 ample, that he spoke in the debate upon the case of 
 Powell and Bembridge — that painful case in which
 
 118 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 Burke, so greatly to the discredit of his judgment, had 
 reinstated in office two clerks publicly accused (and one 
 of whom was afterwards convicted) of defalcations in 
 their accounts. And on two other occasions Mr. Pitt 
 took not only an active but a leading part. 
 
 On the 7th of May Pitt brought forward for the 
 second time the question of Parliamentary Keform. 
 Now there was a specific plan comprised in three Reso- 
 lutions. By the first the House was pledged to take 
 measures for the better prevention both of bribery and 
 expense at elections. The second Resolution provided 
 that whenever in any borough the majority of voters 
 should be convicted of gross corruption, the borough 
 itself should be disfranchised, and the minority not so 
 convicted should be entitled to vote for the county. By 
 the third Resolution the knights of the shire were to be 
 increased in number. This, as is well known, was the 
 scheme of reform which Lord Chatham had suggested 
 to the extent of one hundred new county members ; but 
 the third Resolution of Pitt further proposed an increase 
 of representatives to the metropolis. 
 
 In the debate which ensued the new confederates and 
 joint Secretaries of State took opposite sides, Fox warmly 
 supporting, and Lord North with equal vehemence de- 
 nouncing the scheme. It was their first public disagree- 
 ment since their late alliance. 
 
 On the other hand Pitt obtained some aid from the 
 ranks of his opponents on the last occasion. First there 
 was Dundas, now become or becoming the closest of his 
 friends. " Last year," said Dundas, " I was against 
 going into a Committee because there was no specific
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 119 
 
 motion made ; now I am for the motion because I think 
 it a good one." Much to the same effect spoke Thomas 
 Pitt, but in the course of Ins speech he also referred to 
 himself as the proprietor, or as it was then termed the 
 " patron," of the borough of Old Sarum. This he said 
 he was willing to surrender into the hands of Parliament 
 as a free sacrifice, as a victim to be offered up at the 
 shrine of the British Constitution. Should the victim be 
 accepted, he would suggest that the power of returning 
 two members might be transferred to the Bank of 
 England. 
 
 It must have been diverting as the debate of that 
 night proceeded to contrast the liberal offer of Thomas 
 Pitt with the anti-reforming zeal of the Bight Hon. 
 Bichard Bigby. In his ardour for the close boroughs 
 Mr. Bigby rose to declare that he would rather see 
 another member added to Old Sarum, where there was 
 but a single house, than another member to the City of 
 London, which had members enough already. 
 
 On dividing, the Besolutions of Pitt, notwithstanding 
 the accession to his ranks of Dundas and his kinsman 
 Thomas, were rejected by a very large majority, the 
 numbers being 293 and 149. The result shows how 
 rightly Pitt had judged in the more general terms of his 
 motion of last year. 
 
 On the 2nd of June Pitt produced some of the fruits of 
 his labours at the Treasury. He brought in a Bill for 
 the Beform of Abuses in the Public Offices. He hoped, 
 as he said, to effect a saving of at least 40,000?. a-year, 
 and on going into Committee on the 17th he gave some 
 striking proofs of the abuses which prevailed. Thus, in
 
 120 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 the article of stationery, for which the annual charge was 
 18,000?., he said, " I believe I shall somewhat astonish 
 the Noble Lord in the blue riband (Lord North), when 
 I tell the House and inform him, for I really believe the 
 Noble Lord had no idea of any such circumstance, that 
 the Noble Lord alone, as chief of the Treasury, cost the 
 public the year before the last no less than 1,300?. for 
 stationery. One article of the bill is 340?. for pack 
 thread alone ! " 
 
 Lord North, whose own upright and disinterested cha- 
 racter is beyond all question, rose in his own defence. 
 " I had given," he said, " the most positive direction that 
 no stationery ware should be delivered for my use with- 
 out the express order of my private secretary. If there- 
 fore any fraud has been committed, it must have been 
 by a breach of this direction. I assure the House that 
 I will make a most rigorous inquiry into this business, 
 and if I find delinquency, I will leave nothing in my 
 power undone to bring the delinquents to punishment. . . 
 As to coals and candles, I found when I was placed at 
 the head of the Treasury that my predecessors had been 
 supplied with those articles at the expense of the public, 
 and that it was according to an old and established cus- 
 tom. But I declined to avail myself of this custom, and 
 I have supplied my house with coals and candles at my 
 own expense." The vindication of Lord North per- 
 sonally was no doubt complete, but still from some other 
 quarter the gross abuse, the wanton loss to the public, 
 remained. 
 
 The conduct of the Coalition Ministers in regard to 
 this Bill was certainly not creditable to them. They
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 121 
 
 did not venture to divide the House of Commons against 
 it in any of its stages, but when it reached the House 
 of Lords they put forth all their influence, and caused 
 the Bill to be rejected upon the second reading. 
 
 Here are some extracts of Pitt's own correspondence 
 with Lady Chatham at this time : — 
 
 " May 15, 1783. 
 
 "The little that has passed in the world since we 
 parted you know already as well, I believe, as I can tell 
 you ; for nothing has occurred in which I know anything 
 more than all the rest of the world. Politics have been 
 tolerably quiet, which for the present is, I think, much 
 the best. In the two circumstances of the loan, and the 
 restoration of Mr. Powell, our new Ministry have given 
 a pretty fair opening, if it were the time to seize it* 
 The latter business must still produce some further dis- 
 cussion, and probably a good deal to their discredit ; but 
 the Session is now so far advanced that probably nothing 
 very material will happen in the House of Commons. 
 What may happen out of it any day there is no knowing. 
 The same fixed aversion, I believe, still continues ; you 
 will easily guess where. My defeat on the Parlia- 
 mentary Reform was much more complete than I ex- 
 pected. Still, if the question was to be lost, the discus- 
 sion has not been without its use. Business of some 
 sort or other will probably keep Parliament sitting 
 through most of the next month at least. I have not 
 been able yet to arrange the whole of my summer plan 
 with any certainty, but undoubtedly Burton will never 
 be left out of it. 
 
 " The scene in Albemarle Street has been carried on 
 from day to day till it is full time it should end. I 
 rather hope it will be happily completed very soon, 
 
 VOL. i. G
 
 122 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 though it has lasted so long already that it may still 
 last longer than seems likely. 
 
 " I hope you are gradually able to enjoy more of the 
 beauties round you, and of this delightful weather. 
 Delightful as it is, if it continues, even the moors will 
 begin to complain. The dust of this part of the world 
 is almost insufferable." 
 
 " May 24, 1783. 
 
 " I hardly need tell you how much the division about 
 Powell and Bembridge has exposed the weakness of 
 Ministry, and added to their disgrace. To rub through 
 the remains of the Session seems almost as much as 
 they can expect, all things considered." 
 
 "May 28, 1783. 
 
 " I am just going to the House of Commons on East 
 India business, which is not the most entertaining. The 
 Budget has, as you have seen, given us some more 
 debate. I was induced, from Fox's language, to mark 
 pretty strongly that I was not disposed always to stand 
 quite on the defensive ; and the effect of attacking him, 
 not very civilly, was, that he took more pains after- 
 wards to be civil to me than I ever knew when we were 
 friends." 
 
 During the last six weeks of the Session the members 
 of Parliament were as usual beginning to disperse, and 
 the Ministers seemed to be perfectly secure ; yet at that 
 very time they were contending with a serious danger, 
 and then' government was in their opinion near its 
 close. 
 
 The cause of this new entanglement was George 
 Prince of Wales, afterwards King George the Fourth.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 123 
 
 In his education he had received from his Royal parents 
 an excellent example of a moral life, but he had by no 
 means adopted that example as his own. On the con- 
 trary, as Horace Walpole once remarked, he came 
 forth from that Temple of Virtue, Ins father's palace, 
 as though he had been brought up in a cider-cellar. 
 Plunging headlong into a career of extravagance and 
 dissipation, he eagerly attached himself to Fox as Ins 
 familiar friend; and it may readily be supposed , that 
 this association was far from tending to conciliate the 
 King either to the great Whig orator or to the giddy 
 young Prince. 
 
 Born in August, 1762, the Prince was now within a 
 few weeks of his majority. It became necessary to con- 
 sider, without delay, the question of a separate esta- 
 blishment for His Eoyal Highness. Mr. Fox proposed 
 to apply to Parliament for a grant of 100,000?. a-year. 
 Lord North and Lord Jolm Cavendish, although they 
 thought the amount extravagant, acquiesced ; but the 
 King felt objection both to the largeness of the sum 
 and to the independence of parental control which that 
 vote would imply. In place of it he offered to allow 
 50,000?. a-year from his Civil List. 
 
 For some time neither side would yield. The King, 
 as usual with him, was firm and unbending in his own 
 opinion, and the Ministers considered themselves bound 
 by their promise to the Prince of Wales. The notes of 
 His Royal Highness to Fox, pending this negotiation, 
 are still preserved : they begin with the friendly prefix 
 of "Dear Charles." In the middle of June Fox and 
 his colleagues looked upon their dismissal or resignation 
 
 g 2
 
 124 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 as close at hand, and they wrote accordingly to their 
 friends at Dublin Castle. 
 
 It so chanced that at this very juncture Earl Temple 
 arrived in London from his recent Lord Lieutenancy, 
 and, as a matter of course on such occasions, had an 
 audience of the Sovereign. His Majesty seized the op- 
 portunity to consult his late Viceroy. He expressed 
 himself as much incensed at the pretensions put forth 
 on behalf of his son, and as greatly inclined on that 
 account to dismiss his Ministers. Lord Temple, how- 
 ever, though one of the keenest of party men, had saga- 
 city enough to see that here neither the juncture nor 
 yet the pretext would be favourable, and he strongly 
 advised the King to await a better time. 
 
 On the other hand, His Koyal Highness of Wales 
 being assured that he should not be able to prevail in 
 his pretension, was induced to release his friends from 
 their engagement. With a calmer temper on each side, 
 the business was soon adjusted. It was determined that 
 the King should allow the Prince 50,000?. yearly from 
 his Civil List, and that the House of Commons should 
 be asked to grant the sum of 60,000?. as an outfit to 
 His Eoyal Highness. A message on this subject to the 
 Commons was brought down by Lord John Cavendish 
 on the 23rd of June, and on a subsequent day the sum 
 proposed was most cheerfully voted. The Prince was 
 thus provided with what seemed to be an adequate esta- 
 blishment, and on the meeting of Parliament in the 
 November following he took his seat in the House of 
 Lords. 
 
 It does not appear that Mr. Pitt was in any manner
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. , 125 
 
 consulted in this affair, though no doubt he must have 
 been fully apprised of it in subsequent conversations with 
 Lord Temple. Unconnected with public affairs there 
 was an event at the same period which afforded him 
 great pleasure. His brother, Lord Chatham, had be- 
 come attached to the Hon. Mary Elizabeth Townshend, 
 a daughter of his friend Lord Sydney. For upwards of 
 a year had the young Earl continued his attentions ; 
 but with the procrastination that through life formed a 
 main feature of his character, it was not until June, 
 1783, that he brought them to a point. The offer being 
 made and accepted, was a source of much joy to Lady 
 Chatham, to whom we find Mr. Pitt write in terms of 
 affectionate congratulation : — 
 
 " Saturday, June 14, 1783. 
 " My deak Mother, 
 
 "I know too well your feelings on the happy 
 news you have received, and you, I trust, know too well 
 how much my feelings are your own, to make words of 
 congratulation necessaiy between us ; and yet I have 
 had my pen in my hand several times, though I have 
 been as often interrupted, and I can now hardly imagine 
 how so many days have passed away without my em- 
 ploying it on this subject. You have, I am sure, easily 
 imagined, though not so near a spectator, how much joy 
 the long-expected declaration produced. Lord Sydney 
 is the happiest person in the world — at least two ex- 
 cepted — and is delighted with your answer to his letter. 
 I cannot learn with any certainty when the union is 
 likely to be completed ; but as there are not many ma- 
 terials for the law's delay, I imagine it cannot be long. 
 "Lord Temple came to town yesterday, and made
 
 126 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 his appearance at St. James's, where I met him. You 
 will not be surprised that he was received in the most 
 gracious manner possible. I have had since a great 
 deal of conversation with him, and in all respects of the 
 most satisfactory sort. Our economical and reforming 
 Ministry will probably take another opportunity of 
 showing their sincerity on Tuesday, on a Bill for reme- 
 dying the abuses in several public offices. The esta- 
 blishment for the Prince of Wales is also to come on 
 that day or the next. Eumour says strange things of 
 it. The proposers probably expect to make their ac- 
 count by it, but they will lose in the nation more than 
 they gain elsewhere. 
 
 "I am almost too late for dinner, even though at the 
 Duke of Rutland's. Adieu. 
 
 " Your ever dutiful 
 
 « W. Pitt." 
 
 The marriage thus agreed upon was solemnized on 
 the 10th of July, and the happy pair went to pass the 
 honeymoon at Hayes. There soon afterwards they re- 
 ceived a visit from their brother William. 
 
 No children were born of this marriage. The second 
 Countess of Chatham died in 1821, and the title was 
 extinct at the decease of the second Earl in 1835. 
 
 Besides his excursion to Hayes, Pitt made also a 
 visit at Stowe, which, from his description of it to his 
 mother, he appears never to have seen before. He next 
 proceeded to Brighton in company with Mr. Pretyman, 
 and towards the middle of August joined Lady Chatham 
 at Burton Pynsent.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 127 
 
 " My DEAR MOTHER, " Savile Street, 2 July 22, 1783. 
 
 " I resume at last my pen, though with no other 
 reason than ought to have made me do so every day for 
 this month past. I can indeed hardly make out how 
 that period has slid away, in which I have done little 
 else but ride backwards and forwards between Wimble- 
 don and London, and meditate plans for the summer, 
 till I find the summer half over before I have begun to 
 put any in execution. 
 
 " My excursion to Stowe was a very short one — the 
 pleasantest, however, that could be. I found more 
 beauties in the place than I expected ; and the house, 
 though not half finished in the inside, the most magni- 
 ficent by far that I ever saw. Still, as far as the mere 
 pleasure of seeing goes, I had rather be the visitor than 
 the owner. Sedgemoor and Troy Hill are not to be ex- 
 changed for the Elysian Fields, with all the temples 
 into the bargain. I had the discretion, you will believe 
 though, to keep this opinion to myself. We were quite 
 a family party — Mr. and Mrs. Fortescue, Miss Grenville, 
 William, and myself. We had leisure, as you may 
 imagine, for abundance of speculation and discourse, all 
 of which was in the greatest degree satisfactory, and 
 promises everything that you would wish in regard to 
 those quarters. The Session is over, and everything 
 seems very quiet, though whether the Ministry will 
 gain much strength from their repose is very doubtful. 
 Perhaps not. I rather think, if I can, to take leave of 
 this neighbourhood in a day s or two, and to take some 
 dips at Brighthelmstone before our Somerset shire party, 
 which I hope will take place not very late in next 
 
 2 A house which had been taken by Lord Chatham before his
 
 128 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. III. 
 
 month, if nothing happens any day to derange my 
 summer schemes. I came this morning from Hayes, 
 where all is happiness, as you will believe, and where 
 indeed all ought to be so. I should be verv much 
 tempted to stay there till they move, but that I want 
 to employ a few more studious hours in the interval 
 than I could easily find there. Brighthelmstone will 
 answer in that view, as well as in point of health, 
 though, as to that, it cannot make me better than I 
 
 am. 
 
 " Ever your dutiful and affectionate 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 " Brighthelmstone, Aug. 8, 1783. 
 
 "My dear Mother, 
 
 " I imagine some of your visitors are by this time 
 with you, or at least on their way. I am so far sepa- 
 rated from the main army that they may probably not 
 be able to give you any certain account of my motions, 
 though it is my intention very soon to rejoin it. I shall 
 leave this place probably on Wednesday, and by striking 
 across the country shall, I flatter myself, reach Burton 
 the next day. At all events, before the end of the 
 week, I shall certainly have the happiness of seeing 
 you, and, I trust, of finding you going on well. This 
 part of the world supplies no news, and I know of none 
 elsewhere. By all I learnt before I left London, I now 
 think things may possibly go through the rest of the 
 summer as they are, though much longer there is every 
 reason to believe they will not. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt."
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 129 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 1783. 
 
 Pitt's excursion to France — Abbe" de Lageard — Return to England — 
 Fox's India Bill — Great speech of Burke — Bill passes the Com- 
 mons, but is thrown out by the Lords — Dismissal of Fox and 
 North — The Royal Prerogative — Pitt appointed Prime Minister 
 — Resignation of Lord Temple — The New Cabinet. 
 
 His legal pursuits being for this summer laid aside, 
 Pitt had planned an excursion to France, in company 
 with Wilberforce and Eliot. Early in September the 
 three friends met and passed a few days at the seat of 
 Henry Bankes in Dorsetshire. There one day in par- 
 tridge-shooting Pitt had a narrow escape from Wilber- 
 force's gun. "So at least," said Wilberforce, "my' 
 companions affirmed, with a roguish wish perhaps to 
 make the most of my short-sightedness and inexperience 
 in field-sports." 
 
 On the 10th of September Pitt attended the King's 
 Levee at St. James's, and on the 12th embarked at 
 Dover with his two travelling companions. But the 
 events of his short torn- will best be gathered from his 
 own correspondence. 
 
 " My dear Mothee, " Sept. 10, 1783. 
 
 " I am just going to the Levee, and shall get into 
 my chaise immediately after, and, I hope, shall reach 
 Dover before night. I will write as soon as I am landed 
 
 G 3
 
 130 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 on the other side of the water. London furnishes no 
 news but the long expected definitive treaty, and of 
 that no new particulars are known. I hope you are 
 perfectly free from the complaint Harriot mentioned in 
 her last letter. If the cross-post does me justice, she 
 will have heard from me in answer. Adieu. Ever, my 
 dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 " My dear Mother, " Calais, Sept. 12 (1783). 
 
 " Lest any howling at Burton should have given 
 you the idea of a storm, I am impatient to assure you 
 that we are arrived here after rather a rough but a very 
 prosperous passage. We shall set out to-morrow and 
 reach Eheims Sunday night or Monday morning. A 
 letter, directed to a Gentilhomme Anglois a la Poste 
 Restante, will, I find, be sure to reach me. I hope 
 I shall have the pleasure of hearing from you very 
 soon. 
 
 " Your dutiful and affectionate 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 " Eheims, Sept. 18, Thursday, 1783. 
 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " We arrived here after a journey which had 
 little but the novelty of the country to recommend it. 
 The travelling was much better than I expected, and 
 the appearance of the people more comfortable, but the 
 face of the country through all the way from Calais the 
 dullest I ever saw. Here we are in very good quarters, 
 though as yet we have not found much society but our 
 own. The place is chiefly inhabited by mercantile 
 people and ecclesiastics, among whom, however, I sup- 
 pose we shall by degrees find some charitable persons
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 131 
 
 who will let us practise our French upon them. At 
 present, when I have told you that Ave are here and 
 perfectly well, I have exhausted my whole budget of 
 news. The post is also not well suited for a longer 
 letter, as it goes out at nine in the morning, and I am 
 writing before breakfast. This, however, is not so great 
 an exertion as in England, for the hours are uncom- 
 monly early, to which we easily accustom ourselves, 
 at night, and in some measure in the morning. I hope 
 I shall have the happiness of a letter from Burton soon. 
 You will probably have received one which I wrote from 
 Calais. Kind love to Harriot, and compliments to 
 Mrs. Stapleton. 
 
 " Your ever dutiful and affectionate 
 
 "W. Pitt." 
 
 To Lady Harriot Pitt. 
 "My dear Sister, "Kheims, Oct. 1, 1783. 
 
 " This place has for some days been constantly im- 
 proving upon us, though at this time of year it has not 
 a numerous society. We are going to-day to dine at a 
 country-house in the midst of vineyards, which, as this 
 is the height of the vintage, will furnish a very pleasant 
 scene. To-morrow we are to dine at a magnificent 
 palace of the Archbishop's, who lives about five miles off, 
 and is a sort of prince in this country. Most of those 
 we see are ecclesiastics, and as a French Abbe is not 
 proverbial for silence, we have an opportunity of hearing 
 something of the language 
 
 "Your ever affectionate 
 
 " W. Pitt."
 
 132 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV- 
 
 To Lady Chatham. 
 
 ; ' Kheims, Monday, Oct. 6, 1783. 
 
 " This will be the last time of my writing from this 
 place, which we leave on Wednesday for Paris. The 
 time has passed not unpleasantly or unprofitably, and 
 I flatter myself has furnished a stock of French that 
 will last for ten days or a fortnight at Paris. We 
 shall arrive there on Thursdav, and do not mean to be 
 tempted by anything to prolong our stay much beyond 
 the 20th of October. Parliament I hear meets on the 
 11th of November, and a fortnight or three weeks in 
 England first is very desirable. 
 
 " The direction I sent became, from my manner of 
 expressing it, more mysterious than I meant, as I had 
 no intention to leave out my name. It is some proof of 
 French politeness that they do not bear it any enmity, 
 though they seem to know the difference between this 
 war and the last. I believe you may venture to direct 
 to me at full length at Paris, adding Hotel du Pare 
 Royal, Rue du Colombier, Faubourg St. Germain." 
 
 " Hotel de Grande Bretagne, Paris, 
 Wednesday, Oct. 15 (1783). 
 
 " I am just setting out to Fontainebleau for two or 
 three days, where I shall find the Court and all the 
 magnificence of France, and with this expedition I shall 
 finish my career here. Since I have been here I have 
 had little to do but to see sights, as the King's journey to 
 Fontainebleau has carried all the world from Paris 
 except the English, who seem quite in possession of the 
 town."
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 133 
 
 Some further details have been preserved of this, the 
 only visit to the continent which Pitt ever made. Nearly 
 alfare derived from the letters and the Diary as pub- 
 lished of Mr. Wilberforce. At Eheims Pitt had many 
 conversations with Abbe de Lageard, a highly intelli- 
 gent gentleman, then the Archbishop's delegate, and 
 afterwards an emigrant in England. One day as the 
 young orator was expressing in warm terms his admira- 
 tion of the political system which prevailed at home, 
 the Abb6 asked him, since all human things were 
 perishable, in what part the British Constitution might 
 be first expected to decay ? Pitt mused for a moment, 
 and then answered : — " The part of our Constitution 
 which will first perish is the prerogative of the King, 
 and the authority of the House of Peers." 
 
 " I am much surprised," said the Abbe, " that a 
 country so moral as England can submit to be governed 
 by such a spendthrift and such a rake as Fox ; it seems 
 to show that you are less moral than you claim to be." 
 " The remark is just," Pitt replied, " but you have not 
 been under the wand of the magician." 
 
 On the French institutions they also sometimes con- 
 versed. Pitt made many careful inquiries, and summed 
 up his impressions in the following words : — " Sir, 
 you have no political liberty; but as to civil liberty 
 you have more of it than you suppose." It is re- 
 markable that this is the very conclusion which, in 
 treating of that period seventy years afterwards, the 
 last work of De Tocqueville has with so much force of 
 argument maintained. 
 
 But, besides these well attested replies of Pitt in
 
 134 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 France, there is another resting on no good authority ; 
 a mere silly rumour which has often been repeated. 
 We are told that Monsieur and Madame Necker, through 
 the intervention of Horace Walpole, proposed to him 
 their daughter in marriage, with a fortune of 14,000Z. 
 a-year, and that Pitt answered, — " I am already mar- 
 ried to my country." 1 Now in the first place Horace 
 Walpole was not then, and had not been for many years, 
 at Paris. Secondly, it is most improbable that Monsieur 
 and Madame Necker, strongly imbued as they were 
 with the Swiss ideas of domestic happiness, should have 
 offered their child as the wife of a young foreigner after 
 only a few days' acquaintance. And thirdly, the 
 theatrical reply ascribed to Pitt is wholly at variance 
 with his ever plain and manly, and sometimes sarcastic, 
 I style. I believe that he never had the opportunity of 
 refusing Mademoiselle Necker, but if he did I am sure 
 that it was not in any such melo-dramatic phrase. 
 
 At Fontainebleau we find Pitt take part in the chase. 
 Wilberforce dots down in his journal : — " October 17, 
 morning : Pitt stag-hunting, Eliot and I in chaise to see 
 King. Clumsy, strange figure in immense boots. Dined 
 at home ; then play." Both at Fontainebleau and at 
 Paris the son of Chatham was much noticed by persons 
 of distinction, from the Queen, Marie Antoinette, down- 
 wards. " They all, men and women " — so writes Wilber- 
 force to Bankes — " crowded round Pitt in shoals ; and 
 he behaved with great spirit, though he was sometimes 
 
 1 See the story as related in the Life of Wilberforce, but not on bis 
 authority, vol. i. p. 39.
 
 1783. LIFE OP PITT. 135 
 
 a little bored when they talked to him of Parliamentary 
 Reform." 
 
 The three friends landed again at Dover on the 24th 
 of October. Mr. Pitt, as we learn from Bishop Tomline, 
 who despatches his tour in a single sentence, returned 
 to England with the intention of resuming his pro- 
 fession of the law, if there should appear a fair pro- 
 bability of the administration being permanent. But 
 the events of the coming Session speedily dispelled his 
 legal dreams. 
 
 Pitt was full of Parliamentary topics, when a few 
 days after his return he wrote as follows to Lord 
 Mahon :— 
 
 " Berkeley Square, Nov. 3, 1783. 
 " My dear Loed, 
 
 " 1 was in hopes to have seen you and those with 
 you at Chevening, all of whom I wished extremely to see 
 before this time, but I have had so much to do ever 
 since I have been in town that I have found it im- 
 possible. The meeting is now so near that time is 
 every day more precious, and there is abundance of 
 objects that require examination. I trust you will be in 
 town in a very feiv days, for there are several things in 
 which I am quite at a loss without you. If anything 
 detains you, pray let me know, and I will endeavour to 
 meet you at Hayes, but I rather trust to seeing you 
 here. Adieu. 
 
 " Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 « w. Pitt." 
 
 Parliament met on the 11th of November. On that 
 day Pitt spoke, admitting that there was no objection
 
 136 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 to the Address proposed. On the same day he addressed 
 to Lady Chatham a few hasty lines : — 
 
 "Berkeley Square, Nov. 11, 1783. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " I have been disappointed the two last posts in 
 my intention of writing to you, which, just as the meet- 
 ing of Parliament approached) you will, I am sure, 
 readily excuse. We have to-day heard the King's 
 Speech, and voted the Address without any opposition. 
 Both were so general that they prove nothing of what 
 may be expected during the Session. The East India 
 business and the funds promise to make the two prin- 
 cipal objects. I am afraid it will not be easy for me 
 by the post to be anything else than a fashionable cor- 
 respondent, for I believe the fashion which prevails of 
 opening almost every letter that is sent, makes it almost 
 
 impossible to write anything worth reading 
 
 Adieu, my dear Mother." 
 
 In the course of the debate on the Address Mr. Secre- 
 tary Fox announced that in a week from that time he 
 should bring forward the great Ministerial measure for 
 the government of India, which was foreshadowed in the 
 Royal Speech. To that measure, almost in exclusion 
 of every other, the public attention was now directed. 
 
 The progress of our Eastern empire under Warren 
 Hastings, as its rise under Clive, displayed amidst all 
 its greatness and its glory some flagrant cases of oppres- 
 sion and misrule. Echoes of these, though faint, had 
 gradually rolled across the wide expanse of sea. Inquiry 
 and suspicion began to be rife in England. Committees 
 of the House of Commons had sat and had reported.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 137 
 
 By the witnesses examined the cases of oppression were 
 in part revealed. By the voice of eloquent speakers — 
 of Dundas especially and Burke — the oppressor still in 
 office was denounced. 
 
 So recently as April, 1783, on the fall of the Shel- 
 burne administration, Dundas had brought in a Bill 
 on this most important subject. His plan was to send 
 out a new Governor-General, prepared to remedy 
 abuses and armed with extensive powers, with au- 
 thority to overrule, if he thought it needful, the wish 
 and the opinion of his council. In such a case, as 
 Dundas had observed, everything would depend on the 
 weight and authority of the person so selected ; and as 
 the fittest person, Dundas had named Earl Cornwallis. 
 
 Under such circumstances the Coalition Government 
 had scarce an alternative before it. The Ministers did 
 no more than any other Ministers at that period must 
 and would have done in undertaking to frame a mea- 
 sure that should reform the entire administration of our 
 Indian provinces. 
 
 From the profound knowledge of Burke upon all 
 branches of this subject it has been commonly sup- 
 posed that, in framing the new measure, he had by 
 far the largest share. This conjecture has been con- 
 firmed by the subsequent publication of his papers. 
 "From Mr. Pigot, who finished the India Bill from my 
 drafts " — such is the endorsement, in Burke's own hand- 
 writing, to a letter which he received in October, 1783. 2 
 There can be no doubt, however, that Burke, before he 
 
 Correspondence of Burke, vol. iii. p. 22, as published in 1844.
 
 138 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 sent in his measure to the Cabinet, consulted Fox on 
 every point of importance, and that Fox applied himself 
 to the whole subject with most anxious care. 
 
 The India Bill, prepared by these two eminent 
 statesmen and agreed to by their Cabinet colleagues, 
 was of a bold and sweeping character. It gave to a 
 Board of seven persons — all charters or vested rights 
 notwithstanding — the absolute power to appoint or 
 displace the holders of office in India, and to conduct 
 as they deemed best the entire administration of that 
 country. The names of these seven persons were left 
 in blank to be filled up in the Committee, and their 
 authority was to endure for four years from the passing 
 of the Act, whatever changes of administration might 
 meanwhile ensue. The members of the Board were 
 prohibited from the use of the ballot or any other mode 
 of secret voting, and they were required to lay their 
 accounts before both Houses at the beginning of every 
 Session. 
 
 It would be great injustice to the memory of both 
 Burke and Fox were we to doubt that in their delibera- 
 tions the advantage of India and the cause of justice 
 and good policy were the foremost objects of their 
 thoughts. Burke showed on many occasions an eager, 
 nay a passionate anxiety for the welfare of the Indian 
 people, and Fox was never wanting in a generous 
 sympathy with every form of suffering and distress. 
 Nor is it to be denied that several arguments might 
 be pleaded in favour of the project they proposed. 
 Was it not most desirable to shield those distant pro- 
 vinces from the vicissitudes of party conflict at home,
 
 1783. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 139 
 
 and to obtain a clear field for the needed improvements 
 and reforms ? 
 
 But, while we may readily admit that the benefit of 
 India itself was the main object with Fox when he 
 devised or adopted his celebrated Iudia Bill, some of 
 his warmest admirers have been willing to acknowledge 
 that he also allowed considerable weight to the future 
 interests and influence of his own party friends in Eng- 
 land. 3 He saw that the King had most unwillingly ad- 
 mitted them to office : he saw that His Majesty might 
 at any moment turn them out. How useful, then, if 
 they might construct for themselves some safe citadel 
 of refuge independent of the Royal smiles ! How useful 
 if, concentrating in sure hands and during a fixed term 
 of years the entire administration of India, they might 
 confront the Treasury with a mass of patronage scarcely 
 inferior to its own ! 4 Could the King hope to make 
 head against such a combination? Would it not pro- 
 bably avert or certainly baffle any overt act of his 
 disfavour ? 
 
 While thus urged forward, first by public and in the 
 second place by personal motives, Fox was by no means 
 insensible to the perils that he ran. " It will be 
 vigorous and hazardous." In these words do we find 
 him describe his own measure in a confidential letter 
 of the time. 5 But his nature was ever bold and fear- 
 less, and the prize glittered bright before him. On the 
 
 3 See on this point, for example, 
 Moore's Life of Sheridan, vol. i. 
 p. 393. 
 
 4 The patronage under the Bill 
 cannot, I think, be taken at less 
 
 than 300.000Z. a-year. Wilkes 
 makes it " above two millions." 
 See the Pari. Hist. vol. xxiv. p. 24. 
 5 To the Earl of Northington at 
 Dublin, Nov. 7, 1783.
 
 140 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 18th of November, according to the notice he had 
 given, he rose to explain to the House of Commons the 
 provisions of the Bill. He fixed the second reading 
 for the 27th of the same month, a time that was com* 
 plained of as far too early ; but Pitt, who rose imme- 
 diately after him, could obtain no further delay. 
 
 The speeches of Fox, both in opening and defending 
 this momentous measure, have been acknowledged on 
 all hands as most lucid and able. " Such eloquence," 
 said his great rival, " would lend a grace to deformity." 
 On one point only, that is, on the violation of the 
 Charters, Fox, as addressing an assembly jealous of 
 vested rights, may have faltered in his tone. For this 
 violation he could merely urge, in general terms, the 
 plea of necessity. But necessity— as Pitt exclaimed 
 with indignation, on the very first day of the Bill — 
 " necessity is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of 
 slaves ! " 
 
 During the interval between the introduction of the 
 Bill and its second reading we find Pitt write as follows 
 to his friend the Duke of Rutland : — 
 
 " Berkeley Square, Nov. 22, 1783. 
 " My deae Duke, 
 
 " We are in the midst of a contest, and, I think, 
 approaching to a crisis. The Bill which Fox has 
 brought in relative to India will be, one way or other, 
 decisive for or against the Coalition. It is, I really 
 think, the boldest and most unconstitutional measure 
 ever attempted, transferring at one stroke, in spite of 
 all charters and compacts, the immense patronage and
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 141 
 
 influence of the East to Charles Fox, ill or out of office. 
 I think it will with difficulty, if at all, find its way 
 through our House, and can never succeed in yours. 
 Ministry trust all on this one die, and will probably 
 fail. They have hurried on the Bill so fast, that we 
 are to have the second reading on Thursday next, 
 November 27th. I think we shall be strong on that 
 day, but much stronger in the subsequent stages. If 
 you have any member within fifty or a hundred miles 
 of you who cares for the Constitution or the country, 
 pray send him to the House of Commons as quick as 
 you can. 
 
 " Ever most faithfully yours, 
 
 "W. Pitt. 
 
 " For fear of mistakes, I must tell you that I am at 
 a house which my brother has taken here, and not at 
 Shelburne House. 
 
 " I do not see Lord Tyrconnel in town, nor Pochin, 
 nor Sir Henry Peyton. Can you apply to any of 
 them? They may still be in time for some of the 
 stages of the Bill." 
 
 Notwithstanding the strongest muster that the Oppo- 
 sition was able to make, the second reading of the 
 India Bill was carried by a majority of 229 to 120, 
 The struggle was resumed in its succeeding stages, 
 with no great gain as to numbers, but with some 
 splendid eloquence all through on either side. Pitt, 
 especially, put forth all his powers, and, stripling as 
 he might be termed, he shone forth no unworthy 
 antagonist to the riper genius of Fox. Henceforth 
 these two great orators, high above the common level,
 
 142 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 might confront each other — it is a poet's thought — like 
 two vast mountains, parted by the main. 
 
 " We, we have seen the intellectual race 
 Of giants stand like Titans face to face : 
 Athos and Ida, with a dashing sea 
 Of eloquence between. " 6 
 
 These debates are further memorable for one of the 
 great speeches of Burke — one of those great speeches 
 which contemporaries might hear with indifference, but 
 which the latest posterity will admire and revere. On 
 this occasion he most happily applied to Fox some 
 lines in Silius Italicus, prophetic through an ancestor 
 in the Punic Wars of Cicero — "the only person to 
 whose eloquence it does not wrong that of the mover of 
 the Bill to be compared." 
 
 " Indole proh quanta juvenis, quantumque daturus 
 Ausonias populis venturum in saecula civem ; 
 Ille super Gangem, super exauditus et Indos 
 Implebit terras voce, et furialia bella 
 Fulmine compescet linguae." 7 
 
 Of late years I have heard Lord Macaulay more 
 than once refer to this passage, and observe how many 
 persons he has known to misunderstand it — failing to 
 catch the allusion to Cicero — and supposing from a 
 hasty perusal or an imperfect recollection that the lines 
 are " somewhere in Virgil," as, indeed, they are a mani- 
 fest and successful imitation of the Virgilian manner. 
 
 In the same most beautiful passage Burke dwells on 
 
 6 Lord Byron, in the ' Age of 
 Bronze.' Some preceding lines 
 give the application of the passage 
 
 to Pitt and Fox. 
 i Sil. Italic., lib. viii. v. 407.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 143 
 
 the merits of Fox with affectionate regard : " He is 
 traduced and abused for his supposed motives. He will 
 remember that obloquy is a necessary ingredient in the 
 composition of all true glory ; he will remember that 
 it was not only in the Roman customs, but it is in the 
 nature and constitution of things, that calumny and 
 
 abuse are essential parts of triumph He is 
 
 now on a great eminence, where the eyes of mankind 
 are turned to him. He may live long, he may do 
 much ; but here is the summit, — he never can exceed 
 
 what he does this day He has faults, but 
 
 they are faults that, though they may in a small 
 degree tarnish the lustre and sometimes impede the 
 march of his abilities, have nothing in them to extin- 
 guish the fire of great virtues. In these faults there is 
 no mixture of deceit, of hypocrisy, of pride, of ferocity, 
 of complexional despotism, or want of feeling for the 
 distresses of mankind. His are faults which might 
 exist in a descendant of Henry the Fourth of France, 
 as they did exist in that father of his country." 
 
 The descent of Mr. Fox from Henri Quatre, which 
 Burke here indicates, may perplex some readers quite 
 as much as the passage from Silius Italicus. They must 
 remember that Mr. Fox's mother was a daughter of 
 the Duke of Richmond ; that the Dukes of Richmond 
 are sprung by the Bend Sinister from Charles the 
 Second ; and that Charles the Second was, on the ma- 
 ternal side, a grandson of the fourth Henry. 
 
 In these debates two lawyers of rising fame — of 
 opposite politics, but each destined to attain the height of 
 his profession — made their maiden speeches. First, there
 
 144 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 was John Scott, in after years Lord Eldon. Having 
 been returned in the previous June for a small borough 
 through the Thynne family interest, he was called by 
 his adversaries at this time " Lord Weymouth's law- 
 yer." His first speech was but a slight one, though 
 eliciting some compliments from Fox. His next effort 
 appears to have been, as his biographer describes it, 
 " vastly more ambitious than successful." 8 Quoting 
 several verses from the Book of Revelation, he alleged 
 the beast with seven heads and ten horns as an emblem 
 of the awful innovation designed in the affairs of the 
 East India Company ; and he further garnished his 
 oratory with a citation of the tragic fate of Desdemona. 
 In reply he was severely lashed by Sheridan, and 
 could receive but scant congratulation from his friends ; 
 but his mortification at the moment led, beyond all 
 doubt, to his ultimate advantage. It induced him ever 
 afterwards to renounce such soaring flights, and to place, 
 as he well might, his reliance on his legal ability and 
 learning and his great judicial powers. 
 
 Erskine also spoke for the first time in these debates. 
 A seat had been found for him at Portsmouth, and he 
 took his seat on the 11th of November. Not a week 
 elapsed ere he rose to address the House. There was 
 great eagerness to hear him, and the highest expecta- 
 tion derived from his wonderful successes at the Bar. 
 But deep in proportion was the disappointment that en- 
 sued. Here, as derived from an eye-witness, is a graphic 
 representation of the scene : — " Pitt, evidently intending 
 
 Life of Lord Eldon by Twiss, vol. i. p. 153.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 145 
 
 to reply, sat with pen and paper in his hand, prepared 
 to catch the arguments of this formidable adversary. 
 He wrote a word or two. Erskine proceeded, but with 
 every additional sentence Pitt's attention to the paper 
 relaxed, his look became more careless, and he obviously 
 began to think the orator less and less worthy of his 
 attention. At length, while every eye in the House was 
 fixed upon him, with a contemptuous smile he dashed 
 the pen through the papers and flung them on the floor. 
 Erskine never recovered from this expression of disdain ; 
 his voice faltered, he struggled through the remainder 
 of his speech, and sank into his seat dispirited and shorn 
 of his fame." A discussion is said to have arisen at the 
 time whether Pitt's pantomimic display of contempt was 
 premeditated, or arose from the feeling of the moment ; 
 but Lord Campbell, as the biographer of Erskine, in- 
 clines to the latter opinion. 9 
 
 There is still in these debates another legal speech to 
 be commemorated. The Attorney-General, John Lee, 
 was seeking to repel the charge founded on the abroga- 
 tion of the Charters ; but he did so in terms which greatly 
 added to the popular excitement that prevailed. " For 
 what," cried Mr. Lee, "is a Charter? Only a skin of 
 parchment with a seal of wax dangling at one end of 
 it." He had added, " when compared with the happi- 
 ness of thirty millions of subjects." But in such cases 
 modifications and qualifications are of little avail ; the 
 
 9 Lives of the Chancellors, vol. 
 vi. p. 416. It should be noted, 
 however, that the meagre Parlia- 
 mentary History of that day (though 
 
 here no doubt in error) represents 
 Erskine as speaking, not before 
 Pitt, but immediately after him 
 (vol. xxiii. p. 1245). 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 hostile echoes out of doors repeat only the obnoxious 
 words. 
 
 In the Committee Fox filled up the blank space with 
 the names of the Directors he proposed. First there 
 was Earl Fitzwilliam, who was designed as Chairman of 
 the Board. He was a man not as yet generally known, 
 but highly respected in his private character, " whom," 
 thus writes Horace Walpole, " the Cavendishes are nurs- 
 ing up as a young Octavius, to succeed Ins uncle Eock- 
 ingham." l Next was George, eldest son of Lord North. 
 All the rest were of the same complexion, staunch and 
 tried friends of the new administration. There was not 
 even in one case the pretence of an impartial choice ; 
 there was not the smallest doubt that the new Board 
 thus composed would be wholly at the bidding of Fox, 
 whether in or out of office. 
 
 On the 8th of December the India Bill finally passed 
 the Commons, by a majority of 208 against 102. On 
 the 9th it was carried up to the Peers by Fox, as in 
 triumph, attended by a great concourse of members. 
 The Duke of Portland fixed the second reading for the 
 15th, but the indignation of several Peers could not be 
 so long restrained. Earl Temple started up at once, 
 happy, he said, to seize the first opportunity of entering 
 his solemn protest against so infamous a Bill. The words 
 of Lord Thurlow, who followed, were much more weighty 
 and almost as vehement. " As I abhor tyranny in all its 
 shapes," said the late Chancellor, " I shall oppose most 
 strenuously this strange attempt to destroy the true ba- 
 
 1 Notes by Horace Walpole, March 17, 1783.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 147 
 
 lance of our Constitution. I wish to see the Crown great 
 and respectable, but if the present Bill should pass, it 
 will be no longer worthy of a man of honour to wear." 
 In using these words, Lord Thurlow looked full at 
 the Prince of Wales, who was present, and he thus pro- 
 ceeded : " The King will, in fact, take the diadem from 
 his own head, and place it on the head of Mr. Fox." 
 
 These two Peers did not confine themselves to speeches 
 in Parliament. They had for some time been acting in 
 close concert together, and they had drawn up a joint 
 memorandum for the King. This memorandum, after 
 remaining secret for many years, was published so re- 
 cently as 1853, with other papers from Stowe. 2 It is thus 
 endorsed in Lord Temple's own hand : " Delivered by 
 Lord Thurlow, on December 1, 1783." We find it convey 
 the strongest warning against the India Bill in progress as 
 " a plan to take more than half the Royal power, and 
 by that means disable His Majesty for the rest of the 
 reign." Such a warning could not fail to make the 
 strongest impression on the King, falling in as it did 
 with his own political feelings, and coming from two 
 statesmen, one of whom had been lately Ins Lord Chan- 
 cellor, and the other his Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 But could the danger be still averted ? This was a 
 question which the memorandum did not leave without 
 a reply. It suggested that the India Bill could be 
 thrown out in the House of Lords ; but it added that 
 the result might be doubtful " if those whose duty to 
 His Majesty would excite them to appear, are not ac- 
 
 2 See the Courts and Cabinets of George the Third, vol. i. p. 288. 
 
 H 2
 
 148 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 quainted with his wishes, which would make it impos- 
 sible to pretend a doubt of it." 
 
 In the further progress of this transaction, Thmiow 
 appears with much prudence to have kept in the back- 
 ground, and allowed the less wary Temple to take the 
 lead. It may be said, indeed, that Thurlow acted the 
 part of Bertrand, and Temple the part of Eaton, in the 
 well-known French fable. 
 
 On the 11th of December the Earl asked for and ob- 
 tained a private audience of the King. This is the in- 
 terview described with so much spirit in that excellent 
 satire, the Eolliad : 
 
 " On that great clay when Buckingham, by pairs, 
 Ascended, Heaven-impelled, the King's back stairs, 
 And panting, breathless, strained his lungs to show 
 From Fox's Bill what mighty ills would flow ; 
 Still, as with stammering tongue he told his tale, 
 Unusual terrors Brunswick's heart assail, 
 Wide starts his white wig from the Boyal ear, 
 And each particular hair stands stiff with fear ! " 
 
 In this audience it appears that Lord Temple urged 
 the King to use his Boyal influence against the Bill, and 
 that the King consented. To remove all doubt upon 
 this point, a card was written, apparently in the King's 
 own hand, stating that " His Majesty allowed Earl 
 Temple to say that whoever voted for the India Bill 
 was not only not his friend, but would be considered 
 by him as an enemy ; and if these words were not 
 strong enough, Earl Temple might use whatever words 
 he might deem stronger and more to the purpose." 
 There may be some doubt as to the exact words of
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 149 
 
 this commission, but as to its purport and its meaning 
 none. 
 
 Such a commission was at that time especially signi- 
 ficant. At that time there sat in Parliament no incon- 
 siderable number of persons who professed for His 
 Majesty either a personal attachment or a political ad- 
 herence, and who were known by the common designa- 
 tion of " King's friends." In the Commons the leader 
 of this band on all occasions was Mr. Charles Jenkinson, 
 in later years Lord Hawkesbury, and finally Earl of 
 Liverpool. In the Lords they seem to have had no 
 regular chief; but any Peer inclining to their senti- 
 ments would of course attach the greatest weight to 
 the commission of Lord Temple. 
 
 But that commission could not from its very nature 
 remain a secret ; it had to be made known to many of 
 the Peers. Those who yielded to it might be willing to 
 keep silence, but those who were determined to stand 
 firm divulged it as of course to their political friends. 
 On the 15th, when the Bill was again before the House, 
 and when Counsel at the Bar were heard against it, the 
 many rumours already rife upon the subject were noticed 
 vaguely by the Duke of Portland, and in more pointed 
 terms by the Duke of Richmond. Earl Temple rose 
 in reply. " That His Majesty," he said, " has recently 
 honoured me with a conference is a matter of notoriety. 
 It is not what I wish to deny, or have the power to 
 conceal. It is the privilege of the Peers, as the heredi- 
 tary counsellors of the Crown, either individually or col- 
 lectively, to advise His Majesty. I did give my advice ; 
 what it was, I shall not now declare ; it is lodged in
 
 150 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 His Majesty's breast. But though I will not declare 
 what my advice to my Sovereign was, I will tell your 
 Lordships negatively what it was not : it was not friendly 
 to the principle and object of the Bill." 
 
 The effects of this advice, or rather of the commission 
 which resulted from it, were, however, apparent that same 
 evening. A motion of adjournment being made, was 
 carried against Ministers by a majority of eight. " The 
 Bishops waver, and the Thanes fly from us, and in my 
 opinion the Bill will not pass," writes Colonel Fitzpatrick 
 to Ins brother the same day. 3 
 
 Still far greater was the effect of the Koyal message 
 upon the 17th of December, on the motion " that the 
 Bill be committed." Then after a long and keen de- 
 bate the motion was negatived and the Bill thrown out 
 by, including proxies, 95 votes against 76. On this 
 occasion all or nearly all the " King's friends " either took 
 part against the Bill or stayed away. The Prince of 
 Wales had voted with his friends in office in the division 
 of the 15th, but during the interval the King's aversion 
 to the Bill was so clearly conveyed to him that he could 
 no longer affect to doubt it, and on the 17th he was 
 absent from the House. Strange to say, one of the 
 Cabinet Ministers, Lord Stormont, President of the 
 Council, formed part of the final majority against the Bill. 
 Stranger still, it would seem that his colleagues, con- 
 sidering his personal adherence to the King, bore him 
 no ill will on that account. Lord Holland in his notes 
 writes of it as follows : " It is just to remark that 
 
 3 Fox Memorials, vol. ii. p. 220.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 151 
 
 Lord Stormont, a stiff, formal man, of high Tory prin- 
 ciples, always during his political connection with Mr. 
 Fox conducted himself with great honour and fairness, 
 and Mr. Fox has frequently told me that he behaved 
 well." 
 
 In the midst of this crisis the Commons had adjourned 
 for two days, in consequence of a death in the Speaker's 
 family. But they met again upon the 17th. Then, and 
 while the debate upon the India Bill in the other House 
 was still depending, Mr. Baker, of Hertford, a personal 
 friend of Burke, rose in his place and adverted in strong 
 terms to the rumours of the conference between Lord 
 Temple and the King, and he concluded by proposing a 
 Resolution in the following terms : " That it is now 
 necessary to declare that to report any opinion or pre- 
 tended opinion of His Majesty upon any Bill or other 
 proceeding depending in either House of Parliament, 
 with a view to influence the votes of the Members, is a 
 high crime and misdemeanor, derogatory to the honour of 
 the Crown, a breach of the fundamental privileges of 
 Parliament, and subversive of the Constitution of this 
 country." 
 
 No sooner was the motion moved and seconded than 
 Pitt rose. He denounced the Resolution as "one of 
 the most unnecessary, the most frivolous and ill-timed 
 that ever insulted the attention of the national Senate," 
 since it neither contained any specific charge, nor yet 
 was directed to any decisive issue. As against it he 
 moved the Order of the Day, and he was seconded by 
 Lord Mahon. But Lord North, speaking with especial 
 weight as the King's Minister for so many years, warmly
 
 152 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 urged the propriety and necessity of the Eesolution be- 
 fore the House ; and it was further supported by Fox in 
 one of the most able and most animated of his many 
 great speeches at this time. " The question is not," he 
 said, " whether His Majesty shall avail himself of such 
 advice as no one readily avows, but who is answerable 
 
 for such advice How, Sir, are Ministers situated 
 
 on this ground ? Do they not come into power with a 
 halter about their necks, by which the most contemptible 
 wretch in the kingdom may despatch them at pleasure ? 
 Yes : they hold their several offices, not at the option of 
 the Sovereign, but of the very reptiles who burrow 
 under the Throne : they act the part of puppets, and are 
 answerable for all the folly and the ignorance, and the 
 temerity or timidity, of some unknown juggler behind 
 the screen ! " And not content with such general terms 
 of condemnation, Fox proceeded in no covert terms to 
 point his invective against Pitt. " Boys without judg- 
 ment, without experience of the sentiments suggested 
 by the knowledge of the world, or the amiable decencies 
 of a sound mind, may follow the headlong course of 
 ambition thus precipitately, and vault into the seat while 
 the reins of government are placed in other hands. 
 But the Minister who can bear to act such a dishonour- 
 able part, and the country that suffers it, will be mutual 
 plagues and curses to each other." 
 
 The masterly speech of Fox was followed by an over- 
 whelming majority in favour of the motion — 153 voting 
 for it, and no more than 80 against it. Erskine — una- 
 bashed at his recent failure, and, rather than be silent, 
 ready to encounter many other failures in Parliament —
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 153 
 
 then rose to move a second Eesolution. This, which 
 was carried by like numbers, declared that the House 
 would pursue the redress of the abuses which had pre- 
 vailed in the government of India, and would regard as 
 a public enemy any person who should advise His Ma- 
 jesty to interrupt the discharge of this important duty. 
 
 Thus on the morning of Thursday, the 18th of 
 December, the two Houses stood directly and keenly 
 arrayed against each other. The Commons had 
 pledged themselves to the principles of their India Bill, 
 and denounced, in violent terms, the means employed 
 against it, while the Peers, on their part, had flung out 
 the Bill itself. 
 
 Supported by their vast majority in the Commons, 
 Fox and his colleagues determined to stand their ground. 
 They deemed it wisest to cast upon the King the entire 
 responsibility of a change of Government. During the 
 whole of the 18th, from hour to hour, the King was in 
 expectation of receiving the resignation of his Ministers. 
 Finding that none came, he took a step that could no 
 longer be deferred. Very late that evening — it was 
 indeed near midnight — Mr. Fox and Lord North, as 
 Secretaries of State, received the King's orders, that 
 they should deliver up their Seals of office, and send 
 them by their Under Secretaries, since a personal inter- 
 view on the occasion would be disagreeable to His Ma- 
 jesty. The Seals thus sent were given by the King next 
 morning to Lord Temple, who immediately took the 
 oaths as Secretary of State, and as such wrote letters 
 of dismissal to the other Ministers. 
 
 That the course of the lung in these transactions was 
 
 TT O 
 II O
 
 154 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 an extreme stretch of his prerogative is indisputable. 
 That it was, as Mr. Fox's friends have all along contended, 
 a manifest infringement of his Constitutional duty is not 
 to be so readily admitted. Perhaps we may think that, 
 when closely viewed, the Constitutional relation of the 
 Sovereign to his responsible advisers is by no means so 
 clear and well-defined as it might at first sight appear. 
 Perhaps we may come to the conclusion that it must 
 depend hi many cases rather on good feeling and prin- 
 ciple upon both sides than on any fixed and undeviating 
 rule. Let us for this inquiry assume the case of the 
 India Bill to be exactly such as its adversaries made it. 
 Here then was a Bill containing an insidious and dis- 
 guised attack on the Royal Prerogative. On general 
 principles we can scarcely blame a King for being care- 
 ful of his Prerogative, so long as we continue to applaud 
 each House of Parliament for being jealous of its privi- 
 leges. Now, in the particular case which we suppose 
 before us, the Bill containing this attack had been by 
 the Minister so artfully and ably prepared, that in the 
 first instance neither the King nor yet the public at 
 large discerned the danger. But when the discussions 
 in Parliament arose, that danger was made manifest, and 
 painted in the strongest light by the Opposition speak- 
 ers. With so much force of argument did they denounce 
 the Bill, that they brought a great portion of the public 
 round to their opinion. What then ? Is the King to be 
 the only person in the kingdom forbidden to derive new 
 lights from the debates in Parliament ? Is he to be 
 absolutely and in all cases bound to the assent which 
 the first draft of a measure, as glossed over by his
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 155 
 
 Ministers, may have received from him ? Then if not, 
 what course should he take ? Is he bound to dismiss his 
 Ministers at the very moment that these new lights have 
 flashed upon his mind ? Is he bound in that dismissal 
 entirely to disregard the consideration whether that 
 precise period may not be of all others the most inoppor- 
 tune for defeating then designs? Then if delay be 
 allowed him, are his lips meanwhile to be altogether 
 sealed ? Is he bound to hide even from members of his 
 family, from old servants or from trusted friends, the 
 feelings or the wishes that are swelling in his breast? 
 It will be owned, I think, by any candid inquirer that 
 some of these questions might be found in practice most 
 perplexing to decide. Without denying then that the 
 course pursued in this emergency by George the Third 
 was most unusual and most extreme, and one most 
 undesirable to establish as a precedent, I greatly doubt 
 whether it would be practicable to lay clown with per- 
 fect clearness and precision the Constitutional rale which 
 he is supposed to have infringed. 
 
 But whatever bolts of party indignation have been, 
 or may be, hurled against the King or against Lord 
 Temple, they at all events fall short of Pitt. He had 
 taken no part in these transactions. So far as we can 
 trace, he had not even been apprised of them beforehand. 
 It was only after the final issue that the King, turning 
 for aid to the only adequate antagonist of Fox, asked 
 him to undertake his responsible support as his new 
 Prime Minister. Nor did Pitt prove unequal to the crisis. 
 Without one moment's faltering, he responded to the 
 call. Thus when on the afternoon of the same day, the
 
 156 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 19tli of December, the House of Commons met — thronged 
 with an expectant and buzzing crowd, and Fox and 
 North taking their seats on the front Opposition benches, 
 — there was seen to walk in a young Member, Mr. 
 Richard Pepper Arden, holding an open paper in his 
 hand ; and soon afterwards rising in his place he moved 
 a new Writ for the borough of Appleby, " in the room of 
 the Eight Honourable William Pitt, who, since his elec- 
 tion, has accepted the office of First Lord of the Treasury 
 and Chancellor of the Exchequer." So hazardous 
 seemed the venture that, as we are assured, this motion 
 was received with loud and general laughter on the 
 Opposition side. The friends of Fox and North were 
 not in the least depressed. They looked forward, and 
 not unreasonably, to an early and triumphant resumption 
 of their offices. They were even taunted by Lord Mul- 
 grave, in the debate which ensued, as looking much too 
 merry. 
 
 A discussion at once arose. Dundas, as representing 
 the new Prime Minister, moved that the House should 
 sit on the next day, a Saturday, to expedite the passing 
 of the Land Tax Bill. But he did not venture to divide 
 the House against Fox, who proposed the usual adjourn- 
 ment to Monday, his object being, as the event showed, 
 rather to make manifest his power than to obstruct the 
 progress of what he owned to be a necessary measure. 
 In his speech Fox referred to the event of a Dissolution 
 as certain and near impending. " No one," he cried, 
 " would say that such a prerogative ought to be exercised 
 merely to suit the convenience of an ambitious young 
 man. And I here, in the face of the House, declare that
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 157 
 
 if a Dissolution shall take 'place, and if very solid and 
 substantial reasons are not assigiied for it, I shall, if I 
 have the honour of a seat in the next Parliament, move 
 a very serious inquiry into the business, and bring the 
 advisers of it to account." 
 
 To the same effect spoke also Lord North — " Though 
 a new Writ has been moved for Appleby, I am not to 
 be deceived by such a device. I believe that there is 
 not a man in the House who is not sure that a Disso- 
 lution is at hand." 
 
 So exasperated indeed were the Opposition chiefs — 
 so large the majority to back them in the House of 
 Commons — and so doubtful as yet the prospects of a 
 General Election— that Pitt found the greatest diffi- 
 culty in forming his new Government. Many men 
 who expressed to him their approval and good wishes 
 had, or alleged they had, some special reason to hang 
 back. 
 
 On the other hand, Pitt had one piece of good fortime 
 which he had not expected. Earl Gower enjoyed at 
 this time a large measure of public esteem. In the 
 autumn of 1779 he had seceded from Lord North's 
 Cabinet rather than continue the American war. In 
 the spring of 1783 he had been solicited by the King 
 to form an administration of his own. He was not on 
 any terms of political connection or intercourse with Pitt. 
 Yet at this juncture he sent through a friend a message 
 to the new Premier. He stated that, desirous as he was 
 of retirement for the remainder of his life, he could not 
 be deemed a candidate for office, but that in the present 
 distressed state of his King and country lie was willing
 
 15S LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 to serve in any place where he could be useful. The 
 offer was eagerly accepted, and on that same day, the 
 20th of December, Earl Gower was declared Lord 
 President of the Council. 
 
 One disappointment to Pitt was, however, wholly un- 
 foreseen. He had reckoned upon his kinsman Lord 
 Temple to fill the office of Secretary of State, and to 
 lead the House of Lords ; but Temple, who, on the 
 morning of Friday the 19th, had accepted the Seals, 
 suddenly, on the evening of Sunday the 21st, deter- 
 mined to resign them. Under all the circumstances 
 this was a " heavy blow and great discouragement " to 
 the not yet formed administration. 
 
 We obtain at this place, from Bishop Tomline, one of 
 those personal recollections which are so seldom to be 
 found in his pages. Adverting to the sudden resigna- 
 tion, he adds, — 
 
 " This was the only event of a public nature which I 
 ever knew disturb Mr. Pitt's rest while he continued 
 in good health. Lord Temple's resignation was deter- 
 mined upon at a late hour in the evening of the 21st, 
 and when I went into Mr. Pitt's bedroom the next 
 morning he told me that he had not had a moment's 
 sleep. He expressed great uneasiness at the state of 
 public affairs, at the same time declaring his fixed reso- 
 lution not to abandon the situation he had undertaken, 
 but to make the best stand in his power, though very 
 doubtful of the result. Some of his confidential friends 
 coming to him soon after he was dressed, he entered, 
 with his usual composure and energy, into the discussion 
 of points which required immediate decision — all feeling
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 159 
 
 the present moment to be one of peculiar anxiety and 
 difficulty." 4 
 
 The resignation of Lord Temple was stated in the 
 House of Commons that same day, the 22nd. His 
 brother William, who announced the fact, attempted 
 also to explain it. Having in the first place adverted 
 to the Resolution which the House had passed on Mr. 
 Baker's motion, Mr. Grenville added, " I am authorised 
 by my Noble Relative to say that he is ready to meet 
 any charge that shall be brought against him; and 
 that he may not be supposed to make his situation as 
 Minister stand in the way of, or serve as a protection or 
 shelter from inquiry and from justice, he had that day 
 resigned into His Majesty's hands the Seals of office with 
 which His Majesty had so lately been pleased to honour 
 him ; so that my Noble Relative is now in his private 
 capacity, unprotected by the influence of office, to answer 
 for his conduct whenever he shall hear the charge that 
 may be brought against it." 
 
 Fox rose next. He said, with something of disdain 
 in his tone, that Lord Temple was no doubt the best 
 judge of his own situation. He knew why he had ac- 
 cepted, he knew why he retired from office ; but cer- 
 tainly no one had said that any Resolution would be 
 levelled against the Noble Lord, and he (Mr. Fox) 
 hoped that the members of the House would not be 
 turned aside by that incident from the consideration of 
 the important business which was that very evening to 
 come before them. 
 
 Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 233.
 
 160 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 The important business to which Fox referred was a 
 motion by Erskine, which was made immediately after- 
 wards in a Committee of the whole House, upon the 
 state of the nation. It was an Address to the Crown 
 against either a Prorogation or a Dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment. Mr. Bankes, as a personal friend of Pitt, rose 
 and said that he had authority to declare that the new 
 Prime Minister had no intention whatever to advise 
 a Dissolution. Nevertheless Mr. Erskine, by the advice 
 of his friends, persisted in his Address, which, after long- 
 debate but no division, was carried. 
 
 Later that same night, in a letter which Fox addressed 
 to his confidential friend Lord Northington, we find him, 
 notwithstanding his disclaimer in the House, refer to 
 the secession of Lord Temple as to a great party advan- 
 tage : — " I now think it necessary to despatch a servant 
 to you to let you know that Lord Temple has this day 
 resigned. What will follow is not yet known, but I 
 think there can be very little doubt but our administra- 
 tion will arrain be established. The confusion of the 
 enemy is beyond description, and the triumph of our 
 friends proportionable." 5 
 
 It is natural to inquire what was really the reason 
 of this strange step on the part of Lord Temple. That 
 reason, though often discussed, has never been clearly 
 explained. I may therefore be forgiven if I enter at 
 some length into this still controverted point. 
 
 In the first place it is to be observed that Lord Temple, 
 on his resignation, at once retired to Stowe, and that 
 
 Fox Memorials, vol. ii. p. 224.
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 1(31 
 
 for several years to come he took no farther part in 
 politics ; nor did he ever again fill any office in England. 
 Secondly, it seems to be admitted on all sides that the 
 explanation given by William Grenville in the House of 
 Commons by no means suffices. The Eesolution of Mr. 
 Baker had passed the night before Lord Temple took 
 office. If then that Resolution, or the personal attacks 
 that might be expected to ensue from it, were to weigh 
 with Lord Temple at all, they would have prevented his 
 acceptance, and not produced his resignation, of the Seals. 
 
 Lord Macaulay, in his excellent sketch of Mr. Pitt, 
 has made the following statement : — 
 
 " The general opinion (in December, 1783) was that 
 there would be an immediate Dissolution : but Pitt wiselv 
 determined to give the public feeling time to gather 
 strength. On this point he differed from his kinsman 
 Temple. The consequence was that Temple, who had 
 been appointed one of the Secretaries of State, resigned 
 his office forty-eight hours after he had accepted it." 
 
 Presuming on the cordial friendship which to my 
 good fortune existed between Lord Macaulay and my- 
 self, I wrote to him upon this subject. While sending 
 for his perusal an unpublished manuscript of Burke from 
 another period, I expressed my doubts whether he had 
 any good authority for the statement which I have here 
 transcribed. With perfect frankness, Lord Macaulay 
 replied as follows : — 
 
 " My dear Stanhope, " Holly Lodge, Dec. 2, 1858. 
 
 " I return Burke's paper. It is interesting, and 
 very characteristic.
 
 162 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 " I am afraid that I can find no better authority for 
 the account which I have given of Temple's resignation 
 than that of Wraxall, who tells the story very confidently 
 and circumstantially, but whose unsupported testimony 
 is of little value, even when he relates what he himself 
 saw and heard, and of no value when he relates what 
 passed in the secrecy of the Cabinet. After looking at 
 Tomline's narrative and at the ' Buckingham Papers,' I 
 am satisfied that I was wrong. Whenever Black re- 
 prints the article separately, as he proposes to do, the 
 error shall be corrected. 
 
 " Ever yours truly, 
 
 " Macaulay." 
 
 Several weeks later Lord Macaulay pointed out to 
 me that the publication of the ' Cornwallis Papers,' 
 which had since occurred, might tend in some degree to 
 corroborate the statement of Wraxall. He referred to 
 a letter dated March 3, 1784, in which Lord Cornwallis 
 says, " I do not believe Lord Temple and Mr. Pitt ever 
 had any quarrel, and think that the former resigned 
 because they would not dissolve the Parliament. I 
 may, however, be mistaken in this." 
 
 It seems to me clear, from the concluding words, that 
 Lord Cornwallis spoke only from common report ; and 
 when, in the first part, he assumes that there had been 
 no resentment on Lord Temple's part, he was, as will 
 presently be shown, quite mistaken. 
 
 There is no doubt, from what Wraxall and Lord Corn- 
 wallis write, that there was a prevalent rumour in 1784' 
 of the resignation of Lord Temple having been caused 
 by his fixed desire for an immediate Dissolution ; but
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 163 
 
 the question remains how far that rumour was truly- 
 founded. 
 
 One document, hitherto unpublished, seems to me on 
 this point decisive. There is a letter from the King to 
 Mr. Pitt, dated April 12, 1789, and referring to Lord 
 Temple, then Marquis of Buckingham and Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland. In that letter the King speaks of 
 " his base conduct in 1784." I know not to what these 
 words can possibly refer, unless it be to the resignation 
 just before the new year. Now at that very period, as 
 we learn from other private letters of the King, His 
 Majesty was warmly pressing a Dissolution on his 
 Ministers, and he could not be angry with Lord Temple 
 for holding the same opinion as himself. 
 
 Another document which bears upon this question 
 was preserved among the Buckingham papers, and was 
 published in 1853. 6 It is a letter of Lord Temple to 
 Mr. Pitt only a few days after his resignation, and 
 dated Stowe, December 29th, 1783. This letter will be 
 found to breathe ire and resentment in every line. In 
 it Lord Temple most bitterly complains that there has 
 not been any mark of the King's approbation to him on 
 account of his Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland. It appears 
 that " various marks of favour " had been suggested by 
 his brother William, and that Pitt had actually offered 
 a peerage for his second son, which, however, Lord 
 Temple thought insufficient, and declined. 
 
 This letter is further to be compared with several 
 more written by Lord Temple in 1789, in reference to 
 
 See the Courts and Cabinets of George the Third, vol. i. p. 291.
 
 164 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 his second Lord Lieutenancy. Here again we find him 
 pressing most warmly for some special mark of the 
 King's favour, and having in view a Dukedom. For 
 this object he engaged the aid not only of his brother 
 William, but of Mr. Pitt. The King, however, had 
 determined many years before to grant no more Duke- 
 doms except to Princes of the Blood. 
 
 On the whole then it seems to me the most probable 
 conclusion that in December, 1783, Lord Temple had 
 asked for a Dukedom, or some other personal object of 
 ambition. Finding that the King refused him, and 
 that Mr. Pitt was not willing to make that personal 
 object a sine qua non condition in so anxious a state of 
 public affairs, he flung down the Seals in anger and set 
 off to Stowe. 
 
 Undismayed by the adverse vote of the House of 
 Commons on Monday the 22nd, we find Pitt apply him- 
 self with energy all through the 23rd to complete his 
 appointments. Here is his note to his friend the Duke 
 of Rutland : — 
 
 " Berkeley Square, Tuesday, eleven o'clock, 
 "My dear Duke, Dec. 23 (1783). 
 
 "In this decisive moment, for my own sake 
 and that of the country, I trust I may have recourse to 
 your zeal and friendship. My hands are so full that 
 I cannot be sure of calling on you. Will you, if pos- 
 sible, come here at twelve? I am to see the King at 
 one. 
 
 " Ever most truly yours, 
 
 "W.Pitt."
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 165 
 
 The journal of Wilberforce that same day, the 23rd, 
 has the following entry : — " Morning, Pitt's. Pitt 
 nobly firm. Cabinet formed." 
 
 In forming his Cabinet Pitt experienced several 
 disappointments. Already some days back his father's 
 most intimate friend, Lord Camden, had declined to take 
 part in the hazardous venture, and refused the Presidency 
 of the Council. In like manner the Duke of Grafton, 
 whom Pitt had summoned from Suffolk, refused the 
 Privy Seal. From men also of less note and beyond 
 the Cabinet pale there were answers in the negative. 
 Thus for example Lord Mahon declined office, not 
 apparently from any disinclination at that time to 
 Mr. Pitt, but as I conjecture from his superior attach- 
 ment to the pursuits of science. 
 
 Mr. Pitt proceeded to fill up the several offices — as 
 Bishop Tomline tells us — in the best manner he could, 
 though not exactly as he wished. Earl Gower was 
 President of the Council. The Duke of Rutland took 
 the Privy Seal. The Seals of Secretary of State were 
 entrusted to two other Peers, Lord Sydney and the 
 Marquis of Carmarthen, eldest son of the Duke of 
 Leeds, who had been in his father's lifetime called up 
 to the House of Lords. Lord Thurlow, almost as of 
 course, resumed the Great Seal. Lord Howe was First 
 Lord of the Admiralty. These with the Premier formed 
 the new Cabinet, which was therefore of only seven 
 persons, and of these seven one only, Pitt himself, was a 
 member of the House of Commons. 
 
 The Duke of Eichmond went back to his former 
 office of Master-General of the Ordnance, but declined
 
 166 LIFE OP PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 a seat in the Cabinet. But only a few weeks after- 
 wards, as the fight grew hotter, he felt an ambition 
 to serve in the front ranks, and he asked for and 
 obtained the responsible post which he had at first 
 refused. 
 
 In like manner Dundas, on whom Pitt relied as his 
 principal assistant in debate, resumed the post which he 
 had held in Lord Shelburne's administration as Treasurer 
 of the Navy. Lloyd Kenyon became Attorney, and 
 Pepper Arden Solicitor General. Of his other young 
 friends, Pitt placed Eliot in the Board of Treasury, and 
 Jefferies Pratt in the Board of Admiralty. William 
 Grenville and Lord Mulgrave were (after some delay) 
 joint-Paymasters of the Forces ; George Rose and 
 Thomas Steele joint-Secretaries of the Treasury. 
 
 In the evening of the same day, the 23rd, Pitt con- 
 vened a meeting of his principal adherents in the 
 House of Commons. Wilberforce, in his Recollections, 
 gives of it a lively account : — " We had a great meeting 
 that night of all Pitt's friends in Downing Street. As 
 Pratt, Tom Steele, and I were going up to it in a 
 hackney-coach from the House of Commons, ' Pitt must 
 take care,' I said, 'whom he makes Secretary of the 
 Treasury ; it is rather a rogueish office.' ' Mind what 
 you say,' answered Steele, ' for I am Secretary of the 
 Treasury ! ' At Pitt's we had a long discussion, and 
 I remember well the great penetration shown by Lord 
 Mahon. ' What am I to do,' said Pitt, ' if they stop the 
 Supplies ? ' ' They will not stop them,' said Mahon ; 
 ' it is the very thing which they will not venture 
 to do.'"
 
 1783. LIFE OF PITT. 167 
 
 Next day, the 24th, the King upon his Throne re- 
 ceived the members of the House of Commons, who, 
 with Fox at their head, brought up their Address of the 
 22nd. In his answer, as prepared by Pitt, the King 
 assured them that, " after such an adjournment as the 
 present circumstances might seem to require," he should 
 not interrupt their meeting by any exercise of his prero- 
 gative, either of Prorogation or Dissolution. On this 
 assurance Fox agreed that the House of Commons, 
 after meeting again on the 26th for the issue of Writs, 
 should adjourn for some Christmas holidays. But he 
 insisted upon it that the adjournment should be only for 
 the shortest period — not to extend beyond the 12th of 
 January, and the House then to go again into Com- 
 mittee on the state of the nation. It was useless to 
 divide the House against a chief who commanded a sur< • 
 majority. 
 
 Fox and his friends continued sanguine of the issue. 
 Thus he wrote to Lord Northington at Dublin: — "I 
 neither quit your house nor dismiss one servant till 
 I see the event of the 12th." And in the same strain 
 spoke his friend Mrs. Crewe. " Well," she said to 
 Wllberforce, "Mr. Pitt may do what he likes during 
 the holidays; but depend upon it, it will be only a 
 mince-pie administration." 
 
 So overwhelmed with business was Pitt at this period, 
 that among Lady Chatham's papers I find only one 
 letter from him between the 11th of November and the 
 16th of March. Here is what that letter says of 
 politics : —
 
 168 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IV. 
 
 " Berkeley Square, Dec. 30, 1783. 
 
 "You will easily believe it is not from inclination 
 I have been silent so long. Things are in general more 
 promising than they have been, but in the uncertainty 
 of effect the persuasion of not being wrong is, as you say, 
 the best circumstance and enough ; though there is 
 satisfaction in the hopes at least of something more."
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 169 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1784. 
 
 Difficulties of Pitt's position — His India Bill — His public spirit — 
 Fox's popularity declines — Proceedings of the " Independents " — 
 Party conflicts in the Commons — Address to the King — Pitt 
 attacked in his coach — Revulsion of national feeling — Schemes of 
 Fox — The Great Seal stolen — Dissolution of Parliament. 
 
 When, at the age of twenty-four, Mr. Pitt was called 
 upon to fill the highest place in the councils of his 
 Sovereign, he found himself surrounded by most for- 
 midable difficulties — the greatest perhaps that any 
 Prime Minister of England ever had to grapple with. 
 Arrayed against him was a compact majority of the 
 House of Commons, led on by chiefs of consummate 
 oratorical ability — by Burke and Sheridan, by Fox and 
 Lord North. The finances, at the close of an unpros- 
 perous war, were in the utmost disorder. The com- 
 mercial system with the now independent colonies was 
 as yet undetermined, and required prompt and final 
 regulation. Our foreign relations, which at last had 
 left us almost without a single ally, called for vigilant 
 foresight and conciliatory care. But as claiming prece- 
 dence above all others was the East India question. It 
 was necessary for the new Cabinet, without the loss of 
 a single hour, to frame a new measure in place of that 
 which the House of Lords had rejected. It was neces- 
 
 VOL. I. i
 
 170 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 sary also that the measure should be submitted both to 
 the Court of Directors and the Court of Proprietors, and 
 their approval, if possible, obtained before that of the 
 House of Commons was asked. 
 
 By incessant labour Mr. Pitt and his colleagues at- 
 tained this object. Their Draft Bill was not only pre- 
 pared, but was approved by both sections of the East 
 India body, previous to the meeting of the House of 
 Commons on January the 12th. 
 
 The expected day came at last. Fox rose at the un- 
 usual hour of half-past two, and moved the order of the 
 day. He was soon interrupted by the newly-elected 
 members, Pitt amOng them, who came up to the table 
 to take the oaths. When that ceremony had concluded, 
 Pitt and Fox rose together — the Minister holding in his 
 hand, as he stated, a Message from the King which he 
 desired to deliver ; but the Opposition chief insisted on 
 his own previous right to speak, and the Speaker, being 
 appealed to, decided that Mr. Fox was in possession of 
 the House. 
 
 A debate of many hours ensued. Mr. Fox, in his prin- 
 cipal speech, took up very dangerous ground. His great 
 object seemed to be to secure himself against a Dissolu- 
 tion. With this view he ventured to assert that the 
 Crown did not possess the right, as Burke afterwards 
 termed it, of a " penal Dissolution " — the privilege, 
 namely, of dissolving Parliament in the midst of a Ses- 
 sion, and in consequence of the votes it had given. 
 There had been no instance of the kind since the Revo- 
 lution ; and there was a pamphlet by Lord Somers, in 
 which it might be thought, from some doubtful expres-
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 171 
 
 sions, that the right was controverted. " But we are 
 told," continued Fox, " that nothing has yet happened 
 to make the Dissolution of the Parliament necessary. 
 No ! What does that signify ? Let us go into the Com- 
 mittee, and make it impossible ! " 
 
 Mr. Pitt, on his part, strongly pressed that the Mem- 
 bers should not pledge themselves by any vote against 
 him until they had an opportunity of seeing the new Bill 
 for the government of India, which he had prepared and 
 was ready to bring in. Being, in the course of the 
 debate, repeatedly attacked on the point of secret influ- 
 ence, he was permitted to speak a second time. This 
 he did in a tone of lofty denial and disdain. " I came 
 up no back stairs," he said. " When I was sent for by 
 my Sovereign to know whether I would accept of office, 
 I necessarily went to the Royal Closet. I know of no 
 secret influence, and I hope that my own integrity 
 would be my guardian against that danger. This is the 
 only answer I shall ever deign to make to such a 
 charge ; but of one thing the House may rest assured, 
 that I will never have the meanness to act under the 
 concealed influence of others, nor the hypocrisy to pre- 
 tend, when the measures of my administration are 
 blamed, that they were measures not of my advising. 
 If any former Ministers " (and here he looked at Lord 
 North) " take these charges to themselves, to them be 
 the sting." 
 
 At half-past two in the morning the House divided 
 on the question of going into Committee, which was 
 carried by a majority of 39. In Committee Fox pro- 
 ceeded to move three Resolutions : — First, that any per- 
 
 l 2
 
 172 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 son issuing money for the public service, "without the 
 sanction of an Appropriation Act, would be guilty of a 
 high crime and misdemeanor; secondly, that an ac- 
 count should be rendered of all sums of money issued 
 since the 19th of December for services voted, but not 
 yet appropriated by Act of Parliament ; and thirdly, to 
 postpone the second reading of the Mutiny Bill to the 
 23rd of February. 
 
 These three Resolutions being carried without dividing 
 the Committee, tw r o more were moved by Lord Surrey, 
 and gave rise to another vidlent debate : — First, as to 
 the necessity of an administration which should have 
 the confidence of that House and of the public ; and, 
 secondly, to state that the late changes in His Ma- 
 jesty's Councils were preceded by universal reports 
 of an unconstitutional abuse of His Majesty's sacred 
 name. 
 
 As the readiest means to get rid of these Resolutions, 
 Dundas moved that the Chairman should leave the 
 Chair ; but he was defeated by the increased majority of 
 54, and the two further Resolutions were adopted. 
 
 It was not till the close of these stormy proceedings 
 that Pitt was allowed to deliver the Message from the 
 King. This was merely to announce, in the usual form, 
 that on account of the river Weser being frozen up, it 
 had been found necessary to disembark in England two 
 divisions of Hessian troops on their return from the 
 American contest; but that His Majesty had given 
 directions that as soon as the Weser should be open 
 they should be sent to Germany. An Address of thanks 
 to the King for his gracious communication was agreed
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 173 
 
 to, and at half-past seven in the morning the House 
 adjourned. 
 
 The result was certainly, to all appearance, most in- 
 auspicious to the Government. On the very first day 
 when Pitt appeared in the House of Commons as Prime 
 Minister, five hostile motions were carried against him ; 
 and he was left in two minorities, the one of 39 and the 
 other of 54. Mr. Pitt, however, was not dispirited. He 
 gave notice, before the members separated, that he 
 should next day move for leave to bring in his India 
 Bill ; and the King, on learning the event of the first 
 divisions, came up from Windsor, and in an audience 
 that same evening assured the Minister of a firmness 
 not inferior to his own. 
 
 Next day, the 14th, according to his notice, Pitt pro- 
 ceeded to lay his India Bill before the House of Com- 
 mons. So far, he said, from violating chartered rights, 
 he had sought to frame his measure in amicable con- 
 cert with the Company, Avhile at the same time he 
 trusted that it would be most effectual for the reforma- 
 tion of abuses. He proposed to establish a new depart- 
 ment of State, without, however, any new salaries — 
 a "Board of Control" which should divide with the 
 Directors the entire administration of India, but leave 
 the patronage untouched. " It is my idea," said Pitt, 
 " that this should be a Board of political control, and not, 
 as the former was, a Board of political influence." All 
 the details of this plan were unfolded by Pitt at great 
 length in a speech of consummate ability; but no 
 sooner had he sat 1 down than Fox, without allowing a 
 moment of further consideration to his rival's scheme,
 
 174 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 started up, and, with equal ability, denounced every 
 part of it, although on that occasion he did not divide 
 the House. 
 
 The attacks upon the Government were now in vari- 
 ous forms, but with incessant activity, renewed. Again 
 and again was Pitt put on his defence. Finding that 
 he did not resign in consequence of the proceedings on 
 the 12th, Fox, so early as the 16th, insisted that the 
 House should go again into Committee. There Lord 
 Charles Spencer moved a Kesolution that the continu- 
 ance of the Ministers in office was contrary to Constitu- 
 tional principles. After a sharp debate, the Eesolution 
 was affirmed by the diminished majority of 21. 
 
 This diminished majority may in great part be as- 
 cribed to the conciliatory temper which at this time 
 began to appear among the independent members. In 
 the debate upon Lord Charles's motion, there were, 
 for the first time, public expressions of the wish that 
 Pitt and Fox might be induced to act together as col- 
 leagues in # the same Cabinet. Such a junction seemed 
 to the more tranquil spirits to afford the only hope of 
 safety, or at least of quiet. Foremost among those who 
 called for it were Thomas Grosvenor, Member for Ches- 
 ter, and Charles Marsham, Member for Kent, both well 
 known and esteemed. But the ablest of this respectable 
 little band, and more especially its spokesman, was 
 Thomas Powys, Member for Northamptonshire, an up- 
 right and active country gentleman, and not undistin- 
 guished in debate. 
 
 Mr. Powys might, with the more propriety, attempt in 
 his speeches at least the character of mediator, since he
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 175 
 
 did not at this time belong in fact to either party. He 
 had been a follower of Fox, but had loudly condemned 
 his coalition with Lord North. He did not like, he said, 
 the ground on which the new Ministers came into office, 
 but was much impressed with the tokens that he saw of 
 the ability and public spirit of Pitt. 
 
 The next great trial of parties was on the 23rd, when 
 Pitt's East India Bill stood for its second reading. Then 
 Fox exerted all his influence, and on the motion for 
 commitment the Bill was thrown out, but by a majority 
 of no more than eight. 
 
 It will be seen from the very small majority that the 
 House of Commons came to this last vote with some 
 reluctance. It was felt as bringing matters to a crisis 
 with the Ministry ; it was felt to render probable an im- 
 mediate Dissolution. No sooner then was the India 
 Bill rejected, than the chiefs of the Opposition, one 
 after another, rose, and vehemently questioned Pitt as 
 to his intentions. The fiercest threats and the bitterest 
 invectives were freely used. To these questions so in- 
 temperately urged the Minister gave no reply. There 
 were loud cries from the Opposition benches for Mr. 
 Pitt to rise, but Mr. Pitt sat still. 
 
 At length, in the midst of the tumult, started up Ge- 
 neral Conway, the former colleague of Pitt in the Shel- 
 burne administration. He was a man who in the course 
 of a long public life had shown little vigour or decision, 
 but who was much respected for his honourable cha- 
 racter and his moderate counsels. Now, as often happens 
 to weak men, he had caught the contagion of the violence 
 around him. He inveighed in furious terms against
 
 176 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 what he called "the sulky silence" of the Minister. 
 " The Eight Hon. gentleman," he said, " is bound to 
 explain for the sake of his own honour ; but all the 
 conduct of these Ministers," he added, " is dark and 
 intricate. They exist only by corruption, and they are 
 now about to dissolve Parliament after sending their 
 agents round the country to bribe men." 
 
 But here Pitt, though with lofty calmness, interrupted 
 Conway. He rose, he said, to order. He had a right to 
 call upon the Right Hon. General to specify the instances 
 where the agents of Ministers had gone about the coun- 
 try practising bribery. It was a statement which he 
 believed the Eight Hon. General could not bring to proof, 
 and which, as he could not prove, he ought not to assert. 
 For his own honour, he claimed to be the sole and suf- 
 ficient judge of it; and he concluded by a most felicitous 
 quotation (which in reply to such an onset could have 
 been in no degree premeditated) of some words in which 
 Scipio as a young man rebukes the veteran Fabius for 
 his intemperate invectives : " Si nulla alia re modestia 
 certe et temperando linguae adolescens senem vicero." l 
 
 Finding that no answer could be wrung from the Mi- 
 nister on the point of the expected Dissolution, Fox in- 
 sisted, although the hour was two in the morning and 
 the day was Saturday, that the House should adjourn 
 only till twelve o'clock, at which time he hoped mem- 
 bers would attend to vindicate the honour and assert the 
 privileges of the Commons. 
 
 1 (Liv. lib. xxviii. c. 44.) Tbe 
 Parliamentary History at tbis place 
 mentions only "a classical text," 
 
 but the precise reference has been 
 happily preserved by Bishop Tom- 
 line (Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 299).
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 177 
 
 At the appointed hour, the House having met in 
 large numbers, Mr. Powys rose. His emotion was such 
 that he shed tears while he was speaking. He declared 
 that the scene of confusion which he beheld last 
 night had so haunted his mind that he had never since 
 been able to divert his thoughts one moment from it. 
 He entreated the Minister to reply, at least thus far, 
 whether on Monday next the House might expect to 
 meet again to proceed to business. Mr. Pitt remained 
 silent, but Mr. Powys with the greatest earnestness re- 
 newed his question. Then at last Pitt rose. " I have 
 laid down to myself," he said, " a rule from which I do 
 not think I ought in duty to depart. I decline to pledge 
 myself to the House that in any possible situation of 
 affairs I would not advise His Majesty to dissolve Par- 
 liament. However, as the Hon. gentleman has brought 
 the matter to a very small point, I will so far gratify 
 him as to answer that I have no intention to prevent 
 the meeting of the House on Monday next." Fox said 
 nothing, and the House immediately adjourned. 
 
 While these things were passing in Parliament, Pitt 
 had an opportunity to give a most signal proof of his 
 public spirit in office. To this instance Mr. Powys had 
 referred, with expressions of the highest praise, in his 
 speech on Lord Charles's motion. It so chanced that on 
 the 11th of January, the very day before Parliament met, 
 Sir Edward Walpole, a younger son of the great Sir 
 Robert, had died. By his death there fell in the Clerk- 
 ship of the Pells, a sinecure place for life, worth 3000Z. 
 a-year. It was in the gift of the Prime Minister, and 
 tenable with a seat in the House of Commons. Everv 
 
 i 3
 
 178 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 one expected that Pitt would take the office for himself. 
 Such a course would have been in complete conformity 
 with the feelings and the practice of his age. Such a 
 course was strongly advised by his private friends. Such 
 a course was commended to him by a stronger tempta- 
 tion than any of his predecessors in the premiership, his 
 father alone excepted, can have felt. Unlike the rest, 
 he had a most slender patrimony. If he failed in his 
 struggle with the Opposition, he could only return to his 
 practice at the Bar, and that he would so fail was the 
 common belief. It is plain from the private letters of 
 the time, that many even of those who wished him vic- 
 tory, by no means expected it ; at the very best it was 
 a perilous and doubtful issue. But by taking for him- 
 self the brilliant prize which was already in his hands, 
 he might make himself independent, so far as fortune 
 went, of all party vicissitudes. He might, with 3000/. 
 a-year secured to him, apply himself wholly to the aims 
 of public life. 
 
 But as Wilberforce had lately said, Pitt was " nobly 
 firm." Instead of taking the office for himself, he de- 
 termined to save its income to the public. He under- 
 took to efface a scandalous job which Lord Rockingham 
 had perpetrated. That well-meaning, but most feeble 
 nobleman, during his last administration, had sanc- 
 tioned as a Government measure the Bill for Economical 
 Reform drawn up by Burke. According to that Bill the 
 Crown was precluded from granting a pension to any 
 higher amount than 300/. a-year. But while that Bill 
 was still before Parliament, and while therefore its 
 clauses were only morally binding on its authors, Lord
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 171) 
 
 Eockingham had granted a pension more than tenfold 
 beyond the limits which he was seeking to enact — a 
 pension, namely, of 3200/. a-year to Colonel Barre. By 
 this grant he was certainly not seeking profits or emolu- 
 ments for himself. He was not even seeking them for 
 any of his personal friends. His object was to gratify 
 and conciliate the section of Lord Shelburne, with 
 which he was at that time bound up in administra- 
 tion. He had no ill design, but it is lamentable thai 
 he failed to see the glaring contrast between the legis- 
 lation which he proposed, and the course which he 
 pursued. 
 
 To obliterate the pension which had been — to say the 
 least — so improvidently granted, Pitt made arrange- 
 ments that Barre should now resign it, receiving in 
 return the Clerkship of the Pells for life. This appoint- 
 ment made at once a strong impression on the country. 
 It fixed as on a rock for the whole of his life the cha- 
 racter of Pitt for personal disinterestedness. " It is a 
 great thing," says Lord Macaulay, " for a man who has 
 only three hundred a-year to be able to show that he 
 considers three thousand a-year as mere dirt beneath his 
 feet when compared with the public interest and tin 
 public esteem." 
 
 Two or three weeks after the event we find Lord 
 Thurlow, in a debate of the House of Lords, refer to 
 this patriotic act in terms of manly frankness : — " I 
 must acknowledge," he said, " that I was shabby enough 
 to advise Mr. Pitt to take this office, as it had so fairly 
 fallen into his hands ; and I believe I should have been 
 shabby enough to have done so myself, since other
 
 180 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 great and exalted characters had so recently set me the 
 example." Bishop Tomline states that he saw Colonel 
 Barre* soon after this offer was made him, and that 
 nothing could exceed the warm terms in which he spoke 
 of it in a public view : — " Sir," said Barre, " it is the act 
 of a man who feels that he stands upon a high eminence 
 in the eyes of that country which he is destined to 
 govern." 
 
 There were other favourable indications in the country. 
 Fox in his ardour had certainly overshot his mark. He 
 had made it with his Sovereign a struggle as of life and 
 death. He had made it, as Dr. Johnson afterwards 
 said, a contest whether the nation should be ruled by the 
 sceptre of George the Third, or by the tongue of Fox. 2 
 On the 16th of December he had joined in a Resolution 
 against the King's conduct, when not yet dismissed from 
 the King's service. On the 12th of January he had 
 seemed to question two of the most important and most 
 undoubted of the King's prerogatives — the right to 
 appoint the Ministers, and the right to dissolve the 
 Parliament. He would not grant the ordinary courtesy 
 to postpone his attacks in the House of Commons until 
 after the re-election and re-appearance of the new 
 Minister. He refused the least respite, the smallest 
 interval for consideration of the measures which that 
 Minister might desire to bring forward. So much 
 violence of conduct, so much acrimony of invective, are 
 not easily to be defended. At the present day a writer 
 of high authority, who loves the memory of Fox, but 
 
 2 Conversation with Boswell at Oxford, June 10, 1784.
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 181 
 
 who has still higher regard for the cause of truth and 
 law, gives it as his opinion that " the conduct of 
 Mr. Fox and the majority of the House of Commons 
 was wanting in dignity and in adherence to the spirit of 
 the Constitution." 3 
 
 Such also grew to be in great measure the public 
 opinion at the time. The violent conduct of Fox served 
 as a counterpoise to the violent conduct of the King. 
 Men began to forget the Koyal interference with the 
 votes of the House of Lords, as they beheld night after 
 night the most unbridled faction triumphant in the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 Pitt, with great sagacity, discerned those signs of the 
 times. He saw that the popularity of Fox had waned, 
 but not departed. He saw that the public opinion was 
 changing, but not yet changed. He saw that although 
 an immediate Dissolution might gain him some votes, 
 a deferred Dissolution might gain him many more. 
 Therefore, when on the rejection of his India Bill upon 
 the 23rd of January, he was pressed by several friends 
 to appeal at once to the people, and pressed by no one 
 more warmly than by the King, Pitt did not yield 
 to the Royal solicitations any more than to the Parlia- 
 mentary attacks ; and he practised that hardest of all 
 lessons to an eager mind in a hard-run contest — to 
 wait. 
 
 The battle in the House of Commons therefore recom- 
 menced. In debates, which often extended beyond the 
 
 3 These are the words of Lord John Russell. Fox Memorials, 
 vol. ii. p. 229.
 
 182 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 morning dawn, Pitt was again assailed by the utmost 
 force of eloquence, and the utmost acrimony of invective. 
 The public beheld with astonishment the young man of 
 twenty-four — the boy, as his adversaries love to call him 
 — wage this unequal conflict almost single-handed. The 
 common idea seems to have been that the more nu- 
 merous and experienced party of the late administration 
 must ere long prevail. As Gibbon once exclaimed in 
 a most picturesque phrase, — " Depend upon it Billy's 
 painted galley must soon sink under Charles's black 
 collier." 4 
 
 Up to this time the- Lords had remained spec- 
 tators of the contest. But an opportunity now arose 
 for them to strike a blow. On the 4th of February 
 the Earl of Effingham brought forward a motion — 
 grounded on some late Resolutions — which charged the 
 House of Commons with attempting of their own au- 
 thority to suspend the execution of the law. The motion 
 was affirmed by 100 votes against 53, and an Address 
 to the King being framed from it, and presented, re- 
 ceived from His Majesty a most gracious reply. 
 
 The King's prerogative was also brought into action. 
 His Majesty had refused to create any Peers at the 
 request of the Duke of Portland, but was most willing 
 to do so at the request of Mr. Pitt. So early as the 30th 
 of December Thomas Pitt had been raised to the 
 Upper House as Lord Camelford ; and before the close 
 of January there was a batch of three. Mr. Eliot, one 
 of the Members for Cornwall, and the father of Pitt's 
 
 4 See the Reminiscences of Charles "Rntler. vol. i. p. 161.
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 183 
 
 friend, became Lord Eliot. An English Barony was 
 granted to Mr. Henry Thynne as Lord Carteret, and 
 another to the Duke of Northumberland, to descend to 
 his second son. These creations were in a most unusual 
 manner bitterly inveighed against by Mr. Fox in the 
 House of Commons. Indeed it might be difficult to say 
 which branch of the Royal Prerogatives Mr. Fox at that 
 period would have been content to spare. 
 
 At this period also Pitt found an opportunity, most 
 welcome to his feelings, to provide for both the tutors 
 of his youth. Mr. Wilson became a Canon of Windsor, 
 and Mr. Pretyman a Canon of Westminster. The last 
 appointment had the further advantage, as it was con- 
 sidered, that it did not call Mr. Pretyman from town. 
 He remained in Downing Street with the Prime Minister, 
 and filled for some time longer the place of his private 
 secretary. Mr. Pretyman, in the same year that he 
 received this preferment, married Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Thomas Maltby, Esq. She became ere long an inti- 
 mate friend of Lady Harriot Pitt. 
 
 Pitt found also that he could no longer defer his 
 arrangements with respect to Ireland. He induced his 
 friend the Duke of Rutland to undertake the office of 
 Lord Lieutenant, and adjoined to him an excellent man 
 of business, Mr. Thomas Orde. The Duke set out for his 
 mission in the middle of February, and immediately 
 afterwards we find Pitt write to him as follows : 
 
 " My deak Duke, " Berkeley Square, Feb. 17, 1784. 
 
 " Nothing passed of material consequence yester- 
 day. The House came to Resolutions relative to the 
 proceedings of the Lords which will not have much
 
 184 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 effect one way or other. The House, however, sat so 
 late that we adjourned till to-morrow. We shall then 
 probably come to the question of postponing the supplies, 
 though I think the enemy rather flinches. What the 
 consequence will be is as doubtful as when you left us. 
 At all events, I trust nothing can arise to interrupt 
 your progress ; for come what may, your taking posses- 
 sion is, I think, of the utmost consequence. I hope to 
 be able to send you further accounts before you reach 
 Holyhead. My brother has given me the memorandums 
 you left, which must be managed as well as they can. 
 The independents are still indefatigable for Coalition, 
 but as ineffectual as ever. 
 
 " Believe me always, my dear Duke, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 The proceedings of these independents will now require 
 some detail. So early as the 26th of January they had 
 held a meeting at the St. Alban's Tavern. They had 
 met to the number of fifty-three, and placed in the chair 
 Mr. Thomas Grosvenor. They had felt that the two 
 great rival champions, flushed with their nightly conflicts 
 in the House of Commons, could scarcely be expected 
 to confer in the day time, and to negotiate a treaty of 
 peace with any prospect of success. Under such circum- 
 stances it seemed to them that the Duke of Portland, so 
 lately the First Lord of the Treasury, would be the 
 most proper representative of Fox's side. An Address 
 was agreed to and subscribed by all the Members pre- 
 sent, entreating the Duke and Mr. Pitt to communicate 
 with each other, and endeavour to remove every impedi- 
 ment to a cordial concert of measures. A Special Com- 
 mittee also was appointed to present the Address and 
 to assist in the negotiation.
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 185 
 
 To this overture Pitt responded with the utmost frank- 
 ness. He declared that whatever might be the difficulties 
 in the way of the union itself, there was no difficulty on 
 his part in the way of an immediate intercourse with 
 the Duke of Portland on the matter that had been 
 suggested to them. But the Duke having consulted 
 Fox, said that he must decline even to meet the Prime 
 Minister, until he had first, in compliance with the vote 
 of the House of Commons, resigned his office. To this 
 preliminary condition Pitt, as was natural, demurred. 
 Thus the gentlemen of the St. Alban's had the mortifi- 
 cation to find that so far from effecting a junction, they 
 could not even effect an interview. 
 
 By no means yet discouraged, these gentlemen in- 
 duced Mr. Grosvenor, as their Chairman, to move a 
 Resolution in the House of Commons, on the 2nd of 
 February, declaring that the state of the country called 
 for an extended and united Ministry. Both Pitt and 
 Fox held nearly the same language on this subject. 
 Both declared that they felt no personal objections, but 
 would not consent to combine except on public principles. 
 On this general ground the motion of Mr. Grosvenor 
 passed without a single negative. 
 
 But no sooner was this motion disposed of than Mr. 
 Coke of Norfolk, acting in concert with Fox, rose to 
 move another Resolution — that the continuance of the 
 present Ministers in office was an obstacle in the way of 
 forming another administration, which should have the 
 confidence of the House of Commons. 
 
 It was still insisted by Fox and Portland — for the 
 dignity, as they said, of the House of Commons— that
 
 186 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 Pitt should absolutely resign his office before they 
 would hold a single conference with him respecting the 
 new arrangements. " With what regard to personal 
 honour or public principle can this be expected ? " cried 
 Pitt, with lofty indignation, in the course of this debate. 
 " What, Sir, that I, defending — as I believe myself to 
 do — the fortress of the Constitution, and that fortress 
 alone, should consent to march out of it with a halter 
 about my neck, change my armour, and meanly beg to 
 be re-admitted as a volunteer in the army of the enemy ! 
 .... The sacrifice of the sentiments of men of honour 
 is no light matter ; and when it is considered how much 
 was to be given up to open a negotiation — what insulting 
 attacks had been made, and what clamours had been 
 excited — I think that some regard ought to be paid to 
 my being willing to meet the wishes of these respectable 
 gentlemen, who call for an union of parties." But not- 
 withstanding this earnest appeal, the motion of Mr. 
 Coke was carried in a full House by a majority of 19. 
 
 The truth is, that except the gentlemen at the St. 
 Alban's Tavern, none of the parties to this negotiation 
 had much wish for its success. The King had given his 
 consent to it with great reluctance. Pitt was determined 
 to bate nothing of his honour. Fox was sanguine of 
 being borne back to office on the shoulders of the House 
 of Commons. At his instigation the Duke of Portland 
 made every possible difficulty. First he must see the 
 King's writing; next he must see the King himself. 
 The former point was conceded, and the second all but 
 promised. Then the Duke began to cavil at Pitt's 
 phrase of a junction " on fair and equal terms." Instead
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 187 
 
 of the word " equal " His Grace desired to use the word 
 " equitable," the object being manifestly that Fox might 
 obtain a large preponderance, and leave only a few 
 crumbs of office to Pitt's friends. On this subject Pitt 
 finally wrote as follows to Mr. Powys : 
 
 " Feb. 29, 1784. 
 
 " Mr. Pitt has all along felt that explanation on all 
 the particulars, both of measures and arrangements, 
 with a view to the formation of a new administration, 
 would be best obtained by personal and confidential in- 
 tercourse. On this idea Mr. Pitt has not attempted to 
 define in what manner the principle of equality should 
 be applied to all the particulars of arrangements, nor 
 discuss by what precise mode it may be best carried 
 into effect ; but he is so convinced that it is impossible 
 to form any union except on that principle, that it 
 would be in vain to proceed, if there is any objection to 
 its being stated in the outset that the object for which 
 His Majesty calls on the Duke of Portland and Mr. Pitt 
 to confer is the formation of a new administration on a 
 wide basis, and on a fair and equal footing." 
 
 But the Duke of Portland would not give way ; and 
 at this point, to the great concern of the St. Alban's 
 gentlemen, the whole negotiation ended. 
 
 On a review of all these semi-diplomatic proceedings, 
 it might at first sight be supposed that the main obstacle 
 to them turned on two points : first, the position of Lord 
 North ; and secondly, the plan of Fox for the govern- 
 ment of India ; but with neither was this the case. It 
 is no more than justice to the Minister of the American 
 war if I point out how frank, how fair, how thoroughly
 
 188 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 in the spirit of a gentleman, was his conduct at this 
 crisis. Pitt had openly declared that he never would 
 consent to act with Lord North as a colleague. This de- 
 claration, though made entirely on public grounds, might 
 well justify some strong resentment on the other side ; 
 but, far from this, Lord North was eager to see Fox and 
 Pitt united. " And God forbid," he said in Parliament, 
 " that I should be the person to stand in the way of so 
 great and necessary a measure." He plainly intimated 
 that in such a case he should, with the greatest readi- 
 ness, relinquish all pretensions of his own. 
 
 With respect to the East India Bill, Fox, seeing the 
 unpopularity of his former measure, had been forward 
 and eager to declare in Parliament that he was willing 
 to give up some of its chief provisions. In private he 
 was still more explicit. He told Mr. Marsham, on the 
 part of the St. Alban's gentlemen — and Marsham after- 
 wards repeated it in the House of Commons— that 
 " provided Mr. Pitt would agree that the government 
 of India should be in this country, and should be perma- 
 nent at least for a certain number of years, he would 
 leave it to that Eight Honourable gentleman to settle 
 the point of patronage as he pleased. With this in- 
 formation" (thus continued Marsham) "I waited on 
 the Minister, who told me that the point of patronage 
 being thus given up, an opening was so far made to a 
 negotiation." 5 
 
 It is not to be imagined that this negotiation, while it 
 still went on, had suspended the party conflicts in the 
 
 Pari. Hist., vol. xxiv. p. 633.
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 189 
 
 House of Commons. There, on the contrary, the battle 
 continued ; and it was indeed, as it has been called, 
 "a battle of giants." Scarce any debate which did not 
 elicit a most masterly speech of Fox, and another not 
 less able of Pitt upon the other side — each enforcing 
 the same topics with an ever fresh variety of illustra- 
 tion and of language. Thus how happily, on one occa- 
 sion, does Fox advert to a celebrated passage from Lord 
 Chatham in defence of his own coalition with Lord 
 North ! — " I recollect," he said, " to have seen a 
 beautiful speech of a near relation of the Right Honour- 
 able gentleman over against me, in which, to discredit 
 a coalition formerly made between the Duke of New- 
 castle and my father, it was compared to the junction 
 of the Rhone and the Saone. Whatever the effect and 
 truth and dread of that comparison might Lave been at 
 that time and upon that occasion, I am not at all afraid 
 of it now. I would not have admitted that great and 
 illustrious person, were he now living, to have compared 
 the late Coalition to the Rhone and the Saone as they 
 join at Lyons, where the one may be said to be too 
 calm and tranquil and gentle, the other to have too 
 much violence and rapidity ; but I would have advised 
 him to take a view of those rivers a hundred miles 
 lower down, where, having mingled and united their 
 waters, instead of the contrast they exhibited at their 
 junction, they had become a broad, great, and most 
 powerful stream, flowing with the useful velocity that 
 does not injure, but adorns and benefits the country 
 through which it passes. This is a just type of the late 
 Coalition ; and I will venture to assert, after mature ex-
 
 190 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 perience, that whatever the enemies of it may have 
 hoped, it is as impossible now to disunite or separate its 
 parts as it would be to separate the waters of those 
 united streams." 
 
 On the other hand, with how much admirable force 
 and spirit did Pitt vindicate his own position and the 
 King's ! — " Where " (with these words did he close one 
 of his most celebrated speeches), " where is now the 
 boasted equipoise of the British Constitution ? Where 
 is now that balance among the three branches of the 
 Legislature which our ancestors have meted out to each 
 with so much care ? Where is the independence — nay, 
 where is even the safety of any one prerogative of the 
 Crown, or even of the Crown itself, if its prerogative of 
 naming Ministers is to be usurped by this House, or 
 if — which is precisely the same thing — its nomination 
 of them is to be negatived by us without stating any 
 one ground of distrust in the men, and without suffering 
 ourselves to have any experience of their measures? 
 Dreadful therefore as the conflict is, my conscience, my 
 duty, my fixed regard for the Constitution of our an- 
 cestors, maintain me still in this arduous post. It is 
 not any proud contempt or defiance of the Constitutional 
 ^Resolutions of this House — it is no personal point of 
 honour, much less is it any lust of power — that makes 
 me still cling to office. The situation of the times re- 
 quires of me, and, I will add, the country calls aloud to 
 me, that I should defend this castle, and I am deter- 
 mined therefore that I will defend it ! " 
 
 On the 18th of February Fox ventured an experiment 
 upon the feelings of the House. He proposed that the
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 191 
 
 Report of the Committee of Supply, which stood for 
 that evening, should be postponed for only three days. 
 He disclaimed all intention of obstructing the public 
 business, and pleaded only for a short delay that the 
 House might have leisure to consider the anomalous 
 position of the Government. Pitt treated the motion 
 as a direct refusal of supply, and on a division it was 
 carried by a majority of only 9. 
 
 On the 20th Mr. Powys moved and resolved that the 
 House relied on the King's readiness to form an united 
 and efficient administration. But several more of the 
 independent members appear on this occasion to have 
 rallied round Mr. Powys. His Resolution was carried 
 by a majority of 20, and an Address to the King, which 
 Fox immediately founded upon it, by 21. To give the 
 more solemnity to this Address, it was ordered to be 
 presented by the whole House. Then, after a most 
 stormy sitting, and at past five in the morning, the 
 House adjourned. 
 
 On the 25th accordingly, the Speaker, attended by a 
 numerous train of members, was summoned to the Royal 
 presence, and heard the King deliver the reply which 
 his Minister had carefully prepared. The tone was 
 frank and explicit, and at the same time conciliatory. 
 His Majesty stated the very recent endeavours which 
 he had made to effect an union of parties on a fair and 
 equal footing, and lamented that these endeavours 
 should have failed. He declared himself unable to per- 
 ceive how such an object could in any degree be ad- 
 vanced by the dismissal of those at present in his service, 
 more especially as no specific charge was urged against 
 them. " And under these circumstances," said the King
 
 192 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 in conclusion, " I trust my faithful Commons will not 
 wish that the essential offices of Executive Government 
 should be vacated until I see a prospect that such a 
 plan of union as I have called for, and they have pointed 
 out, may be carried into effect." 
 
 Much chafed at this new rebuff, Fox determined that 
 on the 1st of March he would himself move another 
 Address of the same tenor, but in stronger terms. 
 
 During this interval, however, Pitt was exposed to an 
 onset of a different nature. Earlier in the month the 
 Corporation of London had passed a vote of thanks to 
 him for his public conduct, as also the freedom of the 
 City to be presented in a gold box of the value of one 
 hundred guineas. A Committee appointed to carry these 
 Eesolutions into effect went on Saturday the 28th in 
 procession — preceded by the City Marshal, and accom- 
 panied by the Sheriffs and Town Clerk — to the house 
 in Berkeley Square, where Pitt then resided with his 
 brother Lord Chatham. After the presentation of the 
 Vote of Thanks and gold box the whole party went 
 on together to the hall of the Grocers' Company in the 
 Poultry, where the Prime Minister was engaged to dine. 
 Great crowds had been assembled in Berkeley Square 
 from an early hour in the morning, and an immense 
 concourse of people joined the procession after it left 
 Lord Chatham's house, marching through the City 
 amidst the loudest acclamations, and shouts of welcome. 
 At Grocers' Hall Pitt was also loudly cheered as he took 
 the usual oath administered to freemen, and was 
 addressed in a speech of most laudatory purport by the 
 Chamberlain — no other than John Wilkes. In return- 
 ing at night there was the same throng, there were the
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 193 
 
 same acclamations. Such tokens of the rising popular 
 favour to Pitt must have been of course gall and worm- 
 wood to those who desired to be called exclusively the 
 " Friends of the People/' Thus, at night, when the crowd 
 of artisans was dragging up St. James's Street the coach 
 in which sat Pitt himself, Lord Chatham, and Lord 
 Mahon, and when they had come opposite Brooks's 
 Club, at that period the stronghold of his political oppo- 
 nents, the coach was suddenly attacked by men armed 
 with bludgeons and broken chair-poles, among whom — 
 so at least it was at the time asserted and believed — were 
 seen several members of the Club. Some of the rioters 
 made their way to the carriage, forced open the door, 
 and aimed blows at the Prime Minister, which were, 
 with some difficulty, warded off by his brother's arm. 
 At length Mr. Pitt and his companions, after a severe 
 struggle, made their way into White's Club. Hearing 
 of this attack, " I called there," writes Wilberforce, 
 " and to bed about three." The servants were much 
 bruised, and the carriage was nearly demolished. 
 
 At a later period we find the authors of the " Political 
 Eclogues " refer to this transaction, which, for their 
 own credit, surely they had better have avoided. But 
 being ashamed to name Mr. Pitt in connexion with it, 
 they transfer their raillery to Lord Mahon : — 
 
 " Ah ! why Mahon's disastrous fate record ? 
 Alas, how fear can change the fiercest Lord ! 
 See the sad sequel of the Grocers' treat ; 
 Behold him dashing up St. James's Street, 
 Pelted and scared by Brooks's hellish sprites, 
 And vainly fluttering round the door of White's." 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 On the day but one ensuing, the 1st of March, Fox 
 fulfilled his intention of moving a new Address to the 
 Crown for the dismissal of Ministers. He was supported 
 by Lord Surrey and General ' Conway ; opposed by 
 Pitt, Wilberforce, and Sir William Dolben. In the 
 division which ensued the Address was carried by a 
 majority of 12. But the only result from it was an 
 answer from the King on the 4th, declining compliance 
 on the grounds which he had already stated. What 
 more was now the Opposition to do ? 
 
 Fox during the greater part of February appears to 
 have thought the game in his own hands. The time 
 had passed when Pitt could dissolve the Parliament, 
 and convene another previous to the 25th of March, on 
 which day the Mutiny Act would expire. And by his 
 command of the majority within the House, Fox ex- 
 pected that he could at any time deal as he pleased, 
 either with the new Mutiny Bill or the Supplies, and 
 thus force his rival to an unconditional surrender. 
 But in this view he had not reckoned on the revulsion 
 of national feeling. 
 
 Within a month from the re-assembling of the House 
 symptoms of this change appeared. The Corporation, 
 and also the merchants and traders of London, took the 
 lead ; they presented Addresses to the King, in winch 
 they expressed their approval of the conduct of the 
 House of Lords in rejecting Mr. Fox's India Bill, and 
 thanked His Majesty for dismissing his late Ministers. 
 Several other towns and districts immediately bestirred 
 themselves to follow this example, and sent in Address 
 upon Address of the same kind. The earliest of these
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 195 
 
 were scoffed at and derided by Fox as mere make- 
 believes : — " To such shifts and impositions," he cried, 
 " are the Ministers and those who support them driven 
 to prop up their tottering fabric ! " But, although Fox 
 might thus delude himself as to the first few of the 
 Addresses, the time came when he could no longer close 
 his eyes to their growing number. 
 
 The effect on others was at all events clear. Several 
 watchers of the times in the House of Commons, who 
 had hitherto been most staunch in Opposition, began to 
 waver and hang back. Already, after the vote which 
 they had given with Fox, postponing the Supplies for 
 only two months, several Members — no doubt pressed 
 by their constituents still more than by their consciences 
 — had risen in their place to protest most earnestly — 
 one Member even as he said upon Ins honour — that they 
 had never meant, never wished, never dreamt to refuse 
 their Sovereign a Supply. And Fox saw with bitter 
 mortification that he could no longer propose any vote 
 of the same kind with the smallest prospect of success. 
 
 Still, however, one resource remained. Fox hoped 
 that, though he could not stop the Supplies, he might 
 shorten the Mutiny Bill. On two occasions in debate 
 he sounded the House as to the propriety of passing a 
 Mutiny Bill for only a month or six weeks, so that their 
 privileges might not be curtailed, nor their period of 
 Session broken through. In this suggestion he was 
 zealously supported by the ancient champion of preroga- 
 tive, Lord North. But here again the force of public 
 feeling told against him. The members for cities and 
 counties could scarcely venture to give such votes in the 
 
 k 2
 
 196 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 teeth of the loyal Addresses that were daily pouring in. 
 Under such circumstances the idea of a short Mutiny 
 Bill was so coldly received that it could not be pressed. 
 Fox had no alternative but to relinquish the present 
 struggle, and lie in wait for any future slips of his 
 opponent. And thus the contests between these mighty 
 statesmen were in truth decided by the voice of the 
 nation, even before it was appealed to in due form by a 
 Dissolution. 
 
 But before Fox threw down his arms he determined 
 to aim another blow. It was his object both to put on 
 record the maxims which he had recently maintained, 
 and to try the numbers that might still adhere to him. 
 He gave notice that on the 8th he would move for 
 the adoption of the House a long state-paper. This 
 he called a Representation to the King, though in fact 
 it was rather intended as a manifesto to the people. 
 It had been drawn up by Burke with great care and 
 skill. 
 
 The rumour ran already that this was to be the last 
 great movement on Fox's side. By eleven o'clock in 
 the morning the gallery for strangers was thronged. 
 The gentlemen who could obtain admittance sat with 
 the utmost patience from that hour till the meeting 
 of the House at four. Then a severe disappointment 
 was in store for them. Then Sir James Lowther by a 
 freak of capricious displeasure insisted on the unwise 
 privilege which is still allowed even to any single 
 member, and ordered the gallery to be cleared. The 
 loss has extended even to future times, since it has 
 deprived them of all except the most summary reports
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 197 
 
 of this memorable and crowning debate. At length at 
 midnight, and in breathless suspense, the House divided. 
 The motion was found to be carried, but by a majority 
 of only one, the numbers being 190 and 191. Such a 
 result was felt to be at once decisive. We may picture 
 to ourselves the blank looks of the Opposition, and the 
 rising cheers of the Ministerial ranks. 
 
 Next day, the 9th of March, came on the long-ex- 
 pected Committee on the Mutiny Bill. AYhen the 
 Secretary at War moved in the customary form that 
 the blank as to the time should be filled up for the usual 
 period of one year, it was found that in spite of all the 
 previous threats no opposition was attempted. Only 
 two independent Members, Sir Matthew White Ridley 
 and Mr. Powys, rose to lament what they termed the 
 degradation of the House. " Not a century ago," cried 
 Mr. Powys, "a vote of the Commons could bestow a 
 Crown ; now it cannot even procure the dismissal of a 
 Minister!" Sir Matthew White Ridley on his part 
 declared — no doubt as a remedy to the evils com- 
 plained of— that he had resolved to cease his own 
 attendance in a House winch had been sacrificed by its 
 constituents. 
 
 On the same day we find Pitt write as follows to the 
 Duke of Rutland : 
 
 " Berkeley Square, Tuesday night, 
 " My dear Duke, March 10, 1784. 
 
 " I am happy more than I can tell you in all the 
 good accounts you have sent us from Ireland. I ought 
 long before this to have made you some return, but I
 
 198 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 could never have done it so well as] this evening. We 
 yesterday were beat only by one, on the concluding 
 measure of Opposition, a long representation to the 
 King, intended as a manifesto to the public, where its 
 effect is not much to be dreaded. To-day the Mutiny 
 Bill has gone through the Committee without any 
 opposition (after all the threats) to the duration for 
 a twelvemonth. The enemy seem indeed to be on 
 their backs, though certainly the game left in our 
 hands is still difficult enough. They give out that 
 they do not mean to oppose supplies, or give any 
 interruption to business; but their object is certainly 
 to lie in wait, or at least catch us in some scrape, that 
 they may make our ground worse with the public before 
 any appeal is made there. The sooner that can be done 
 I think the better, and I hope the difficulties in the way 
 are vanishing. 
 
 " You see I am so full of English politics that I hardly 
 say a word on Irish, though I am sure you have a right 
 to expect a considerable mixture of them. Another 
 messenger will follow this in a day or two, and I will 
 then acquit my promise of sending the paper Orde left 
 
 with me, with the necessary remarks I write 
 
 now in great haste, and tired to death, even with victory, 
 for I think our present state is entitled to that name. 
 Adieu, my dear Duke. 
 
 " Believe me ever yours, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 Thus had Pitt remained the conqueror in the hard 
 fight which he had fought with such unflinching courage 
 and such consummate skill — worn out indeed as he 
 describes himself, and as it were sinking to the ground
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 199 
 
 with the labours of the conflict, but grasping firmly the 
 palms of triumph in his hand. 
 
 A few days later he wrote to Lady Chatham also : 
 
 " Downing Street, Tuesday night, 
 " My dear Mother, March 16 (1784). 
 
 " Though it is in literal truth but a single mo- 
 ment I have, I cannot help employing it to thank you 
 a thousand and a thousand times for the pleasure of 
 your letter. I certainly feel our present situation a 
 triumph, at least compared with what it was. The joy 
 of it is indeed doubled by the reflection of its extending 
 and contributing to your satisfaction. Among other 
 benefits I begin to expect every day a little more leisure, 
 and to have some time for reading and writing plea- 
 santer papers than those of business. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 "W.Pitt." 
 
 Obviously in this state of public feeling, it had become 
 the game of Fox to offer no obstruction to public 
 measures, and afford no plea for the Dissolution of 
 Parliament. Thus Pitt was enabled to carry without 
 hindrance the necessary votes of Supply, but did not 
 propose an Appropriation Bill, on which his enemy 
 might have made a stand with some advantage. During 
 this time he was constantly plied with questions and 
 invectives as to the expected Dissolution. But he re- 
 mained steadily silent. At length, on the 23rd, all 
 the necessary preparations were completed, and we 
 find Pitt announce the fact as follows to the Duke of 
 Kutland :
 
 200 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 " Downing Street, Tuesday night, 
 " My dear Duke, March 23, 1784. 
 
 " The interesting circumstances of the present 
 moment, though they are a double reason for my 
 writing to you, hardly leave me the time to do it. Per 
 tot discrimina rerum, we are at length arrived within 
 sight of a Dissolution. The Bill to continue the powers 
 of regulating the intercourse with America to the 20th 
 of June will pass the House of Lords to-day. That and 
 the Mutiny Bill will receive the Eoyal Assent to-mor- 
 row, and the King will then make a short speech and 
 dissolve the Parliament. Our calculations for the new 
 elections are very favourable, and the spirit of the 
 people seems still progressive in our favour. The new 
 Parliament may meet about the 15th or 16th of * May, 
 and I hope we may so employ the interval as to have 
 all the necessary business rapidly brought on, and make 
 
 the Session a short one 
 
 " We shall now soon have a little more leisure, and 
 be better able to attend to real business in a regular 
 way, instead of the occurrences of the day. 
 
 " Believe me, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 Everything therefore was brought in readiness for 
 the Dissolution of Parliament. But at this very junc- 
 ture there occurred a most strange event. Early in the 
 morning of the 24th some thieves broke into the back 
 part of the house of the Lord Chancellor, in Great Or- 
 mond Street, which at that time bordered on the open 
 fields. They went up stairs into the room adjoining 
 the study, where they found the Great Seal of England,
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 201 
 
 with a small sum of money and two silver-hilted swords. 
 All these they carried off without alarming any of the 
 servants, and though a reward was afterwards offered for 
 their discovery, they were never traced. 
 
 When the Chancellor rose and was apprised of this 
 singular robbery, he hastened to the house of Mr. Pitt, 
 and both Ministers without delay waited upon the King. 
 The Great Seal being essential for a Dissolution, its dis- 
 appearance at the very time when it was most needed 
 might well cause great suspicion, as well as some per- 
 plexity. But Pitt took the promptest measures ; he 
 summoned a council to meet at St. James's Palace the 
 same morning, and there an order was issued that a new 
 Great Seal, with the date of 1784, should be prepared 
 with the least possible delay. It was promised that, by 
 employing able workmen all through the night, this 
 necessary work should be completed by noon the 
 next day. 
 
 That same morning Pitt found time for a letter to his 
 friend in Yorkshire. 
 
 " Dear Wilberforce, 
 
 "Parliament will be prorogued to-day and dis- 
 solved to-morrow. The latter operation has been in 
 some danger of delay by a curious manoeuvre, that of 
 stealing the Great Seal last night from the Chancellor's, 
 but we shall have a new one ready in time. 
 
 " I send you a copy of the Speech which will be made 
 in two hours from the Throne. You may speak of it in 
 the past tense, instead of the future. 
 
 "A letter accompanies this from Lord Mahon to 
 Wyvill, which you will be so good as to give him. 
 
 K 3
 
 202 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. V. 
 
 I am told Sir Eobert Hildyard is the right can- 
 didate for the county. You must take care to 
 keep all our friends together, and to tear the enemy 
 to pieces. 
 
 " I set out this evening for Cambridge, where I expect, 
 notwithstanding your boding, to find everything favour- 
 able. I am sure, however, to find a retreat at Bath. 
 
 " Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 The requisite measures having thus been taken, the 
 King, according to his original intention, went down to 
 the House of Lords the same afternoon, and in a short 
 Speech closed this eventful scene. " On a full consi- 
 deration," thus began His Majesty, " of the present situ- 
 ation of affairs, and of the extraordinary circumstances 
 which have produced it, I am induced to put an end to 
 this Session of Parliament. I feel it a duty which I owe 
 to the Constitution and to the country in such a situa- 
 tion, to recur as speedily as possible to the sense of my 
 people by calling a new Parliament. . . And I trust that 
 the various important objects winch will require consi- 
 deration may be afterwards proceeded upon with less 
 interruption and with happier effect." Next day, 
 the new Great Seal being ready according to promise, 
 the Parliament was dissolved by Royal Proclamation. 
 
 This disappearance of the Great Seal lias ever since 
 remained a mystery. It may be observed that in his 
 letter to Wilberforce Pitt speaks of it as " a curious 
 manoeuvre." Certainly it seems difficult to suppose that 
 a theft so critically timed was altogether unconnected 
 with political design. On the other hand, no man of
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 203 
 
 common candour will entertain the least suspicion that 
 Fox or North, or any one of the Whig chiefs, was in any 
 measure cognisant of this mean and criminal device. 
 Such a slander against them would only recoil on the 
 man who made it. But then party, like every other in 
 England, both before and since, had no doubt within, 
 or rather behind its ranks, some low runners ready to 
 perform, without the knowledge of their leaders, any 
 dirty trick which they might think of service, and 
 the dirtier the better to their taste. Such runners 
 would have been constantly hearing that a Dissolution 
 at that juncture might be the ruin of their party views ; 
 that even a few days' delay might be of service, as giv- 
 ing the people time to cool. Can it be deemed incre- 
 dible that under such circumstances even common 
 thieves and burglars should be taken into pay by men 
 in real fact perhaps baser than thieves and burglars are ? 
 It may be objected that on this supposition a greatly 
 overstrained importance was attached to the possession 
 of the Great Seal. But we may well imagine that an 
 humble and heated partisan should be under the same 
 delusion as was, in 1688, the King of England himself, 
 when, hoping to embarrass his successor, he dropped his 
 Great Seal into the Thames.
 
 204 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1784. 
 
 Pitt elected for the University of Cambridge, and Wilberforce for the 
 County of York — Fox's Westminster Contest — Numerous defeats 
 of Fox's friends — New Peerages — Meeting of Parliament — Pre- 
 dominance of Pitt — Disorder of the Finances — Frauds on the 
 Kevenue — Pitt's Budget — his India Bill — Westminster Scrutiny 
 — Restoration of Forfeited Estates in Scotland — Letters to Lady 
 Chatham — Promotions in the Peerage — Lord Camden President 
 of the Council. 
 
 Now rose the war-cry of the hustings throughout 
 England. Almost everywhere Fox's banner was un- 
 furled, and almost everywhere struck down. The first 
 election in point of time was as usual for the City. 
 There Pitt was put in nomination without his knowledge 
 or consent, and the show of hands was declared to be in 
 his favour, but when apprised of the fact he declined the 
 poll. He was pressed to stand for several other cities and 
 towns, more especially for the city of Bath, which his 
 father had represented ; and the King was vexed at his 
 refusal of this offer. But the choice of Pitt was already 
 made. He had determined, as we have seen, to offer 
 himself again for the University of Cambridge. 
 
 As another candidate on the same side, Pitt was aided 
 by the eldest son of the Duke of Grafton, his father's 
 friend. They were opposed by the two late Members, 
 Mr. John Townshend and Mr. Mansfield, both of whom 
 had held office in the Coalition Ministry. After a keen
 
 1784. LTFE OF PITT. 205 
 
 contest Mr. Pitt and Lord Euston were returned — Pitt 
 at the head of the poll. It was a great triumph, and no 
 merely fleeting one, for Pitt continued to represent the 
 University during the remainder of his life. 
 
 It has been said that Paley, who was then at Cam- 
 bridge, suggested one evening as a fitting text for an 
 University sermon : " There is a lad here which hath 
 five barley loaves and two small fishes; but what are 
 they among so many ? " But the author, whoever he 
 was, of this pleasantry, altogether mistook the public 
 temper of the time. In most cases the electors voted 
 without views of personal .interest ; in some cases they 
 voted even against views of personal interest. 
 
 Such was the fact, for example, in the strongholds of 
 the Whig estates. Thus in Norfolk the late Member 
 had been Mr. Coke, lord of the vast domains of Holk- 
 ham — a gentleman who, according to his own opinion, 
 as stated in his Address to the county, had played "a 
 distinguished part " in opposing the American War. But 
 notwithstanding his alleged claims of distinction, and 
 his much more certain claims of property, Mr. Coke 
 found it necessary to decline the contest. 
 
 But of all the contests of this period the most im- 
 portant in that point of view was for the county of York. 
 That great county, not yet at election times severed into 
 Bidings, had been under the sway of the Whig Houses. 
 Bolton Abbey, Castle Howard, and Wentworth Park had 
 claimed the right to dictate at the hustings. It was 
 not till 1780 that the spirit of the county rose. " Hither- 
 to " — so in that year spoke Sir George Savile — "TThave 
 been elected in Lord Rockingham's dining-room. Now
 
 206 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 I am returned by my constituents." And in 1784 the 
 spirit of the county rose higher still. In 1784 the in- 
 dependent freeholders of Yorkshire boldly confronted the 
 great Houses, and insisted on returning, in conjunction 
 with the heir of Duncombe Park, a banker's son, of few 
 years and of scarcely tried abilities, though destined to 
 a high place in his country's annals — Mr. Wilberforce. 
 With the help of the country-gentlemen they raised tne 
 vast sum of 18,662?. for the expense of the election ; and 
 so great was their show of numbers and of resolution, 
 that the candidates upon the other side did not venture 
 to stand a contest. Wilberforce was also returned at 
 the head of the poll by his former constituents at Hull. 
 " I can never congratulate you enough on such glorious 
 success," wrote the Prime Minister to his young friend. 
 
 In this manner throughout England the Opposition 
 party was scattered far and wide. To use a gambling 
 metaphor, which Fox would not have disdained, many 
 threw down their cards. Many others played, but lost 
 the rubber. A witty nickname was commonly applied 
 to them. In allusion to the History, written by John 
 Fox, of the sufferers under the Eomish persecution, they 
 were called " Fox's Martyrs." And of such martyrs 
 there proved to be no less than one hundred and sixty. 
 
 Nor were these losses to the Coalition party confined 
 to the rank and file. Several of their spokesmen or 
 their leaders also fell. At Hertford, Mr. Baker succumbed 
 to Baron Dimsdale ; at Portsmouth, Mr. Erskine to a 
 brother of Lord Cornwallis ; at Bury, General Conway 
 to a son of the Duke of Grafton. Lord Galwav, an 
 Irish peer of no great pretensions, prevailed in the city of
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 207 
 
 York over Fox's most trusted friend and colleague 
 Lord John Cavendish. Some escapes there were of 
 course, though for the most part narrow ones. In Bed- 
 fordshire, Mr. St. John carried his election by a single 
 vote ; at Norwich, Mr. Windham had on his side nearly 
 thirteen hundred voters, but a majority of only fifty- 
 four. Burke was safe at Malton, Sheridan was safe at 
 Stafford, and Lord North was safe at Banbury. 
 
 Amidst all these reverses, however, Fox's high courage 
 never quailed. On the 3rd of April we find him write 
 as follows to a friend : " Plenty of bad news from all 
 quarters, but I think I feel that misfortunes when they 
 come thick have the effect rather of rousing my spirits 
 than sinking them." ' 
 
 The case of Fox himself in these elections should be 
 the last recorded, since it extended very far beyond the 
 date of the rest. He had appealed again to his old 
 constituents at Westminster. So had also his late 
 colleague, Sir Cecil Wray. That gentleman had been 
 formerly not only his colleague, but his follower ; but had 
 become estranged from him by his ill-starred Coalition, 
 and was now inclined to support the Government of 
 Pitt. 
 
 As their principal candidate at Westminster the 
 Government set up a Peer of Ireland, and naval chief 
 of high repute, Lord Hood. It soon appeared that Lord 
 Hood would be at the head of the poll, and that the 
 real contest would be between Fox and Wray. The 
 voters came forward slowly, and the poll continued open 
 
 1 Memorials by Lord John Russell, vol. ii. p. 267.
 
 208 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 from day to day and from week to week — that is from 
 the 1st of April to the 17th of May. During this time 
 every nerve was strained on either side. Several ladies 
 of rank and fashion stood forth as Fox's friends — at their 
 head, Georgiana, the eldest daughter of Earl Spencer, 
 and the wife, since 1774, of the fifth Duke of Devon- 
 shire. Of great beauty and unconquerable spirit, she 
 tried all her powers of persuasion on the shopkeepers 
 of Westminster. Other ladies who could not rival her 
 beauty might at least follow her example. Scarce a 
 street or alley which they did not canvass in behalf of 
 him whom they persisted in calling "the Man of the 
 People," at the very moment when the popular voice 
 was everywhere declaring against him. 
 
 Fox had one supporter of even higher rank and im- 
 portance. The Prince of Wales, after attending the 
 King at a review, rode through the streets of Westmin- 
 ster wearing Fox's colours, and partook of a banquet 
 which was given to his friend at Devonshire House. 
 Henceforth, as of course, the influence of Carlton House 
 was set up against the influence of St. James's. It came 
 to be not only Fox against Pitt, but Prince against 
 King. 
 
 At the hustings in Covent Garden, hour after hour, 
 the orators strove to out-argue and the mobs to out- 
 bawl each other. All day long the open space in front 
 resounded with alternate clamours, while the walls were 
 white with placards, and the newspapers teeming with 
 lampoons. Taverns and public-houses were thrown open 
 at vast expense. Troops of infuriated partisans, decked 
 with party ribbons and flushed with gin and wine, were
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 209 
 
 wont to have fierce conflicts in the streets, often with 
 severe injuries inflicted, and in one instance even with 
 loss of life. 
 
 Up to the twenty-third day of the polling Fox was in 
 a minority, notwithstanding the immense exertions that 
 had been made in his behalf. The Ministerial party 
 were sanguine in the hope of wresting from him the 
 greatest and most enlightened, as it was then considered, 
 of all the represented boroughs of England. 
 
 " Westminster goes on well in spite of the Duchess 
 of Devonshire and the other Women of the People ; but 
 when the poll will close is uncertain," — so writes Pitt to 
 Wilberforce on the 8th of April. Here is another letter 
 which he wrote a few days afterwards to his cousin 
 James Grenville, the same who, in 1797, became Lord 
 Glastonbury. 
 
 " Downing Street, Friday, 
 " My dear Sir, A P ril 23 > 1784 - 
 
 " Admiral Hood tells me he left Lord Nugent at 
 Bath, disposed to come to town if a vote at Westminster 
 should be material. I think from the state of the poll 
 it may be very much so. The numbers on the close to- 
 day are — 
 
 H. 6326. Wr. 5699. F. 5615. 
 
 And Sir Cecil has gained four on Fox to-day. There is 
 no doubt, I believe, of final success on a scrutiny, if we 
 are driven to it ; but it is a great object to us to carry 
 the return for both in the first instance, and on every 
 account as great an object to Fox to prevent it. It is 
 uncertain how long the poll will continue, but pretty 
 clear it cannot be over till after Monday. If you will
 
 210 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 have the goodness to state these circumstances to Lord 
 Nugent, and encourage his good designs, we shall be very- 
 much obliged to you ; and still more, should neither 
 health nor particular engagements detain you, if besides 
 prevailing upon him you could give your own personal 
 assistance. At all events I hope you will forgive my 
 troubling you, and allow for the importunity of a hard- 
 ened electioneerer. 
 
 " We have had accounts from Bath which alarm us 
 for Mr. H. Grenville, but I hope you will have found 
 him mended. I have not yet heard the event of Bucks, 
 but William was sure, and by the first day's poll Aubrey's 
 prospect seems very good. Mainwaring and Wilkes are 
 considerably a-head in Middlesex, and Lord Grimston 
 has come in, instead of Halsey, for Herts. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear Sir, and believe me ever faithfully 
 and affectionately yours, 
 
 « w. Pitt." 
 
 The early minority of Fox was, however, at last re- 
 trieved. On the twenty-third day of the polling he 
 passed Sir Cecil, and he continued to maintain his 
 advantage till the fortieth, when by law the contest 
 closed. Then on the 17th of May the numbers stood: 
 for Lord Hood, 6694 ; for Mr. Fox, 6233 ; and for Sir 
 Cecil Wray, 5598. There was strong reason, however, 
 to suspect many fraudulent practices in the previous 
 days, since it seemed clear that the total number of 
 votes recorded was considerably beyond the number of 
 persons entitled to the franchise. For this reason Sir 
 Cecil Wray at once demanded a scrutiny, and the High 
 Bailiff — illegally, as Fox contended — granted the re- 
 quest. But further still, the High Bailiff, Mr. Corbett,
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 211 
 
 who was no friend to Fox, refused to make any legal 
 return until this scrutiny should be decided. Thus 
 Westminster was left for the present destitute of Repre- 
 sentatives, and Fox would have been without a seat in 
 the new Parliament but for the friendship of Sir Thomas 
 Dundas, through which he had been already returned 
 the member for the close boroughs of Kirkwall. 
 
 In considering the causes which, taken together, 
 produced this almost unparalleled accession to the 
 Ministerial ranks, we must allow something to the 
 disgust of the Coalition, and something to the alarm of 
 the India Bill. We must allow something both for the 
 reverent remembrance of Chatham, and for the rising 
 fame of Pitt. But above all, we must bear in mind that, 
 owing to these motives, Pitt won a combined aid from 
 quarters hitherto in public life most wide asunder. He 
 had with him many Dissenters, and many Churchmen ; 
 many friends of the King's prerogative, and many as- 
 sertors of the people's rights. He had from the one side 
 such men as Jenkinson and Thurlow ; from the other 
 such men as Sawbridge and John Wilkes. For the 
 Coalition, as Lord Macaulay well observes, had at once 
 alienated the most zealous Tories from North, and the 
 most zealous Whigs from Fox. 
 
 Looking back to these eventful four months — from 
 December 1783, to April 1784 — it will be found perhaps 
 that by far the nearest parallel to them which our 
 history affords is the first administration of Sir Robert 
 Peel — that other period of four months from December 
 1834, to April 1835. Some points of essential difference 
 between them have indeed been pointed out by Sir
 
 212 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 Robert Peel himself. 2 But on the other hand there 
 are many points of similitude which he did not and he 
 could not state. In both there was the same oratorical 
 pre-eminence — in both the same absence of colleagues 
 efficient for debate — in both, therefore, the same glory 
 to have fought such a battle single-handed. Of both 
 Pitt and Peel it may be said with truth, as I conceive, 
 that besides the ability which their enemies have never 
 denied, courage, temper, and discretion were evinced 
 by them in the highest degree amidst all the circum- 
 stances that could most severely task and try these 
 eminent qualities. Not one hasty or inconsiderate ex- 
 pression, not a single false step, can perhaps within these 
 periods be charged upon either. Both were opposed by 
 eloquent and powerful antagonists exasperated by recent 
 dismissal from office, through the unjust exercise, as 
 they deemed it, of the Royal prerogative. In both 
 cases the violence of the press exceeded all customary 
 bounds. In both there was the same appeal by a Dis- 
 solution to the judgment of the people, though in the 
 one case the appeal preceded and in the other followed 
 the conflict in the House of Commons. Yet how oppo- 
 site the result, since — though without at all implying 
 on that account any inferiority of genius in the latter 
 statesman — Pitt succeeded and Peel was overthrown. 
 
 At the close of the Elections the King showed his 
 entire approval of his Minister by the grant — perhaps a 
 little lavish — of seven new peerages. The others were to 
 Baronies ; but one, Sir James Lowther, whose influence 
 
 2 See the second volume of bis Memoirs, pp. 44-48, ed. 1857
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 213 
 
 at Appleby had not been forgotten, was raised at once 
 to higher rank as Earl of Lonsdale. Three other Earl- 
 doms were now conferred, and three more in the ensuing 
 summer, on Peers who were Barons already. 
 
 The King also cousented, at the request of Pitt, that 
 in place of Sir Lloyd Kenyon, who became Master of 
 the Rolls, Mr. Archibald Macdonald should be made 
 Solicitor General. But it is remarkable that His Ma- 
 jesty, even at that early period, expressed his own pre- 
 ference for Mr. Scott. 
 
 On the 18th of May the new Parliament met, and 
 on the 19th was opened by the King in person. After 
 several days consumed in swearing in Members, the 
 debates began upon the 24th. The proceedings in the 
 House of Commons are related as follows by Mr. Pitt 
 himself in a letter the same night to the Duke of Rutland : 
 
 "Downing Street, May 24, 1784. 
 " My dear Duke, 
 
 "I cannot let the messenger go without con- 
 gratulating you on the prospect confirmed to us by the 
 opening of the Session. Our first battle was previous 
 to the Address on the subject of the return for West- 
 minster. The enemy chose to put themselves on bad 
 ground by moving that two Members ought to have 
 been returned without first hearing the High Bailiff to 
 explain the reasons of his conduct. We beat them on 
 this by 283 to 136. The High Bailiff is to attend to- 
 day, and it will depend upon the circumstances stated 
 whether he will be ordered to proceed in the scrutiny, 
 or immediately to make a double return, which will 
 bring the question before a Committee. In either case 
 I have no doubt of Fox being thrown out, though in
 
 214 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 either there may be great delay, inconvenience, and 
 expense, and the choice of the alternative is delicate. 
 We afterwards proceeded to the Address, in which 
 nothing was objected to but the thanking the King 
 expressly for the Dissolution. Opposition argued every- 
 thing weakly, and had the appearance of a vanquished 
 party, which appeared still more in the division, when 
 the numbers were 282 to 114. We can have little 
 doubt that the progress of the Session will furnish 
 throughout a happy contrast to the last. We have 
 indeed nothing to contend against but the heat of the 
 weather, and the delicacy of some of the subjects which 
 must be brought forward. Adieu. 
 
 " Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 « w. Pitt." 
 
 The predominance of Mr. Pitt, as shown in these 
 first divisions, was maintained, it may be said, not only 
 through this Session, but through this Parliament and 
 through the next. Henceforth an historical writer may 
 glide far more rapidly over the debates than when the 
 fate of a Government or of a party hung suspended and 
 trembling in the balance. 
 
 There were two subjects which at this time demanded 
 immediate attention from the Legislature: first, the 
 public finances ; and secondly, the affairs of the East 
 India Company. 
 
 As to the first, they were in deplorable disorder. 
 Lord North by no means wanted knowledge or skill in 
 his department, but he was wholly deficient in resolution 
 to look his difficulties fairly in the face. His adminis- 
 tration of the finances was merely a series of make- 
 shifts and expedients. As the readiest means of meeting
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 215 
 
 any sudden call, he had allowed the unfunded debt to 
 grow to an enormous magnitude, so that the outstanding 
 bills issued during the war were at a discount of fifteen 
 or twenty per cent. Consols themselves were at 56 or 
 57, scarcely higher than during the most adverse periods 
 of the recent contest. So vast was the prevalence of 
 smuggling — so numerous were the frauds on the revenue 
 — that the income of the country during the last year 
 had fallen far below even its reduced expenditure, and 
 it was foreseen as almost inevitable (and yet how severe 
 a trial to the popularity of any Minister!) that the 
 return of peace must be celebrated by the imposition of 
 new taxes. 
 
 Of these many and gigantic evils, the frauds on the 
 revenue might be deemed to call the loudest for a 
 remedy. Tea was then the staple of smuggling. All 
 other branches of illicit traffic seemed slight and insig- 
 nificant by the side of this. According to Pitt's calcu- 
 lation, about thirteen millions pounds weight of tea were 
 consumed every year in England, while only five 
 millions and a half were sold by the East India Com- 
 pany, so that the illicit trade in this article was more 
 than double the legal trade. It had been reduced to a 
 regular system. Forty thousand persons by sea and by 
 land were said to be engaged in it ; and the large capital 
 requisite for their operations came, as was believed, from 
 gentlemen of rank and character in London. Ships — 
 some of 300 tons burden — lay out at sea and dealt out 
 their cargoes of tea to small colliers and barges, by 
 which they were landed at different places along the 
 coast, where bands of armed men were stationed to
 
 216 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 receive and protect them. " Not merely the revenue " 
 — this is the statement of Captain Macbride — " is af- 
 fected by smuggling, though that would be mischief 
 enough, but the agriculture and manufactures of the 
 island are in clanger of being ruined. The farmers 
 near the coast have already changed their occupation, 
 and instead of employing their horses to till the soil, 
 they use them for the more advantageous purpose of 
 carrying smuggled goods to a distance from the [shore. 
 The manufacturers will catch the contagion, and the 
 loom and the anvil will be deserted. In former wars 
 the smugglers had not conducted themselves as enemies 
 to their country, but in the late war they enticed away 
 sailors from the King's ships, concealed such as deserted, 
 gave intelligence to the enemy, and did everything in 
 their power hostile to the interest of Great Britain." 3 
 
 Such was the spirit that had grown up under Lord 
 North, and which Pitt had determined to quell. First, 
 he brought in a general measure against smuggling, 
 with some new or more stringent regulations. Thus 
 the right of seizing vessels allowed to the revenue 
 officers under certain circumstances of suspicion was 
 extended from the distance of two to four leagues from 
 the shore. But these were only palliatives, and Pitt 
 was bent upon striking at the very root of the evil. " It 
 has appeared to the Committee of tin's House," he said, 
 " that the best possible plan for the purpose is to lower 
 the duty on tea to such a degree as to take away from 
 
 3 On this whole subject compare 
 with Tomline's Life of Pitt, Mac- 
 pherson's History of Commerce, 
 
 vol. iv. p. 49, and Sinclair's History 
 of the Revenue, vol. ii. p. 392.
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 217 
 
 the smuggler all temptation to his illicit trade ; and 
 this idea has my hearty approval." In the discussion 
 which ensued Pitt said of Lord Mahon that his Noble 
 Friend had an especial right to speak on this subject, 
 since it was he who " originally suggested the reduction 
 of duties as beneficial to the revenue." 
 
 In pursuance of the plan winch his speech had indi- 
 cated, the Minister proposed that the duties on tea, 
 which brought in upwards of 700,000?. yearly, should be 
 reduced so far that they might probably yield no more 
 than 169,0001. To set against these diminished duties 
 there was the certain decline of smuggling, so that the 
 fair trader would no longer be exposed to any unequal 
 competition. There would be, however, in the first 
 instance, a considerable loss to the revenue, which Pitt 
 proposed to supply by means of a new impost— "the 
 Commutation Tax," as it was afterwards called — namely, 
 an additional duty upon all houses above the poorest 
 kind, estimated according to the number of their 
 windows. 
 
 This scheme found great favour both with Parliament 
 and with the public, and was carried through by an 
 overpowering majority. It was obviously much in 
 favour of the poorest classes, since they were relieved 
 from the old tax upon tea without being made subject 
 to the new tax upon windows. Fox, however, raised an 
 objection to the new plan as being compulsory — that is, 
 as obliging every householder above the lower rank to 
 pay an equivalent for drinking tea, whether he drank it 
 or not. But this argument, though specious in theory, 
 was deemed to carry no great weight, since in point of 
 
 VOL. I. l
 
 218 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 fact at tliat time there was scarce a family in the king- 
 dom, rich or poor, in which tea of some kind was not 
 every day consumed. So vast had been the change 
 since the clays of Locke, who but a century before speaks 
 of tea by its French designation of " The," and enume- 
 rates it among the " foreign drinks " to be found in the 
 London coffee-houses. 4 
 
 Exactly the same principle was applied by Pitt to 
 the similar case of spirits. Here again fraudulent de- 
 vices had spread so wide that, for instance, the distillery 
 from molasses in the city of London, which had yielded 
 to the revenue 32,000?. in 1778, produced no more than 
 1098Z. in 1783. The Minister therefore brought in and 
 carried a measure regulating the duties upon British, 
 and greatly reducing those upon foreign spirits. But 
 expecting as the result a considerable increase of con- 
 sumption in spirits legally imported, he did not think 
 it necessary as in the case of tea to propose any new 
 impost as a substitute. 
 
 These might be called the preliminary measures. 
 But on the 30th of June Pitt unfolded his entire plan 
 of finance — the first of those luminous and masterly 
 Budgets which were heard in the House of Commons 
 year by year so long as he continued Minister, and 
 which had not been equalled by any of his prede- 
 cessors. Hard and irksome was the task, he said, 
 to propose not only new taxes but also a new loan in 
 the second year of peace. But the necessities of the 
 
 4 See his Memoranda of 1679, 
 and his Journal of April, 1685, in 
 
 his Life by Lord King (vol. i. p. 
 251 and 297).
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 210 
 
 State made that task his duty, and for these necessities 
 others, and not he, had to answer. The floating or un- 
 funded debt he estimated at fourteen millions. Pitt was 
 very desirous to fund the whole of this sum in the 
 present Session, but he was assured by the monied men 
 that so large a quantity of Stock coming at once into 
 the market must greatly depress the other public se- 
 curities, and prevent them from supplying the new loan 
 on favourable terms. " After an arduous effort for the 
 whole," said Pitt, " I was obliged to compound the 
 business, and therefore I propose to fund only six mil- 
 lions and a half of the unfunded fourteen millions." 
 
 " It was always my idea " — thus in his great speech 
 the Minister continues — " that a fund at a high rate of 
 interest is better to the country than those at low rates ; 
 that a four per cent, is preferable to a three per cent., 
 and a five per cent, better than a four. The reason is 
 that in all operations of finance we should always have 
 in view a plan of redemption. Gradually to redeem 
 and to extinguish our debt ought ever to be the wise 
 pursuit of Government. Every scheme and operation 
 of finance should be directed to that end, and managed 
 with that view." 
 
 Such a maxim might at that time be regarded as a 
 considerable innovation on established views. Not less 
 novel was the course which Pitt announced himself to 
 have pursued with respect to the loan of six millions he 
 required. Former Ministers had made such loans a 
 source of patronage — the means of gain to their friends 
 and followers. Pitt loftily resolved to consult the public 
 interest only. He gave notice through the Governor 
 
 l 2
 
 220 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 and Deputy Governor of the Bank that he was ready to 
 contract for the loan with those who would offer the 
 lowest terms, and that the lottery tickets should be dis- 
 tributed among the persons who lent the money, in 
 proportion to the sums lent. The sealed tenders which 
 were sent in accordingly were opened in the presence 
 of the Governor and Deputy Governor. Pitt at once 
 accepted the terms that were the lowest; and as he 
 assured the House of Commons, on his honour, not one 
 shilling was retained for distribution in his hands. The 
 example thus set has served as a precedent and model 
 in all loans of later times. 
 
 It is worthy of note, in passing, how different was the 
 spirit which Lord Eockingham and Lord John Caven- 
 dish upon the one part, or Pitt upon the other, applied 
 to questions of finance. The danger of undue influence 
 by allowing to Members of Parliament any share in the 
 contracts for loans and lotteries was acknowledged on 
 all sides. Eockingham and Cavendish dealt with this 
 evil by pruning its branches — by a Bill to prohibit every 
 contractor from sitting in the House of Commons. Pitt 
 dealt with this evil by striking at its roots — by providing 
 that every contract should be free from any possible 
 admixture of party favour. 
 
 Eeverting to the first Budget of the new Minister, we 
 find him in his speech enumerate the Army Estimates 
 for the year as upwards of four millions, the Navy as 
 upwards of three millions, the Ordnance as upwards of 
 600,000£. The Miscellaneous Services would amount 
 to nearly 300,000?., including a large arrear, which Pitt 
 had the painful duty of announcing, in the Civil List,
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 221 
 
 The interest of the National Debt in all its manifold 
 denominations might be taken at nine millions. On 
 the other hand, the revenue would fall short of the re- 
 quired charges by no less than 900,000?., and Pitt pro- 
 posed to supply the deficiency at once and boldly by 
 the imposition of new duties. " Irksome as is my task 
 this day," he said, " the necessities of the country call 
 upon me not to shrink from it; and I confide in the 
 good sense and the patriotism of the people of England." 
 He added, as the maxim which he designed to follow as 
 Minister of the Finances, " to disguise nothing from the 
 public." 
 
 The taxes proposed by Pitt to yield what he termed — 
 and what, according to the estimates of that time, he 
 might well term — this " enormous sum," were upon 
 hats, ribbons, and gauzes, coals not employed in certain 
 branches of our manufactures, horses not employed in 
 husbandry, an additional duty upon linens and calicoes, 
 an additional duty of one halfpenny in the pound upon 
 candles, upon licences to dealers in exciseable commodi- 
 ties, certificates for killing game, paper, hackney-coaches, 
 and bricks and tiles. According to Pitt's estimate the 
 yearly consumption of bricks was about three hundred 
 millions, and of these one hundred and five were used in 
 and near London alone. All these intended imposts he 
 explained and defended at length, in the course of Iris 
 speech, with so much perspicuity and knowledge of 
 details as might justly delight his friends, and in the 
 same measure disconcert his adversaries. 
 
 In pursuance of the views which his speech explained, 
 Pitt on the same evening moved no less than 133
 
 222 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 Besolutions of Finance. He added several others on 
 subsequent days, on all which numerous Bills were 
 founded. His new taxes passed for the most part with 
 little difficulty, excepting that on coals, which was 
 assailed by so many and so strong objections that the 
 Minister consented to withdraw it, substituting several 
 other small imposts or new regulations in its place. 
 
 To the tax on bricks and tiles there was also some 
 demur. Lord Mahon assailed it in a speech of consider- 
 able violence, and he went on to denounce the argu- 
 ments of Mr. George Eose in its support as " the most 
 weak, ridiculous, and absurd that could be advanced." 
 It was the manifest duty of Pitt to defend his own 
 Secretary of the Treasury. He retorted in a strain of 
 irony on Lord Mahon ; and this appears to have been 
 the first estrangement between these so lately most 
 cordial friends. 
 
 Several of the new financial regulations which Pitt 
 was proposing applied to the privilege of franking by 
 Peers and Members of Parliament. Up to that time 
 nothing beyond the signature of the person privileged 
 had been required, nor was there any limit as to place 
 or number. Several banking firms especially were 
 possessed of whole box-fulls of blank covers signed by 
 some friend or partner, and kept ready for use in their 
 affairs. Letters were constantly addressed to some 
 Member, at places where he never resided, so that by a 
 secret arrangement other persons might receive them 
 post-free. It was computed, though probably with some 
 exaggeration, that the loss to the revenue by such means 
 might amount every year to no less than 170,000?. By
 
 1784. LIFE OF FITT. 223 
 
 new rules it came to be provided that no Member of 
 either House should be entitled to frank more than ten 
 letters daily, each of these to bear in his own hand- 
 writing, besides his signature, the day of the month and 
 year, the name of the post-town, and the entire address ; 
 nor were any letters to be received by him post-free 
 except at his actual abode. These regulations, which 
 continued in force until the final abolition of Parliamen- 
 tary franks in 1839, were carefully framed, and pro- 
 ductive of considerable savings. Yet no amount of 
 public forethought is ever quite a match for private 
 skill, and many cases of most ingenious evasion are 
 recorded. Thus on one occasion the franks of a Scottish 
 Member, Sir John Hope, having been counterfeited, the 
 person accused on that account protested that he had 
 done no more than write at the edge of his own letters, 
 " Free I hope." A Peer with whom I was acquainted 
 is said to have franked the news of his own decease 
 — that is, having died suddenly one morning, and 
 left some covers to friends ready written on his own 
 escritoire, his family availed themselves of these to 
 enclose the melancholy tidings. 
 
 The arrear of the Civil List, first made known by 
 the Prime Minister in his speech upon the Budget, 
 ,was afterwards more formally communicated by a 
 message from the King. It amounted to 60,000?., 
 which was voted with no opposition, and with little 
 remark. 
 
 It is worthy of note that the Appropriation Act of 
 this year was framed to include the supplies voted in 
 the preceding as well as in the present Session. It
 
 224 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 passed quietly through, without a word of remonstrance, 
 or even of remark. No Bill of Indemnity to Ministers 
 was either solicited by themselves or called for by their 
 opponents. Thus worthless was the Kesolution which 
 the last House of Commons had carried on this subject ! 
 So completely had all the threats antecedent to the 
 Dissolution fallen to the ground ! 
 
 Next in importance to the settlement of the finances, 
 stood the question of the government of India. On the 
 6th of July Pitt brought in and explained his new mea- 
 sure for that object. It differed but little from the 
 scheme which he had laid before the last Parliament at 
 the beginning of the year, and by establishing a " Board 
 of Control " laid the foundation of that system of double 
 government for India which, with some modifications, 
 continued till the Act of 1858. Every possible objec- 
 tion was urged against it by Pox and Burke, by Sheri- 
 dan, and by Philip Francis, who had now for the first 
 time obtained a seat in the House of Commons. But 
 they had little success. In the only division which they 
 ventured to try upon the general principle, no more 
 than 60 Members were found to oppose the Bill, while 
 271 voted in its favour. And it passed still more 
 smoothly through the House of Lords. 
 
 Another question, prolific of debates, was the West- 
 minster Scrutiny. It called forth one of the most 
 admirable and least imperfectly reported of the many 
 admirable speeches of Fox. The High Bailiff defended 
 himself at the bar. Witnesses were examined and 
 counsel heard. Among these, Erskine, now no longer 
 in Parliament, summed up the case on Fox's side. At
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 22.") 
 
 last the House by a large majority affirmed the legal 
 character of the Scrutiny, and directed that it should 
 proceed with all possible despatch — a most unhappy 
 decision for the interests of all the parties concerned. 
 '•I have had a variety of calculations made upon this 
 Scrutiny," said Fox in his great speech of the 8th of 
 June, " and the lowest of all the estimates is 18,000?." 
 It is said that Pitt was misled upon this question by 
 the authority of Sir Lloyd Kenyon, the new Master of 
 the Rolls. 5 
 
 The last measure of this Session had the rare good 
 fortune of being supported from all sides. On the 2nd 
 of August Dundas brought in a Bill to restore to the 
 rightful heirs the estates in Scotland which had been 
 forfeited in consequence of the last rebellion. The re- 
 turn, said Dundas, to a more conciliatory system was 
 commenced by the late Lord Chatham, who with ad- 
 mirable judgment and most complete success had raised 
 regiments of Highlanders to fight the battles of our 
 common country, declaring that he sought only for merit, 
 and had found it in the mountains of the North. " It is 
 an auspicious omen," thus Dundas proceeded, "that the 
 first blow to this proscription was given by the Earl of 
 Chatham, and may well justify a hope that its remains 
 will be annihilated under the administration of his son, 
 who will thus complete the good work that his great 
 father began. But let me not be understood to mean 
 that my Right Hon. friend has the sole merit of the 
 
 5 Nichols's Eecollections during the Reign of George the Thirl. 
 vol. ii. p. 151. 
 
 T O
 
 226 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 present measure. In justice to the Noble Lord in the 
 blue riband (Lord North), I must say that, having con- 
 versed with him several times on the subject while he 
 was at the head of affairs, I always found him disposed 
 to act in that business upon the most liberal, generous, 
 and manly principles. I found precisely the same fa- 
 vourable disposition in the Ministers who immediately 
 preceded the present; and I know that had they re- 
 mained longer in office, they would have brought forward 
 the same proposal as I have now to make." Accord- 
 ingly Fox rose to express his continued and hearty 
 approval of the scheme, and it passed the House of Com- 
 mons without even a whisper of objection. Nor was it re- 
 sisted in the Lords. There, however, it provoked from the 
 Chancellor a peevish burst of spleen, the cause of which 
 may perhaps be detected at the outset of \iis speech, 
 when he " lamented, as a private man, that he had not 
 heard anything of the project of bringing the measure 
 before Parliament till it had actually been brought in." 
 He declared that he did not mean to vote against the 
 Bill, and contented himself with drawing in array against 
 it a great number of doubts and scruples. 
 
 In the course of this Session Alderman Sawbridge 
 brought forward a motion for Eeform in Parliament. 
 Pitt, Wilberforce, and others endeavoured to dissuade 
 him on account of the pressure of other business. " In 
 my opinion," said Pitt, " it is greatly out of season at 
 this juncture. But I have the measure much at heart, 
 and I pledge myself in the strongest language to bring 
 it forward the very first opportunity next Session." 
 Nevertheless the Alderman persisted, and a long debate
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 227 
 
 ensued. The motion was rejected by 199 votes against 
 125, Pitt himself being one of the minority. 
 
 On the 20th of August this short but busy Session, 
 the second of the year, was closed with a brief speech 
 by the King in person. 
 
 On the 3rd of September following, the new India 
 Board was published. It was intended that the sub- 
 stantial power should remain wholly in the hands of 
 Dundas ; but the arrangement was not effected without 
 some difficulties on the part of the other Commissioners, 
 as will appear from a letter which one of them ad- 
 dressed at this time to Mr. Pitt, complaining above all 
 of the undue number of Scotch appointments. 
 
 Lord Sydney to Mr. Pitt. 
 
 "Albemarle Street, Sept. 24, 1784. 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " I went into the Closet to-day to carry in the 
 business of the various departments which now fall 
 upon my very inefficient shoulders. To begin with the 
 War Office, upon the business of which I thought it ne- 
 cessary to say something, in consequence of a letter 
 which I received from Sir John Wrottesley. . . . 
 
 " . . . Moore cannot, I find, come in upon any vacancy 
 in the first regiment of Guards, as he has behaved in a 
 strange manner to the commanding officer of that regi- 
 ment upon the subject of a Court Martial held upon his 
 brother, who was a surgeon's mate. This I had from 
 the King. I do not think His Majesty much edified 
 with the keen appetite and quick digestion of the Phipps 
 family. 
 
 "So much for military matters. As to the subject
 
 22S LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 upon which you know how much I hate to talk, and 
 upon which I wish I could never think, His Majesty 
 asked me what the Directors meant ? — the question of 
 all others to which I was most incompetent to answer. 
 I could have referred him to others who are masters of 
 the subject, but I find that you sent him only the Reso- 
 lution of the Directors. He asked why they thought that 
 no one above the rank of Major-General could command 
 in chief, and how they came to ask the question whether 
 it is inconsistent or not for a Lieutenant- General to be 
 under the command of a Major-General. 
 
 " I have this moment received your note. I cannot 
 say how much it hurts me. My opinions as much as 
 my feelings are against the step that is taken, and what 
 I am most concerned about is that you will be imagined 
 to have been a party to this business. I am sure you 
 are not. You will find a combination of the most in- 
 satiable ambition and the most sordid avarice and vil- 
 lany at the bottom of this base work. As to the men 
 with whom I have hitherto treated, very imprudently, 
 with great openness, while I have a bolt to my door 
 they shall never come into my room. I must be al- 
 lowed to show myself not to be their accomplice. 
 
 " I enclose you a list of the field-officers in India, to 
 show you the drift of that intended operation upon the 
 King's troops in India with which so many persons have 
 acquainted me. I believe three are as many English 
 or Irish names as there are among them. I will leave 
 the subject, as I feel it difficult to suppress my sense of 
 my own situation. 
 
 " Let me off from any connection with this Indian 
 business. I am ready to abandon it to the ambition of 
 those who like the department. But I must have the 
 rest of my department, while I hold it, unencroached 
 upon by others. I hope you will not suppose yourself
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 229 
 
 included in this last sentence, as I shall always look 
 
 upon the patronage of my office as yours. 
 
 " Assure yourself that, hurt and disgraced as I feel 
 
 myself, I am, with great and unalterable truth and 
 
 regard, &c, 
 
 " Sydney." 
 
 During the remainder of this year Pitt continued to 
 apply himself most earnestly to the finances. He lived 
 for the most part within easy reach of London, in a 
 house which he had hired upon Putney Heath. Some- 
 times he indulged himself with one or two davs at 
 Brighton, or, as it was then called, Brighthelmstone. But 
 he found it necessary to relinquish the longer journey 
 to Burton Pynsent which he had designed. 
 
 The letters of Pitt to Lady Chatham from the time 
 that he became Prime Minister appear less numerous 
 and also of smaller interest. He appears to have felt it 
 his duty in his new station to refrain from writing to her 
 upon State affairs, except in rare cases and in general 
 terms. His correspondence, therefore, turns chiefly on 
 family matters. But he was most anxious and unre- 
 mitting in attention whenever any point arose in which 
 her comfort was concerned, as the following extracts 
 from his letters will clearly show : — 
 
 " April 20, 1784. 
 
 " Everything continues to prosper here. I only wish 
 you were a nearer spectator, and that I could have an 
 opportunity of telling you all you would like to hear."
 
 230 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 " Downing Street, May 6, 1784. 
 
 " With regard to the 4£ Fund itself, I still retain 
 my opinion that it will in no very distant time become 
 again adequate to all it is to pay ; but in the mean 
 time I feel more than I can express the continuance of 
 the inconvenience to which you are subjected by the 
 delay. The best measure that I see in the present cir- 
 cumstances is that which, independent of any views of 
 our own, must, I believe, take place ; and if it does, it 
 will, I think, be an effectual relief. That is an applica- 
 tion to Parliament, stating the arrears of the fund and 
 the cause of the deficiency, and desiring that the charge 
 now upon it may be carried to the general fund of .the 
 revenue of the Customs. I believe if this is properly 
 done, there will be no difficulty in it ; and such a plan 
 is in forwardness on the part of the agents of the West 
 India governors. In the interval, there is one thing I 
 must most anxiously beg of you — not to entertain an 
 idea of contracting any further in the present moment 
 your own establishment, which is indeed too narrow to 
 admit of more economy. What Harriot said to me on 
 this subject makes me press this request. I have the 
 fullest persuasion that the thing will finally be put on a 
 satisfactory footing, and I hope it may soon. But while 
 we wait for this, which is a debt from the public, we 
 have some of us what may in part serve in lieu of it. 
 I assure you I shall be a rich man enough myself (while 
 we continue in a state which seems to have every pros- 
 pect of permanence) to give me a right to beg you to 
 be at ease with regard to any exceeding that may be 
 incurred while the suspense continues. I hope you will 
 be good enough to believe that whatever concerns your 
 satisfaction, more immediately concerns my own than 
 any articles that consume the salary of the Treasury.
 
 1784. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 231 
 
 What I beg you to believe also, is that my means, 
 though they will not reach at the extent of my wishes 
 on this point, will without a moment's difficulty go some 
 way to it. I am sure you will forgive the haste in which 
 I write, and believe that I have not time to express 
 half what I feel on the subject. But before I end, I 
 must repeat how anxiously I beg you, if you will let me 
 urge it for my own comfort, not to let the delay of this 
 business give you any additional uneasiness, and above 
 all not to think of putting yourself to any fresh incon- 
 venience or restraint. I will pledge myself for your 
 finding ultimately no reason for it." 
 
 " Downing Street, May 29, 1784. 
 " My deak Mother, 
 
 " I have had but one thing to complain of in the 
 prosperous course of this busy time — that I have really 
 been obliged day by day to relinquish my intention of 
 writing to you, though every moment of delay was mor- 
 tifying to me, more than I can express, knowing the 
 suspense which it occasioned to you. I had also some 
 inquiries to make before I could ascertain the present 
 means of furnishing the accommodation, which I so 
 much wish I could render perfectly complete. I trust 
 in a little while our home Treasury will be punctual 
 enough in its payments to leave no difficulty in making 
 up, in some measure, the irregularity of other funds. 
 The income of the Lord of the Treasury and Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer together will really furnish 
 more than my expenses can require ; and I hope I need 
 not say the surplus w T ill give me more satisfaction than 
 all the rest, if it can contribute to diminish embarrass- 
 ment where least of all any ought, I am sure, to subsist. 
 In the mean time, as even our payments are in some
 
 232 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 arrear, I cannot in the instant answer for all I could 
 wish. But let me beg you to have the goodness to 
 name what sum is necessary to the exigencies of the 
 present moment, and I am sure of being able to supply 
 it. I shall without any other steps have 600?. paid into 
 Mr. Coutts's hands the clay after to-morrow, and will 
 immediately direct whatever part of it you will allow 
 to be placed to your account. If anything more is ne- 
 cessary, pray let me know the extent of it. I have no 
 doubt of finding means, if they are wanting, at present ; 
 though, for the reasons I have related, the facility may 
 be greater a little while hence. I should add that 
 I still continue to think some effectual arrangement 
 may take place as to the 4^ Fund, or a productive sub- 
 stitute for it. Forgive the haste in which I am obliged 
 to write, and have the goodness to let me hear from 
 you as soon as you conveniently can. The mode I have 
 mentioned will enable you to draw on Mr. Coutts with- 
 out trouble, and I think is the easiest, unless any other 
 occurs to you. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 " Putney Heath, August 28, 1784. 
 
 " The end of the Session has hardly yet given me 
 anything like leisure, as the continual hurry of some 
 months leaves of course no small arrear of business now 
 to be despatched. I hope, however, in about ten days, or 
 possibly a week, to be able to get as far as Brighthelm- 
 stone. My brother has, I believe, written to tell Harriot 
 that a house is secured. I shall be happy to see her either 
 in Downing Street or there the first moment she pleases. 
 I am already in a great measure a country gentleman, 
 because, though full of business, it is of a nature which
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 233 
 
 I can do as well at Putney, from whence I now write, 
 as in town. I look forward with impatience to being 
 enough released to be with you at Burton, and work the 
 more cheerfully in hopes of it." 
 
 " Putney Heath, October 7, 1784. 
 
 "I have not been without some useful and agree- 
 able mixture of idleness in my Brighthelmstone excur- 
 sions, though iu tliem I have had pretty constant ex- 
 perience that I could not afford more than a day's dis- 
 tance from town. I have been for a good while engaged 
 to a large party which was to take place, for two or three 
 days about this time, at a famous place of Mr. Drum- 
 mond's in the New Forest. But as the party was to be 
 made up principally of the Treasury and the new India 
 Board, it is not very certain that the business of one or 
 the other will not prevent it. The principal cause of 
 my being detained at present is the expectation of ma- 
 terials from Ireland, and persons to consult with from 
 that country, on the subject of all the unsettled com- 
 mercial points, which will furnish a good deal of em- 
 ployment for next Session. The scene there is the most 
 important and delicate we now have to attend to, but 
 even there I think things wear a more favourable 
 aspect." 
 
 "o" 
 
 " December 24, 1784. 
 
 "I have deferred from time to time saying anything 
 respecting the grant, hoping to have the opportunity 
 of talking it over fully. I hope, however, that I may 
 safely beg you to be at ease upon it ; for though I can- 
 not at this moment say precisely what mode must be 
 taken, I am convinced the business may be soon satis- 
 factorily settled. I shall feel too much interested on
 
 234 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VI. 
 
 what so nearly concerns that which has the first claim 
 to my attention, not to take care that it shall be early 
 adjusted. The only thing you must allow me to beg 
 and insist on, is that you will in the interval feel no dif- 
 ficulty in calling for whatever you find necessary from 
 Mr. Coutts. I hope you know that while it is acciden- 
 tally in my power to diminish a moment's embarrass- 
 ment or uneasiness to you, the doing so is the object the 
 most important to my happiness. Inconvenience, if it 
 existed, ought to be out of the question with me ; but I 
 can assure you very sincerely that it cannot be pro- 
 duced in the slightest degree by your consulting your own 
 ease and my pleasure in the interval that now remains." 
 
 During the autumn there were two considerable pro- 
 motions in the Peerage. No Marquisate was at that 
 time remaining in England. The title of Lord Win- 
 Chester was merged in the Dukedom of Bolton, and the 
 title of Lord Rockingham had become extinct at his 
 death. Pitt now resolved to raise to the vacant rank 
 two noblemen, one of whom had high claims on himself, 
 and the other high claims on the King. On the same 
 day in November the Earl of Shelburne became Marquis 
 of Lansdowne, and Earl Temple Marquis of Buckingham. 
 Of the former, we find the Duke of Eutland write con- 
 fidentially to Pitt as follows in the previous June : — " I 
 have reason to believe that though he (Lord Shelburne) 
 has entirely relinquished all views of business and office, 
 yet some mark of distinction such as a step in the Peer- 
 age would be peculiarly gratifying to him." 6 
 
 Similar hints may perhaps have come from Lord 
 
 6 The Duke of Kutland to Mr. Pitt, June 16, 1784.
 
 1784. LIFE OF TITT. 235 
 
 Temple's friends. It is even probable, as I have shown 
 elsewhere, that he aspired to the highest rank. His 
 eager wish in December, 1783, seems to have been 
 baffled only by the resolute refusal of the King. The 
 letter of Pitt to Lord Temple — which is not in my pos- 
 session, but which I have seen — offering him a Mar- 
 quisate in November, 1784, goes on to say that his 
 claim to a Dukedom should bo considered in the event 
 of His Majesty ever granting any more patents of that 
 title. I have been informed that the letter to Lord 
 Shelburne of the same date conveys the same assurance. 
 
 On the 1st of December Pitt was most highly gra- 
 tified by an important accession to his ranks. Lord 
 Camden, though from the weight of years unwilling to 
 engage once more in active life, would no longer refuse 
 to join the son of Chatham. He consented to take the 
 office of President of the Council, which Earl Gower gave 
 up for his sake, receiving in return the Privy Seal, left 
 vacant by the Duke of Portland. It was also designed, 
 and indeed made a condition by Lord Camden, that his 
 intimate friend the Duke of Grafton should become a 
 member of the Cabinet. From various causes His Grace 
 postponed his decision for a considerable time. At last 
 the affair of Ockzakow arising, he finally declined. 
 
 During the administration of Lord North it had been 
 usual to convene Parliament in the month of November. 
 But under Pitt the custom was changed. Unless in 
 special cases, the Houses did not meet till after the 
 New Year. Thus in 1784, at the time of which I speak, 
 the opening of the new Session was appointed for the 
 25th of January, 1 785.
 
 236 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1784 — 1785. 
 
 Gibbon's character of Pitt — Pitt's application to business — Parallel 
 between Pitt and Fox — The King's Speech on the opening of 
 Parliament — Westminster Scrutiny — Success of Pitt's Financial 
 Schemes — Reform of Parliament — Commercial intercourse with 
 Ireland — The Eleven Resolutions — Pitt's Speech — Opposed by 
 Fox and North — Petition from Lancashire against the measure — 
 Opposition in the Irish House of Commons — Bill relinquished by 
 the Government — Mortification of Pitt. 
 
 While thus throughout the country parties were 
 fiercely contending, we may desire to consult the more 
 dispassionate opinion of an Englishman of superior 
 intellect residing at a distance from England. It is, 
 therefore, with especial pleasure that I insert the fol- 
 lowing letter. I owe the communication of it, and of 
 several others, to the kindness of my friend the present 
 and third Earl of St. Germans. 
 
 Mr. Gibbon to Lord Eliot. 
 
 " Lausanne, Oct. 27, 1784. 
 
 " Since my leaving England, in the short period of 
 last winter, what strange events have fallen out in your 
 political world ! It is probable, from your present con- 
 nections, that we see them with very different eyes ; 
 and, on this occasion, I very much distrust my own 
 judgment. I am too far distant to have a perfect know- 
 ledge of the revolution, and am too recently absent to
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 237 
 
 judge of it without partiality. Yet let me soberly ask 
 you on Whig principles, whether it be not a dangerous 
 discovery that the King can keep his favourite Minister 
 against a majority of the House of Commons ? Here, 
 indeed (for even here we are politicians), the people 
 were violent against Fox, but I think it was chiefly 
 those who have imbibed in the French service a high 
 reverence for the person and authority of Kings. They 
 are likewise biassed by the splendour of young Pitt, and 
 it is a fair and honourable prejudice. A youth of five- 
 and-twenty, who raises himself to the government of an 
 empire by the power of genius and the reputation of 
 virtue, is a circumstance unparalleled in history, and, 
 in a general view, is not less glorious to the country 
 than to himself." 
 
 At the time when Gibbon wrote thus, Pitt had not 
 merely secured his high position by his triumph at the 
 General Election. He had done much more. He had 
 brought into order the finances of the country, and 
 found the public favour stand firm against that most 
 trying of all tests, the imposition of new taxes. He had 
 decided and settled for seventy years to come that most 
 anxious and perplexing of all questions — the principle 
 of our government in India. At this period, the 
 autumn of 1784, " he was," says Lord Macaulay, " the 
 greatest subject that England had seen during many 
 generations. His father had never been so powerful, 
 nor Walpole, nor Marlborough." 
 
 It is no less true, and this should above all be noted, 
 that the high supremacy which even at this distance of 
 time may dazzle us, never seems to have dazzled the 
 " boy-statesman," as his opponents loved to call hiui, of
 
 '238 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 twenty-five. Young as he was, and victorious as he had 
 become, he was never tempted to presume upon his 
 genius, or relax in his application. He continued, as I 
 have just now shown him, through all the Kecess of 
 1784, seldom allowing himself any holiday, and ear- 
 nestly intent on business for the coming Session. 
 
 But before I pass on to the events of that Session, and 
 of many Sessions more in which Pitt and Fox continued 
 to confront each other, I will attempt to draw a parallel 
 in some detail between these two most eminent men, 
 towering, as each did, high above the rest in the oppo- 
 site ranks. As to Pitt, there could be no idea of com- 
 petition with any of his colleagues ; and as to Fox, 
 though there stood beside him such men — hardly else to 
 be paralleled — as Burke, as Sheridan, as North, yet, as 
 Bishop Tomline says, " in conversation with me, I 
 always noticed that Mr. Pitt considered Mr. Fox as far 
 superior to any other of his opponents as a debater in, 
 the House of Commons." 
 
 Charles James Fox being born in January, 1749, was 
 older than Pitt by upwards of ten years. Each was the 
 younger and the favourite son of a retired Minister. 
 Each grew up amidst the sanguine expectations of his 
 father's friends. But in their training they were wide 
 as the poles asunder. Pitt, as we have seen, was 
 brought up by Lord Chatham in habits of active study, 
 and his mind was cultivated with unremitting care. 
 Fox, on the other hand, had the great misfortune of 
 a too indulgent father. It is clear from the letters pub- 
 lished that the first Lord Holland connived at — it might 
 almost be said that he abetted and encouraged — the
 
 1784. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 239 
 
 early excesses of his sou. The gaming-tables at Spa 
 and elsewhere became familiar to young Fox even in 
 his teens. His losses, his debts, his drinking bouts, and 
 his amours were the theme of fashionable scandal. 
 Such had been the life of Fox, far more through the 
 fault of others than his own, when at the age of nineteen 
 the burgage tenures of Midhurst finst sent him to the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 Pitt and Fox, as they grew up, differed greatly in 
 aspect and in frame. The tall, lank figure, and the 
 lofty bearing of the former might often be contrasted 
 with Fox's increasing corpulence, and gay, good- 
 humoured mien. With these, or the exaggerations of 
 these, the caricatures of that day have made us all 
 familiar. Caricatures, so far at least as any wide 
 diffusion of the prints is concerned, may be said to have 
 begun in the last days of Sir Robert Walpole. But it 
 was not until the coalition of Fox and North — a 
 most tempting subject for satire — that they, and above 
 all such as came from the pencil of Gillray, attained 
 any high degree of merit. With their merit so likewise 
 grew their political importance. It is said that Mr. Fox 
 was wont to ascribe in part the unpopularity stirred 
 against him on his East India Bill to the impression 
 produced by Sayer's caricatures, especially " Carlo 
 Khan's Triumphal Entry into Leadenhall Street ;" and 
 " A Transfer of East India Stock." " They have done 
 me more mischief," he said, " than the debates in 
 Parliament." 1 
 
 1 Anecdote-Book of Lord Eldon, 
 as cited in Twiss's Biography, vol. 
 
 i. p. 162. See also Mr. Thomas 
 Wright's ingenious disquisition
 
 210 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 In able hands the pen may be almost as graphic as 
 the pencil. Thus, for instance, does Horace Walpole 
 describe the eloquent framer of the India Bill about the 
 very time when that Bill was framed : " Fox lodged in 
 St. James's Street, and as soon as he rose, which was 
 very late, had a levee of his followers, and of the 
 members of the gaming-club at Brooks's — all his 
 disciples. His bristly black person and shagged breast 
 quite open, and rarely purified by any ablutions, was 
 wrapped in a foul linen night-gown, and his bushy hair 
 dishevelled. In these Cynic weeds, and with Epicurean 
 good humour, did he dictate his politics, and in this 
 school did the Heir of the Crown attend his lessons and 
 imbibe them." The value of this portrait is enhanced 
 from the judgment formed upon it by one of Fox's 
 relatives and most warm admirers — his nephew, Lord 
 Holland. He speaks of it as, of course, a strong carica- 
 ture ; " yet," he adds, " from my boyish recollection of a 
 morning in St. James's Street, I must needs acknow- 
 ledge that it has some truth to recommend it." 2 
 
 Take as a side-piece the portrait of Pitt as he ap- 
 peared in 1783 to a Member of Parliament who was gar- 
 rulous and inexact, and extremely sore as disappointed 
 in his hopes of office, but still keen-eyed and observant. 
 Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, to whom I am referring, speaks 
 as follows : " In the formation of his person he was tall 
 and slender, but without elegance or grace. In his 
 manners, if not repulsive, he was cold, stiff, and without 
 
 upon caricatures, ' England under I 2 See the Memorials of Fox by 
 the House of Hanover,' vol. ii. p. Lord John Russell, vol. ii. p. 45. 
 81, ed. 1848.
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 241 
 
 suavity or amenity. He seemed never to invite 
 approach, or to encourage acquaintance, though when 
 addressed he could be polite, communicative, and occa- 
 sionally gracious. Smiles were not natural to him even 
 
 when seated on the Treasury Bench From the 
 
 instant that Pitt entered the door-way of the House of 
 Commons, he advanced up the floor with a quick and firm 
 step, his head erect and thrown back, looking neither to 
 the right nor to the left, nor favouring with a nod or a 
 glance any of the individuals seated on either side, 
 among whom many who possessed 5000?. a-year would 
 have been gratified even by so slight a mark of atten- 
 tion. It was not thus that Lord North or Fox treated 
 Parliament." 3 
 
 In vigour of frame, as in outward aspect, the two 
 statesmen differed greatly. The health of Pitt, as I 
 have shown, was very delicate in his early youth, and it 
 again became so ere he had passed the prime of man- 
 hood. Fox, on the contrary, had been gifted by nature 
 with a buoyant spirit and a most robust constitution. 
 For a long time even his own irregularities could not 
 impair it, and he used to say that a spoonful of rhubarb 
 was sufficient remedy for all the bodily ills that he had 
 ever known. As a proof of his youthful vigour, it is 
 recorded by tradition at Killarney that at twenty-two 
 years of age he twice swam round a lake upon a moun- 
 tain summit of large extent, and of icy coldness, called 
 "the Devil's Punch-Bowl." Mr. Herbert, of Mucross, 
 was his host on that occasion, and it is added that some 
 
 3 Memoirs of his Own Time, vol. iv. p. 633. 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 months afterwards meeting that gentleman in London 
 he asked him, " Pray, tell me — is that shower I left at 
 Killarney over yet ? " 
 
 So far as regards mental culture on other subjects than 
 on politics, Pitt and Fox were exactly opposite in their 
 position. Pitt had received a most excellent education, 
 but from early office had afterwards little leisure for 
 reading. Fox in his youth had read only by snatches, 
 and it is greatly to his credit that he had read at all. 
 When, however, his Coalition Ministry fell, and when a 
 long period of exile from Downing Street loomed before 
 him, he applied himself often with excellent effect and 
 most unaffected relish to literary studies. 
 
 The best classic authors in Greek and Latin were to 
 Fox a never-failing source of recreation. In these he 
 might be equalled or indeed surpassed by Pitt, but as to 
 modern literature there could be no kind of comparison 
 between them. Pitt never carried any further his col- 
 loquial studies of Eheims and Fontainebleau. But Fox, 
 besides some knowledge of Spanish, had made himself 
 perfect master of both the French and Italian languages. 
 It was partly for this reason that he took especial 
 pleasure in foreign affairs. 
 
 It is said — and even the personal tastes of a great 
 man may be to us a matter of interest — that Ovid was 
 the poet Fox loved the best among the Latin poets, and 
 Euripides among the Greek tragedians. For poetry in 
 every language he had indeed a great predilection, and 
 for poetry in English he had talent as well as taste. 
 His own attempts in it were only of a cursory kind. 
 Yet, slight as the praise may seem to certain ponderous
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 243 
 
 writers of unread dissertations, he is said to be the author 
 of perhaps the very best, and the truest, enigma in the 
 English language : 
 
 " My first does affliction denote, 
 Which my second is destined to feel, 
 My whole is the best antidote 
 That sorrow to soften and heal." 
 
 Here is another, scarcely less excellent, which is also 
 ascribed to him : 
 
 " Formed long ago, though made to-day, 
 I'm most employed when others sleep ; 
 What few would wish to give away, 
 And none would ever wish to keep." 
 
 In his retirement, one of the projects that he fondly 
 cherished was to prepare a new and improved edition of 
 the works of his favourite Dry den. " Oh ! " — he exclaims, 
 in the familiar correspondence of his later years — " oh, 
 how I wish that I could make up my mind to think it 
 right to devote all the remaining part of my life to such 
 subjects, and such only ! Indeed, I rather think I shall." 
 
 In prose compositions Fox was far less happy. His 
 private letters indeed deserve the praise of a clear, 
 frank, and perfectly unaffected style. But his pen 
 lacked pinions for a higher flight. During the last years 
 of his life he began with great care and pains to write 
 the History of England at the period of the Revolution, 
 and the work, so far as it had proceeded, was published 
 by Lord Holland after Fox's decease. Universal disap- 
 pointment — such was the impression that this fragment 
 made. No trace of the great orator can be discovered 
 in the narrative ; scarce any in the comments and 
 
 m 2
 
 244 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 reflections. It was found that besides the natural defects 
 of his written style, Fox had entangled himself with 
 some most needless and fantastic rules of his own 
 devising — as, for instance, to use no word which his 
 favourite Dryden had not used before. 
 
 Pitt, besides his boyish tragedy, made no attempt in 
 authorship. But parts of his correspondence, written on 
 great emergencies, and to eminent men, seem to me of 
 admirable power. I know r of no models more perfect for 
 State Papers than his letter to the King of January 31, 
 1801, or his letter to Lord Melville of March 29, 1804. 
 
 It is a harder as well as a more important task to 
 compare the two great rivals in their main point of 
 rivalry — in public speaking. Each may at once be 
 placed in the very highest class. Fox would have been 
 without doubt or controversy the first orator of his age 
 had it not been for Pitt. Pitt would have been without 
 doubt or controversy the first orator of his age had it 
 not been for Fox. It may fairly be left in question 
 which of these two pre-eminent speakers should bear 
 away the palm. But they were magis pares quam 
 similes — far rather equal than alike. Mr. Windham, 
 himself a great master of debate, and a keen observer 
 of others' oratory, used to say that Pitt always seemed 
 to him as if he could make a King's speech off hand. 
 There was the same self-conscious dignity — the same 
 apt choice of language — the same stately and guarded 
 phrase. Yet this, although his more common and 
 habitual style, did not preclude some passages of pathetic 
 eloquence, and many of pointed reply. He loved on 
 some occasions to illustrate his meaning with citations
 
 1734. LIFE OF PITT. 24:5 
 
 from the Latin poets — sometimes giving a new grace to 
 well-known passages of Horace and Virgil, and some- 
 times drawing a clear stream from an almost hidden 
 spring— as when, in reference to the execution of Louis 
 the Sixteenth, he cited the lines of a poet so little read 
 as Statius, lines which he noticed as applied by De Thou 
 to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Never, even on 
 the most sudden call on him to rise — did he seem to 
 hesitate for a word, or to take any but the most apt to 
 the occasion. His sentences, however long, and even 
 when catching up a parenthesis as they proceeded, were 
 always brought to a right and regular close — a much 
 rarer merit in a public speaker than might be supposed 
 by those who judge of Parliamentary debates only by 
 the morning papers. I could give a strong instance of 
 the contrary. I could name a veteran Member, whom I 
 used, when I sat in the House of Commons, constantly 
 to hear on all financial subjects. Of him I noticed, that 
 while the sentences which he spoke might be reckoned 
 by the hundred, those which he ever finished could only 
 be reckoned by the score. 
 
 It is worthy of note, however, t^iat carefully as Pitt 
 had been trained by his illustrious father, their style of 
 oratory and their direction of knowledge were not only 
 different, but almost, it may be said, opposite. Chatham 
 excelled in fiery bursts of eloquence — Pitt in a luminous 
 array of arguments. On no point was Pitt so strong as 
 on finance — on none was Chatham so weak. 
 
 Fox, as I have heard good judges say, had the same 
 defects, which, in an exaggerated form, and combined 
 with many of his merits, appeared in his nephew Lord
 
 246 LIFE OF PITT. ClIAP. VII. 
 
 Holland. He neither had, nor aimed at, any graces of 
 manner or of elocution. He would often pause for a 
 word, and still oftener for breath and utterance, panting 
 as it were, and heaving with the mighty thoughts that 
 he felt arise. But these defects, considerable as they 
 would have been in any mere holiday speaker, were 
 overborne by his masculine mind, and wholly forgotten 
 by his audience as they witnessed the cogency of his 
 keen replies — the irresistible home-thrust of his argu- 
 ments. No man that has addressed any public assembly 
 in ancient or in modern times was ever more truly and 
 emphatically a great debater. Careless of himself, 
 flinging aside all preconceived ideas or studied flights, 
 he struck with admirable energy full at the foe before 
 him. The blows which he dealt upon his adversaries 
 were such as few among them could withstand, perhaps 
 only one among them could parry : they seemed all the 
 heavier, as wholly unprepared, and arising from the 
 speeches that had gone before. Nor did he ever 
 attempt to glide over, or pass by, an argument that told 
 against him ; he would meet it boldly face to face, and 
 grapple with it undeterred. In like manner any quo- 
 tations that he made from Latin or English authors did 
 not seem brought in upon previous reflection for the 
 adornment of the subject at its surface, but rather 
 appeared to grow up spontaneously from its inmost 
 depths. With all his wonderful powers of debate, and 
 perhaps as a consequence of them, there was something 
 truly noble and impressive in the entire absence of all 
 artifice or affectation. His occasional bursts of true 
 inborn sturdy genuine feeling, and the frequent indica-
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 247 
 
 tious of his kindly and generous temper, would some- 
 times, even in the fiercest party conflicts, come home to 
 the hearts of his opponents. If, as is alleged, he was 
 wont to repeat the same thoughts again and again in 
 different words, this might be a defect in the oration, 
 but it was none in the orator. For, thinking not of 
 himself, nor of the rules of rhetoric, but only of success 
 in the struggle, he had found these the most effectual 
 means to imbue a popular audience almost imper- 
 ceptibly with his own opinions, And he knew that to 
 the multitude one argument stated in five different 
 forms is, in general, held equal to five new arguments. 
 
 The familiar correspondence of Fox, as edited with 
 ability and candour by Lord John Russell, has not 
 tended on the whole to exalt his fame. Such, at least, 
 is the opinion which I have heard expressed with sin- 
 cere regret by some persons greatly prepossessed in his 
 favour — some members of the families most devoted to 
 Ins party cause. It seems to be felt, that although a 
 perusal of his letters leaves in its full lustre his reputa- 
 tion as an orator, it has greatly dimmed his reputation 
 as a statesman. There are, in his correspondence, some 
 hasty things that are by no means favourable to his 
 public spirit, as where he speaks of the " delight " which 
 he derived from the news of our disasters at Sara- 
 toga, and at York-town. 4 There are some hasty 
 things that are as far from favourable to his foresight 
 and sagacity. Take for instance a prophecy as fol- 
 lows, in 1801 : " According to my notion the House 
 of Commons has in a great measure ceased, and will 
 
 * To Lord Holland, October 12, 1792.
 
 248 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 shortly entirely cease, to be a place of much im- 
 portance." 5 Perhaps also, after the perusal of these 
 letters, we may feel more strongly than before it that 
 many parts of Fox's public conduct — as his separation 
 from Lord Shelburne, or his junction with Lord North 
 — are hard to be defended. 
 
 But on this point there is one reflection that we 
 should always bear in mind. The more we dwell on 
 Fox's errors, the higher we are bound to rank those 
 eminent qualities by which, in the opinion of so many 
 of his contemporaries, his errors were outweighed. In 
 spite of all his errors — and what is much more trying, 
 in spite of the party reverses and discomfiture which 
 proceeded from them — we find his friends, comprising 
 some of the most gifted men of that age, adhere to him, 
 except in one memorable crisis — the period of 1794 — 
 with fond admiration and unhesitating confidence. 
 
 Of this attachment on the part of his friends, I have 
 seen a striking instance on the walls of All Saints' Church 
 at Hertford. In that church lies buried Lord John 
 Townshend, who died in February, 1833. The inscrip- 
 tion on his monument terms him " the friend and com- 
 panion of Mr. Fox ; a distinction which was the pride 
 of his life, and the only one he was desirous might be 
 recorded after his death." 
 
 As the cause of this enduring attachment on the part 
 of Fox's friends, we may acknowledge in a great degree 
 his wondrous powers of mind, but chiefly and above all his 
 winning warmth of heart. How delightful must Fox have 
 been as a companion ! How frank, how rich, how varied 
 
 5 To Mr. Charles Grey, Fox Memorials, vol. iii. p. 341.
 
 1784. LIFE OF PITT. 249 
 
 his flow of conversation ! How high the privilege to 
 visit him in the country retreat that he loved so well — 
 of sitting by his side beneath the cedars that he planted 
 at St. Ann's ! With what schoolboy fun would the 
 retired statesman at such times rally his own short 
 fits of utter idleness ! Thus when Mr. Kogers once 
 said that it was delightful to lie on the grass with a 
 book in one's hand all day, we are told that Fox answered 
 " Yes — but why with a book ? " 6 How genial his aspect, 
 as I have heard it described by another associate of his 
 later years — walking slow, and with gouty feet, along 
 his garden-alleys, but with cheerful countenance and 
 joyous tones — expanding his ample breast to draw in the 
 fresh breeze, and exclaiming from time to time, " Oh, 
 how fine a thing is life ! " — " Oh, how glorious a thing is 
 summer weather ! " 
 
 Several testimonies which I have already cited speak 
 of Pitt in his earlier years as a most delightful com- 
 panion, abounding in wit and mirth, and with a flow 
 of lively spirits. As the cares of office grew upon him, 
 he went of course much less into general society. He 
 would often, for whole hours, ride or sit with only Steele, 
 or Eose, or Dundas for his companion. Nor was this 
 merely from the ease and rest of thus unbending his 
 mind. Men who know the general habits of great 
 Ministers are well aware how many details may be 
 expedited and difficulties smoothed away by quiet chat 
 with a thoroughly trusted friend in lesser office. Pitt, 
 however, often gave and often accepted small dinner 
 parties, and took great pleasure in them. The testimony 
 
 6 Eogers's Recollections, p. 44. This was at St. Ann's in 1803. 
 
 M 3
 
 250 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. VI I. 
 
 of his familiar friend, Lord Wellesley, which goes down 
 to 1797, is most strong upon these points. " In all places 
 and at all times," says Lord Wellesley, " his constant 
 delight was society. There he shone with a degree of 
 calm and steady lustre which often astonished me more 
 than his most splendid efforts in Parliament. His man- 
 ners were perfectly plain ; his wit was quick and ready. 
 He was endowed, beyond any man of his time whom I 
 knew, with a gay heart and a social spirit." 7 
 
 The habits of Pitt in Downing Street were very simple. 
 He breakfasted every morning at nine, sometimes in- 
 viting to that meal any gentleman with whom he had 
 to talk on business, 8 and it was seldom when the House 
 of Commons met that he could find leisure for a ride. 
 
 When retired from office, and living in great part at 
 Walmer Castle, Pitt, like Fox, reverted with much 
 relish, although in a desultory manner, to his books. 
 The Classics, Greek and Latin, seemed to be, as my 
 father told me, Pitt's favourite reading at that period. 
 Yet he was by no means indifferent to the literature of 
 his own day. On this point let me cite a statesman 
 who has passed away from us, to the grief of many 
 friends, at the very time when the page which records 
 his testimony has reached me from the press. Let me 
 cite the Earl of Aberdeen, who once, as he told me, 
 heard Pitt declare that he thought Burns's song " Scots, 
 wha hae wi' Wallace bled " the noblest lyric in the 
 language. Another time he also mentioned Paley to 
 Lord Aberdeen in terms of high admiration, as one 
 
 7 Letter of November 22, 1836, 
 an published in the Quarterly Re- 
 view, No. 114. 
 
 8 See the Wyvill Papers, vol. iv. 
 p. 23.
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 251 
 
 of our very best writers. Perhaps the great fault of 
 his private life is that he never sought the society of 
 the authors or the artists whom all the time he was 
 admiring. Perhaps the great fault of his public life is 
 that he never took any step — no, not even the smallest 
 — to succour and befriend them. 
 
 With every drawback, however, and I have now 
 named the most considerable, it certainly appears to me 
 that Pitt was foremost among all the statesmen that 
 England has ever seen. I will not pursue the invidious 
 task of seemmg to disparage other great men in con- 
 trast to one who was greater still ; and the merits of 
 Pitt himself will best appear as my narrative proceeds. 
 But I shall think it the fault of that narrative if at 
 its conclusion my readers slfould not be disposed to own 
 that Pitt surpassed the Ministers who came before him, 
 and has not been equalled by any of those who have 
 since borne sway. 
 
 From this digression — I must own a very long one — 
 I return to the Session of Parliament in 1785. It was 
 opened on the 25th of January, by the King in person. 
 His Majesty's Speech expressed congratulations on the 
 improvement of the revenue, resulting from the measures 
 of last Session. It invited the Houses to consider 
 the further regulation of the public offices, and the 
 final adjustment of the commercial intercourse with 
 Ireland. 
 
 In another sentence the King's Speech took notice of 
 " differences on the Continent." These were owing to 
 the Emperor Joseph the Second. Since the year 1780 
 
 ft
 
 252 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 the death of Maria Theresa had left him sole chief of 
 the Austrian Monarchy. Eager to emulate his still 
 surviving neighbour, the great Frederick of Prussia, he 
 plunged headlong into a career of active innovation. 
 But it proved a contrast rather than a parallel. Fred- 
 erick had made many changes, but none without full 
 inquiry and careful thought. In general, therefore, the 
 popular voice had been upon his side. On the contrary, it 
 seemed to be the practice of Joseph the Second to act first, 
 and inquire afterwards. So rash and heedless was his 
 course, so little regard did he pay to long-rooted feelings, 
 or to established rights, that at last the very nations which 
 he desired to serve, from Transylvania to Flanders, rose 
 almost in rebellion against his measures of reform. 
 
 As regards Flanders and Brabant, the first object of 
 the Emperor had been by his own authority to release 
 them from the obligations of the Barrier Treaty of 1715. 
 He demolished all the fortifications except at Luxem- 
 burg, Ostend, and the citadels of Antwerp and Namur ; 
 and required the Dutch garrisons to withdraw from the 
 Barrier towns. The full effect of these unwise measures 
 was not apparent till ten years afterwards, when the 
 French revolutionary army, having defeated the Austrian 
 on the plain of Fleurus, overspread with perfect ease 
 the open country, and annexed it to their own. 
 
 But further still, in no generous spirit, Joseph the 
 Second desired to avail himself of the internal discords 
 of the Dutch to wring from them whatever he desired. 
 He claimed especially the possession of Maestricht and 
 the free navigation of the Scheldt. In the spring of 
 1784 he surprised a fort which belonged to Holland, at
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 253 
 
 the mouth of the river. In the autumn of that year 
 he sent out two brigs with orders to resist the usual de- 
 tention and examination in the Scheldt, and he announced 
 that he should consider as a declaration of hostilities 
 any insult offered to either of these ships. Nevertheless 
 the Dutch officers quietly took possession of both. The 
 Emperor, who was then in Hungary, immediately re- 
 called his envoy from the Hague, and a Avar was 
 supposed to be close at hand. But the measures of 
 Joseph were as feebly prosecuted as they had been 
 rashly commenced. He found the aid of France, upon 
 which he had reckoned, altogether fail him ; and thus 
 after some negotiation and demur he was reduced in the 
 autumn of 1785 to sign a treaty far from honourable to 
 his arms, receding from most of the pretensions that he 
 had put forward, and accepting in return a sum of money 
 which the States of Holland consented to disburse, as 
 the price of peace. 9 
 
 In this Session the first business brought before the 
 House of Commons was the Westminster Scrutiny. No- 
 thing could have answered worse. All the resources of 
 chicanery — resources well-nigh inexhaustible in our an- 
 cient law of Parliament — had been called forth on either 
 side. Counsel were employed whenever a bad vote was to 
 be struck off ; and their speeches had been of the longest, 
 especially whenever their arguments were slight or few. 
 Thus in the eight months which had elapsed no effectual 
 advance had been made f and it was computed that the 
 process would require two years more. Under such 
 
 9 See on these transactions especially the Malmesbury Papers, vol.ii. 
 p. 75-170.
 
 254 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 circumstances the Scrutiny had grown hateful to both 
 parties — quite as hateful to Sir Cecil Wray as it was to 
 Mr. Fox. Still, however, a sense of consistency and a 
 regard to the course he had formerly pursued induced 
 Pitt to maintain it in the House of Commons. But he 
 found the general feeling of hardship and injustice in 
 this case prevail against him. A motion by Mr. Ellis, 
 requiring the High Bailiff to make an immediate Return, 
 was negatived by the decreasing majority of thirty -nine. 
 On a second motion to the like effect by Colonel Fitz- 
 patrick, the majority fell to only nine. Alderman 
 Sawbridge then brought on a third motion in nearly the 
 same words, which Pitt endeavoured to stave off by a pro- 
 posal of adjournment ; but he found himself in a minority 
 of 124 against 162, and the original motion was carried 
 without further hindrance. Next day, accordingly, the 
 High Bailiff sent in the names of Lord Hood and Mr. 
 Fox as highest on the poll ; and thus was the great 
 Whig statesman reinstated as Member for Westminster. 
 
 With this result the Westminster Scrutiny was cer- 
 tainly not a little damaging to the Prime Minister. In 
 the first place there was the pain to see many of his 
 friends vote against him — the mortification to find him- 
 self defeated in a House of Commons so zealous on his 
 side. There was next the charge which, however un- 
 founded, the Opposition did not fail to urge — of a vin- 
 dictive rancour to his rival. But even the most impar- 
 tial men might justly arraign rfim for a want of foresight 
 and good judgment in his first preference of so faulty a 
 tribunal. 
 
 On the other hand, Pitt was able to point with pride
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 255 
 
 to the prosperous result of his financial schemes. He 
 could show smuggling, for the time, almost annihilated, 
 and the revenue in all its branches rising from its ruins ; 
 and he could promise for next year the creation of a 
 Sinking Fund, to redeem the National Debt. But towards 
 this end, and for the settlement of the remainder of the 
 floating bills, the legacy of the last war, he required some 
 new taxes, to produce at least 400,000?. a year. Accord- 
 ingly, in his Budget, on the 9th of May, Pitt proposed 
 an additional tax on male, and a new one on female, 
 servants ; and duties on retail shops, on post-horses, on 
 gloves, on pawnbrokers' licences, and on salt carried 
 coastwise. 
 
 On the Opposition side, the speakers — Fox especially, 
 with Eden and Sheridan — attempted to denounce the 
 Minister as both inaccurate in his statements and over 
 sanguine in Ins hopes. Their general charges, flung 
 out almost at random, made little impression on the 
 public, but they were more successful in dealing with 
 the details of the taxes proposed. The assessment on 
 shops was open to some strong objections, which were 
 strongly urged. The duty on maid-servants, besides 
 several valid arguments against it, drew forth an infinite 
 number of jests, not perhaps very diverting, and certainly 
 not very decorous. Nevertheless the proposals of the 
 Minister passed, though not without considerable modifi- 
 cation ; and after the experience of a few years the two 
 most obnoxious taxes were repealed. 
 
 Besides these and other financial measures — as Bills 
 for the regulation of the Navy Office, and for the better 
 Auditing the public Accounts — Pitt brought before the
 
 256 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 House of Commons, in this Session, two subjects of 
 paramount importance : first, the Reform of Parliament j 
 and secondly, the commercial intercourse with Ireland. 
 
 On the question of Reform, Pitt had all through the 
 winter been intent. He conferred at some length with 
 the Rev. Christopher Wyvill, and other leaders of the 
 cause. To them he renewed his promise of a measure 
 of his own in the coming Session, adding, that to carry 
 it, he would " exert his whole power and credit, as a 
 man and as a minister." Mr. Wyvill, without any au- 
 thority asked or given, made known these expressions of 
 Pitt in a circular letter to the Chairmen of the several 
 Committees, dated December 27th, 1784 ; a step far 
 from prudent, since it was not till some weeks afterwards 
 that Pitt received the King's assent to the introduction 
 of the measure, and His Majesty's promise to use no 
 influence against it. " I wish " — thus writes Pitt to the 
 Duke of Rutland — " Mr. Wyvill had been a little more 
 sparing of my name." But he adds, "Parliamentary 
 Reform, I am still sure, after considering all you have 
 stated, must sooner or later be carried in both countries. 
 If it is well done, the sooner the better." 
 
 Conscious of the difficulties of his task, more especially 
 within the walls of Parliament, Pitt spared no exertion 
 to gain it votes. He prevailed upon Dundas once more 
 to give it his support. He wrote to Wilberforce, who 
 was passing the winter with his family a?JNice, entreat- 
 ing him to return for this special object. Wilberforce 
 came accordingly, and as an intimate friend was a 
 , guest of Pitt in Downing Street, as he was also on 
 [many subsequent occasions. Next day but one after
 
 1785. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 257 
 
 his arrival, his Diary has an entry as follows : " Pitt's 
 maid burnt my letters" — a dangerous mistake, as his 
 biographers observe, to the young Representative of 
 Yorkshire. The motion of Pitt for Parliamentary Re- 
 form was fixed for the 18th of April. Then, amidst a 
 great throng of strangers, and to an attentive and ex- 
 pectant House, the Minister unfolded his scheme. In 
 part it was prospective, and in part of present appli- 
 cation. He proposed to disfranchise thirty-six decayed 
 boroughs, each returning two Members, and by means 
 of the seventy-two seats thus obtained to assign ad- 
 ditional Representatives to the largest counties, and to 
 the cities of London and Westminster. " But in the 
 counties," added Pitt, "there is no good reason why 
 copyholders should not be admitted to the franchise as 
 well as freeholders ; and such an accession to the body 
 of electors would give a fresh energy to Representation." 
 And in the boroughs he disclaimed all idea of com- 
 pulsion. A fund of a million sterling was to be estab- 
 lished to compensate in various degrees the several 
 borough proprietors, and each borough should be invited 
 to apply by petition from two-thirds of its electors. 1 
 Thus even in the case of burgage tenures, or of the very 
 smallest hamlet, the franchise would not be forcibly 
 resumed, but freely surrendered. Thus the extinction 
 of the thirty-six small boroughs would be in a short 
 time quietly effected. But as to the future, if any 
 boroughs beyond these thirty -six either were, or grew to 
 
 1 The amount of the fund and 
 the number of the electors are not 
 stated in Pitt's speech, but appear 
 
 in Mr. Wyvill's ' Summary Expla- 
 nation.' See a note to the Pari. 
 Hist., vol. xxv. p. 445.
 
 258 LIFE OF PITT. v Chap. VII. 
 
 be, decayed and below a certain definite number of 
 houses, such boroughs should have it in their power 
 to surrender their franchise on an adequate consider- 
 ation, and their right of sending Members to Parliament 
 should be transferred from time to time to populous and 
 nourishino; towns. 
 
 Such was the general outline of Pitt's scheme, which 
 he earnestly entreated the Members who heard him to 
 consider, without suffering their minds to be disquieted 
 with visionary terrors. " Nothing," he cried, " is so 
 hostile to improvement as the fear of being carried 
 further than the principle on which a person sets out." 
 In the debate which ensued he had the pleasure to hear 
 both Dundas and Wilberforce speak in favour of his 
 Bill. Fox also, though finding an infinite number of 
 faults with it in detail, expressed his support of the 
 measure in its present stage. But, on the other hand, 
 Lord North, in perfect consistency with his previous 
 course, delivered an able and powerful speech not only 
 against this scheme, but against all schemes of Par- 
 liamentary Eeform ; and on the division, at nearly four 
 in the morning, the Minister had the mortification to 
 find himself defeated by 248 votes, there being on his 
 side only 174. Wilberforce, in his ' Diary,' says : 
 " Terribly disaj^pointed and beat. Extremely fatigued. 
 Spoke extremely ill, but was commended. Called at 
 Pitt's ; met poor Wyvill." 
 
 Pitt considered the result as final for that Parliament 
 at least. He saw that not even Ministerial power and 
 earnest zeal, and that nothing but the pressure of the 
 strongest popular feeling, such as did not then exist,
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 259 
 
 could induce many Members to vote against their own 
 tenure of Parliament, or in fact against themselves. 
 
 In Ireland it had been hoped that lasting peace and 
 concord would have followed the full concession of legis- 
 lative equality under the Rockingham administration ; 
 but, on the contrary, fresh grounds of agitation had 
 almost immediately arisen, founded in part on the 
 question of Parliamentary Reform, and in part on the 
 claims of the National Volunteers. In 1783 we find 
 Burke write as follows to his friend the Earl of Charle- 
 mont : — " I see with concern that there are some remains 
 of ferment in Ireland, though I think we have poured in 
 to assuage it nearly all the oil in our stores." 2 
 
 It had also been supposed, considering how signal and 
 how recent were the services of Grattan, that he would 
 for many years to come guide the feelings of his country- 
 men. Yet another man of great ability, Henry Flood, 
 started up at once in open competition with him. In a 
 few months Flood appears to have even shot above him 
 in popular favour. Flood gained the ear of the Volun- 
 teers' Convention when they met in Dublin, and was 
 deputed to bring forward the question of Parliamentary 
 Reform in the Irish House of Commons, though Grattan 
 was also one of its supporters. 
 
 In October, 1783, the contending orators gave battle 
 to each other in the Irish House of Commons. It was 
 a memorable conflict, which General Burgoyne in his 
 letters describes as far exceeding in violence anything 
 that he had ever beheld in England. Then it was that 
 Grattan in his speech described Flood as " hovering 
 
 2 Memoirs of Lord Cliarlemont, by Hardy, vol. ii. p. 100.
 
 260 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 about this dome like an ill-omened bird of night, with 
 sepulchral note, cadaverous aspect, and a broken beak, 
 watching to stoop and pounce upon its prey ! " It is 
 worthy of note that this last phrase of G rattan, " a 
 broken beak," contained a peculiar sting as applied to 
 a manifest defect in the face of his rival. 
 
 The Convention of the Volunteers at Dublin had like- 
 wise two contending leaders : first the Earl of Charle- 
 mont, and secondly the Earl of Bristol, who was also 
 Bishop of Derry. This Prelate was son of the famous 
 Lord Hervey in the days of George the Second, and a 
 singular character, recalling the feudal Bishops of the 
 Middle Ages. He proposed to the Volunteers that in 
 the new Keform Bill which they were seeking to frame, 
 the franchise should be granted to Roman Catholics. 
 To this proposal Lord Charlemont gave his decided 
 opposition, and by far the greater number of the dele- 
 gates sided with Lord Charlemont. Accordingly Flood, 
 as their spokesman, brought forward in the Irish House 
 of Commons a measure of Reform for the benefit of 
 Protestants only. He was defeated by a majority of 
 more than three to one. 
 
 Such then was the state of Irish parties when in 
 February, 1784, the new Lord Lieutenant, his Grace of 
 Rutland, arrived at " the Castle." At nearly the same 
 time Flood came back from England, whither he had 
 gone to present at the King's Levee the Address voted 
 by the Volunteers at the close of their Convention. But 
 he had also another object. He had been returned to 
 the English House of Commons also, through the in- 
 fluence of the Duke of Chandos ; and he wished to try
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 261 
 
 his powers — as he did with very indifferent success — in 
 the debates upon Fox's India Bill. Many years later, 
 after his untimely death in 1791, his rival in politics 
 made, in a noble spirit, some excuses for his failure. 
 " He misjudged," said Grattan, " when he transplanted 
 himself to the English Parliament ; he forgot that he 
 was a tree of the forest, too old and too great to be 
 transplanted at fifty." Of this truth, which Grattan 
 states in so solemn a strain, Grattan himself, at a still 
 later period, was to be a far more conspicuous example. 
 
 Flood, on his return to Dublin in the spring of 1784, 
 renewed with unabated spirit his motion on Irish Parlia- 
 mentary Reform. Again it was negatived by over- 
 whelming numbers. 
 
 The rejection of Flood's second motion gave rise, or 
 at least gave pretext, to a serious tumult, when some 
 noisy rioters broke into the House of Commons, and 
 two of them were apprehended by the Serjeant-at-Arms. 
 Yet ere long— especially considering the fixed resolve of 
 continued exclusion to the Catholics — the question of 
 Reform ceased to be uppermost in the public mind. 
 There was a more pressing grievance in the growth, at 
 tins period, of great distress among the manufacturers 
 and traders of the kingdom. Each of the numerous 
 non-importation agreements, which had been taken up 
 as a weapon against England towards the close of the 
 last war, had now recoiled with violence upon its 
 authors. So far they had only themselves to blame, 
 but they also suffered severely from the high duties 
 which, mainly at the instance of the manufacturers of 
 England, had been imposed from early times on the
 
 262 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 commerce between the two countries, and which in 
 1779 were relaxed only in the smallest possible degree. 
 In April, 1784, the question of trade was brought 
 before the Irish House of Commons by Mr. Gardiner, 
 with perspicuity and candour ; and several long debates 
 ensued. Still, however, the distress increased. Through 
 the summer many artisans who had been thrown out of 
 employment came thronging into the great towns with 
 violence, or threats of violence. One of their favourite 
 devices, as derived from the early example of the in- 
 surgent colonies, was to tar and feather those whom they 
 regarded as their enemies ; and they were disposed to 
 regard as their enemies all who dealt in imported goods. 
 In the country districts, notwithstanding the earnest re- 
 monstrances of the Catholic as well as the Protestant 
 clergy, the Whiteboys began to reappear. Other per- 
 sons of higher station were willing to take part in any 
 movement which they might hope to lead. In that 
 point of view Parliamentary Eeform, or commercial dis- 
 tress, or any other question, were exactly of equal 
 moment. Such men subscribed an Address to all the 
 Sheriffs of Ireland, calling upon them to summon meet- 
 ings for the appointment of delegates to a new assembly 
 which should be held in Dublin, and which, by another 
 imitation of America, should bear the name of Congress. 
 On this occasion Napper Tandy, the son of a Dublin 
 ironmonger in large business — a name subsequently 
 noted in the ranks of Irish faction — came forth for the 
 first time. The Earl of Bristol was also active. With 
 his Lordship at that time, as with his ally Sir Edward 
 Newenham, hostility to the English connection appears 
 to have been the leading principle. The former pub-
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 263 
 
 lished a pamphlet so closely bordering upon treason 
 that the Lord Lieutenant for some time seriously con- 
 sidered whether the Earl-Bishop should not be arrested 
 and brought to trial. The question was referred to Mr. 
 Pitt and his colleagues in England, and was by them 
 decided in the negative. 
 
 On the 15th of August we find the Lord Lieutenant, 
 in writing to Pitt, describe the state of things as fol- 
 lows: — "This city (of Dublin) is in a great measure 
 under the dominion and tyranny of the mob. Persons 
 are daily marked out for the operation of tarring and 
 feathering ; the magistrates neglect their duty ; and 
 none of the rioters — till to-dav, when one man was 
 seized in the fact — have been taken, while the corps of 
 Volunteers in the neighbourhood seem as it were to 
 countenance these outrages. In short, the state of 
 Dublin calls loudly for an immediate and vigorous in- 
 terposition of Government." 
 
 In many other letters, public and private, did the 
 Duke of Eutland consult his friend on the open violence 
 which he saw, and on the secret conspiracy which he 
 suspected. Nor did the Prime Minister leave him to 
 deal singly with his difficulties. Neither then nor after- 
 wards was any important step taken in L-eland without 
 Pitt's advice and direction. Above all he now applied 
 himself with earnest assiduity to the question most 
 beset with obstacles in England — the question of the 
 shackles and restrictions upon the trade of Ireland. 
 That question was embarrassed by the resolute attach- 
 ment to the existing system which prevailed at Man- 
 chester and our other manufacturing towns. There, at
 
 264 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 that period, the feeling in favour of high protective 
 duties was quite as strong as in our own day we have 
 seen it in favour of Free Trade. 
 
 Pitt well knew, and could not undervalue, the current 
 of opinion in these vast centres, as they were rapidly 
 becoming, of our manufacturing importance ; but for 
 his own part he was, as we have seen, a student and a 
 disciple of the great work of Adam Smith. We find 
 him, at the beginning of his deliberations on this sub- 
 ject (the 7th of October, 1784), write as follows, in strict 
 confidence, to the Duke of Eutland : — " I own to you 
 that the line to which my mind at present inclines is 
 to give Ireland an almost unlimited communication of 
 commercial advantages, if we can receive in return 
 some security that her strength and riches will be our 
 benefit, and that she will contribute from time to time 
 in their increasing proportions to the common exigencies 
 of the empire." 
 
 To determine the details that might be requisite, or 
 to weigh the objections that might arise, Pitt summoned 
 from Ireland two advisers of great knowledge and expe- 
 rience — Mr. John Foster, the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer ; and Mr. John Beresford, the Chief Commis- 
 sioner of the Eevenue in that kingdom. With these 
 gentlemen, and with Mr. Orde, the Irish Secretary, he 
 held frequent conferences all through the autumn and 
 mid-winter. There was no doubt that the Irish would 
 gladly accept the commercial advantages, but the diffi- 
 culty was how to render palatable to them any contri- 
 bution in return. " I really believe," writes Pitt, " that 
 these objections may be removed ; and I do not see the
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 265 
 
 possibility of agreeing to complete the system of equal 
 commerce (which is what must be now done) without 
 
 some return being secured to this country I am 
 
 ready at the same time to admit that the equivalent 
 due from Ireland is not to be expected immediately. 
 Give us only a certainty that if your extended commerce 
 increases your revenue, the surplus, after defraying the 
 same proportion of Irish expenses as at present, shall go 
 to relieve us. This, I think, no Irishman can rationally 
 object to ; and Englishmen will be satisfied, though at 
 present the equivalent will certainly be below the just 
 proportion." 2 
 
 In January, 1785, the scheme framed by Pitt in con- 
 cert with his colleagues, and embodied in Eleven Reso- 
 lutions, was transmitted to Dublin Castle ; but the Duke 
 of Rutland and Mr. Ode, apprehensive of difficulties in 
 their own Parliament, took it upon themselves to make 
 one considerable alteration. They tacked a condition t< • 
 the words stipulating for a Return from Ireland, so as to 
 leave that Return, at least according to one construe- 
 tion, disputable and doubtful. This alteration was not 
 known to the public ; but when imparted to the Cabinet 
 in England it caused much embarrassment to the Minis- 
 ters, and drew forth two angry letters from the King. 3 
 
 The Eleven Resolutions, as submitted to the Irish Par- 
 liament, in their general outline are as follows : — First, 
 
 2 To the Duke of Eutlaud, Dec. 
 4, 1784. On the full development 
 of his plan see his able letter of 
 Jan. 6, 1785, published at full 
 length in the Quarterly Keview, 
 No. cxl., p. 300. As privately 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
 printed in 1S42 it takes up eighteen 
 octavo pages, and is the longest 
 that I have seen of Mr. Pitt's. 
 
 3 The King to Mr. Pitt. Febru- 
 ary 18 and 22, 1785.
 
 266 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 to allow the importation of the produce or manufacture 
 of other countries through Great Britain into Ireland, 
 or through Ireland into Great Britain, without any in- 
 crease of duty on that accoimt. Secondly, in all cases 
 where the duties on any article of the produce or manu- 
 facture of either country were different on importation 
 into the other, to reduce them in the kingdom where 
 they were the highest down to the lower scale. And 
 thirdly, that whenever the gross hereditary revenue of 
 Ireland should rise above 656,000Z. in any year of peace 
 (the actual gross income at that time being 652,000?.), 
 the surplus should be appropriated towards the support 
 of the naval force of the empire ; and since this here- 
 ditary revenue was in the main derived from duties of 
 Customs and Excise, any augmentation in them year 
 by year would, as Pitt contended, exactly measure the 
 growth of the prosperity of Ireland, derived from striking 
 off the shackles on her trade. 
 
 Such is the outline of the measure which, in the name 
 of the Government, Mr. Orde laid before the Irish Legis- 
 lature at the beginning of February, 1785. Through 
 the House of Commons the Eleven Eesolutions passed 
 with no serious opposition, and through the House of 
 Lords with none at all. When thus transmitted back 
 to England, Pitt resolved, notwithstanding the reluc- 
 tance of some around him, to proceed. He was still 
 bent upon his final object ; and therefore, though not 
 wholly adopting the Eleven Eesolutions, he laid them 
 before the English House of Commons on the 22nd of 
 the same month. He moved only a general Resolution 
 expressing the wish of the House for the final adjustment
 
 1735. LIFE OF PITT. 267 
 
 of the question, but he took the opportunity of explain- 
 ing in detail the views which he had formed. 
 
 The speech of Pitt on this occasion may, even in its 
 imperfect report, serve as a model of luminous state- 
 ment in finance. Nor is it less conspicuous for its large 
 and statesmanlike views of Irish policy. There were, 
 he said, but two possible systems for countries placed 
 in relation to each other like Britain and Ireland. The 
 one of having the smaller completely subservient and 
 subordinate to the greater — to make the one, as it were, 
 an instrument of advantage, and to cause all her efforts 
 to operate in favour and conduce merely to the info t» sst 
 of the other : this system we had tried in respect to Ire- 
 land. The other was a participation and community of 
 benefits, and a system of equality and fairness which, 
 without tending to aggrandize the one or depress the 
 other, should seek the aggregate interest of the empire. 
 Such a situation of commercial equality, in which there 
 was to be a community of benefits, demanded also a 
 community of burthens; and it was this situation in 
 which he was anxious to place the two countries. 
 
 " Adopt then," cried Pitt in his peroration, " adopt 
 
 that system of trade with Ireland that will have tended 
 
 to enrich one part of the empire without impoverishing 
 
 the other, while it gives strength to both; that like 
 
 mercy, the favourite attribute of Heaven, — 
 
 " '• It is twice blessed, 
 It blessetli kirn that gives and him that takes.' 
 
 Surely, after the heavy loss which our country has sus- 
 tained from the recent severance of her dominions, there 
 ought to be no object more impressed on the feelings of 
 
 N 2
 
 268 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 the House than to endeavour to preserve from further 
 dismemberment and diminution — to unite and to con- 
 nect — what yet remains of our reduced and shattered 
 
 empire I ask pardon for the length at which I 
 
 have spoken. Of all the objects of my political life, this 
 is in my opinion the most important that I ever have 
 engaged in ; nor do I imagine I shall ever meet another 
 that shall rouse every emotion of my heart in so strong 
 a degree as does the present." 
 
 To the views of Pitt a formidable opposition was at 
 once announced. Fox, with his usual energy and elo- 
 quence, threw himself forward as the uncompromising 
 adversary of Free Trade. Lord North espoused the 
 same cause with less of vehemence, and also perhaps 
 less eloquently, but certainly with far more of financial 
 knowledge. And the further consideration of the sub- 
 ject was for some days adjourned. 
 
 The day but one after this debate we find Pitt write 
 again to the Duke of Kutland : " Be assured of our firm 
 persuasion that you made no concession but what at the 
 moment of the decision you thought necessary and con- 
 ducive to the general object. You must at the same 
 time allow for the absolute impossibility of our main- 
 taining this system while so essential a part is left in 
 any respect disputable. . . I think it perfectly possible, 
 upon its being understood that everything depends upon 
 it, that the Irish Parliament will give the necessary ex- 
 planation without difficulty. All we ask of Ireland is 
 to clear from doubt and uncertainty a principle which 
 they must consider themselves as having assented to." 
 
 But meanwhile in many parts of England a loud
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 269 
 
 and angry cry arose. At Manchester and other great 
 towns the manufacturers for the most part vehemently 
 declared that they should be ruined and undone. In 
 all haste they sent up to London the most stirring ad- 
 vocates and the most pathetic petitions. One of these, 
 presented by Mr. Thomas Stanley, was signed by no 
 less than eighty thousand manufacturers of Lancashire. 
 "It lies at my feet," said Mr. Stanley, "for it is too 
 heavy to be held in my hands. After stating some other 
 grievances, the framers of this great petition go on to 
 say that the admission of Irish fustians and cottons into 
 England was all that was wanting completely to anni- 
 hilate the cotton trade of this country." — We may smile 
 perhaps to find them on this occasion employ exactly the 
 same arguments which they or their successors after- 
 wards denounced with so much indignation when applied 
 to the Corn Laws, and coming from the lips of the 
 landed gentlemen. Loaded as they were with heavy 
 taxes, how could they possibly compete with the Irish 
 in their own markets? What great advantages had 
 Ireland in the low price of labour ! From that single 
 consideration how easy for her to undersell us ! — No 
 arguments but only time and the test of experience 
 could solve such doubts beyond dispute. 
 
 Then attain an alarm was raised that the measure 
 would be destructive of our Navigation Laws, the main 
 source (for so all parties then regarded them) of our 
 maritime strength. Yet, as Pitt showed, his proposal 
 was fully in the spirit of those laws. Already, by their 
 own express permission, goods the produce of any part 
 of Europe might be imported into Britain through Ire-
 
 270 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 land. All that was now contemplated was to extend 
 the same licence to the settlements in America and 
 Africa, for by the monopoly of the East India Company 
 Asia would be still excluded. 
 
 As to the Colonies, however, it is to be borne in mind 
 that according to the common and almost undisputed 
 opinion of that time, Ireland had properly no part or 
 share in them. Thus do we find Mr. Pitt write in con- 
 fidence to the Duke of Eutland : " Here, I think, it is 
 universally allowed that however just the claim of Ire- 
 land is, not to have her own trade fettered and restricted, 
 she can have no claim, beyond what we please to give 
 her, in the trade of our Colonies. They belong (unless 
 by favour or by compact we make it otherwise) exclu- 
 sively to this country. The suffering Ireland to send 
 anything to these Colonies, to bring anything directly 
 from thence, is itself a favour, and is a deviation too, for 
 the sake of favour to Ireland, from the general and 
 almost uniform policy of all nations with regard to the 
 trade of their Colonies." Exactly similar to this was, 
 I may observe, the old claim of the Crown of Castille as 
 against the Crown of Aragon to the American Colonies. 
 Hence the epitaph on the son of Columbus, which may 
 still be seen in the cathedral of Seville : 
 
 A Cast ilia y a Leon 
 
 Mundo Nuebo dio Colon. 
 Amidst all these entanglements the measure of Pitt 
 made slow progress in the House of Commons. Two 
 months were consumed in hearing counsel and examining 
 witnesses, mingled with snatches of debate. Some of the 
 principal manufacturers and merchants gave evidence ex- 
 pressive of their disapprobation and alarm. Many objec-
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 271 
 
 tions of minute detail were plausibly, and several justly, 
 urged. On the whole Pitt found it necessary to admit 
 modifications in order to maintain his majority — above 
 all, since no hopes of a specific promise came to him from 
 the Irish Parliament. He brought forward his amended 
 proposals on the 12th of May. Thus in his Diary writes 
 Wi lberforc e : "May 12, House all night till eight 
 o'clock inthe morning. I differ from constituents. So 
 affected that I could not get on. Pitt spoke \v< mderfully." 
 
 The ultimate proposals of Pitt as he now explained 
 them were found to be attended with numerous excep- 
 tions and additions. Thus from eleven the Resolu- 
 tions had grown in number to twenty. They had come 
 to deal with patents, the copyright in books, and the 
 right of fishing upon the coasts of the British dominions. 
 Further, they provided that all the Navigation Laws 
 which were then, or which might hereafter be, in force in 
 Great Britain should be enacted by the Legislature of Ire- 
 land ; that Ireland should import no goods from the West 
 Indies except the produce of our own Colonies ; and that 
 so long as the Charter of the East India Company ex- 
 isted, Ireland should be debarred from all trade beyond 
 the Cape of Good Hope to the Streights of Magellan. 
 
 By such means, and such means only, could the 
 majority of Pitt be maintained. " Do not imagine " — 
 thus he writes in strict confidence to the Duke of Rut- 
 land — " because we have had two triumphant divisions, 
 that we have everything before us. We have an inde- 
 fatigable enemy, sharpened by disappointment, watch- 
 ing and improving every opportunity. It has required 
 infinite patience, management, and exertion to meet 
 the clamour without doors, and to prevent it infecting
 
 272 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VII. 
 
 our supporters in the House. Our majority, though a 
 large one, is composed of men who think, or at least act 
 so much for themselves, that we are hardly sure from 
 day to day what impression they may receive. We have 
 worked them up to carry us through this undertaking 
 in its present shape, but we have had awkwardness 
 enough already in many parts of the discussion." This 
 important communication is dated May 21, 1785. We 
 may be well pleased that the Duke omitted to comply 
 with the postscript: "Be so good as to destroy this 
 letter when you have read and considered it." 
 
 Notwithstanding the jealous spirit which compelled 
 these changes, there remained enough of the first pro- 
 posal to render it, as all parties have since owned, a 
 boon of great value to the sister country. But in the 
 very same proportion as it grew palatable to the English, 
 it lost ground in the Irish House of Commons. Indeed 
 during the last debates on this side of the Channel, and 
 after the trials of party strength, Fox had entirely shifted 
 his ground against the scheme. He had ceased to 
 hope for its defeat in London, and he had begun to hope 
 for its defeat in Dublin. With this view the measure 
 was no longer in his eyes one of undue favour to Ire- 
 land ; it was a signal breach of her newly granted legis- 
 lative independence. "I will not," thus the great 
 orator concluded, " I will not barter English commerce 
 for Irish slavery ; that is not the price I would pay, nor 
 is this the thing I would purchase." 4 
 
 Expressions of this kind found a ready echo across 
 the Channel. When towards midsummer the Bill, as 
 
 4 Pari. Hist. vol. xxv. p. 778.
 
 1785. LIFE OP PITT. 273 
 
 finally passed in England, came to Dublin, it was re- 
 ceived with general disfavour. The Duke of Rutland 
 and Mr. Orde found that they had most difficult cards 
 to play. They had hoped for the aid of the leading 
 patriot, the popular chief of 1782, who had supported 
 the original Eleven Resolutions. But the changes made 
 in them had wrought a corresponding change in him. 
 " I have seen Mr. Grattan," writes the Lord Lieutenant 
 on the 4th of July, "but found him impracticable." 
 And again, on the 13th of August, when the measure 
 was already before the Irish House of Commons : " The 
 speech of Mr. Grattan (last night) was, I understand, a 
 display of the most beautiful eloquence perhaps ever 
 heard, but it was seditious and inflammatory to a degree 
 hardly credible." Under such circumstances the result 
 was soon apparent. Even on the mere preliminary 
 motion that leave be given to bring in a Bill there was 
 a fierce debate, continued till past nine in the morning, 
 and "the Castle" could prevail by a majority of no 
 more than nineteen. A victory of this kind was a sure 
 presage of defeat in its further stages. The Bill was in 
 consequence relinquished by the Government, to the 
 great joy of the people. For so great was then the 
 jealousy of their new legislative powers as entirely for the 
 moment to absorb all other thoughts of national advan- 
 tage. In Dublin there was even a general illumination 
 to celebrate the withdrawal of the Bill. 5 
 
 Thus did Ireland lose a most favourable opening for 
 
 5 On the reception in Ireland of 
 the Irish Propositions see the Cor- 
 respondence of the Eight Hon. 
 John Beresford, vol. i. p. 265- 
 
 295, ed. 1854; and also Plowdt-n's 
 History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 265, 
 ed. 1809. 
 
 N 3
 
 274 LIFE OF PITT. Ciiap. VII. 
 
 commercial freedom. Yet on other points her prospects 
 had brightened. The restoration of peace with foreign 
 States, and the restoration also of order in the finances, 
 had begun to draw prosperity in their train. The at- 
 tempts in the winter of 1784 and again in the spring of 
 1785 to hold a Congress of delegates in Dublin had 
 been encountered with firmness by the Government, 
 and had signally failed. In like manner the hostile 
 factions had found themselves unable, as they wished, to 
 prolong the power of the Volunteers in time of peace, 
 and to turn them into a standing weapon against the 
 State. The Volunteers still continued to exist; they 
 had still the Earl of Charlemont for General-in-chief, 
 and by him were yearly reviewed ; but their numbers 
 rapidly dwindled, and they became the mere shadow of 
 a shade. Meanwhile the Duke of Rutland, as Lord 
 Lieutenant, was gaining great personal popularity. 
 Young, of noble aspect, and of princely fortune, he was 
 generous, frank, and amiable, as became the son of the 
 gallant Granby. Fond of pleasure, he held a court of 
 much magnificence ; and the succession of various enter- 
 tainments that he gave, splendid as they were in them- 
 selves, derived a further lustre from his Duchess, a 
 daughter of the house of Beaufort, and one of the most 
 beautiful women of her day. But besides and beyond 
 his outward accomplishments, the confidential letters of 
 the Duke to Pitt, all of which have been preserved, and 
 some printed, show him to have possessed both ability 
 and application in business. Perhaps had not his life 
 so prematurely ended, his name might have deserved 
 to stand as high in politics as does his father's in war.
 
 1785. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 275 
 
 To Pitt the failure of the Irish commercial measures 
 was a deep disappointment, a bitter mortification. To 
 them, to the framing or to the defence of their details, he 
 had applied himself for almost a twelvemonth, and here 
 was the result — the object of public good not attained, 
 the jealousy of both nations stirred anew, and to himself 
 for a time the decline of public favour, alike, though 
 on exactly opposite grounds, in England and in Ireland. 
 The journal of Wilberforce in the midst of the contest 
 on this subject has this significant entry : " Pitt does 
 not make friends." 6 On the other hand, Fox, as the 
 champion of high protective duties, enjoyed in many 
 quarters the gleam of returning popularity. Being at 
 Knowsley in the course of that autumn on a visit to 
 Lord Derby, the two friends went together to Man- 
 chester, and were warmly welcomed by the great me- 
 tropolis of manufactures. Here is Fox's own account 
 of it : " Our reception at Manchester was the finest thing 
 imaginable, and handsome in all respects. All the 
 principal people came out to meet us, and attended us 
 into the town with blue and buff cockades, and a pro- 
 cession as fine, and not unlike that upon my chairing in 
 "Westminster. AYe dined with one hundred and fifty 
 
 people The concourse of people to see us was 
 
 immense, and I never saw more apparent unanimity 
 than seemed to be in our favour." 7 
 
 « Diary, dated March 10, 17S5. 
 7 Letter dated September 10, 
 
 17S5. See the Fox Memorials, vol. 
 ii. p. 270.
 
 276 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 1785 — 1786. 
 
 Four-and-a-half Fund — Marriage of Pitt's sister, Lady Harriot — Pitt 
 purchases a Country Seat — Embarrassment of Lady Chatham's, and 
 of Pitt's private affairs — The Kolliad — Captain Morris's Songs — 
 Peter Pindar — Pitt's Irish Propositions — Contemplated Treaty of 
 Commerce with France — Proposed Fortifications of Portsmouth and 
 Plymouth — Pitt's Sinking Fund — Impeachment and Trial of 
 Warren Hastings — New Peers. 
 
 Duking the Session of 1785 Pitt was able to make, as 
 he trusted, a satisfactory arrangement with respect to 
 the Four-and-a-half Fuud. The frequent arrears and 
 defalcations of payment in the Peusions that were 
 charged upon it were certainly not more inconvenient 
 to the holders than they were discreditable to the 
 Government. We find Pitt write as follows on the 
 subject : 
 
 " Putney Heath, June 14, 1785. 
 " My deae Mothee, 
 
 " From a thousand circumstances I have been 
 even longer than I thought possible in executing my 
 intention of writing. Latterly I have delayed it till I 
 could have the satisfaction of giving you positive ac- 
 counts on the interesting and long depending subject of 
 the grant. I have infinite pleasure in being at length 
 able to tell you that it is settled in a way which is per- 
 fectly unexceptionable, and will, I think, answer every
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 277 
 
 purpose. A sum of 56,000?. was voted yesterday to 
 make good the arrears of the 4| per cent, up to the 5th 
 of April last, and it was agreed to transfer the Duke of 
 Gloucester's annuity of 9000Z. to the aggregate fund. 
 Believed from this, there can be no doubt that the 
 produce of the fund will be adequate to the remaining 
 charges. We may therefore fully depend on the dis- 
 charge of the arrears veiy speedily, probably in the 
 course of a few weeks, and on a punctual payment in 
 future. Not a word of opposition was offered to the 
 proposal. I cannot say how much I feel in a period 
 being put to the embarrassment and inconvenience of a 
 situation which ought to experience everything that is 
 the contrary. 
 
 " Our Session is cruelly protracted, to the disappoint- 
 ment of my hope of seeing you, which I had promised 
 myself I should do before this time. How much longer 
 it will last us is still uncertain, but I rather think we 
 shall be at full liberty in less than a month. Our prin- 
 cipal difficulties are surmounted, and the chief trial now 
 is that of patience. 
 
 " Believe me ever, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 The health of Lady Chatham had become in some 
 degree impaired. She suffered at intervals from a 
 painful disorder, and since 1783 did not repeat her visit 
 to Hayes. Indeed so far as I can trace during a period 
 of twenty years, she never again quitted Burton Pynsent 
 even for a single night. Under such circumstances, her 
 daughter, Lady Harriot, sometimes paid visits of several 
 weeks either to Lord Chatham or to Mr. Pitt. There
 
 278 LIFE OP PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 she was often in company with Mr. Edward Eliot, the 
 early friend of her brother, and since the beginning of 
 1784 one of the Lords of the Treasury. An attachment 
 sprang up between them, to the great satisfaction of their 
 respective families. The offer of Mr. Eliot was accepted 
 by Lady Harriot ; and their marriage ensued September 
 21st, 1785. A few days later Pitt wrote to his mother 
 in these words : 
 
 " Brightlielmstone, September 28, 1785. 
 
 " I look forward to the happiness of being with 
 you on Tuesday in next week, and am to meet the bride 
 and bridegroom in my way at Salisbury. You will have 
 heard from my sister since the union was completed, 
 which I trust furnishes a just prospect of increasing 
 happiness to both." 
 
 And here is the commencement of another letter 
 after his return from Burton : 
 
 " Downing Street, October 20, 1785. 
 
 " Your letter found me exceedingly safe at Bright- 
 lielmstone, notwithstanding all the perils of thunder 
 and lightning, which overtook me at Mr. Bankes's at 
 the end of a long day's shooting, and were attended 
 with no more consequences than a complete wetting. 
 My conscience has reproached me a good deal for not 
 having sent this certificate of myself sooner." 
 
 In the course of this autumn Pitt became possessor 
 of a country seat. This was Hoi wood, or as he always 
 spelled it, Hollwood. It lies in Kent, one or two miles 
 beyond Ins birth-place of Hayes. The purchase of the
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 279 
 
 property as it now exists was not made at once, but 
 extended over several years, the first payment being 
 November, 1785, and the last August, 1794; and the 
 total sum paid by Mr. Pitt in all these years was nomi- 
 nally 8,950?. In fact, however, it was only 4,950?., since 
 in 1786 he raised 4,000?. as a mortgage on the land. 
 Holwood was a small house, but in a beautiful country. 
 The view from it extends over a varied and undulating 
 plain, from the heights of Sydenham on the one side to 
 the heights of Knockholt Beeches on the other. In the 
 grounds are considerable remains of a Roman camp, in 
 part overgrown by some fine trees. Holwood now 
 belongs to a highly accomplished and amiable man, 
 retired from office, who cherishes with care any memo- 
 rial that may remain of Mr. Pitt. It is from him, Lord 
 Cranworth, that I have received the particulars, as ab- 
 stracted from his own title-deeds, of Mr. Pitt's purchases 
 and mortgages. But a former proprietor has pulled 
 down the house which the great Minister dwelt in, and 
 has reared a suburban villa in its place. 
 
 In the winter Pitt was concerned to find that the 
 arrangement which he had made of the Four-and-a-half 
 Fund did not, as he hoped, avert all future embarrass- 
 ment from Lady Chatham. Thus he writes : 
 
 "Downing Street, December 1, 1785. 
 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " I have learnt with more concern than I can 
 express the feelings of your mind on the subject of 
 your last letter. My great consolation is that the 
 circumstances you state will not, I trust, upon reflection,
 
 280 LIFE OP PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 give ground to the serious anxiety which I am sorry to 
 find it has occasioned to you at the moment. Though 
 there may exist a present balance against you in 
 Mr. Coutts's books, beyond what you had imagined, 
 there are, I am sure, but too many reasons to prevent 
 your haviug anything to reproach yourself with on that 
 account ; and the inconvenience will be, I flatter my- 
 self, of very short duration ; or rather that the business 
 may be so arranged as to prevent its producing any. 
 As to the two thousand pounds you mention, I have 
 only to entreat you not to suffer a moment's uneasiness 
 on that account. I can arrange that with Mr. Coutts 
 without difficulty, and without its coming across any 
 convenience or pleasure of my own; though none I 
 could have would be so great as to be able to spare you 
 a moment of trouble or anxiety. If Mr. Coutts wishes 
 any further security for the 700?. which you mention 
 as due to him, it will also be very easy to settle that to 
 his satisfaction. I do not precisely know whether there 
 are any arrears or debts of any sort, independent of the 
 balance to Mr. Coutts, which will prevent your income 
 being free in future. But as the two quarters of the 
 grant winch are due will be probably paid very soon, 
 and the fund is so fully equal to the charges upon it, ' 
 I persuade myself that you will find in future ample 
 means to carry on your establishment, at least on its 
 present footing. I wish very much I could relieve you 
 from any of the anxiety and fatigue of looking into all 
 the points relative to the state of your affairs. If it 
 will contribute at all to it, I am sure, from the forward- 
 ness in which public business fortunately is, I can com- 
 mand a few days between this and Christmas to come 
 down to you for that purpose ; and which, independent 
 of that, I am exceedingly desirous of doing. In the 
 mean time it will be a great satisfaction to me if you
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 281 
 
 could let me know nearly the amount of any demands 
 outstanding upon you. Indeed it is the only point I 
 want for complete satisfaction ; because, as to the sums 
 due to Mr. Coutts, I assure you that they ought not to 
 give you any sort of disquietude. I thought once of 
 sending this letter by a messenger, but I considered 
 that you would perhaps answer it less at your leisure 
 and convenience than by the common post ; and though 
 I shall wish much to hear from you, I hope you will not 
 take up your pen at any time that may be troublesome 
 to you. 
 
 " I am, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 At this period Mr. Pitt, wholly intent on public 
 business, had much neglected his private affairs. Al- 
 ready had they fallen into some degree of embarrass- 
 ment. 'In 178G he requested his friend Mr. Eobert 
 Smith to examine them. Mr. Smith found that there 
 was very great waste, and probably worse than waste, 
 among the servants. 1 The evil might be checked for 
 the moment ; but through the ensuing years no effectual 
 supervision was applied. 
 
 I now pass to matters of more public interest. But 
 a few words on poetry before I come to prose. 
 
 It was not only by speeches or by essays, on the 
 hustings or in the Houses, that the contest between Pitt 
 and Fox was waged. Some of the political satires of 
 that period attained a high degree of merit, and produced 
 
 1 See a note by the editors to "Wilberforce's Life, vol. iii. p. 245.
 
 282 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 a powerful effect. But as to their effect there was a 
 striking contrast between the early and latter part of 
 Pitt's administration — a contrast that may be measured 
 as between the Rolliad on the one side and the Anti- 
 jacobin on the other. In the first period the superiority 
 was beyond all doubt with the Opposition, in the second 
 quite as clearly with the Minister. 
 
 The Rolliad — or to give the title more exactly, the 
 ' Criticisms on the Rolliad ' — came forth in parts during 
 the last six months of 178-1 and the first of 1785. It 
 was first published in the 'Morning Herald,' a paper 
 founded three years before. Other short pieces which 
 soon afterwards appeared — the ' Political Eclogues,' and 
 the ' Probationary Odes ' — were combined with it to 
 form a small volume, which has gone through a great 
 number of editions, and which may still be read with 
 pleasure. The principal writers were George Ellis 
 and Tickell, Dr. Laurence, General Fitzpatrick, and 
 Lord John Townshend. 2 At the outset Sheridan was 
 susjjected to be one of them, but in April, 1785, he 
 took occasion in the House of Commons to deny the 
 charge. 
 
 These gentlemen — the wits of Brooks's — being much 
 disappointed at the results of the political conflict of 
 1784, gave some vent to their spleen in verse. For 
 their subject they selected an imaginary epic of which 
 
 2 On the authors of the Rolliad i MarHand, and Sir Walter C. Tre- 
 
 see some valuable contributions 
 made in 1850 to the Notes and 
 Queries by Lord Braybrooke, Mr. 
 
 velyan (vol. ii. pp. 114, 242, and 
 373j.
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 283 
 
 they gave fictitious extracts, and for their hero they 
 took the Member for Devonshire, John Eolle. This 
 gentleman, who became Lord Eolle in 1796, and who 
 survived till 1842, was justly all through his life re- 
 spected by his neighbours for hospitality and honour, 
 for his consistent politics and his ample charities. But 
 in 1784 he had provoked the Opposition by some 
 taunts on the Westminster Scrutiny. He had besides 
 been noticed as one of those impatient sitters who 
 fretted at Burke's long speeches, and endeavoured to 
 cough him down. The wits, in revenge, conferred upon 
 him an epic immortality. 
 
 But in truth Mr. Eolle was little more to them than 
 the peg on which they hung the shafts designed for 
 higher game. They soon dismiss him with a few brief 
 pleasantries upon his name or pedigree. 
 
 " Illustrious Eolle ! oh, may thy honoured name 
 Koll down distinguished on the rolls of fame ! 
 
 Hot rolls and butter break the Briton's fast, 
 Thy speeches yield a more sublime repast ! " 
 
 With Mr. Pitt himself there was some difficulty in 
 finding a good ground of attack upon his conduct. But 
 then there was his age : 
 
 " A sight to make surrounding nations stare, 
 A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care." 
 
 As regards his friends, the authors of the Eolliad by no 
 means confined themselves to political attacks. They 
 eagerly sought out any peculiarities of habit, or even
 
 284 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 of face. Thus, in allusion to his frugal table, they 
 address the Duke of Eichmoud : 
 
 " Whether thou goest while summer heats prevail 
 To enjoy the freshness of thy kitchen's gale, 
 Where, unpolluted by luxurious heat, 
 Its large expanse affords a cool retreat." 
 
 Or they refer, as follows, to the long chin of Lord 
 Sydney : 
 
 " Oh ! had by nature but propitious been 
 His strength of genius to his length of chin, 
 His mighty mind in some prodigious plan 
 At once with ease had reached to Hindostan ! " 
 
 Or again as to the Marquis Graham, one of the Lords 
 of the Treasury, who, in an unwary moment, had said 
 in the House of Commons, " If the Hon. gentleman 
 calls my Hon. friend Goose, I suppose he will call me 
 Gosling," the Kolliad first in due precedence touches 
 on the Duke. Then as to his son : 
 
 " His son, the heir-apparent of Montrose, 
 Feels for his beak, and starts to find a nose ! " 
 
 However trifling the theme of the Rolliad and the 
 Political Eclogues, it is always commended to us by 
 a consummate mastery of the English heroic couplet. 
 So graceful in that metre are their inversions, and so 
 sonorous their cadences, and so uniformly are these 
 merits sustained, that it suggests the idea of a single 
 writer much more than of a confederated band of 
 friends. And when, in addition to their metrical skill, 
 their pleasantries were fresh and new, it can scarcely be
 
 1785. LIFE OF PITT. 285 
 
 doubted that they had political effect, and tended to 
 assist the cause which they espoused. 
 
 Besides the authors of the Rolliad, Captain Morris 
 attained at this time some reputation as a writer of 
 songs. He was a boon companion of the wits at 
 Brooks's ; and he thought that abuse of their opponents 
 gave new zest to his praises of love and wine. But in 
 one or two places he has indulged in a savage strain 
 such as no man of common feeling could approve. In 
 1784, for example, he wrote a ballad entitled " Billy 
 Pitt and the Farmer." It tells, with some humour, a 
 story how Pitt and Dundas missed their way one dark 
 night near Wimbledon, and were fired at by mistake 
 from a farm-house at Wandsworth. And here are some 
 of the stanzas with which the gallant Captain concludes 
 Iris tale. 
 
 " Then Billy began fur to make an oration, 
 As oft he had done to bamboozle the nation ; 
 But Hodge cried ' Begone ! or I'll crack thy young crown 
 
 for't ; 
 Thou belong'st to a rare gang of rogues, I'll be bound 
 
 for't.' 
 
 " Then Harry stepped up ; but Hodge, shrewdly supposing 
 His part was to steal while the other was posing, 
 Let fly at poor Billy, and shot through his lac'd coat ; 
 Oh, what pity it was it did not hit his waistcoat ! " 3 
 
 At nearly the same time another political poet of 
 much higher celebrity arose. This was John Wolcott, a 
 
 3 This ballad is comprised in the Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, vol. ii. 
 p. 246, ed. 17S6.
 
 288 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 native of Devonsliire. He had taken Holy Orders, but 
 had not the smallest inclination to clerical duty, and he 
 subsisted mainly by his pen. Writing under the assumed 
 name of Peter Pindar, he soon attracted notice by the 
 humour of his grotesque descriptions, and still more per- 
 haps by the audacity of his personal attacks. He loved 
 especially to portray any respectable character in a 
 ridiculous situation. Thus he represents the King, whom 
 he spared less than any, as visiting a cottage near 
 Windsor, and as struck with amazement at the sight of 
 an apple-dumpling, not being able to discover any seam 
 by which the apple was introduced ! Thus he represents 
 Sir Joseph Banks as boiling fifteen hundred fleas in a 
 saucepan to ascertain if, when boiled, they might not 
 turn scarlet like lobsters ! And as to Mr. Pitt, the 
 Reverend gentleman is never weary of taunting him 
 with his too faithful observance of the seventh com- 
 mandment. 
 
 The loss of the Irish Propositions was, as I have said, a 
 most bitter disappointment to Pitt ; but, as he writes to 
 the Duke of Rutland, " Ave have the satisfaction of having 
 proposed a system which I believe will not be discredited 
 even by its failure, and we must wait times and seasons 
 for carrying it into effect. . . . All I have to say in the 
 mean time is very short : let us meet what has happened, 
 or whatever may happen, with the coolness and deter- 
 mination of persons who may be defeated, but cannot be 
 disgraced, and who know that those who obstruct them 
 
 are Greater sufferers than themselves I believe 
 
 the time will yet come when we shall see all our views 
 realized in both countries, and for the advantage of
 
 178G. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 287 
 
 both I write this as the first result of my feel- 
 ings, and I write it to yourself alone." 
 
 It was still the hope of Pitt to renew his plan with 
 some modifications during the next year; but finding 
 his friends in Ireland afford him little hope of a more 
 successful issue, he relinquished the idea, and applied 
 himself to carry out the same principles in another 
 sphere. He was most anxious to lighten the shackles 
 which at that period weighed down our trade with 
 France, and during the autumn he planned a mission to 
 Paris for that object. A little to Ins own surprise, per- 
 haps, he found a ready agent in the foremost ranks of 
 Opposition. William Eden came at this time to be de- 
 tached from his party ties with Fox and North, mainly 
 by the intervention of his personal friend John Beres- 
 ford. So far as I am able to discover, he did not 
 alter his politics on any public ground, nor, indeed, 
 allege any such in his own defence. In his first 
 letter to Pitt he expressed a wish to become Speaker 
 of the House of Commons, if any opening should 
 arise ; but Pitt gave no encouragement to this idea, 
 and early in 1786 sent over Mr. Eden as special 
 envoy to Paris, under the Duke of Dorset as Ambas- 
 sador, to negotiate a treaty of Commerce with France. 
 In that post his great ability and address were of signal 
 service ; but, as might be expected, his secession stung 
 to the quick his former friends. There ensued some 
 stanzas on ' the Loss of Eden ' by the authors of the 
 'Kolliad,' and some taunts of no common asperity in 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 Parliament met again on the 24th of January, and
 
 288 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 almost the first business of importance which engaged 
 its time was a plan of the Duke of Kichmond, as Master- 
 General of the Ordnance, to fortify the Dockyards of 
 Portsmouth and Plymouth. This plan had been already 
 mooted in the House of Commons in the preceding year, 
 but was then postponed. It was now brought forward by 
 Mr. Pitt in the name of the Government. During the 
 last war the unprotected state of our great naval arsenals 
 had been painfully apparent. Nevertheless the scheme 
 to fortify them was much opposed. In the first 
 place, the Duke himself was not popular. Then there 
 was the expense, estimated at 760,000?. Then again 
 there was the constitutional jealousy of any new strong- 
 holds in England. Surely — so Sheridan in a most able 
 speech contended — these unassailable fortresses might, 
 in the hands of an ambitious and ill-advised King, be 
 made the instruments for subverting the liberties of the 
 people. Yet, as Pitt had already asked, in allusion to 
 the system of Lord North, " Is it less desirable for us to 
 be defended by the walls of Portsmouth and Plymouth, 
 garrisoned by our own Militia, than to purchase the pro- 
 tection of Hessian hirelings ?" So far, however, did the 
 eloquence of Sheridan, of Fox, and of Barre — for Barre 
 also opposed the scheme — prevail in the House of Com- 
 mons, that on the division the numbers were exactly 
 equal : 169 on each side. The Speaker, Mr. Cornwall, 
 gave his casting vote with the Noes, so that the en- 
 tire project, to Pitt's great mortification, fell to the 
 ground ; nor was it ever afterwards renewed. " After 
 all," so wrote Eden to John Beresford, " it proves what 
 I have said to you, that it is a very loose Parliament,
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 289 
 
 and that Government has not a decisive hold of it upon 
 any material question." 4 
 
 If, however, these failures both on Irish trade and on 
 English fortifications be taken as evincing some decline 
 in Pitt's popularity and influence, they were more than 
 redeemed by the general applause which greeted his 
 measure for the redemption of the National Debt. 
 Last Session he had promised it for this ; and all 
 through the Recess, says Bishop Tomline, he received 
 an almost incredible number of schemes and projects. 
 Many of these came from amateur financiers in the 
 country — the " provincial Chancellors of the Exchequer," 
 as on one occasion they were termed by Sir Robert 
 Peel — and such schemes might be quickly tossed aside 
 but others were of a different order, and required 
 thought and care. Nor did Pitt neglect the published 
 lucubrations of Dr. Kichard Price. That remarkable 
 man was then in the zenith of his fame. Though a 
 Dissenting Minister of the Socinian school, and though 
 well skilled in philosophical controversies, he had 
 by no means confined his attention to them. He 
 was an ardent champion of popular claims, and a 
 profound adept in financial calculations. During the 
 last war the American Congress had by Eesolution ex- 
 pressed their desire to consider him a citizen of the 
 United States, and to receive his assistance in reeai- 
 latins: their finances — an offer which his advancing vears 
 induced him to decline. 5 So early as 1773 he had pub- 
 
 4 Beresford Correspondence, vol. 354, ed. 1844. Franklin, who knew 
 i. p. 302. him well in England, speaks of 
 
 5 This was in 1778. See a note \ him as the " good Dr. Price." 
 to Franklin's Works, vol. viii. p. Ibid. vol. x. p. 365. 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 290 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 lished an elaborate ' Appeal on the National Debt,' in 
 which he strongly urged the importance of an inalien- 
 able Sinking Fund ; and in 1786 he was able to assert 
 that " the plan which Mr. Pitt has adopted is that which 
 I have been writing about and recommending for many 
 years." 6 
 
 In this assertion, however, we must understand Dr. 
 Price to mean the principle or leading idea rather than 
 the means of execution ; for Dr. Price himself, as also 
 several of Pitt's later correspondents, had framed divers 
 ingenious devices for converting low Stocks into high, 
 as easier for future redemption, and as holding out, in 
 theory at least, an ultimate advantage to the public* 
 But on full consideration Pitt had become convinced 
 that of all the modes of redemption, the simplest and 
 the plainest — merely to take the Funds from time to 
 time at the market price of the day — would be also the 
 surest and the best. 
 
 Having laid a great variety of accounts before the 
 House, and paved the way by the Eeport of a Select 
 Committee, Pitt brought forward his proposal on the 
 29th of March. On this occasion Bishop Tomline has 
 indulged us with some personal reminiscences which 
 appear of great interest, and are among the very few 
 that his * Life ' contains : — 
 
 " Mr. Pitt passed the morning of this day in providing 
 the calculations which he had to state, and in examining 
 the Eesolutions which he had to move ; and at last he said 
 
 6 Letter to Earl Stanhope, as read in the House of Lords, May 22, 
 1786.
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 291 
 
 that he would go and take a short walk by himself, that 
 he might arrange in Ins mind what he had to say in the 
 House. He returned in a quarter of an hour, and told 
 me he believed he was prepared. After dressing him- 
 self he ordered dinner to be sent up ; and learning at 
 that moment that his sister (who was then living in the 
 house with him) and a lady with her were going to dine 
 at the same early hour, he desired that their dinner 
 might be sent up with his, and that they might dine 
 together. He passed nearly an hour with these ladies, 
 and several friends who called in their way to the House, 
 talking with his usual liveliness and gaiety, as if having 
 nothing upon his mind. He then went immediately to 
 the House of Commons, and made this ' elaborate and 
 far-extended speech,' as Mr. Fox called it, without one 
 omission or error." 
 
 The speech of Pitt on the 20th of March, though 
 most imperfectly reported, was indeed conspicuous, even 
 among his own, for its masterly expositions of finance. 
 With some pride might he point to the re-establish- 
 ment of the public credit and to the thriving state of 
 the revenue under his administration. Already did the 
 surplus of income and revenue nearly approach one 
 million sterling ; and this sum — namely, one clear mil- 
 lion annually — whatever the future state of the Ex- 
 chequer might be, Pitt proposed to place beyond the 
 control of Government in the hands of Commissioners 
 for the yearly redemption of the public debt. To this 
 " Sinking Fund " was also to be added the yearly amount 
 of the interest of the sums to be redeemed, so that it 
 was in fact a million at compound interest. 
 
 o 2
 
 292 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 The establishment of a Sinking Fund was by no 
 means new. It may be traced up, as I have shown in 
 another work, to the year 1716 ; but until now the Fund 
 which was created in peace might always, at the will of 
 the Government, be resumed in war. Such was the 
 course which the preceding Ministers had always pur- 
 sued ; such was the course which Fox acknowledged that 
 he still preferred. Pitt, on the contrary — and this was 
 the peculiar and distinguishing point in his system — 
 proposed to make his Sinking Fund the creation of an 
 Act of Parliament, and inalienable except by another 
 Act of Parliament. His proposal being regarded as the 
 surest bulwark of our national credit, was accepted with 
 eagerness — nay, almost enthusiasm — both by the House 
 of Commons and the public. In vain did Fox, in several 
 eloquent speeches, contend that our system should be 
 to discharge in time of peace the debts contracted in 
 time of war ; and in the event of a new war to cease 
 from paying off debts, and direct our entire resources 
 against the foe. So strong was the current in Pitt's 
 favour that Fox did not venture to call for a division. 
 
 In the Lords the main attack upon Pitt's measure 
 came from his own brother-in-law, Charles Lord Mahon, 
 who in March of this year had succeeded his father 
 as Earl Stanhope. During the contests of 1783 and 
 1784 he had been, as we have seen, among the most 
 strenuous supporters of his kinsman ; but there was in 
 him, conjoined with great powers of mind, a certain 
 waywardness of temper which made him, it may almost 
 be said, dislike the winning side as such. He loved 
 better to act in a small minority ; and in after years, as
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 293 
 
 the disposition grew upon him, he loved best to act alone, 
 coming in the House of Lords to be often surnanied, 
 as in truth he sometimes was, the " Minority of One." 
 
 In May, 1786, Lord Stanhope having framed a plan 
 of his own for the redemption of the National Debt, both 
 published a pamphlet and delivered a speech against 
 Pitt's. His main objection, however, was exactly the 
 reverse of that which Fox had urged. He was not 
 satisfied to secure the Sinking Fund by an Act of Par- 
 liament. He wished to carry its inalienability further 
 still by certain changes of Stock and arrangements with 
 the public creditor, so that any future diversion of the 
 Sinking Fund would be equivalent to an act of national 
 bankruptcy. Many compliments on his speech and 
 pamphlet were paid him by Lord Loughborough, Lord 
 Stormont, and other Opposition Peers, who already 
 began to look upon him as their own ; but they appear 
 to have dissuaded a division, and none in fact took 
 place. 
 
 Thus almost by general consent did Pitt's measure 
 become law. During many years did it retain both the 
 support of Government and the favour of the people. 
 During many years did we continue to hold sacred a 
 million sterling for the Sinking Fund, even when com- 
 pelled, by the exigencies of war, to borrow that million 
 sterling, and scores of millions sterling besides. But by 
 degrees there came to be a doubt upon the public mind. 
 The policy of a Sinking Fund, whenever propped up by 
 loans, began to be greatly questioned ; and the death- 
 blow, it<niay be said, to the system of Pitt upon that 
 subject was struck at last by a hand that had been
 
 294 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 most forward arid active in assisting him to rear it. 
 That hand was no other than Lord Grenville's. In 1786 
 he had been the Chairman of that Committee, as moved 
 by Pitt, which immediately preceded the introduction 
 of the Bill upon the Sinking Fund ; and no man had 
 been more zealous to promote or to vindicate the mea- 
 sure of his chief ; but after the lapse of more than forty 
 years it was found that experience and reflection had 
 wrought an entire change in his views. A pamphlet 
 published by him in 1828, and forming an era on this 
 question, avows with noble frankness his sense of former 
 error, and denounces with great force the inutility of a 
 borrowed Sinking Fund. 
 
 It was under cover of the first great popularity of this 
 measure that Pitt was able to propose and carry a vote 
 of 210,000Z. to discharge a new debt, which, in sj)ite of 
 the King's personal economy, had accrued upon the 
 Civil List of 850,000?. a-year. 
 
 In this Session, as in those which followed, Pitt re- 
 frained from renewing his motion on Parliamentary Ee- 
 form ; but he gave his cordial aid to a Bill which had been 
 framed and brought in by Lord Mahon for the improve- 
 ment of County Elections. The object was in great part 
 the same which has been since with general assent adopted 
 — to provide an annual registration of the freeholders, 
 and to admit several other polling-places besides the 
 county town. Lord Mahon being called to the Upper 
 House, Wilberforce undertook in his place the further 
 conduct of the Bill. By his exertions, and the support of 
 the Prime Minister, the Bill passed, though not without 
 some difficulty, through the House of Commons ; but in
 
 1786. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 295 
 
 the Lords it was thrown out, mainly — so Mr. Wyvill 
 states — by a " coalition of the King's Friends and the 
 Whig aristocracy." 7 
 
 In this Session Pitt also achieved a considerable change 
 in the Eevenue Laws. " I am just going," thus he writes 
 to the Duke of Eutland, April 29, 1786, " to introduce a 
 plan for excising wine, which, although it had nearly 
 overthrown Sir Eobert Walpole, will, I believe, meet 
 with very little difficulty." So accordingly it proved. 
 
 But perhaps the Session of 1786 is chiefly memorable 
 for the first Parliamentary steps that were taken towards 
 the Impeachment and the Trial of Warren Hastings. 
 
 The career of Hastings in the East and the divers 
 grounds of charge that might be urged against him 
 have been related at length by several writers, and by 
 myself among the rest. 8 He left India at last in perfect 
 peace, retiring from his post not as dismissed, nor even 
 as rebuked, but of his own free will. In June, 1785, 
 he once more set foot on English ground, there rejoining 
 Mrs. Hastings — the fair Marian Lnhoff of Germany — 
 who had preceded him by about a year. His reception 
 at home was highly favourable. The Directors of the 
 East India Company greeted him with a public Address ; 
 the King and Queen were most gracious at the Levee. 
 Her Majesty even condescended to accept from Mrs. 
 
 ' Wy vill's Papers, vol. iv. p. 542 ; 
 and the Life of Wilberforce, vol. i. 
 p. 114. 
 
 8 I venture on this subject to 
 refer the reader to the 68th and 
 69th chapters of my History of 
 
 England. The private letters of 
 Hastings, both at that period and 
 after his return, will be found in 
 the three volumes of the Biography 
 by the Kev. G. K. Gleig.
 
 296 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 Hastings the present of an ivory bed — a gift by no 
 means forgotten in the satires of that day. 
 
 In the House of Commons Hastings had two most 
 bitter enemies in Edmund Burke and Philip Francis ; 
 the one impelled by high public spirit, the other, we 
 may assert, mainly by personal rancour. Only a few 
 clays after Hastings's arrival in London, Burke rose in 
 his place and gave notice that if no other Member would 
 undertake the business, he would himself on a future 
 day make a motion respecting the conduct of a gentle- 
 man just returned from India. But the Opposition was 
 at that time, as we have seen, wholly broken and en- 
 feebled, and among the Ministers Hastings had many 
 friends. He might regard as such — so greatly had cir- 
 cumstances changed — even his old antagonist Dimdas, 
 who had moved the Vote of Censure upon him in 1782. 
 Hastings himself in his private correspondence observes 
 as of Dundas in July, 1785, that " the Board of Control 
 has been more than polite to me." Lord Thurlow went 
 much further still. He espoused the interests of Hastings 
 with a warmth which, considering his own post of Chan- 
 cellor, may be justly condemned as indecorous. And 
 some of his expressions on the subject deviated from 
 truth even further than from decorum. " The fact is," 
 he cried, " that this is Hastings's administration, and 
 that he put an end to the late Ministers as completely 
 as if he had taken a pistol and shot them through the 
 head, one after another ! " Even in the previous year 
 he had eagerly pressed Pitt for a peerage. Pitt, how- 
 ever, had preserved something more of a judicial mind. 
 He owned the great merits and services of the late
 
 1786. LIFE OP PITT. 297 
 
 Governor-General, but alleged the Vote of Censure still 
 standing upon record in the Journals of the House of 
 Commons. " Until," he said, " the sting of those Resolu- 
 tions is done away by a Vote of Thanks, I do not see 
 how I can with propriety advise His Majesty to confer 
 an honour upon Mr. Hastings." 9 
 
 In this state of affairs, so far as Hastings was con- 
 cerned, the members of the Opposition were little in- 
 clined to cheer on or to follow Burke. The inquiry 
 which he had announced must of necessity be long and 
 laborious, while the prospect of party advantage from it 
 was extremely small. Had no fresh provocation arisen, 
 the old quarrel would scarcely have been further pur- 
 sued. Had Hastings remained quiet, there seems every 
 reason to surmise that Burke would have, though re- 
 luctantly, remained quiet too. 
 
 But it was the misfortune of the late Governor-Gene- 
 ral to rely at this time on a most incompetent adviser. 
 There was under his patronage a Major of the Bengal 
 army, John Scott by name, whom the rupees of his 
 patron had seated for the small borough of West Looe. 
 In the House of Commons this gentleman avowed him- 
 self the agent and representative of Hastings. Zeal and 
 industry were qualities possessed by Major Scott in the 
 highest perfection ; of judgment and discretion he was 
 wholly destitute. He proved to be a most tedious 
 speaker and a most injudicious friend. As to the last 
 point, his private letters to Hastings are still on record, 
 evincing his passionate and distorted views of public 
 
 9 Memoirs of Hastings by the Eev. G. R. Gleig, vol. iii. p. 171 
 and 174. 
 
 o 3
 
 298 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 men and public measures. Thus in August, 1784, we 
 find him vilifying his great opponent as " that reptile 
 Mr. Burke," and with still more signal folly boasting 
 that over the reptile he, Major Scott, had " triumphed 
 most completely ! " 
 
 Acting on such notions as these, Major Scott rose in 
 his place on the very first clay of the Session of 1786. 
 Reminding the House of the notice which Burke had 
 given, he called upon Burke to bring forward his 
 charges, and to fix the earliest possible day for their dis- 
 cussion. This unwise defiance received a prompt reply. 
 It bound Burke to pursue his design, and it induced his 
 friends to rally round him. Henceforward the zeal of 
 Fox in this cause became fully equal to his own. 
 
 The first steps of the great twin leaders were motions 
 for papers, which, being in part refused, gave rise to 
 some keen debates. In these Pitt took occasion to de- 
 clare his line — a line far different from Thurlow's. It 
 was such as every Minister would profess at present, but 
 such as hardly any Minister except himself appears at 
 that time to have kept in view. " For my part," he 
 said, " I am neither a determined friend nor foe to Mr. 
 Hastings, but I am resolved to support the principles of 
 justice and equity. Mr. Hastings, notwithstanding all 
 the assertions to the contrary, may be as innocent as 
 the child unborn ; but he is now under the eye and sus- 
 picion of Parliament, and his innocence or guilt must be 
 proved by incontestable evidence." 
 
 Early in April Burke, with the active aid of Francis, 
 brought forward eleven specific Charges, which soon 
 afterwards he increased, by successive accessions, to
 
 1786. LIFE OP PITT. 299 
 
 twenty-two. But by far the chief ones in importance 
 were those on the Rohilla war, on Cheyte Sing, the 
 Rajah of Benares, and on the two Begums or Princesses 
 of Oude. On the other part Hastings sent in a petition 
 praying to be heard in reply, and his petition being 
 granted, he appeared at the Bar bending under the 
 weight of a State paper which he had prepared, of im- 
 mense length, according to the approved India Com- 
 pany fashion. He read on as long as his own strength 
 and much longer than his hearers' patience endured. 
 Then the Clerks at the Table supplied his place, and 
 mumbled through the interminable document for some 
 hours more, while the Members stole away one by one, 
 comparing perhaps in their own minds the speeches of 
 Scott with the essays of Hastings, and doubting whether, 
 after all, the agent was one whit more tedious than his 
 principal. 
 
 The reading of this document at the Bar as at the 
 Table took up not merely one day, but part of the next. 
 Yet Hastings, looking no doubt to the great Bengal 
 models, thought it much too short. " Stinted as I was," 
 he says, " and indeed most dreadfully, as to time " — so 
 he writes to one of his friends May 20, 1786. Lord 
 Macaulay has well shown in one of his excellent 
 essays how total and complete was the misapprehen- 
 sion of Hastings on all points of the temper of the 
 House of Commons. 1 
 
 After the late Governor-General had concluded, Sir 
 Robert Barker and other witnesses were examined at 
 
 1 Lord Macaulay's Essays, vol. iii. p. 427-437.
 
 300 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 the Bar from time to time, and on the 1st of June Burke 
 brought forward his first, the Bohilla Charge. He had 
 with good judgment selected this as his vantage ground. 
 The cruel attack on the Rohillas had been at one time 
 condemned by the Court of Directors. It had been the 
 ground of the Vote of Censure passed by the Houses. 
 It had been in an especial manner the mark for the 
 indignation and the invective of Dundas, who was now, 
 beyond any other Member of Parliament, responsible 
 for the conduct of Indian affairs. When, therefore, it 
 was rumoured that Dundas intended to uphold Hastings 
 on the very point as to which he had formerly arraigned 
 him, the Opposition heard the news with exulting glee, 
 and Fox turned it to the best account in one of his 
 masterly speeches. Dundas, however, was at all times 
 bold and " cunning of fence." And on this occasion he 
 had specious arguments to urge. He declared that he 
 still thought, as in 1781, that the attack on the Rohillas 
 was a war of injustice. But he pointed out that he and 
 the other members of the old Committee, the framers 
 of the Vote of Censure — and to some of those in person 
 he might still appeal — had in view not any penal prose- 
 cution of Hastings, but only his recall. That recall was 
 the object which they had striven for and failed in. 
 Subsequently to that period an Act of Parliament had 
 been passed re-appointing Warren Hastings by name Go- 
 vernor-General of Bengal. The Statute therefore might 
 be considered as a Parliamentary pardon, unless some 
 fresh circumstances of aggravation had since occurred. 
 Had there been any such ? On the contrary there had 
 been services of the most essential character during
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 301 
 
 the latter periods of the war — services so great, Dundas 
 continued, that we might almost be tempted to term 
 Hastings the saviour of India. On these grounds, 
 Dundas said, he must oppose the motion. Pitt, though 
 he said nothing, had taken the same view. The Minis- 
 terial phalanx followed its chief, and upon a division 
 Burke found himself defeated by 119 against 67. 
 
 Such a majority upon such a question might seem to 
 the friends of Hastings the sure presage of approaching 
 triumph. They expected that Fox and Burke would 
 try perhaps one or two Charges more, would find the 
 numbers to back them grown smaller still, and would 
 then in anger fling down their brief and walk away. 
 Had such proved to be the issue, Hastings would no 
 doubt have ascribed it — so blind is human vanity! — 
 to the transcendent merits of his essay at the Bar. 
 Already in his private letters about this period does he 
 declare that " it instantly turned all minds to my own 
 way." Already does he speak of his demand to be 
 heard in person as conceived " in a happy hour and by 
 a blessed inspiration." But a complete reverse of for- 
 tune was now close at hand. 
 
 The great Benares Charge had been entrusted to 
 Fox's care. He brought it forward on the 13th of June 
 with his usual surpassing ability, resting his argument 
 solely on this principle, that Cheyte Sing was an inde- 
 pendent prince, no way liable to be called on for succour 
 by the Bengal Government. "I must acknowledge," 
 said he near his conclusion, " that there was something 
 like a colour for the vote to which we came respecting 
 the Bohilla war. The extreme distance of the time at
 
 302 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 which it happened, the little information the House had 
 of it till lately, the alleged important services of Mr. 
 Hastings since that period (although I maintain that 
 they were neither meritorious nor in truth services) — all 
 these, with other causes and justifications, might then 
 be urged. But there are none such on the present 
 occasion. The facts are all of them undeniable ; they 
 are atrocious, and they are important ; so much so that 
 upon the vote of this night, in my judgment, the fate of 
 Bengal depends." 
 
 Fox was seconded by Francis, with far less ability in- 
 deed, but even superior bitterness. Then, after a short 
 speech from Mr. Nicholls, tending to the complete in- 
 nocence of Hastings, the Prime Minister rose. In the 
 first place he utterly denied the independent position 
 ascribed to Cheyte Sing by Fox. The Rajah of Be- 
 nares was, as he contended, a vassal of the Bengal 
 empire, bound in extraordinary perils to give extraordi- 
 nary aid. For his contumacy in withholding such aid 
 a fine might justly be inflicted. But then the question 
 arose, what fine? Now to levy a fine of 500,000/. for 
 the mere delay of paying a contribution of 50,000?., 
 which contribution had after all been paid, was to de- 
 stroy all connection between the degrees of guilt and 
 punishment — it was a proceeding shamefully exorbitant, 
 and repugnant to reason and justice. On this ground, 
 and this ground only, Pitt declared that after a long 
 and laborious study of the question, he felt it his duty 
 on the whole to vote for the Benares charge. 
 
 Until Pitt rose, and indeed for a long time afterwards, 
 the House had been firmly persuaded that he intended to
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 303 
 
 side with Hastings. Great, therefore, and general was 
 the surprise at his conclusion. Several gentlemen in 
 office, as Mr. Grenville and Lord Mulgrave, were already 
 committed by their words or had already formed their 
 opinions; and they declared themselves boimd in con- 
 science to vote against the motion. But the majority 
 of the House was obedient to the voice of its leader. 
 The Yeas for Fox's Resolution were 119, and the Noes 
 but 79. Dundas had taken no part in the debate, but 
 he voted with Pitt. 
 
 In a letter written more than thirty years afterwards, 
 and only a few weeks before his death, we find Hastings 
 revert to the proceedings of that memorable day. He 
 declares that from information which he received at the 
 time, Dundas had called on Pitt at an early hour of that 
 morning, awoke him from his sleep, and engaged him 
 in a discussion of three hours, the result of which was a 
 total inversion of the Ministerial policy that night. 2 It 
 is difficult to lay any great stress on the statements of 
 that letter, since in the next sentence the writer goes 
 on to say, " I must stop, for my mind forsakes me." 
 Nevertheless it seems highly probable that the final 
 decision upon the Benares charge may have been de- 
 ferred till close upon Fox's motion, and may have been 
 preceded by an anxious conference between the First 
 Lord of the Treasury and the President of the Board of 
 Control. 
 
 So general, however, had been the surprise at Pitt's 
 conclusion, that all kinds of rumours and surmises were 
 
 2 To Mr. Elijah Impey, April 19, 1818.
 
 304 LIFE OP PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 noised abroad in order to account for it. Most of these 
 were low and base, as coming from the mere runners 
 and lackeys of faction. Hastings might excite the 
 jealousy of Dundas ; Hastings might excite the jealousy 
 of Pitt ; he might become a formidable rival in the 
 Cabinet ; he might draw to himself the entire manage- 
 ment of the Board of Control. Yet, though Dundas had 
 many faults, mean jealousy was never one of them ; still 
 less can it be imputed to the lofty mind of Pitt. And, 
 moreover, in this case the imputation almost answers 
 itself ; for how, in a Parliamentary Government, can 
 any man — unless, perhaps, at a former period, some 
 great Peer like Rockingham — aspire to fill any high 
 office at home, or be the cause of jealousy lest he should 
 fill it, without some degree of fluency at least in public 
 speaking ? Now of such fluency, Hastings, by his own 
 confession, had none at all. Many years afterwards 
 we find him write as follows to a younger Mend : — 
 " Your father knows that I am in a singular degree 
 deficient in the powers of utterance." 3 
 
 But why in this case seek for any hidden or myste- 
 rious causes ? Does not the true motive of Pitt lie 
 clear upon the surface ? Is it not to be found in the 
 merits of the question itself ? His full consideration of 
 it had been long — perhaps too long — postponed ; but 
 when at length he went through the documents before 
 him, they led him to exactly that conclusion which even 
 now, on calm retrospect, we may be inclined to form. 
 Hastings was right in regarding Cheyte Sing as a vassal. 
 
 3 To Mr. Charles Doyley, April 15, 1813.
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 305 
 
 and in punishing his contumacy by the imposition of a 
 fine ; but Hastings was wrong — grievously wrong, and 
 beyond all doubt misled by personal rancour and re- 
 venge — in the exorbitant amount of the fine imposed. 
 
 This conclusion as to the motive of the Ministers is 
 confirmed by the unaffected language of Dundas to Lord 
 Cornwallis, who only six weeks before — early in May, 
 1786 — had sailed from England to fill the post of G-o- 
 vernor-General of India. To him, in March, 1787, 
 Dundas wrote as follows : — " The only unpleasant cir- 
 cumstance (in our public situation) is the impeachment 
 of Mr. Hastings But the truth is, when we ex- 
 amined the various articles of Charges against him, with 
 his defences, they were so strong, and the defences so 
 perfectly unsupported, it was impossible not to concur ; 
 and some of the Charges will unquestionably go to the 
 House of Lords." 4 
 
 In June, 1780, however, the Session was drawing to 
 an end ; and although Major Scott pleaded in the most 
 vehement manner against all delay, the Charges against 
 Hastings were of necessity postponed to the ensuing 
 year. 
 
 On the 11th of July this busy Session was closed by 
 the King in one of the shortest Speeches ever delivered 
 from the Throne. Immediately afterwards we find Pitt 
 returned to his favourite Holwood, but applying himself 
 at once to fresh arrangements of business. Thence he 
 writes : — 
 
 4 See the Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. i. p. 281.
 
 306 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. VIII. 
 
 " Holwood, July 13, 1786. 
 " My deae Mothek, 
 
 " The pleasure I have received from your letter, 
 which reached me at nearly the eve of our Prorogation, 
 added, I assure you, not a little to the satisfaction of 
 
 that welcome period I cannot indeed boast to be 
 
 yet perfectly at leisure, but I have at least compara- 
 tively holiday, and shall, as I hope, be really in posses- 
 sion of them in a few weeks But I must be in 
 
 town the very beginning of August, when our first pay- 
 ment of the Public Debt is to take place. 
 
 " I am just now in the beginning of some very neces- 
 sary arrangements to put the business of Government 
 into a form that will admit of more regularity and 
 despatch than has prevailed in some branches of it. The 
 first step is in the appointment of a new Committee of 
 Trade, which becomes every day more and more im- 
 portant, at which Mr. Jenkinson is to preside, with the 
 honour of a Peerage. This, I think, will sound a little 
 strange at a distance, and with a reference to former 
 ideas ; but he has really fairly earned it and attained 
 it at my hands." 
 
 The reconstruction of the Board of Trade, which the 
 Economical Bill of Burke had swept away, was almost a 
 necessity in a commercial country, and in view of the 
 commercial changes which Pitt designed. We have 
 seen that Mr. Jenkinson, now raised to the Peerage as 
 Lord Hawkesbury, was the President of the new Board, 
 while for its Vice-President Pitt named William 
 Grenville. 
 
 The Peerage of Lord Hawkesbury was followed by 
 several more. Thus, Sir Guy Carleton became Lord
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 307 
 
 Dorchester, and Sir Harbord Harbord Lord Suffield; 
 and English Baronies were granted to the Irish Earls 
 of Shannon and Tyrone. Earlier in the year Pitt also 
 obtained from the King two promotions in the Peerage 
 on strong grounds of merit : the advancement of Lord 
 Camden to be an Earl and Viscount Bayham ; and the 
 advancement of Earl Gower to be Marquis of Stafford. 
 Yet the Minister was anxious at this time to stand firm 
 against most new claims. On the 19th of July he writes 
 as follows to the Duke of Kutland : " I have no difficulty 
 in stating fairly to you that a variety of circumstances 
 has unavoidably led me to recommend a larger addition 
 to the British Peerage than I like or than I think 
 quite creditable ; and I am on that account very de- 
 sirous not to increase it now farther than is absolutely 
 necessary."
 
 308 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1786 — 1787. 
 
 State of the Ministry — William Grenvillo — Lord Mornington — 
 Henry Dundas — Lord Carmarthen — Death of Frederick the 
 Great — Margaret Nicholson's attempt on the life of George the 
 Third — Death of Pitt's sister, Lady Harriot — Treaty of Com- 
 merce with France — State of Ireland — Dr. Pretyman becomes 
 Bishop of Lincoln and Dean of St. Paul's — Parliamentary Debates 
 on French Treaty — Mr. Charles Grey — Proceedings against 
 Hastings resumed — Unanimous testimony to Sheridan's eloquence 
 — Pitt's measures of Financial Keform — The Prince of "Wales 
 and Mrs. Fitzherbert — Attempted Eepeal of the Test Act — 
 Settlement in Botany Bay. 
 
 In the Session which was just concluded, Pitt had 
 been able to strengthen himself in the House of Com- 
 mons. He was still the only Cabinet Minister in that 
 assembly ; but there were two young men of high 
 promise, one of whom he had just promoted, and the 
 other just placed in office. These were the new Vice- 
 President of the Board of Trade, William Grenville? 
 afterwards Lord Grenville, and the new Lord of the 
 Treasury, Richard Wesley, Earl of Mornington in the 
 Irish Peerage, afterwards Marquis Wellesley. It was 
 some time, however, ere Pitt obtained from them much 
 assistance in debate. The oratorical eminence of both 
 was a plant of later growth. 
 
 Writing to the Duke of Rutland in October, 1785, 
 Pitt had thrown out the idea of Grenville for Irish 
 Secretary in the place of Orde. He added : " I do not 
 know that he would take it, and rather suppose that he
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 309 
 
 would not. I think, too, that his near connection with 
 Lord Buckingham is itself, perhaps, a sufficient objec- 
 tion ; though in temper and disposition he is much the 
 reverse of his brother, and in good sense and habits of 
 business very fit for such a situation." Grenville had 
 also taken part in several important debates, always 
 with authority, and sometimes with success. But he 
 did not, according to the common phrase, " make way " 
 in the House of Commons. To his style of speaking 
 the House of Lords was certainly the appropriate 
 sphere, and to this it appears that so early as 1786 
 Grenville in his secret hopes aspired. 1 
 
 Lord Mornington at the Treasury did not for a long 
 time do justice to himself. (Some years elapsed before 
 he spoke at much length or with much effect. Even 
 after he had made manifest his great oratorical powers, 
 it required much persuasion of others and much prepa- 
 ration of his own before he would engage to take part 
 in a debate. Pitt once said of him that he was th^ 
 animal of the longest gestation he had ever seen. His 
 speeches, when at last they came, were excellent and 
 justly admired, above all for their classic taste, their 
 graceful elocution, and their vivid style. 
 
 The main reliance of Pitt in all debates was still, 
 therefore, that able and zealous friend who had stood by 
 him ever since his outset in official life. Henry Dundas, 
 sprung from a family most eminent in Scottish juris- 
 prudence, was the son of one President of the Court of 
 -Session, the brother of a second, and the uncle of a 
 
 1 See the Courts and Cabinets of George the Third, vol. i. p. 315, 
 ed. 1853.
 
 310 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 Lord Chief Baron. Born in 1742, and sent to Parlia- 
 ment in 1774 by his native connty of Edinburgh, 
 his outset in public life among " the Southron " might 
 be compared to Wedderburn's, twelve years before. 
 But there was all the difference between a very cold 
 heart and a very warm one. Wedderburn, with no 
 predilections except for his own rise, took the utmost 
 pains, and with success, to divest himself of the Scot- 
 tish dialect and accent. Dimdas, on the contrary, in 
 a far more manly spirit, as he clung to all other kin- 
 dred ties, retained the speech and the tones of his father- 
 land. Intent only on the matter, to which he applied 
 his masculine good sense, he never seemed to care for or 
 to hesitate in the choice of words. Thus the graces of 
 elocution and delivery were perhaps despised, or cer- 
 tainly at least neglected, by him. Throwing himself 
 boldly into the van of the Parliamentary conflict, he 
 would grapple at once with the strength of the argu- 
 ments before him, and strike home at their vulnerable 
 points. His adversaries might now and then indulge a 
 smile at some provincial phrase or uncouth gesticulation, 
 but they had often to quail before the close pressure of 
 his logic and the keen edge of his invectives. They 
 quickly found that it was difficult to answer, and impos- 
 sible to daunt him. In business, as in public speaking, 
 his turn of mind was eminently practical, clear, and to 
 the point. Frank and cordial in his temper, fond of 
 jests and good fellowship in private life, convivial to the 
 full extent admitted by the far from abstemious habits 
 of his age, he was much beloved in the circle of his 
 friends, nor always disliked even by his political oppo-
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 311 
 
 nents. Besides that his temper was to every one 
 generous and kindly, his heart warmed to a fellow- 
 countryman as such. I have heard a Scottish Peer 
 of the opposite party, but a discerning and long- 
 experienced man — the second Earl of Minto — say that, 
 as he believed, there was scarce a gentleman's family in 
 Scotland, of whatever politics, which had not at some 
 time and in some one of its members received some 
 Indian appointment or other act of, in many cases quite 
 disinterested, kindness from Henry Dundas. 
 
 In the House of Lords, the venerable Camden was 
 enfeebled by the weight of advancing years. Lord 
 Thurlow was most powerful and ready, but in an equal 
 degree wayward and impracticable. Lord Carmarthen, 
 at this time Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
 brought to the Government more of polish than weight. 
 After Wilberforce had one day in 1785 dined with 
 Pitt, we find him in his Diary contrast " pompous 
 Thurlow and elegant Carmarthen." And at the same 
 period the new American Minister, John Adams, writes : 
 " The Marquis of Carmarthen is a modest, amiable 
 man ; treats all men with civility, and is much esteemed 
 by the Foreign Ministers, as well as the nation, but is 
 not an enterprising Minister." 2 
 
 Such was the general state of the Ministry at the 
 close of the Session of 1785, and for a long time after- 
 wards. 
 
 In August of this year died Frederick the Second, or 
 
 2 To Secretary Jay, November 4, 1785 ; Adams's Works, vol. viii. p. 
 336.
 
 312 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 the Great, King of Prussia. With all his faults, and 
 they were many, he towered high above all the princes 
 of his time in genius and renown ; and in his reign of 
 forty-five years he had doubled the extent, and much 
 more than doubled the wealth and resources, of his 
 kingdom. His nephew and successor, under the name 
 of Frederick William the Second, was cast in a different 
 mould. Pleasure, not ambition, was the ruling object 
 of his life. As Sir James Harris in the same year 
 aptly writes : " The late King had Solomon's wisdom ; 
 this King seems disposed to have only his concu- 
 bines." 
 
 In the same month the life of George the Third was 
 exposed to some danger. As His Majesty was one day 
 stepping from his coach at St. James's Palace, he saw 
 a woman of respectable appearance hold forth a paper 
 to him, and as he extended his arm to receive it, she 
 made a thrust at him with a knife which she held in 
 her other hand. Starting back, the King escaped the 
 blow, while the woman was at once seized and secured. 
 But the King's first thought, greatly to his honour, was 
 to protect her from any hasty violence. " I am not 
 hurt," he said : '• take care of the poor woman ; do not 
 hurt her." She was in due course examined before the 
 Privy Council, when it appeared that her name was 
 Margaret Nicholson, a single woman, who gained her 
 living by needle-work. No less apparent were the 
 insane delusions to which she had been lately liable ; 
 one above all, that she was entitled as of right to the 
 Crown of England. On a medical certificate to that 
 effect she was removed to Bethlehem Hospital, where,
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 313 
 
 without any recovery of her reason, she survived almost 
 forty years. 
 
 A grievous family affliction was at this time sustained 
 by Mr. Pitt. Mr. and Lady Harriot Eliot had settled 
 in town during August on account of her expected 
 confinement ; and on the 20th of September Pitt could 
 announce to his mother the prosperous event : 
 
 " I have infinite joy in being able to tell you that my 
 sister has just made us a present of a girl, and that both 
 she and our new guest are as well as possible." 
 
 But, unhappily, these prosperous symptoms did not 
 long continue. Causes of alarm arose : she grew 
 weaker and weaker ; and on the 25th no hope of her 
 life was left. Then Pitt wrote as follows to Mrs. Sta- 
 pleton, his mother's companion and friend : 
 
 " Downing Street, 
 Sunday, September 25, 1786, 
 11 o'clock. 
 " Dear Madam, 
 
 " In a most afflicting moment it is some consola- 
 tion to me to have recourse to your kind and affectionate 
 attention to my mother, which she has so often ex- 
 perienced. The disorder under which my poor sister has 
 suffered since Friday morning appears, I am grieved 
 to say, to have taken so deep a root, that all the efforts 
 of medicine have served only in some degree to abate 
 it, but without removing the cause. This circumstance 
 and the loss of strength render her case now so alarm- 
 ing, that although hope is not entirely extinguished. I 
 cannot help very much fearing the worst ; and unless 
 some very favourable change takes place, there is too 
 much reason to believe the event may be soon decided. 
 vol. i. p
 
 314 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 In this distressful situation I scarce know what is best 
 for my mother — whether to rely for the present on the 
 faint chance there is of amendment, or to break the 
 circumstances to her now, to diminish if possible the 
 shock which we apprehend. I have on this account 
 addressed myself to you, that, knowing what is the 
 real state of the case, you may judge on the spot 
 whether to communicate any part of it immediately 
 or to wait till the moment of absolute necessity. I 
 need make no apology for committing to you, my 
 dear Madam, this melancholy task. You will make, 
 I am sure, every allowance for the feelings under which 
 I write. 
 
 " Sincerely and affectionately yours, 
 
 " W. Pitt. 
 
 " Since writing this the symptoms are become 
 decided ; and though the sad event has not actually 
 taken place, it is inevitable. My brother is probably 
 at Burton, but I will send to Weymouth. I trust all to 
 your goodness and attention." 
 
 Lady Harriot died the same day, the 25th of Sep- 
 tember. Bishop Tomline — then still Dr. Pretyman— 
 tells us in his Biography : "It was my melancholy 
 office to attend this very superior and truly excellent 
 woman in her last moments; and afterwards' to soothe, 
 as far as I was able, the sufferings of her afflicted 
 husband and brother — sufferings which I shall not 
 attempt to describe. It was long before Mr. Pitt could 
 see any one but myself, or transact any business except 
 through me. From this moment Mr. Eliot took up his 
 residence in Mr. Pitt's house, and they continued to
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 315 
 
 live like brothers. But Mr. Eliot never recovered his 
 former cheerfulness and spirits, nor could he bring 
 himself again to mix in general society. He passed 
 great part of his time in my family, both in town and 
 country, and seemed to have a peculiar satisfaction in 
 conversing unreservedly upon the subject of his loss 
 with Mrs. Pretyman, who had been the intimate friend 
 of Ins lamented wife and deeply shared in Ins afflic- 
 tion." 
 
 The letters of Pitt to his mother at this period are, 
 as might be expected, full of affectionate sympathy. 
 On the 4th of October, the morning after the funeral, 
 he set out to join her at Burton Pynsent, and early in 
 November renewed his visit to that place. 
 
 In the interval between these visits he writes to his 
 mother from Downing Street, October 27 : " Tuesday 
 or Wednesday next is fixed for christening the poor 
 child : and as the weather is favourable, Eliot hopes in 
 a very few days afterwards to begin his journey west- 
 ward and bring her to you." At the request both of 
 Mr. Eliot and Mr. Pitt, Mrs. Pretyman became her 
 godmother, with the Dowager Lady Chatham. She 
 received her mother's name of Harriot, and was brought 
 up by her father so loug as he survived, and subse- 
 quently by her grandmother at Burton Pynsent. In 
 1806 she married Colonel, afterwards Lieutenants-General 
 Sir William Pringle, by whom she had one son and four 
 daughters ; and she died in 1842. 
 
 Ever since the beginning of the year Pitt had been 
 anxiously intent on the conclusion of the treaty which 
 was negotiating at Paris. Mr. Eden had written to 
 
 p 2
 
 316 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 liim by almost every j)ost, and consulted him on almost 
 every step. There had been great difficulties and great 
 delays, and Mr. Eden had found the energy of the 
 Prime Minister combining with his own to overcome 
 them. At length, the articles being adjusted, the 
 Treaty of Commerce was signed by Mr. Eden and M. 
 de Eayneval on the 26th of September — the very day 
 after Lady Harriot's death. Under such mournful 
 auspices did the long wished-for tidings arrive. Another 
 proof of the sad truth which the French moralist long 
 since expressed, that in this world joyful events scarce 
 ever come to us at the time when they would give us 
 most joy. 
 
 The great object of Pitt in negotiating this treaty 
 was to put an end, as far as possible, to prohibitions and 
 prohibitory duties. He did not seek to reduce or en- 
 danger the revenue by abolishing the custom duties 
 altogether. On the contrary, he expected to benefit 
 the revenue from that source by imposing only moderate 
 duties, which would reallv be levied on all articles im- 
 ported, and which would deal almost a death-blow on 
 the contraband trade. For in spite of Pitt's previous 
 measures, the contraband trade in several of its branches 
 continued to prevail. Take the instances of brandy and 
 of cambrics. Only six hundred thousand gallons of 
 French brandy were legally imported in a year, while 
 no less than four millions of gallons were believed to be 
 every year smuggled into England. 3 And since there 
 
 3 Speech of Pitt, February 12, ] liamentary Debates the four mil- 
 1787, as reported in Tomline's lions are misprinted as four hun- 
 Life, vol. ii. p. 227. In the Par- I dred thousand.
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 317 
 
 was a total prohibition of French cambrics, every yard 
 of thorn sold in England must have come in by illicit 
 means. " I am obliged to confess," said Pitt, in the 
 House of Commons, " that increase of revenue by means 
 of reduction of duties once was thought a paradox ; but 
 experience has now convinced us that it is more than 
 practicable." 
 
 The Treaty of Commerce with France, as signed by 
 Mr. Eden, was to continue in force twelve years. It 
 stipulated that the subjects of the two contracting 
 parties might import, in their own vessels, into the 
 European dominions of each other every kind of mer- 
 chandise not especially prohibited. They and their 
 families might reside, either as lodgers or as house- 
 holders, free from any restraint in matters of religiun, 
 and from any impost under the name of head-money or 
 argent du chef; free also to travel through the coun- 
 try, or depart from it, without licences or passports. 
 The wines of France were to be admitted into England 
 at no higher duties than those of Portugal, and the 
 duties on French vinegar, brandy, and oil of olives were 
 also much reduced. 
 
 The amount of duty, in both nations, on hardware, 
 cutlery, and a great variety of other articles, was in 
 like manner determined by this treaty ; mostly at very 
 moderate rates, not exceeding twelve or fifteen per cent. 
 And in case of either nation being engaged in war, the 
 right of interference of the other party by equipping 
 privateers, or by other means, was expressly provided 
 against and renounced. 
 
 We find Pitt during his second visit to his mother
 
 318 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 resume his correspondence on business, and write an 
 important letter to the Duke of Butland. 
 
 "Burton Pynsent, Nov. 7, 1786. 
 " My dear Duke, 
 
 " I have thought very much since I received your 
 letter respecting the general state of Ireland, on the 
 subjects suggested in that and your official letters to 
 Lord Sydney. The question which arises is a nice and 
 difficult one. On the one hand, the discontent seems 
 general and rooted, and both that circumstance, and 
 most of the accounts I hear, seem to indicate that there 
 is some real grievance at bottom, which must be removed 
 before any durable tranquillity can be secured. On the 
 other hand, it is certainly a delicate thing to meddle 
 with the Church Establishment in the present situation 
 of Ireland ; and anything like concession to the dan- 
 gerous spirit which has shown itself is not without 
 objection. But on the whole, being persuaded that 
 Government ought not to be afraid of incurring the 
 imputation of weakness by yielding in reasonable points, 
 and can never make its stand effectually till it gets 
 upon right ground, I think the great object ought 
 to be, to ascertain fairly the true causes of complaint, 
 to hold out a sincere disposition to give just redress, 
 and a firm determination to do no more, taking care in 
 the interval to hold up vigorously the execution of the 
 law as it stands (till altered by Parliament), and to 
 punish severely (if the means can be found) any tumul- 
 tuous attempt to violate it. I certainly think the 
 institution of tithe, especially if rigorously enforced, is 
 everywhere a great obstacle to the improvement and 
 prosperity of any country. Many circumstances in 
 practice have made it less so here ; but even here it is
 
 1786. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 319 
 
 felt ; and there are a variety of causes to make it sit 
 much heavier on Ireland. I believe, too, that it is as 
 much for the real interest of the Church as for the land 
 to adopt, if practicable, some other mode of provision. 
 If from any cause the Church falls into general odium, 
 Government will be more likelv to risk its OAvn interests 
 
 at 
 
 than to serve those of the Church by any efforts in its 
 favour. If, therefore, those who are at the head of the 
 clergy will look at it soberly and dispassionately, they 
 will see how incumbent it is upon them, in every point 
 of view, to propose some temperate accommodation ; 
 and even the appearance of concession which might be 
 awkward in Government, could not be unbecoming if it 
 originated with them. The thing to be arrived at, 
 therefore, seems, as far as I can judge of it, to find out 
 a way of removing the grievances arising out of a tithe, 
 or, perhaps, to substitute some new provision in lieu of 
 it ; to have such a plan cautiously digested (which may 
 require much time), and, above all, to make the Church 
 itself the quarter to bring forward whatever is proposed. 
 How far this is practicable must depend upon many 
 circumstances, of which you can form a nearer and 
 better judgment, particularly on the temper of the 
 leading men among the clergy. I apprehend you may 
 have a good deal of difficulty with the Archbishop of 
 Cashel ; 4 the Primate 5 is, 1 imagine, a man to listen to 
 temperate advice : but it is surely desirable that you 
 should have as speedily as possible a full communica- 
 tion with both of them ; and if you feel the subject in 
 the same light that I do, that, while you state to them 
 
 4 Dr. Charles Agar, afterwards 
 translated to the Archbishopric 
 of Dublin. In 1795 he was created 
 Lord Sornerton, and in 1806 Earl 
 
 of Norrnanton. 
 
 5 Dr. Richard Robinson, Arch- 
 bishop of Armagh. He had been 
 in 1777 created Lord Rokeby.
 
 320 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 the full determination of Government to give them all 
 just and honourable support, you should impress them 
 seriously with the apprehension of their risking every- 
 thing if they do not in time abandon ground that is 
 ultimately untenable. To suggest the precise plan of 
 commutation which might be adopted is more than I am 
 equal to, and is premature ; but, in general, I have 
 never seen any good reason why a fair valuation should 
 not be made of the present amount of every living, and 
 a rent in corn to that amount be raised by a pound rate 
 on the several tenements in the parish, nearly according 
 to the proportion in which they now contribute to tithe. 
 When I say a rent in corn, I do not actually mean paid 
 in corn, but a rent in money regulated by the average 
 value, from time to time, of whatever number of bushels 
 is at present equal to the fair value of the living. This 
 would effectually prevent the Church from suffering 
 by the fluctuations in the value of money, and it is a 
 mode which was adopted in all college leases, in con- 
 sequence, I believe, of an Act of Parliament in the time 
 of Queen Elizabeth. I need not say that I throw out 
 these ideas in personal confidence to yourself; and I 
 shall wish much to know what you think of them, and 
 whether you can make anything of your prelates, 
 before any measure is officially suggested. It seems 
 material that there should be the utmost secrecy till 
 our line is decided upon, and it must be decided upon 
 completely before Parliament meets. 
 
 " Yours faithfully and sincerely, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 It cannot fail, I think, to strike the reader how many 
 ideas of Mr. Pitt, which in his own day were dis- 
 suaded or opposed by others as dangerous, have since
 
 1786. LIFE OF PITT. 321 
 
 I 
 
 come to be adopted almost by universal assent as in- 
 dispensable. 
 
 On his second return from Burton Pynsent, Pitt 
 applied himself with ardour to his works at Holwood, as 
 the following extracts will evince : — 
 
 "Downing Street, Nov. 13, 1786. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 "Having been all the morning in the Court of 
 Exchequer, I have not yet seen my brother ; but Eliot 
 and I are both going to dine there ; which I am very 
 glad to do on many accounts, and I reckon it as a step 
 gained for Eliot. I Hatter myself he has even made 
 some progress in these two days, and I dare say will, in 
 a little while, more and more. To-morrow I hope to 
 get to Holwood, where I am impatient to look at my 
 works. I must carry there, however, only my passion 
 for planting, and leave that of cutting entirely to 
 Burton." 
 
 "Holwood, Nov. 18, 17S6. 
 
 " My works are going on very prosperously, and 
 furnish a great deal of very pleasant employment, which 
 just at present I have more leisure for than usual. I 
 expect, however, Mr. Eden to arrive in a day or two, 
 with abundance of details relative to the Treaty, which 
 will break in a little upon planting. All, however, is 
 going on as easily as possible, and I flatter myself with 
 the hopes of seeing everything in good train for the 
 Session by Christmas, which I am eager to accomplish 
 for more reasons than one. Mrs. Stapleton's friend 
 Lord Mansfield is supposed to be certainly resigning at 
 length, and will probably not long survive his business." 
 
 p 3
 
 322 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 • 
 
 Where Mr. Pitt says in one of these letters that he 
 must not carry his " passion for cutting " to Holwood, 
 he did not answer for the future. Three seasons later I 
 find an entry as follows in the Diary of Mr. Wilberforce, 
 who was visiting his friend at Holwood : " April 7th, 
 1790. Walked about after breakfast with Pitt and 
 Grenville. We sallied forth armed with bill-hooks, 
 cutting new walks from one large tree to another, through 
 the thickets of the Holwood copses." 
 
 Besides the points that were settled in the Treaty of 
 Commerce, there were some others reserved for a subse- 
 quent Convention ; and to this new negotiation Mr. 
 Eden applied himself with indefatigable industry, assisted 
 as before by the zealous exertions of Pitt. At length 
 on the 15th of January, 1787, the Convention was 
 signed at Versailles, between Mr. Eden and the Comte 
 de Vergennes, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 In January there was also concluded an Ecclesiastical 
 appointment which Pitt had eagerly wished. The Bishop 
 of Durham having died, it was intended to translate to 
 that rich See Dr. Thomas Thurlow, who was already 
 Bishop of Lincoln and Dean of St. Paul's. Pitt was 
 most desirous that Dr. Pretyman should succeed Dr. 
 Thurlow in both these offices. The draft of his letter 
 to the King upon this subject is one of the very few 
 preserved among his papers. It is dated the day be- 
 fore the meeting of Parliament. We find him press 
 strongly for the King's consent, and assure His Majesty 
 that there is " nothing which Mr. Pitt has more anxiously 
 and personally at heart." His Majesty, though with 
 strongly expressed reluctance, complied with this double
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 323 
 
 request, and thus did Dr. Pretyman, according to the 
 bad custom of those times, become both Bishop and 
 Dean. 
 
 Parliament met again on the 23rd of January. The 
 King's Speech announced the conclusion of the Treaty 
 of Commerce, " and I trust you will find," His Majesty 
 added, " that the provisions contained in it are calculated 
 for the encouragement of industry, and the extension of 
 lawful commerce in both countries." The provisions 
 contained in it were still unknown to the public. Yet 
 no sooner had the Address been moved and seconded 
 than Fox sprang to his feet to denounce in vehement 
 terms the idea of any concert or alliance with the French. 
 In Ins own account of this evening he says, " There was 
 no more debate and no division, so that I was time 
 enough to go to dinner at Derby's, where everybody 
 seemed to think I had done right." 6 
 
 This was only a skirmish. But soon after the Treaty 
 had been laid upon the table a battle in due form began. 
 It may be of interest on this occasion to contrast the 
 language as to France used by the two great party 
 leaders. 
 
 Mr. Pitt said, " Considering the Treaty in its political 
 view, I shall not hesitate to contend against the too 
 frequently expressed opinion that France is and must 
 be the unalterable enemy of England. My mind revolts 
 from this position as monstrous and impossible. To 
 suppose that any nation can be unalterably the euemy 
 of another is weak and childish." 
 
 6 Fox Memorials, vol. ii. p. 276.
 
 324 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 On the other hand Mr. Fox said, " Undoubtedly I will 
 not go the length of asserting that France is and must 
 remain the unalterable enemy of England, and that she 
 might not secretly feel a wish to act amicably with respect 
 to this kingdom. It is possible, but it is scarcely probable. 
 That she, however, feels in that manner at present I 
 not only doubt, but disbelieve. France is the natural 
 
 political enemy of Great Britain I say again I 
 
 contend that France is the natural foe of Great Britain, 
 and that she wishes, by entering into a commercial 
 treaty with us, to tie our hands and prevent us from 
 engaging in any alliance with other Powers." 
 
 With passages such as these, and there are many 
 more such upon record, it will be seen how just and well 
 deserved is the rebuke which Lord Macaulay gives to 
 some of the foreign accounts of Mr. Pitt. "Those 
 French writers who have represented him as a Hannibal, 
 sworn in childhood by his father to bear eternal hatred 
 to France, and as having been the real author of the 
 Coalition, know nothing of his character or history." On 
 the contrary, as Lord Macaulay goes on to state, " Pitt 
 was told in the House of Commons that he was a de- 
 generate son, and that his partiality for the hereditary 
 foes of our island was enough to make his great father's 
 bones stir under the pavement of the Abbey." 
 
 Of the taunts which Lord Macaulay has thus com- 
 memorated, some of the most bitter came at this time 
 from Philip Francis. It might seem as if the author 
 of Junius stood half revealed before us by the similar 
 scope of his reflections, and the innate vigour of his 
 style : " Nations which border on each other never
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 325 
 
 can agree ; for tliis single reason, because they are 
 neighbours. All history and experience assure us of 
 the fact. As long as the Scotch and English stood in 
 the relation of neighbours to each other, how was it 
 possible they should agree ? That cause of opposition 
 ceased at their union, and instead of mortal enemies I 
 trust in God they are immortal friends. . . . But now 
 it seems we are arrived at a new enlightened era of 
 affection for our neighbours, and of liberality to our 
 enemies, of which our uninstructed ancestors had no 
 conception. The pomp of modern eloquence is employed 
 to blast even the triumphs of Lord Chatham's adminis- 
 tration. The polemic laurels of the father must yield 
 to the pacific myrtles which shadow the forehead of the 
 son. Sir, the glory of Lord Chatham is founded on the 
 resistance he made to the united power of the House of 
 Bourbon. The present Minister has taken the opposite 
 road to fame ; and France, the object of every hostile 
 principle in the policy of Lord Chatham, is the gens 
 amicissima of his son." 
 
 Besides these veteran characters, if I may so term 
 them, a new actor at this time appeared upon the 
 scene. This was Mr. Charles Grey, known subsequently 
 as Lord Howick, and then as the second Earl Grey. 
 Born in 1704, he had come in for Northumberland in 
 June, 178G, upon an accidental vacancy. From his 
 outset he warmly attached himself to the politics of 
 Fox, and he delivered his first speech in opposition to 
 the Treaty with France. Then were heard the first 
 accents of that most lofty and thrilling and as it were 
 most thorough-bred eloquence, which was not extin-
 
 326 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 guished, and scarcely even dimmed, after an interval of 
 fifty years. 
 
 As to the outset of Mr. Grey in the House of Com- 
 mons, there is the following account in a letter from 
 General Grant to Earl Cornwallis : " Sir Charles Grey's 
 son, who comes in for Northumberland, in his first 
 speech made a violent attack upon the Minister, who, 
 in reply, said many civil things, complimented him upon 
 his abilities, and took no notice of the abuse. Mr. Fox 
 said nothing could be handsomer or better judged than 
 Mr. Pitt's conduct on the occasion. But Grey has 
 returned to the charge, and upon making a motion to 
 inquire into the state of the Post Office, he made use of 
 stronger language than ever was heard in the House of 
 Commons, and was not approved by either party. The 
 Minister was firm, and without losiDg temper treated 
 his violence and threats with contempt. He was 
 attacked at the same time by Fox and Sheridan, and i 
 short with all the abilities of Opposition." 
 
 In this last debate there was present a keen observer 
 of many years' experience — the Eight Hon. Eichard 
 Eigby. He now very seldom attended the House of 
 Commons, but he expressed as follows to General 
 Grant his impressions of that day : " You know that I 
 am not partial to Pitt, and yet I must own that he is 
 infinitely superior to anything I ever saw in that House ; 
 and I declare that Fox and Sheridan and all of them 
 put together are nothing to him. He, without support 
 or assistance, answers them all with ease to himself, and 
 they are just chaff before the wind to hini." 7 
 
 7 Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. i. p. 291.
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 327 
 
 It was hoped by the Opposition that there might 
 arise in the commercial classes an impulse against the 
 French Treaty as against the Irish Propositions. But 
 this did not prove to be the case. Our merchants and 
 manufacturers were upon the whole well pleased, or at 
 least acquiescing and quiet. There came from any 
 body of them to the House of Commons ouly one con- 
 siderable petition, and that petition prayed only for 
 postponement. Notwithstanding every effort, and in 
 spite of all the eloquence of Fox and Sheridan, of 
 Francis and Grey, an Address in approval of the Treaty 
 was carried by overwhelming numbers — 236 against 
 116. 
 
 In this Session the proceedings against Warren 
 Hastings were resumed with unabated zeal. Witnesses 
 were from time to time examined at the Bar ; and on 
 the 7th of February Sheridan brought forward the 
 charge numbered as the fourth, and relating to the 
 Begums of Oude. His speech on that occasion, taking 
 up in the delivery five hours and forty minutes, and 
 combining within it every kind of oratorical excellence, 
 stands forth perhaps without a parallel in history from 
 its effects upon its hearers. When he sat down, neither 
 the Members in the House, nor the Peers below the 
 Bar, nor even the strangers in the Gallery, could 
 restrain then rapturous delight : they testified it con- 
 trary to all rule and precedent by the loud clapping of 
 hands. An adjournment was moved by Sir William 
 Dolben, who declared that in the state of mind in which 
 that speech had left him, he was unable to form a 
 determinate opinion ; and Pitt, in supporting this ad-
 
 328 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 joumnient, which was carried, observed that they were 
 still under the wand of the enchanter. 
 
 Never certainly was there such unanimous testimony 
 to surpassing merit. Burke declared this speech to be 
 " the most astonishing effort of eloquence, argument, 
 and wit united of which there is any record or tradi- 
 tion." Fox said : " All that he had ever heard, all 
 that he had ever read, when compared with it, dwindled 
 into nothing, and vanished like vapour before the sun." 
 And Pitt, though censuring some parts of it, as marked 
 with unmeasured asperity to the person accused, did 
 not hesitate to own that " it surpassed all the eloquence 
 of ancient and modern times, and possessed everything 
 that genius or art could furnish to agitate and control 
 the human mind." Nor was this a mere transient 
 impression of the hearers. More than fifteen years 
 afterwards, Fox, being asked by his nephew, the late 
 Lord Holland, which was the best speech ever made in 
 the House of Commons, answered without hesitation, 
 " Sheridan's, on the Begum charge." 8 
 
 With such high certificates of merit who is there but 
 would eagerly seek out the records or reports of this 
 great oration, and who but would grieve on ascertaining 
 that none, or next to none, are to be found ? Only the 
 day after, and in the midst of the general enthusiasm, 
 Sheridan was offered a thousand pounds if he would 
 himself correct it for the press. This, however, he left 
 undone, perhaps it might be from indolence, or perhaps 
 
 8 On the circumstances of this 1 vol. i. p. 450, and Macaulay's 
 wonderful effort of eloquence com- Essays, vol. iii. p. 443. 
 pare Moore's Life of' Sheridan, I
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 329 
 
 from a tender regard to his own fame. For certainly 
 no human composition could fail to leave open some 
 loop-holes for attack, or could safely stand the test of 
 comparison with the panegyrics winch it had produced. 
 Thus, beyond a most jejune and meagre outline in the 
 Parliamentary History, nothing now remains of this 
 great oration. It has gone to the same limbo as the 
 speeches of Halifax and Bolingbroke, of Sir William 
 Wyndham and Charles Townshend. 
 
 The adjourned debate upon Sheridan's motion was 
 resumed on the following day. Francis spoke with 
 much rancour against Hastings, and Major Scott at 
 great length in his defence. Then Pitt rose. Going 
 over the whole of the argument, and listened to in 
 breathless suspense, since his opinion was as yet 
 unknown, he declared that the conduct of Hastings 
 to the Begums seemed to him utterly unjustifiable, and 
 that the charge on that subject ought to be affirmed. 
 It was affirmed accordingly, in the division, by a 
 majority of more than two to one. 
 
 Other Charges were on other days brought forward 
 by other Members. But the decisions of the House in 
 the case of Benares, and in the case of the Begums, 
 were of themselves sufficient to determine the question 
 of State Trial. When, therefore, it came to be moved 
 by Burke " that there is ground for impeaching the 
 said Warren Hastings, Esq., of high crimes and misde- 
 meanors," the Resolution was carried without the 
 appearance of one dissenting vote. And on the 10th 
 of May, Burke, with a great majority of members in his 
 train, appeared at the bar of the House of Lords, and
 
 330 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 solemnly impeached Warren Hastings according to the 
 ancient form. Shortly afterwards Hastings was taken 
 into the custody of the Serjeant at Arms. Then he 
 was transferred to the Black Rod. Finally he was ad- 
 mitted to bail, and the further prosecution of his trial 
 was deferred till the ensuing year. 
 
 In this Session several important measures of finan- 
 cial reform were framed and carried by Pitt. There 
 was the farming of the duty on post-horses, to guard 
 against the minute but numerous frauds which had 
 hitherto prevailed. There was the regulation of lotte- 
 ries to suppress a gambling practice pernicious to the 
 morals of the people, and called the insurance of 
 tickets. But above all there was the consolidation of 
 duties in the Customs, Excise, and Stamps. These 
 duties having been imposed or augmented at different 
 periods, and assigned to separate services, became at 
 last in the highest degree complicated, and as such vex- 
 atious and oppressive, and scarce any payment could be 
 determined without a series of calculations combined 
 from several departments. But perhaps the best idea 
 of these complications, and of the skill and patience 
 required to unravel them, may be gathered from the 
 fact that the remedial Resolutions moved by Pitt in the 
 House of Commons — as abolishing the old duties and 
 substituting new ones on a simpler plan — amounted in 
 number to no less than 2537. Burke, on this occasion, 
 did himself high honour. Instead of indulging any 
 party-spirit, or seeking to find any fault with Pitt's 
 proposal, " it rather," he said, " behoves us to rise up 
 manfully, and, doing justice to the Eight Hon. gentle-
 
 !787. LIFE OF PITT. 331 
 
 man's merit, to return him thanks on behalf of ourselves 
 and of the country." 
 
 Important as were these financial measures, the 
 public looked with much keener interest to the discus- 
 sions on the conduct of the Prince of Wales. Since 
 1783 His Eoyal Highness had set up a separate estab- 
 lishment, and unreservedly thrown himself into the arms 
 of Opposition. With Fox especially, and Sheridan, 
 he lived in familiar friendship. But whatever useful 
 lessons he may have learned in that school, economy 
 and thrift were certainly not among the number. 
 It was not long ere he found himself deeply involved 
 in debt. He had spent above 50,000?. in building 
 at Carlton House ; and most kinds of frolic and dis- 
 sipation had their share. Altogether, in 178G, his 
 liabilities amounted to upwards of 150,000?. These, 
 however, were, it might be said, the faults of youth 
 and inexperience. A graver subject of apprehension 
 had meanwhile arisen. The Prince had become deeply 
 enamoured of Mrs. Fitzherbert, a widow lady who 
 held the Eoman Catholic faith. She was of gentle 
 birth, and of great beauty ; and both in her widowhood 
 and in her two former marriages had borne an irre- 
 proachable character. To avoid the Prince's importu- 
 nities she had gone abroad in 1784, but on her return 
 at the close of the ensuing year those importunities 
 were renewed. Any legal alliance between them was 
 impossible from the terms of the Eoyal Marriage Act ; 
 but, to quiet her scruples, the Prince offered to go 
 through the religious ceremony. A rumour to that 
 effect was quickly noised abroad ; and Fox, in the true
 
 332 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 spirit of an honourable friend, wrote at once to His 
 Royal Highness remonstrating in the strongest manner 
 against this " very desperate step." The intention was 
 denied, but it was persevered in. On the 21st of 
 December, 1785, the ceremony was performed in private 
 by a Clergyman of the Church of England and in the 
 form prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer ; and 
 the certificate, bearing the same date, was attested by 
 two witnesses. Thus, it might be said, did the Heir 
 Apparent attempt to take to wife a private gentle- 
 woman in the teeth of the Eoyal Marriage Act, and a 
 Eoman Catholic in the teeth of the Act of Settlement. 
 A breach of the law in the one alternative, or a for- 
 feiture of the Crown in the other. 
 
 Fox, in his excellent letter to the Prince, had fore- 
 told that if the marriage took place at all, it could not 
 be kept perfectly secret. Whispers of it soon began, 
 and, though contradicted, grew. Men in general knew 
 not what to believe as to the fact alleged ; and the 
 public uncertainty found a vent in the public press. 
 Several pamphlets came forth upon this question ; and 
 one by Home Tooke attracted especial notice from its 
 boldness : for it maintained that the ceremony was per- 
 fectly legal, notwithstanding the provisions of the Eoyal 
 Marriage Act, and he therefore spoke of Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert without reserve as of Her Eoyal Highness the 
 Princess of Wales. 
 
 So early as the spring of 1785, the Prince, through 
 Lord Southampton, applied to the King for aid. He 
 was met by a request for some explanation how in so 
 short a time so enormous a debt had been incurred.
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 333 
 
 This natural inquiry was construed by the Prince as a 
 direct refusal. In 1785 he stated his positive inten- 
 tion to go immediately abroad. In 178G he no less 
 positively announced that he would break up his entire 
 establishment : he advertised for sale not only his stud 
 and his hunters, but even his carriage and his riding- 
 horses, declaring that he would henceforth walk on foot, 
 and devote two-thirds of his income to the payment of 
 his debts. He desired, no doubt, by this step to excite 
 the public sympathy in his favour; but it does not 
 appear that this object was in any degree attained. 
 
 In the spring of 1787 the Prince's friends, with his 
 consent, if not at his instigation, determined to apply 
 to Parliament for the payment of his debts, and for 
 some addition to his income. Alderman Newnham 
 irave notice of a motion with that view. Even the 
 notice gave rise to some preliminary skirmishes, in the 
 course of which Pitt declared that if, unhappily, this 
 proposal were persisted in, he should feel it his duty to 
 give it an absolute negative. And Mr. Kolle, the now 
 celebrated member for Devonshire, rose to say that for 
 his part, if such a motion were made, he would move the 
 previous question upon it, because the question itself 
 " went immediately to affect our Constitution both in 
 Church and State." These words were well understood 
 as applying to the rumours of a secret marriage with a 
 Eoman Catholic lady. 
 
 Pox himself, as it chanced, was not present when 
 Mr. Rolle was speaking ; but in another of the prelimi- 
 nary debates took the opportunity of reverting to these 
 words. In the most direct and peremptory terms that
 
 334 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 language could convey, he treated the report in question 
 as an utter calumny. " I know," said Mr. Kolle, in re- 
 joinder, " that there are certain laws and Acts of Par- 
 liament which forbid it, but still there are ways in which 
 it might have taken place." " I deny it altogether," 
 cried Fox ; " I deny it in point of fact as well as in law. 
 The fact not only never could have happened legally, 
 but never did happen in any way whatsoever ; and was 
 from the beginning a base and malicious falsehood." 
 " Do you speak from authority ?" asked Kolle. " I do," 
 answered Fox, " from direct authority." 
 
 It is painful to carry this question further. It ought 
 at least to give no pleasure to any one who has lived as 
 a subject of King George the Fourth. On the other hand, 
 the memory of an eminent statesman demands the fullest 
 justice ; and I am bound to state, without doubt or hesi- 
 tation, as my view of the case, that Mr. Fox had no in- 
 tention whatever of deceiving, but was himself deceived. 
 
 At the time, however, and on the report of what had 
 passed in the House of Commons, Mrs. Fitzherbert, be- 
 lieving herself wronged, was most vehemently incensed 
 against Fox. To the end of his life, indeed, she would 
 never be reconciled to him. The Prince, on his part, 
 was half distracted between his concern for the lady and 
 his apprehensions from the public. He sent for Mr. 
 Charles Grey, who found him, as he states, in an agony 
 of agitation. 9 His Pioyal Highness now confessed that 
 the ceremony of marriage had taken place, and he most 
 earnestly pressed Grey to say something in Parliament 
 
 9 See Lord Grey's own notes to the Fox Memorials, vol. ii. p. 2S8.
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 335 
 
 for tho satisfaction of Mrs. Fitzherbert ; but this Grey 
 steadily declined, and at length the Prince ended the 
 conversation abruptly by exclaiming, " Well, if nobody 
 else will, Sheridan must ! " 
 
 A few days later Sheridan accordingly, though with 
 manifest embarrassment, addressed himself to this point 
 in the House of Commons. He did not attempt, how- 
 ever, to controvert in the slightest degree the accuracy 
 of Fox's statement, and merely referred to Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert in some general expressions of respect and 
 sympathy. 
 
 Meanwhile the best friends of the Monarchy, in and 
 out of Parliament, had begun to feel that any public 
 discussion on the Prince of Wales's affairs, even though 
 confined to money matters, would be most unseemly. 
 In compliance with the general wish, Pitt had two inter- 
 views with the Prince at Carlton House. * He was to 
 see the King to-night," thus reports His Eoyal High- 
 ness to Fox, " and would endeavour to get everything 
 settled if he could." 1 This was no easy task. George the 
 Third was now more than ever incensed against his son, 
 since the appeal which seemed to have been made from 
 himself to the House of Commons. At last, however, a 
 Eoyal Message was obtained and brought down, com- 
 mending to the faithful Commons the payment of the 
 Prince's debts, which amounted to 161,000?., besides a 
 grant of 20,000?. for the new works at Carlton House. 
 " His Majesty could not, however " — in these words the 
 Message proceeds — " expect or desire the assistance of 
 
 Letter dated May 10, 1787.
 
 336 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 the House but on a well-grounded expectation that the 
 Prince will avoid contracting any new debts in future. 
 With a view to this object, His Majesty has directed a 
 sum of 10,000/. a-year to be paid out of his Civil List, 
 in addition to the allowance which His Majesty has 
 hitherto given him ; and His Majesty has the satisfac- 
 tion to inform the House that the Prince of Wales has 
 given His Majesty the fullest assurances of his firm de- 
 termination to confine his future expenses within his 
 income." How far these assurances were fulfilled may 
 be seen in the sequel ; but for the present the money 
 was cheerfully voted, and the quarrel was hushed. 
 
 Half a century had now elapsed since the Protestant 
 Dissenters had applied to Parliament for the repeal of 
 the Test Act. In the Session of 1787 their effort was 
 renewed. For the most part they had warmly espoused 
 the cause of Pitt at the last General Election, and they 
 thought themselves entitled to some share of his favour 
 in return. Their first step was to circulate among the 
 Members of the House of Commons a paper entitled 
 ' The Case of the Protestant Dissenters with reference 
 to the Corporation and Test Acts,' in which they more 
 especially laboured to distinguish their case from that 
 of the Eoman Catholics. With equal prudence they 
 selected as their spokesman Mr. Beaufov, a member of 
 the Church of England, and a zealous supporter of the 
 Government. 
 
 Pitt appears to have felt a disposition to support their 
 claims, if he could do so with the assent of the Church 
 of England. Without that assent, as expressed by its 
 Heads, it was scarcely possible or scarcely proper for
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 337 
 
 any Prime Minister to move onward. A meeting of the 
 Bishops was held at the Bounty Office, on a summons 
 from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and at the request, 
 as the Bishops were informed, of Mr. Pitt. The ques- 
 tion laid before their Lordships was as follows : — 
 " Ought the Test and Corporation Acts to be main- 
 tained?" Of fourteen Prelates present, only two — 
 Watson of Llandaff, and Shipley of St. Asaph — voted 
 in the negative ; and the decision of the meeting was at 
 once transmitted to the Minister. 2 
 
 "When, on the 28th of March, Mr. Beaufoy did bring 
 on his motion, Lord North spoke in opposition to it, and 
 Fox in its favour. Pitt rose and said that he did not 
 think he could with propriety give a silent vote. He 
 observed that some classes of the Nonconformists had 
 injured themselves in the public opinion greatly, and 
 not unreasonably, by the violence and the prejudices 
 which they had shown. " Were we," he said, " to yield 
 on this occasion, the fears of the members of the Church 
 of England would be roused, and then- apprehensions 
 are not to be treated lightly. It must, as I contend, be 
 conceded to me that an Established Church is neces- 
 sary. Now there are some Dissenters who declare that 
 the Church of England is a relic of Popery ; others that 
 all Church Establishments are improper. This may not 
 be the opinion of the present body of Dissenters, but no 
 means can be devised of admitting the moderate part of 
 the Dissenters and excluding the violent ; the bulwark 
 must be kept up against all." 
 
 2 Anecdotes of the Life of Bishop Watson, written by himself, vol. i. 
 p. 261, ed. 1818., 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 338 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. IX. 
 
 The division which ensued gave no great hopes to the 
 claimants. Only 98 members went with Mr. Beaufoy, 
 while 176 declared against him. 
 
 In this Session of 1787 was passed the measure which 
 laid the foundation of new Colonies, scarcely "less im- 
 portant than those which we had recently lost. The 
 want of some fixed place for penal exile had been se- 
 verely felt ever since the American War, and the accu- 
 mulation of prisoners at home was counteracting the 
 benevolent efforts of Howard for the improvement of the 
 British gaols. The discoveries of Captain Cook were 
 now remembered and turned to practical account. An 
 Act of Parliament empowered His Majesty, by Commis- 
 sion under the Great Seal, to establish a Government 
 for the reception of convict prisoners in New South 
 Wales. An Order in Council completed the necessary 
 forms. Captain Arthur Phillip of the Eoyal Navy was 
 appointed Governor, commanding a body of marines, 
 and conveying six hundred male and two hundred and 
 fifty female convicts. The expedition set sail in May, 
 1787 ; and early in the following year laid the founda- 
 tion of the new settlement at Port Jackson in Botany 
 Bay. 
 
 Notwithstanding the many important measures or de- 
 bates of this Session, the business was conducted with 
 so much despatch that Parliament could be prorogued 
 on the 30th of May.
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 339 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1787 — 1788. 
 
 State of parties in Holland — Differences respecting the French trade 
 in India — Prussian troops enter Holland — Death of the Duke of 
 Rutland — France and England disarm — Trial of Hastings — India 
 Declaratory Bill — Budget — Claims of American Loyalists — First 
 Steps in Parliament for the Abolition of the Slave Trade — 
 Exertions of Wilberforce and Clarkson — Pitt's Resolution — Sir W. 
 Dolben's Bill — Horrors of the Middle Passage — Controversies on 
 Slavery. 
 
 For some months past the conflict of parties in the 
 Dutch Republic had been the subject of much uneasi- 
 ness and much deliberation to the Ministers in England. 
 The Prince of Orange found his authority as Stadtholder 
 not merely eluded, but struck at and defied. He had 
 retired to Nimeguen, leaving Van Berkel and the other 
 chiefs of the Democratic party in full possession of 
 power at the Hague ; and they on their part continued, 
 as during the late war, closely connected with France, 
 and obedient to every dictate that came from the Court 
 of Versailles. 
 
 Such was the general picture of Holland at this time, 
 but scarce any month elapsed without some fresh aggres- 
 sion or contumely on the Prince of Orange. In his own 
 character there was nothing of spirit or energy; but 
 both these qualities were possessed in a high degree by 
 the Princess. She addressed in private earnest en- 
 treaties for aid to her brother, who had recently suc- 
 ceeded as King of Prussia, and also to the King of Eng- 
 
 Q 2
 
 340 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 land. Sir James Harris, our Minister at the Hague, 
 espoused her cause with zeal. We find him in his 
 despatches constantly urge that if the Democratic party 
 were allowed full play, Holland would sink ere long into 
 a mere dependency and almost a province of France. 
 These representations prevailed at once with Lord Car- 
 marthen, the Secretary of State, who became not less 
 eager in the cause than Sir James himself ; but by Pitt 
 they were more doubtfully received. Pitt indeed on 
 this occasion, as on several others previous to the great 
 crisis of 1793, proved himself to be in truth and empha- 
 tically a Peace Minister. 
 
 At the beginning of May, 1787, Sir James Harris 
 wrote again to Lord Carmarthen, pressing with more 
 than common urgency " a plan of vigorous measures." 
 But since objections would of course arise, and explana- 
 tions be required, he further suggested that he might 
 himself go over for a few days to England. He received 
 the desired permission, and was invited to attend two 
 Cabinets that were held upon the subject. Of the first of 
 these Cabinets his notes are still preserved. The Chan- 
 cellor, he says, took the lead, and " in the most forcible 
 terms that could be employed, declared against all half- 
 measures." So did also, besides Lord Carmarthen, the 
 Duke of Richmond and Lord Stafford. " I own," said 
 Mr. Pitt, "the immense importance of Holland being 
 preserved as an indej3endent State. It is certainly an 
 object of the greatest magnitude. I have no hesitation 
 as to what ought to be done, if we do anything at all ; 
 but if we do anything, we must make up our minds in 
 the first instance to go to war as a possible, though not
 
 1787. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 341 
 
 a probable, event. Now the mere possibility is enough 
 to make it necessary for England to reflect before she 
 stirs. It is to be maturely weighed whether anything 
 could repay the disturbing that state of growing afflu- 
 ence and prosperity in which she now is, and whether 
 this is not increasing so fast as to make her equal to 
 meet any force France could collect some years hence." ' 
 
 At the last Cabinet, however, it was determined that 
 a* sum of 20,000Z., as derived from the Secret Service 
 Fund, should be entrusted to Harris, and applied to 
 assist our friends in Holland. Thus was Sir James en- 
 abled to return to his post armed with the same weapon 
 as Jove (it is his own comparison) when invading the 
 tower of Danae. In pursuit of the like policy, the 
 Court of Versailles had sent to its Minister at the Hague 
 a lavish letter of credit. " And I can assure your Lord- 
 ship" — thus had Sir James written on the 1st of May — 
 "I keep greatly within the mark when I declare that in 
 this period of time (a fortnight) France has expended at 
 least a million of livres." 
 
 Holland was not the only field on w T hich the Courts of 
 London and Versailles seemed at this time likely to 
 contend. A serious difference had arisen between them 
 as to the extent and meaning of the thirteenth article 
 of the Treaty of Peace, stipulating for the French trade 
 in India ; and the French on this occasion received the 
 full support of the ruling party at the Hague. Both 
 
 1 Malinesbury Papers, vol. ii. p. 
 303, &c. For the French view of 
 Dutch affairs see among others 
 De Scgur's ' Histoire du Eegne 
 
 de Frederic Guillaume II. Hoi de 
 Prusse,' vol. i. p. 100-136, with the 
 Memoir of M. Caillaud appended.
 
 342 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 Powers Lad greatly increased their naval force in the 
 Indian seas ; and this increase alone (to say nothing of 
 some new works at Pondicherry, and some fresh in- 
 trigues with Tippoo) gave us reason for apprehending a 
 combined attack on our newly-conquered territories. 
 Not that any result could at that time be foreseen with 
 certainty from the feeble and fluctuating Govern- 
 ments of France. The Comte de Vergennes, who had 
 concluded the Treaty of Commerce with us, had become 
 unpopular with many of his countrymen on that account. 
 The manufacturers of France were full of angry re- 
 proaches and of boding fears, and already in ima- 
 gination saw their produce undersold and then- looms 
 deserted. Still, however, Vergennes had retained his 
 credit at Court ; but he died in February, 1787, and his 
 death was followed at no long interval by the retire- 
 ment of M. de Calonne, Minister of the Finances — a 
 victim to that Assembly of Notables which he had him- 
 self convened. Then it was that the way was opened 
 for the accession to power of a most vain and empty 
 statesman, a mere minion of Court favour, Lomenie 
 de Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse. It was possible 
 that he might incline to peace on account of the ruined 
 state of the finances. It was equally possible that he 
 might incline to war, as seeking to divert the people 
 from their own distresses. But in any case it was most 
 desirable for us to reinforce our garrisons in the East, 
 to be ready with a powerful fleet, and, even on Indian 
 grounds alone, to break the intimate concert of councils 
 between the despotic Court of Versailles and the demo- 
 cratic rulers at the Hague.
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 343 
 
 A crisis in the affairs of Holland seemed to all parties 
 near at hand, hut the form in which it came at last was 
 wholly unforeseen. Towards the close of June the 
 Princess of Orange determined to go in person to the 
 Hague. She carried with her letters from the Prince to 
 the States-General and to the States of Holland, by 
 which she was empowered to act or negotiate as cir- 
 cumstances might require ; but at the frontier of the 
 province her carriage was stopped by a detachment of 
 Free Corps, and Her Royal Highness was detained in 
 -custody while the question Avas referred to the States. 
 Finally, even after an answer had come from the Hague, 
 she was prevented from proceeding on her journey, and 
 obliged to return whence she came. 
 
 Such an insult to the wife of the Chief Magistrate of 
 the Republic, and to the sister of a reigning Monarch, 
 could only be atoned for by prompt apologies and ade- 
 quate punishment of the offenders. The King of Prussia 
 demanded this reparation in peremptory terms, and to 
 enforce his demands he collected at Wesel an army of 
 20,000 men under the Duke of Brims wick. Even the 
 Court of Versailles, on being consulted, owned that the 
 act had been unjustifiable, and that the reparation was 
 due ; but the patriots (for so the Stadtholder's opponents 
 called themselves) were rather inclined to defend the 
 conduct of the soldiers, and blindly refused any, even 
 the smallest, concession. They saw that they were not 
 upheld by France on this particular occasion. Still 
 they hoped that they might reckon on her general sym- 
 pathy and succour, and they knew that at this very time 
 she was forming for their sake a camp of 15,000 men at
 
 314 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 the frontier town of Givet. Therefore, when threatened 
 by the Prussian army, they in specific terms applied to 
 France for protection. 
 
 In September the Court of France notified in form to 
 the Court of London that it had determined to afford to 
 the States-General the assistance they had requested. 
 By Pitt's direction an immediate reply was returned to 
 the purport that we on our side should take an active 
 part in favour of the Stadtholder. Already, with cha- 
 racteristic energy, had the British Minister decided his 
 measures. Despatches had been sent, both by sea and 
 over land, to the Governor-General of Bengal and to 
 the Governor of Madras, directing them to be prepared, 
 in case of war, to attack the French settlements in 
 India, and to take possession of the Dutch on the Stadt- 
 holder's behalf and in his name. At home, orders had 
 been given to augment both our navy and army. A 
 guarantee was sent to Berlin to promise our support in 
 the event of French hostility. Nor was this merely a 
 vague promise : we undertook to back the Duke of 
 Brunswick's advance by a fleet of forty ships of the line. 
 A treaty was concluded for the term of four years with 
 the Landgrave of Hesse, by which that little potentate, 
 ever ready as before to sell his subjects, agreed, in 
 return for a yearly subsidy of 36,000?. — " a retaining 
 fee," as Pitt called it in the House of Commons — to 
 send forth for our service a body of 12,000 troops when- 
 ever it might be required. 
 
 Yet the hopes of peace were still maintained. To 
 assist in the negotiations on this subject, Mr. Grenville 
 was despatched for some days to confer with the Minis- 
 ters at Paris.
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. . 345 
 
 Hostilities were already in progress. On the 13th of 
 September the Prussian troops entered the Dutch terri- 
 tory in three columns. Then it was that the utter weak- 
 ness of the Democratic party came to be apparent. 
 Almost everywhere the Prussians were received not as 
 foemen, but rather as liberators and allies. Almost 
 everywhere the Orange flag was hoisted, the Orange 
 ribbons were worn. So easy and so rapid was the Duke 
 of Brunswick's progress, that in the course of eight days 
 the whole of the United Provinces, except Amsterdam, 
 had yielded to him, and even Amsterdam surrendered 
 after only a fortnight's siege. The Prince of Orange 
 made his triumphal entry into the Hague amidst the 
 loudest acclamations and every sign of public joy, and 
 he found himself reinstated in all liis former rights and 
 powers as Stadtholder. "Your Lordship," so writes 
 Harris to Carmarthen, "on reading this letter, will, I 
 am sure, consider its contents as incredible ; and I con- 
 fess I can scarce bring myself to believe what has 
 
 passed If St. Priest (the French Minister) comes 
 
 soon, he must enter the Hague decorated with Orange- 
 coloured ribbons, or else he will not be suffered to enter 
 it at all." 
 
 Pitt had for this summer planned an excursion to the 
 north. His friend Wilberforce, who had now given up 
 his villa at Wimbledon, had on the other hand taken 
 one among the Lakes, and looked forward to make the 
 Prime Minister acquainted with his favourite scenes. 
 The ' Public Advertiser ' of June 20, 1787, contains the 
 following paragraph: — "Mr. Pitt, in his way into Scot- 
 land, will take Alnwick, Castle Howard, and other prin- 
 
 Q 3
 
 346 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X- 
 
 cipal places, but he will not make any stay, except with 
 Mr. Wilberforce." Unhappily, however, the affairs of 
 Holland marred this agreeable scheme. Pitt went no 
 farther north than Cambridgeshire. But his progress, and 
 the progress also of public events, will be best illustrated 
 by his correspondence with his mother at this time. 
 
 "Downing Street, September 13, 1787. 
 
 " I returned yesterday from Cheveley, which I reached 
 on the preceding Monday, and had the pleasure of find- 
 ing my brother and Lady Chatham established very 
 much to their satisfaction. My visit was not a long one, 
 bat afforded me a good deal of riding in the way there 
 and back, and as good a day's sport of shooting as could 
 be had without ever killing. I was in some hopes of 
 returning again the end of the week ; but as I find 
 things are clearly coming to a point in Holland, and a 
 very few days may now decide a good deal as to the 
 future, I shall hardly stir further than Holwood for 
 some days." 
 
 "Downing Street, September 19, 1787. 
 
 " I am just going to Wimbledon to dine with M. de 
 Calonne at his villa there, and hear all the politics of 
 France, which form no bad variety in the interval of 
 
 our own." 
 
 " Downing Street, September 22, 1787. 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " The business abroad is at length come to a 
 point, and with every appearance of success. France 
 has indeed notified to us that she will give assistance to
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 347 
 
 the province of Holland, and we are therefore under the 
 necessity of preparing vith vigour, and are accordingly 
 pressing to arm the fleet. But there seems still every 
 reason to think France will quickly give way, as she 
 has no army prepared, and in the mean time the Duke 
 of Brunswick's success is in a manner decisive. News 
 came last night that most of the towns in Holland had 
 surrendered without any resistance. A complete revo- 
 lution had taken place at the Hague, and the States of 
 Holland had resolved to restore the Stadtholder to all 
 his rights, and invited him back to the Hague. The 
 only question is whether the Free Corps will make any 
 stand at the Hague. If the issue there is as favourable 
 as may be expected, every effort the French can mak<- 
 will come too late ; and they will hardly engage in an 
 unpi-omising contest for a mere point of honour. You 
 will not wonder if I have not time to write more at pre- 
 sent. Pray give my love to Eliot, and affectionate com- 
 pliments to Mrs. Stapleton. 
 
 '• Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt. 
 
 " It happens that there is just now a vacancy in the 
 place of Housekeeper to the Levee Booms at White- 
 hall, which may be executed by deputy, and has, in- 
 deed, hardly anything to do. I am sorry to say it is 
 worth no more than 40 £ a year ; but as there are so few 
 places of this kind which do not require some attend- 
 ance, if you think Mrs. Sparry 2 would like this, as a 
 mark of old friendship, I shall be much obliged to you 
 if you will have the goodness to propose it to her." 
 
 2 Lady Chatham's housekeeper ; a much-valued servant of many 
 years' standing.
 
 348 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 " Downing Street, September 29, 1787. 
 
 " This last fortnight has not allowed me to make much 
 use of it anywhere, nor to venture so far as Holwood ; 
 but I trust it has been better employed. We are, I 
 flatter myself, going on very satisfactorily in our prepara- 
 tions, only, what is much pleasanter, there is at present 
 every reason to think we shall not be obliged to use 
 them, and shall carry our point quietly. It may still, 
 however, be a fortnight or three weeks before we can 
 judge decisively, as we must allow time for consulting 
 at Berlin ; and in that interval one cannot be quite 
 sure that some change of circumstances may not produce 
 new intentions. At present all looks pacific, though 
 each side must continue to arm till a final explanation 
 takes place. You will not wonder if I have not time 
 for much but this sort of news at present. ... I rejoice 
 that Mrs. Sparry likes my proposal." 
 
 "Downing Street, October 13, 1787. 
 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " I write one line to say things are going on 
 well. Amsterdam, though it has not actually opened 
 its gates, has submitted to everything, and the settle- 
 ment in Holland seems likely to be peaceably com- 
 pleted. France will probably in the end acquiesce, but 
 we continue to be watchful in the mean time. Admiral 
 Hood, who has been called to town again on account of 
 some of the objects which may possibly arise, gives me 
 the satisfaction of receiving a very good account of you. 
 I hope the weather is still favourable to your drives. 
 Adieu. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Mother, &c, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt."
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 349 
 
 "Downing Street, October 29, 1787. 
 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 " The newspapers have probably conveyed to you 
 the accounts which have arrived within these few days 
 of the health of the poor Duke of Rutland. You will, 
 I am sure, on many grounds, have entered into the 
 anxiety which I must feel on this subject. It is there- 
 fore with additional regret I write to tell you that I 
 received last night the affecting news of his death. His 
 illness was a fever which had been hanging upon him 
 for some time, and Avhich within a few days took an un- 
 favourable turn, and proved of the putrid sort, I am 
 informed by his agent that by his will (which is in 
 Ireland) he has appointed me as one of his executors 
 and guardians of his children, a mark of kindness and 
 confidence which must add to what I feel for him. I 
 am sorry to dwell on so melancholy a subject, but still 
 I thought it better you should learn it from my pen 
 than through any other channel. 
 
 " You will, I am sure, excuse my not having found 
 time to return Mr. Coutts's letter sooner. I should have 
 been very glad on every account to have been able to 
 obtain his request. But on speaking to Lord Sydney 
 about it, it seemed from the line which the King has 
 laid down to be a point which could not well be 
 attempted. 
 
 " The account of the dear little girl made me, you 
 will easily believe, very happy ; I have not heard from 
 Eliot himself very lately, but by an indirect channel 
 I have just had very good accounts of him. I expect 
 every hour news from Paris which I think likely to put 
 an end to the present suspense to our perfect satisfac- 
 tion, but there is no certainty on such a subject till it is
 
 350 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 actually completed. Affectionate compliments to Mrs. 
 Stapleton, and kind remembrances to Mrs. Sparry. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 « W. Pitt." 
 
 The expectations held out in this last letter of good 
 news from Paris were most speedily fulfilled. Two days 
 before its date the French Ministers announced in form 
 to the British ambassador that they had relinquished 
 any hostile design against the new Government of Hol- 
 land ; and on the same day, the 27th of October, a 
 Joint Declaration was signed at Paris, by which France 
 and England agreed that the armaments and warlike 
 preparations should be discontinued on each side. Thus 
 was happily averted the war which we had bravely 
 dared; and thus amidst general satisfaction was re- 
 newed our ancient and close alliance with the United 
 Provinces. 
 
 The judgment on the whole of this transaction of 
 Count Woronzow, the Eussian ambassador in London, 
 seems well worthy of record. He wrote to his brother 
 to the following effect : " The part played by England 
 in these affairs has been brilliant and courageous, and 
 the conduct of Mr. Pitt on this occasion is very like that 
 which his late father pursued. Such conduct was very 
 little known and very little practised in England during 
 the interval between Iris father's retirement and his 
 own accession to power. I had so strong an attach- 
 ment and so thorough a respect for the late Lord Chat- 
 ham, that I take a warm interest in the conduct and
 
 1787. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 351 
 
 character of his son. How would the father have re- 
 joiced in them had he lived on. till now ! " 3 
 
 At the same time and at the opposite extremity of 
 Europe another contest was raging. The Sultan and 
 the Czar were again at strife, and the Emperor Joseph 
 the Second was preparing to join the Russian side. 
 But the Avar having been commenced with great rash- 
 ness and some appearance of ill faith on the part of 
 Turkey, there was the less sympathy for the disasters 
 which her arms ere long sustained. 
 
 The satisfaction of Pitt at the maintenance of peace 
 to England was grievously damped by the unhappy 
 news from Dublin. Besides the loss of Ins early friend, 
 there was the check to the prosperous course of Irish 
 business. There was the difficulty, and a very great 
 one, in the choice of a successor. To the surprise of 
 many persons the choice of Pitt fell upon the Marquis 
 of Buckingham. 
 
 With the prospect of a war impending, it was judged 
 right to convene the Parliament before Christinas. Par- 
 liament met accordingly on the 27th of November, after 
 the alarm had passed. During the last Session the 
 views of Fox had been so strongly expressed as Anti- 
 Gallican — he had in speaking of the Treaty of Com- 
 merce so thundered against all French objects and 
 French alliances — that he was already and by anticipa- 
 tion pledged to the approval of our recent policy with 
 respect to Holland. That approval he did express in 
 
 3 Letter of Count Woronzow, 
 published in the original French, 
 
 but without a date, in Toinline's 
 Life of Pitt, vol. ii. p. 316.
 
 352 LIFE OP PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 strong terms, though not without several qualifications 
 and reserves; and his approval ceased when the Mi- 
 nister proposed a permanent increase of our land forces 
 to the amount of 3,000 men for the better security of 
 our West Indian islands. " No person," said Pitt, " can 
 be more anxious on the subject of expense than I am. 
 But I contend that any moderate expense by which the 
 continuance of peace could be more firmly ensured is 
 true economy, and the best economy this country can 
 adopt. It is upon this principle, and after a full con- 
 sideration of the state of our finances, that I think it 
 would be wise to lay out 200,000?. in fortifications, and 
 8O,000Z. annually, the sum which the proposed augmen- 
 tation of troops would cost, for the purpose of strength- 
 ening those parts of our dominions which are discovered 
 to be weak and vulnerable, and of keeping them in such 
 a constant posture of defence as may deter any hostile 
 power from attempting to seize them by surprise." Fox 
 divided the House against the proposal, but it was af- 
 firmed by 242 votes against 80. 
 
 Before Christmas there was another subject of sharp 
 contention. The House of Lords having fixed the 13th 
 of February for the commencement of Hastings's Trial, 
 it became necessary for the House of Commons to ap- 
 point its Managers. The first place was by common 
 consent allowed to the genius, the long experience, and 
 the inexhaustible Indian knowledge of Burke. He was 
 desirous that Pitt and Dundas should also consent to act 
 as Managers, but from their ties of office they declined. 
 So likewise did Lord North, whose eye-sight had become 
 impaired, and whose health began to decline.
 
 1787. LIFE OF PITT. 353 
 
 On the whole then, upon the refusal of Pitt and of 
 Dundas to serve, the conductors of the Impeachment 
 came to be chosen wholly from the front rank of 
 Opposition. Besides Burke himself as Chairman, they 
 comprised Fox and Fitzpatrick, Burgoyne and Wind- 
 ham, Sheridan and Grey. No difference of opinion was 
 manifested until Burke proposed the name of Philip 
 Francis. At his name, and considering the rancorous 
 hostility against Hastings which Francis had even lately 
 shown, there arose in the minds of many Members a 
 strong feeling of disapprobation. The motion was 
 quickly negatived, but on another day it was renewed 
 by Fox. " It is not a question of argument, it is a 
 question of feeling," said Pitt. " Ought we to appoint 
 as our representative in the present Impeachment the 
 only person in the House who has upon a former oc- 
 casion been concerned in a personal contest — a duel — 
 with Mr. Hastings ? " Moreover, it is to be observed 
 that only a few months before Pitt had publicly charged 
 Francis with " dishonourable and disgraceful " proceed- 
 ings in the recent evidence of Captain Mercer. Never- 
 theless Dundas declared that he should vote for the ap- 
 pointment ; which, considering his close friendship with 
 Pitt at this period, and the cordial concert of measures 
 between them on every other point, appears extraordi- 
 nary, and is best explained perhaps by some previous 
 pledge or assurance unwarily given to Francis by Dun- 
 das. Francis himself spoke in his own case with great 
 ability, and, almost incredible as it may seem in him, 
 with great temper ; but on a division he was again 
 rejected by a majority of two to one.
 
 354 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 On the 1 7th of December the House of Commons 
 adjourned to the last day of January. Pitt immediately 
 availed t himself of his holidays to pay a visit to his 
 mother, but he returned to Downing Street on the last 
 day of December. 
 
 On the re-assembling of Parliament the public ex- 
 pectation was most eagerly turned to the great day as 
 it was termed — the 13th of February— the first of 
 Hastings's Trial. At length the great day came. 
 Westminster Hall was prepared. Thither at eleven in 
 the morning walked the Commons, Mr. Burke leading 
 the procession. He and the other Managers were clad 
 in Court attire, with bag wigs and swords, but the other 
 Members in their common dresses, and they took their 
 seats as respectively assigned them. Then, and not 
 till after they had mustered, the Peers began to move 
 in established form from their own Chamber. First 
 went the Clerks, then the Masters in Chancery, then the 
 Judges, ready to be consulted whenever any point of law 
 might arise, after them a Herald, then the Peers who 
 were minors and the eldest sons of Peers, then the Usher 
 of the Black Bod, then lastly the Lords of Parliament 
 themselves. 4 They wore their rich robes of scarlet with 
 rows of ermine and gold, and they walked two and two, 
 marshalled in their right rank by Garter King of Arms, 
 and the lowest in rank and precedency leading the way. 
 The first in their procession as the Junior Baron was cer- 
 
 4 See the rules, strictly accord- 
 ing to former precedent, laid down 
 in the Lords' Journals, February 5 
 and 11, 178S. One entry is, " that 
 
 the Members of the House of Com- 
 mons be there before the Lords 
 come."
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 355 
 
 tainly one of the most conspicuous of their number, 
 Lord Heathfield, lately raised to the peerage for his 
 heroic defence of Gibraltar. Walking by his side was 
 the statesman so long and bitterly denounced as the 
 Minister of back-stairs influence — as the sole dispenser 
 of the King's secret will — Charles Jenkinson, now Lord 
 Hawkesbury. The stately procession closed with the 
 Archbishops of York and Canterbury, the Duke of Nor- 
 folk as Earl Marshal, the Earl Camden as Lord Presi- 
 dent, and other high officers of ancient state ; then 
 came the Peers of the Blood Royal, the Prince of 
 Wales the last, and the whole ending by the Chan- 
 cellor, Lord Thurlow, as Chairman of the House. In 
 passing to their seats they all uncovered and bowed 
 to the Throne. The entire number present was of 
 Prelates eighteen, and of lay -Peers one hundred and 
 twenty-three. 5 
 
 The boxes and the galleries on every side were 
 thronged with ladies. There sat the Queen and the 
 four Princesses, not however having come in state, 
 nor sitting in the Royal box, but in the Duke of 
 Newcastle's. Much as they might be gazed at, still 
 more eager looks of curiosity perhaps were directed to 
 another quarter of the Hall, where Mrs. Fitzherbert 
 appeared. 
 
 Silence being first commanded, the Serjeant at Arms 
 made proclamation in quaint old phrase : " Warren 
 
 5 The number is variously stated I had forgotten that in the Journals 
 by different writers : thus, Lord of the House the names of the 
 Macaulay makes it " near a hun- Peers present each day are exactly 
 dred and seventy," and Mr. Gleig recorded, 
 "upwards of two hundred." They |
 
 356 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 Hastings, come forth ; save thee and thy Bail, or else thou 
 forfeits thy Eecognizance." Then every eye was turned 
 to see the accused man enter. He was dressed in a 
 plain poppy-coloured suit of clothes ; he seemed infirm 
 and ill, and moved forward slowly, with one of his 
 sureties at each side. He was attended also by his 
 Counsel, men of shining ability and high subsequent 
 rank : Law, afterwards Lord Ellenborough, and Chief 
 Justice of the King's Bench ; Dallas, afterwards Chief 
 Justice of the Common Pleas ; and Plumer, afterwards 
 Vice-Chancellor and Master of the Eolls. Thus did 
 Hastings advance to the Bar, where, as ancient form 
 prescribed, he dropped upon his knees until the Chan- 
 cellor bade liim rise. Once before in the previous 
 Session, when admitted to give bail, had Hastings 
 undergone the same humiliation. When he rose the 
 Chancellor next addressed him in a short speech as 
 opening the Trial, and Hastings replied in the follow- 
 ing few words : " My Lords, I am come to this high 
 tribunal equally impressed with a confidence in my own 
 integrity, and in the justice of the Court before which 
 I stand." 
 
 We may observe that in all this trying scene it was 
 the humiliation of the posture that seems to have 
 rankled most in Hastings's mind. In a letter some 
 months afterwards to his friend Mr. Thompson, we find 
 him say : " I can with truth affirm that I have borne 
 with indifference all the base treatment I have had 
 dealt to me — all except the ignominious ceremonial of 
 kneeling before the House." 
 
 But the interest of this great day wholly ceased as
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 357 
 
 soon as the preliminaries ended and the business itself 
 began. For then the Clerk at the Table was directed 
 to read forth at length the Charges and the Answers 
 — documents already well known to one part of the 
 audience, and nearly unintelligible to the other. The 
 Clerk read on so long as daylight lasted, but then 
 he had only reached the close of the seventh article, 
 and the remainder were reserved to consume the second 
 day. 
 
 On the third day of the great Trial Burke rose and 
 commenced his opening speech, designed as a general 
 introduction to all the Charges. It extended through 
 four days : a sustained and wonderful effort of elo- 
 quence, worthy the man, the occasion, and the audience. 
 Even the hostile Chancellor Avas stirred to some cordial 
 words of admiration. 
 
 On a subsequent day the Charge relating to Cheyte 
 Sing was opened by Fox, with the aid of Grey. In 
 such hands we may be well assured that the weapon of 
 attack was brandished with shining lustre and hurled 
 with unerring aim. Of the future Premier of King 
 William the Fourth we find Burke write about this 
 time to Sheridan in an almost prophetic strain : " Grey 
 has done much, and will do everything." 
 
 The next case, that of the Begums of Oude, had 
 been entrusted to the care of Sheridan. He made 
 a speech, not equalling indeed his own master-piece 
 upon the same subject in the House of Commons, yet 
 still in a high degree beautiful and brilliant. While it 
 was still in progress— and it took up three entire days 
 — Burke, who stood next to Fox, turning round to
 
 
 358 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 him, exclaimed : " There — that is the true style — some- 
 thing between poetry and prose, and better than 
 either!" 6 
 
 The public interest which had been so keen and 
 eager at the opening of Hastings's Trial, and during 
 the great orations of his principal antagonists, soon 
 afterwards ebbed, and never rose high again. In the 
 first place the gloss of novelty had worn away. But 
 above all, there had now to the splendours of a pageant 
 or to the triumphs of eloquence, succeeded the dull 
 realities of business. Instead of Heralds and Kings at 
 Arms glittering in state-dresses, or Burke and Fox 
 rivalling the records of Greek and Roman fame, there 
 were now the Clerks mumbling forth tedious docu- 
 ments, or Counsel brow-beating reluctant witnesses. 
 Another dispiriting circumstance was the slow progress 
 made. Even in the Court of Chancery it could scarcely 
 have been slower. During the Session of 1788 the 
 Peers sat thirty-five days in Westminster Hall, yet the 
 Managers for the Impeachment could do no more than 
 complete their second Charge ; and it was plain that 
 years must roll away ere any decision was pro- 
 nounced. 
 
 There was a wish in some quarters to urge yet another 
 impeachment — that of Sir Elijah Impey, the first Chief 
 Justice of India under the Act of 1773. Early in the 
 Session Sir Gilbert Elliot had brought forward six 
 Charges against him. Sir Elijah, now a Member of the 
 House, spoke at great length and with no mean ability 
 
 6 Life of Sheridan, by Moore, vol. i. p. 523.
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 359 
 
 in his own defence. The discussion was resumed in 
 May, when Pitt declared that in no view could any cor- 
 rupt motive be brought home to Sir Elijah Impey, and 
 that he had never voted with a more decided conviction 
 of mind than in giving his negative to the present 
 motion. Yet when the House divided at past seven in 
 the morning, the majority in Sir Elijah's favour was by 
 no means a large one : only 73 against 55. All idea, 
 however, of an impeachment fell to the ground. 
 
 Pitt had also been not a little busy with another 
 Indian question in the House of Commons. The alarm 
 of war having ceased, the East India Directors were 
 found no longer willing, as they had been while that 
 alarm prevailed, to send out troops in then- ships to 
 India, or to maintain them after they had landed. 
 These gentlemen asserted that unless they had them- 
 selves made a requisition for a further military force, 
 they were not liable to defray it under the Act of 
 1781, which they considered as still binding ; and they 
 supported their view of the case by the opinion of 
 several eminent Counsel. On the other hand, Mr. Pitt, 
 upheld by the Crown Lawyers, contended that the 
 Act of 1784 had transferred to the Board of Control all 
 the powers and authorities which had been formerly 
 vested in the Court of Directors ; and that those parts 
 of the Act of 1781 inconsistent with the Act of 1784 
 were by the latter virtually if not expressly repealed. 
 
 It was impossible to allow any uncertainty to remain 
 on so important a point. On the 25th of February Mr. 
 Pitt moved for leave to bring in a Bill for removing any 
 doubts as to the power of the Commissioners for the
 
 300 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 Affairs of India in defraying from the Indian revenues 
 the charge of transporting and maintaining troops. It 
 was commonly called the India Declaratory Bill. 
 
 The Directors on their part presented a petition 
 against the Bill, and on the 3rd of March they were 
 heard by their Counsel at the Bar. They had sent 
 Erskine and Rous. Erskine seems to have shown, as 
 usual with him whenever he had not a jury to address, 
 an entire miscalculation of the feelings of his audience. 
 His two speeches, delivered the same day, are described 
 in no complimentary terms in a letter addressed to the 
 Marquis of Buckingham at Dublin Castle, by the Earl 
 of Mornington, afterwards the Marquis Wellesley. Al- 
 lowance must certainly be made for a strong bias both 
 of party spirit and of personal regard to Mr. Pitt. Yet 
 still we find the writer in positive terms refer as fol- 
 lows to the second speech : " Erskine now spoke for 
 near two hours, and delivered the most stupid, gross, 
 and indecent libel against Pitt that ever was imagined. 
 The abuse was so monstrous that the House hissed him 
 at his conclusion." 
 
 The result of this evening was by no means unfa- 
 vourable to the Minister. " Pitt," says Lord Morning- 
 ton, " took no sort of notice of Erskine's Billingsgate ;" 
 and the division was a very good one. " We reckon this 
 a great triumph," so Lord Mornington continues. But 
 the next ensuing debate took an adverse turn. Only two 
 days later the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland received a far 
 from satisfactory letter from his brother William. " I am 
 very sorry," so writes Mr. Grenville on the 6th of March, 
 "to send you in return for all your good news an account
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 361 
 
 from hence of a very different nature. . . . You 
 must often have observed that of all impressions the 
 most difficult to be removed are those which have 
 no reason whatever to support them, because against 
 them no reasoning can be applied. Under one of these 
 impressions the question of the Speaker's leaving the 
 Chair (on the Declaratory Bill) came on last night, and 
 after debating till seven this morning, we divided in a 
 majority of only 57 : Ayes 182, Noes 125. So many of 
 our friends were against us in this division that I have 
 serious apprehensions of our being beat either to-morrow 
 on the Report, or Monday on the Third Beading. . . . 
 What hurt us, I believe materially, last night, was that 
 Pitt, who had reserved himself to answer Fox, was just 
 at the close of a very able speech of Fox's taken so ill as 
 not to be able to speak at all, so that the House went 
 to the division with the whole impression of our adver- 
 saries' arguments in a great degree unanswered. I had 
 spoken early in the debate, and Dundas just before Fox. 
 I think this is the most unpleasant thing of the sort that 
 has ever happened to us." 
 
 A few days afterwards we find another Member, Lord 
 Bulkeley, supply Lord Buckingham with some further 
 details. Lord Bulkeley, I may observe, unlike Lord Mor- 
 nington or Mr. Grenville, was a Member of no weight 
 and authority, and judged from his own letters may be 
 regarded as a gossiping, shallow man ; yet still he appears 
 a fair witness as to what he may himself have seen or 
 heard in the House of Commons. " Your brother 
 William," so he writes to the Marquis, " suffered a mor- 
 tification last Wednesday (the 5th) which I am told has 
 
 VOL. i. k
 
 362 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 vexed him. The moment he got up to speak, the House 
 cleared as it used to do at one time when Burke got 
 up. I hope it proceeded from accident, for if it con- 
 tinues it must hint him very essentially. The day after 
 he was in uncommon low spirits and croaked very 
 much. There seems a general complaint of Pitt's young 
 friends who never get up to speak, and I am not sur- 
 prised at their timidity, for Fox, Sheridan, Burke, and 
 Barre are formidable opponents on the ground they now 
 stand upon. Young Grey has not yet spoke on either 
 of these last days, and he is hitherto a superior four- 
 year-old to any of our side. 
 
 " But," so continues Lord Bulkeley in the same letter, 
 " these triumphs were, however, of short duration to the 
 Opposition, for on Friday (the 7th) Pitt made one of 
 the best and most masterly speeches he ever made, and 
 turned the tables effectually on Opposition by ac- 
 quiescing in such shackles as they chose to put on the 
 article of patronage, all which they had pressed from an 
 idea that Pitt on that point would be inflexible. This 
 speech of Pitt's infused spirit into his friends. Dundas 
 spoke very well, and contrary to expectation so did 
 Scott and Macdonald. Government kept up their num- 
 bers in the division, and Opposition lost ten." 7 
 
 The changes made by Pitt in this Bill were, it seems, 
 fully sufficient to obviate the objections winch it had 
 raised. There was no serious difficulty in any of its 
 further stages either in the Commons or in the Lords. 
 
 7 For the letters to Lord Buck- I and Cabinets of George the Third." 
 ingharn in Ireland see the 'Courts I vol. i. p. 356-3G3.
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 363 
 
 Pitt brought forward the Budget on the 5th of May. 
 It was a most satisfactory statement of the national 
 finances. The extraordinary expenses of the year 
 amounted to no less than 1,282,000^., which arose chiefly 
 from the late armament and from the payment of the 
 debts of the Prince of Wales. Yet such was the flou- 
 rishing state of the revenue that it afforded the means 
 of defraying all these expenses without incurring either 
 a loan or new taxes, and without any interruption to 
 the progress of the Sinking Fund. 
 
 In this estimate, however, Pitt observed that he did 
 not include one article of large amount and of a peculiar 
 nature, as to which he would explain Ins plan on a 
 future day — he alluded to the claims of the American 
 Lovalists. 
 
 In considering the case of these ill-fated men, it may, 
 I think, be asserted that the conduct of some at least 
 of the United States since the Treaty with England, so 
 far from being conciliatory, had not been even just. On 
 this point we may fairly appeal to the testimony of one 
 of their most eminent statesmen, John Adams, at this 
 time American Minister at the Court of St. James's. 
 Thus do we find him write in strict confidence to a kins- 
 man of his own at Boston : " The most insuperable 
 bar to all my negotiations here has been laid by those 
 States which have made laws against the Treaty. The 
 Massachusetts is one of them. The law for suspending 
 execution for British debts, however coloured or dis- 
 guised, I make no scruple to say to you is a direct 
 breach of the Treaty. Did my ever dear, honoured, and 
 beloved Massachusetts mean to break her public faith ? 
 
 R 2
 
 364 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 I cannot believe it of her. Let her then repeal the law 
 without delay." 8 
 
 But these commercial obstacles, however far from just, 
 did not weigh so heavily in England as the denial of 
 even the most qualified forgiveness to the former ad- 
 herents of the Eoyal cause. That some indulgence, or 
 rather some mitigation of severity, might have been 
 shown them soon after the peace by their victorious 
 countrymen, was the opinion at this time of no less a 
 man than Dr. Franklin; 9 but this the rancour of the 
 recent conflict unhappily prevented. The recommenda- 
 tions on this subject to the Legislatures of the several 
 States, as enjoined by the Treaty of Peace, had been 
 made in the coldest terms, and merely as a matter of 
 form. Thus it became obvious that if any provision at 
 all was to be made for the American Loyalists, the en- 
 tire weight of it must fall on England. 
 
 Under these circumstances, and the claims pouring in 
 in great numbers and on every possible plea, Pitt had 
 early in his administration named several Commissioners 
 to sift and report upon the divers cases. The inquiry 
 proved long and laborious. Three thousand applications 
 had been sent in by heads of families, and of these no 
 more than two-thirds could be heard and decided in 
 England. For the remainder it was necessary to depute 
 Commissioners both to Canada and Nova Scotia ; and 
 thus Avhole years elapsed ; but meanwhile the sum of 
 500,000?. had been allotted to meet the more pressing 
 
 8 Letter dated May 26, 17SG, 
 Works, vol. ix. p. 548. 
 
 9 See a passage in his collected 
 Works, vol. x. p. 324, ed. 1844.
 
 1788. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 305 
 
 cases of distress. 1 At length the inquiries having been 
 closed, and the reports presented, Pitt took the whole 
 subject into review ; and in the comprehensive scheme 
 which he formed upon it, sought to combine the two 
 main objects of compassion and economy. He divided 
 the Loyalists into three classes. The first and most 
 deserving to consist of those who had been resident in 
 America at the commencement of the war, and who, in 
 consequence of their attachment to the Crown, had been 
 driven into exile and despoiled of their estates. The 
 second class of those who had been resident in England, 
 but who had lost property in America. The third of 
 those who had either held places or exercised professions 
 in America, and had been compelled to leave that 
 country by the war. With this division of classes, Pitt 
 proposed that the smaller claims (those under 10,00(17.) 
 should be paid in full, while on the others there should 
 be a per-centage of deduction, increasing as the claim 
 increased, and also according to the class. Yet with all 
 these deductions there was still one sum of 70,000?. 
 awarded to a single claim — that of Mr. Harford ; and the 
 total sum to be distributed, in addition to the half million 
 already advanced, amounted to 1,228,000?. Further, it 
 was proposed that the money should be paid by instal- 
 ments, to be raised by the profits of a lottery to com- 
 mence in the following year. 
 
 1 The most authentic history 
 (or, as the writer prefers calling it, 
 " historical view ") of the proceed- 
 ings of this Commission was pub- 
 lished iu 1815 by Mr. John Eard- 
 
 ley Wilmot, who had been one of 
 the Commissioners. See also an 
 able work on the American Loyal- 
 ists by Mr. Lorenzo Sabine, p. 99, 
 &c, Boston, 1857.
 
 366 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 This scheme, comprising also a settlement of the East 
 Florida claims to the further extent of 113,000?., was wel- 
 comed by all parties in the House as no less generous 
 than prudent and well framed. Both Burke and Fox rose 
 to express their approbation, and it passed unanimously. 
 Thus was afforded to the world a great and memorable, 
 and it may even be said unparalleled, example of 
 national bounty and consideration at the close of an 
 unprosperous war. Seldom indeed, either in public or 
 in private, do we find gratitude evinced and rewards 
 bestowed for zeal which has proved altogether un- 
 availing, and for services that can never be renewed. 
 
 The Session of 1788 is further memorable for the 
 first steps in Parliament for the abolition of the Slave 
 Trade. In the earlier part of the century that traffic — 
 the Asiento, as in one word it was emphatically called — 
 had been by no means a matter of shame. It was 
 anxiously sought by commercial enterprise. It was as 
 anxiously secured by diplomatic treaties. The public 
 feeling began to be turned against it by the case of 
 James Somersett in 1772. Somersett was an African 
 slave who had been brought to England by his master, 
 but having there absconded was by that master seized 
 and sent on shipboard. The case being referred to the 
 Judges, it was by them at last established as a fixed 
 principle of law, that as soon as any slave sets his foot 
 upon English ground he becomes free. 
 
 A lull ensued upon the subject during the American 
 contest ; but the Quakers especially had become alive 
 to the iniquity of the traffic in slaves. It is much 
 to their honour that when in May, 1787, a Committee
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 367 
 
 of Management was formed against it, with a bene- 
 volent gentleman, Mr. Granville Sharpe, as Chairman, 
 there were only two of the twelve members of that 
 Committee who did not belong to the Society of 
 " Friends." 
 
 Among those who at this early period took an active 
 part in the good cause may be named Sir Charles and 
 Lady Middleton, Mr. Bennet Langton, the Kev. James 
 Ramsay (who had recently published an ' Essay on the 
 Treatment of the Slaves,' derived from his own observa- 
 tion in the West India Islands), and last, not least, Mr. 
 Thomas Clarkson, whose great labours and services art' 
 not to be obscured even by his own undue exaggeration 
 of them. But in the arduous struggle that now com- 
 menced against the partisans of Slavery, by far the 
 greatest share of praise and honour belongs as of right 
 to the honoured name of Wilberforce. 
 
 Already had the mind of Mr. Wilberforce been 
 trained and moulded for this, as it proved, the main 
 business of his life. In the course of the year 178.") he 
 had received a strong religious impulse, and deter- 
 mined to apply himself solely to religious objects. He 
 wrote to his principal friends to explain his change of 
 views. Some of them received the communication with 
 displeasure. One of them angrily threw his letter into 
 the fire. Still less did the Opposition in the first in- 
 stance show him that reverent confidence whicli in 
 after years he so fully attained. Thus, for instance, in 
 the mock Journal of Mr. Dundas, which is annexed to 
 some editions of the ' Rolliad,' there is an entry from 
 this very year 1788 : — " Came home in a very melan-
 
 368 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 cboly mood — drank a glass of brandy — determined to 
 reform, and sent to Wilberforce for a good book — a 
 very worthy and religious young man that — like him 
 much — always votes with us." 
 
 It was natural that with these earnest aspirations 
 Mr. Wilberforce should now apply himself to ascertain 
 how far the charges against the Slave Traders were or 
 were not well founded. In his own words : — " I got toge- 
 ther at my house, from time to time, persons who knew 
 anything about the matter. . . . When I had acquired 
 so much information, I began to talk the matter over 
 with Pitt and Grenville. Pitt recommended me to 
 undertake its conduct as a subject suited to my cha- 
 racter and talents. At length, I well remember, after 
 a conversation in the open air, at the root of an old tree 
 at Holwood, just above the steep descent into the vale 
 of Keston, I resolved to give notice, on a fit occasion, 
 in the House of Commons, of my intention to bring the 
 subject forward." 
 
 I may add that this very tree, conspicuous for its 
 gnarled and projecting root, on which the two friends 
 had sat, is still pointed out at Holwood, and is known 
 by the name of " Wilberforce's oak." 
 
 In this concert of measures Pitt agreed that a 
 Committee of the Privy Council should, be appointed 
 to take evidence on the African trade. Wilberforce on 
 his part gave notice of a motion in the House of 
 Commons. But by this time the West India merchants 
 and planters were thoroughly alarmed. They urged 
 the Members for Liverpool and other great ports to 
 make a determined stand. They prepared some texts
 
 1788. LIFE OF TITT. 369 
 
 of the Old Testament which they thought convenient 
 for their purpose. They brought forward witnesses 
 to prove not merely the necessity, but the absolute 
 humanity, of the Slave Trade. And even the zeal of 
 Wilberforce could not hide from himself the probable 
 strength and power of that great interest. Here is one 
 entry' from his journal at the commencement of 1788 : 
 "Called at Pitt's at night: he firm about African 
 trade, though w T e begin to perceive more difficulties in 
 the way than we had hoped there would be." 
 
 It so chanced, that ere the day appointed for the 
 motion the health of Mr. "Wilberforce failed. He 
 found himself disabled from active business, and com- 
 pelled to try the waters of Bath. Before he went, 
 however, he obtained from Pitt a promise that if his 
 illness should continue through the spring, Pitt himself 
 would supply his place. Accordingly, on the 9th of 
 May, the Prime Minister rose to move a Eesolution, 
 " That this House will early in the next Session proceed 
 to take into consideration the circumstances of the 
 Slave Trade." With a reserve imposed upon him by 
 official duty, he added that he should forbear from 
 stating or even glancing at his own opinion until the 
 moment of discussion should arrive. " I understand, 
 however," said Fox, "that the opinion of the Bight 
 Hon. Gentleman is prima facie the same as my own. 
 . . . For myself I have no scruple to declare that the 
 Slave Trade ought not to be regulated, but destroyed. 
 To this opinion my mind is pretty nearly made up. . . . 
 I have considered the subject very minutely, and did 
 intend to have brought something forward in the House 
 
 b 3
 
 370 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 respecting it. But I rejoice that it should be in the 
 hands of the Hon. Member for Yorkshire rather than in 
 mine. From him I honestly think that it will come 
 with more weight, more authority, and more probability 
 of success." These words, which redound so highly to 
 Mr. Fox's honour, were followed by words not less 
 decided from Mr. Burke and from Sir William Dolben, 
 Member for the University of Oxford. 
 
 Against an array of opinions such as these, Mr. 
 Bamber Gascoyne and Lord Penrhyn, the Members 
 for Liverpool, and almost officially the spokesmen for 
 the Slave Trade, could make no effectual stand. They 
 deemed it wisest to let the Resolution pass unopposed, 
 and to reserve their strength for the ensuing year. 
 And that strength was certainly far greater than at 
 first it seemed. The opinion of Mr. Pitt had not 
 prevailed with all his colleagues. Lord Thurlow, 
 above all, was, and continued to be, favourable to 
 the Slave Trade, and unhappily he found means to 
 instil nearly the same prejudice into the mind of the 
 King. 
 
 These differences came to light much sooner than was 
 expected. Sir William Dolben and some of his friends 
 had gone to see with their own eyes the actual state of 
 a slave-ship then fitting out in the Thames. They 
 came back deeply impressed with pity, indignation, and 
 shame. They found, as Sir W T illiam afterwards declared 
 in the House of Commons, that the poor slaves had not 
 one yard square allowed them to live in. Moreover, in 
 that narrow space they were loaded with shackles. 
 They were fastened together hand to hand and foot to
 
 1788. 
 
 LIFE OF FITT. 
 
 371 
 
 foot, 2 The suffering and the sickness that must ensue 
 might be readily conceived, and could scarcely be 
 exaggerated. Not a moment, said Sir William, 
 should be lost in arresting such intolerable evils and 
 abuses. Accordingly, while he left the general ques- 
 tion as already voted for debate in the ensuing year, he 
 brought in a temporary Bill providing divers precau- 
 tions, and above all limiting the numbers to be con- 
 veyed — one slave to each ton of the vessel's burden. 
 
 At the introduction of this Bill the Members for 
 Liverpool raised a piteous cry. They denounced it 
 both as unnecessary and as ruinous. In their resent- 
 ment they appear to have even taunted Sir William 
 Dolben as unmindful of former hospitality. " I should 
 indeed be a most ungrateful man," said Dolben, " if I 
 forgot the merchants of Liverpool. I believe that I 
 have eaten more turtle there than anywhere else in 
 the course of my life : but I would readily give up 
 their turtle and Burgundy for mock-turtle and plain 
 Port if they would consent to forego some part of their 
 profits for the sake of better accommodation to the 
 poor negroes while on ship-board." 
 
 The Bill of Sir William Dolben being moderate in 
 its aim and supported both by Pitt and Fox, passed 
 triumphantly through the Commons. But in the other 
 House Lord Thurlow fell upon it with great fury. He 
 was backed by two Peers who had gained just distinc- 
 tion in a better cause — Lord Heathfield and Lord 
 
 2 See the plan of a slave-ship 
 inserted as a print in Clarkson's 
 
 History of the Abolition, vol. ii. 
 p. 110.
 
 372 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 Kodney. And it was with great difficulty, and not 
 until the last day of the Session, that there passed a 
 measure on the subject, though curtailed of its first 
 proportions. 
 
 The result so far, however, was encouraging to the 
 Committee of Management under Mr. Granville Sharpe. 
 They despatched Mr. Clarkson as their agent from 
 place to place, partly to obtain information, and partly 
 to diffuse their opinions. For their own seal they had 
 chosen a design well adapted for popular effect. It 
 represented an African in chains, kneeling with one 
 knee upon the ground, and raising his hands in sup- 
 plication, while around him the motto ran : " Am I not 
 a man and a brother ? " 
 
 Of the gross exaggerations and misstatements which 
 were at this time put forward in defence of the Slave 
 Trade one instance may suffice. Several of the dealers 
 or captains had not scrupled to assert that the Middle 
 Passage was perhaps the happiest period of the negroes' 
 lives ; that they were constantly well fed ; that the 
 close air below in the holds was congenial to their 
 frame of body ; and that when upon deck they made 
 merry and amused themselves with their national 
 dances. But the real facts were disclosed by the 
 evidence before the Privy Council. It was found that 
 the poor wretches were chained two and two together, 
 and secured by ring-bolts to the lower decks. The 
 allowance for each was one pint of water daily, and 
 they had two meals of yams and horse-beans. After 
 eating they were loosened from their rings, and allowed 
 to jump up in their irons, as an exercise necessary for
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 373 
 
 their health ; and for that reason it was not only per- 
 mitted but urged on them by lashes whenever they 
 refused. And such, then, were the " national dances " 
 which had been so boldly and boastfully alleged ! 
 
 In comparing the controversies on Slave Trade and 
 on Slavery as they once prevailed in England, and as 
 they still prevail in the United States, Ave may feel 
 some surprise as we observe how much they run in 
 opposite directions. With us the defence was based 
 in the first instance on such arguments as the supposed 
 predictions of Holy Writ, or the personal interest of 
 the slave-dealers to study the good health and well- 
 being of their slaves. By degrees these arguments 
 were utterly refuted and overthrown. Then the advo- 
 cates of the existing system, while acknowledging the 
 general considerations against it to be irresistible, took 
 their stand on what lawyers would have termed a dila- 
 tory plea. They contended, and certainly with great 
 truth, that the question was no longer a plain and 
 simple one, but had become interwoven with many 
 practical considerations ; that care must be taken of 
 the interests which had grown up under a system which 
 the law had sanctioned ; and that even for the sake of 
 the negroes themselves the great work of their Eman- 
 cipation should be accomplished by slow degrees. In 
 America the course of the discussion has been the very 
 reverse. We may learn from such high authorities as 
 the letters of Washington or the travels of Tocque- 
 ville that till within these thirty years the force of the 
 general arguments against Slave Trade and Slavery 
 was not denied, and that the planters of the south,
 
 374 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. X. 
 
 with few exceptions, relied, as they justly might, on the 
 particular grounds for caution and delay. But since 
 that time there has been taken a large step in advance. 
 Slavery is no longer excused as an existing evil 
 rendered necessary by especial circumstances, and to 
 endure only for a time, but is rather vindicated as a 
 laudable and lasting "institution." Nay, there are 
 even found some clergymen among them so keen and 
 thorough-going as to say — and not only to say, but to 
 preach — that Slavery as a permanent system is perfectly 
 consistent with, or rather enjoined by, the leading prin- 
 ciples of the Gospel.
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 375 
 
 CHAPTEK XL 
 
 1788. 
 
 Official changes and appointments — Treaties of Defensive Allianci 
 with Holland and Prussia — Mental alienation of the King — Pitt's 
 measures — Prince of Wales consults Lord Loughborough ■ — Mani- 
 festation of national sympathy — Objects of Pitt and Thurlow — 
 Meeting of Parliament — The King's removal to Kew — Fox's 
 return from Italy. 
 
 The Session of 1788, marked both by important mea- 
 sures and by eloquent debates, was closed on the 11th 
 of July by a Speech from the Throne. Even before 
 its close Mr. Pitt had been much intent on some official 
 changes and new appointments. On the chief of these 
 we find him write to his mother as follows : — 
 
 " Downing Street, June 19, 1788. 
 
 " My dear Mother, 
 
 "You have been infinitely good, as usual, in 
 making more allowance than could fairly be claimed 
 for the calls of business as well as for some necessary 
 intervals of idleness. I feel, however, really ashamed 
 of having availed myself so long of the latitude you 
 gave. Business is now fairly at an end in the House 
 of Commons, and will probably finish in the House 
 of Lords so as to admit of the Prorogation in the 
 course of next week. The Session ends most satis- 
 factorily, and its close will be accompanied by some 
 events which add not a little to that satisfaction. I
 
 376 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 feel, indeed, no small pleasure in having to eornmu- 
 nicate a piece of neAvs which will, I believe, fully 
 make up for my long silence, and which you will be 
 as happy in hearing as I am in telling. It is no other 
 than this, that a new arrangement in the Admiralty 
 is, from various circumstances, become unavoidable, 
 that Lord Howe must be succeeded by a landsman, and 
 that landsman is my brother. I have had some doubts 
 whether the public may not think this too much like 
 monopoly, but that doubt is not sufficient to counter- 
 balance the personal comfort which will result from 
 it and the general advantage to the whole of our 
 system. You will, I am sure, be happy to hear that 
 Lord Howe does not quit without a public mark of 
 honour by a fresh step in the peerage, without which, 
 I own, I should feel more regret than I cau pretend 
 to do now. Another event which you will not be 
 sorry to learn is the conclusion of a very satisfactory 
 alliance with Russia, which will probably lead to a 
 very secure and permanent system of Continental 
 
 politics 
 
 " I am going, the end of next week, if our arrange- 
 ment is by that time completed, for a few days to 
 Cambridge, and a fortnight or three weeks after will, 
 I hope, bring me to Burton. Be so good as to let my 
 news remain an entire secret, as it should not transpire 
 till it takes effect. 
 
 " Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 The same appointment is thus referred to in a letter 
 from Mr. G-renville to his brother in Ireland : 
 
 " Pitt's intention is to place his brother at the head 
 of the Admiralty, giving him Sir Charles Middleton
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 377 
 
 and Hood for assistants, and prevailing with Mul- 
 grave, *if possible, to accept the Comptrollership of the 
 Navy. I have no doubt of this arrangement being in 
 general very acceptable. The great popularity of 
 Lord Chatham's manners and his near connexion with 
 Pitt are, I think, sufficient to remove the impression 
 of any objection in the public opinion from his being 
 brought forward in the first instance in so responsible 
 a situation. To those who know him there can be no 
 doubt that his abilities are fully equal to the under- 
 taking, arduous as it is ; and to those who do not, Sir 
 Charles Middleton's name and character will hold out a 
 solution." 
 
 The offer to Sir Charles Middleton was, it seems, 
 declined ; but Lord Hood was appointed a Lord of 
 the Admiralty, under the Earl of Chatham as chief. 
 Lord Hood was a distinguished Admiral, in 17S2 
 created an Irish Peer. In May, 1784, he had been 
 at the head of the poll for Westminster ; but in August, 
 1788, on appealing to his constituents for re-election, 
 he was defeated by Lord John Townshend, the numbers 
 — after fifteen days' poll — being 6392 against 5569. 
 It was a considerable triumph to the Opposition, and 
 they extolled it as such. 
 
 The appointment of Lord Chatham himself, though 
 in the first instance well received by the public, did 
 not by any means fulfil the expectations it had raised. 
 As First Lord of the Admiralty the brother of Pitt 
 showed but little aptitude for business, and none at all 
 for debate ; and from his want of punctuality in his 
 appointments he came to be often nicknamed " the late 
 Lord Chatham."
 
 378 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 In June, 1788, Lord Mansfield had at last retired 
 from the Bench, and he survived in retirement till the 
 year 1793 and till the great age of eighty-eight. He 
 retired perhaps a little too late for his renown, con- 
 sidering the infirmities which for some time past had 
 pressed upon him. "Lord Mansfield is totally inca- 
 pable of doing his duty, and is in great bodily pain." 
 So writes Lord Sydney in January, 1787. "Lord 
 Mansfield is at Bath, sleeps everywhere but in bed, 
 receives his quarter's salary, and does not resign." So 
 writes General Grant in April the same year. 1 
 
 Sir Lloyd Kenyon now became Chief Justice, with a 
 peerage as Lord Kenyon. The office of Master of 
 the Bolls, left vacant by this promotion, was designed 
 by Pitt for his early friend Pepper Arden, now Attor- 
 ney-General. But Lord Thurlow offered a fierce re- 
 sistance. He claimed the office of the Rolls as under 
 his own gift, and for some time declared — no doubt 
 with abundance of oaths — that he would sooner resign 
 the Great Seal than put it to Arden 's patent. But Pitt 
 was resolute, and Thurlow at last, though still growling, 
 gave way. 
 
 In due course, accordingly, Pepper Arden was ap- 
 pointed Master of the Rolls, and Macdonald, from 
 Solicitor, Attorney-General. The vacant office of 
 Solicitor-General was, to the high satisfaction of the 
 Bar, conferred upon Scott, who had long since retrieved 
 the discredit of his first abortive effort in the House of 
 Commons. The King, on this occasion, laid down a 
 
 1 See the Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. i. p. 256 and 2S7.
 
 1788. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 379 
 
 rule which has ever since been observed, that the 
 Attorney and Solicitor-General, as also the Judges, shall, 
 if not "Honourable" by birth, be always knighted. 2 
 His Majesty's object was to keep up the reputation 
 of the Order of Knighthood, which at this time had 
 greatly declined. Accordingly, Macdonald became Sir 
 Archibald, and Scott Sir John. The latter, at least, 
 was by no means well pleased. We find him write as 
 follows to his brother Henry : " I kissed the King's 
 hand yesterday as Solicitor-General. The King, in 
 spite of my teeth, laid his sword upon my shoulder and 
 bade Sir John arise. At this last instance of his Royal 
 favour I have been much disconcerted ; but I cannot 
 help myself, and so T sing — 
 
 ' Oho the delight 
 To be a gallant knight ! ' 
 
 My wife is persecuted with her new title, and we laugh 
 at her from morning till evening." 
 
 But the Chancellor continued full of wrath. He 
 was already incensed with the Prime Minister on two 
 other grounds — the vote of Pitt for the impeachment 
 of Hastings, and the motion of Pitt against the Slave 
 Trade. Now the fresh point of office caused his 
 resentment to boil over and to manifest itself without 
 control. On the 12th of June we find the King, in 
 writing to Pitt, appeal to his "good temper," which 
 His Majesty hoped would make him "feel for weak- 
 ness " in his colleague. Pitt having carried his point, 
 
 2 Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, vol. vii. p. 84.
 
 * 
 
 380 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 did not desire to prosecute the quarrel ; but there ceased 
 to be any intimacy or even any intercourse, except of 
 the most formal kind, between these brother Ministers. 
 
 The Treaty of Defensive Alliance with Holland 
 being brought to a conclusion and signed in the course 
 of this spring, Mr. Pitt proposed to the King to confer 
 a peerage on its negotiator, Sir James Harris. His 
 Majesty consented on condition that Sh* Joseph Yorke, 
 for many years previous his ambassador at the Hague, 
 should, as an act of justice, receive the same distinction. 
 Accordingly Sir James became Lord Malinesbury, and 
 Sir Joseph Lord Dover. 
 
 The defensive alliance with Holland was speedily fol- 
 lowed by another to the same effect with Prussia. Pre- 
 liminary articles were signed at Loo on the 13th of 
 June, and the treaty itself at Berlin on the 13th of 
 August. The negotiator was Mr. Joseph Ewart, a man 
 of considerable ability, selected by Pitt as Minister to 
 the Court of Frederick William. Besides the customary 
 articles of mutual guarantee, England and Prussia 
 bound themselves to act at all times in concert for the 
 purpose of maintaining the security and independence 
 of the United Provinces. It was, therefore, in fact a 
 trij)le defensive alliance. 
 
 Thus in only four years and a half of Mr. Pitt's ad- 
 ministration had England been extricated from her 
 single and defenceless state at the close of the last war. 
 Then, besides her old claim on Portugal, she had re- 
 mained without a single ally. Now if France were 
 willing to remain at peace, there was a Treaty of Com- 
 merce to engage her in more friendly relations. If,
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 381 
 
 on the other hand, France desired to renew her aggres- 
 sive schemes on Holland or on any other power, we had 
 acquired the Stadtholder as restored to his just autho- 
 rity, and also the King of Prussia, for allies. 
 
 In this summer, as in the last, Pitt had hoped to pay 
 a visit to his friend at the Lakes. " Pitt promises to 
 steal down to me for a few clays," so writes Wilberforce 
 at this time. But in this summer, as in the last, the 
 pressure of business forbade it. The affairs of Sweden 
 now began, as I shall show hereafter, to cause some 
 solicitude and to require a vigilant control. Even the 
 ultimate object of Pitt, a visit to Lady Chathanij could 
 not be accomplished without much delay. Thus he 
 writes : 
 
 " Downing Street, August 29, 1788. 
 
 " My dear Mothee, 
 
 " I have been every day, for I know not how 
 long, hoping to be able to tell you the day when I 
 should have the happiness of seeing you at Burton ; 
 but, as too often has happened, every day has brought 
 some fresh incident to put it off. This week would, I 
 believe, have pretty nearly enabled me to speak posi- 
 tively, but an accidental cold (which has no other in- 
 convenience than a swelled face and the impossibility 
 of going to St. James's) will oblige me to defer till 
 next week the conclusion of business which I hoped to 
 have got rid of this. The exact time, and the interval 
 for which I can be at liberty, must at all events depend 
 upon news from abroad, where so many things are going 
 on, that although we have every reason to be certain 
 that no consequences can arise otherwise than favour- 
 able to us, a good deal of watching is necessary. My
 
 382 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 hope was to have been able to make a pretty long stay 
 at once whenever I reach Burton ; but even if that 
 should not be the case, I can do it at twice, and I am 
 pretty sure of a good deal of leisure in the course of the 
 interval before Parliament meets. 
 
 " To-day brings no news from Paris of a fresh change. 
 The Archbishop has resigned, and Necker is made 
 Minister of Finance, which is probably the best thing 
 that could happen for that country, and in the manner 
 of it very glorious for him ; but he will have no easy 
 task to go through with. 
 
 " I think my brother is now really at the eve of being- 
 able to move again. I shall probably see him esta- 
 blished at Wimbledon before I leave this neighbourhood, 
 and with no other confinement but that of business, 
 which will be a luxury after the other. My kindest love 
 to Eliot, and most affectionate compliments to Mrs. Sta- 
 pleton, not forgetting good Mrs. Sparry. 
 
 "Ever, my dear Mother, &c, 
 
 « W. Pitt." 
 
 Early next month, however, the visit to Somersetshire 
 was duly made, and Pitt returned from it fully expect- 
 ing to divide the remainder of a long Kecess between 
 Downing Street and Holwood. 
 
 " Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae." 
 
 Never was any Prime Minister of England deemed 
 more secure or solidly established than Mr. Pitt in the 
 autumn of 1788. Never did the political horizon seem 
 more clear, more bright, more wholly free from clouds. 
 The members of the Opposition could only look on 
 office as a fond remembrance, and in the future as a 
 distant dream ; and their chief, Mr. Fox, despairing of
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 383 
 
 all present effect in England, set out with his mistress, 
 Mrs. Armistead, for a tour in Italy. Yet at this very 
 period was impending an event wholly without parallel 
 in our Constitutional history, which appeared as an utter 
 blight to the exaltation of Pitt, and as placing Fox 
 within view, nay, almost within grasp, of the highest 
 power. That event, so wholly unforeseen, was the men- 
 tal alienation of the King. 
 
 The constitution of George the Third was by nature- 
 hardy and robust, but with a constant tendency to cor- 
 pulence. To counteract this the King had from an 
 early period adopted a system of abstemious diet and of 
 active exercise. While his meals were of the simplest 
 and plainest kind, the Equerries in attendance upon him 
 might often complain of the great distances which he 
 rode in hunting, or of his walks of three hours before 
 breakfast. That system carried to excess, combined 
 with never failing and anxious attention to affairs of 
 State, was the cause of the mental malady in 1788. 
 Such at least was the opinion of the case expressed by 
 Dr. Willis, the ablest by far of his physicians, when ex- 
 amined bv the Committees of the House of Lords and 
 House of Commons. 
 
 Early in the summer of 1788 the King's health suf- 
 fered from repeated bilious attacks. In a letter to Mr. 
 Pitt he says of himself that he is certainly " a cup too 
 low." His physicians prescribed the waters of Chelten- 
 ham, and on the 12th of July, the day after the Proro- 
 gation, he set out with the Queen for that place. A 
 sojourn of several weeks failed, however, to yield him 
 the expected benefit. ^Yhell he returned, first to Kew,
 
 384 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 and afterwards to Windsor, he seemed weaker in body 
 than before. His attendants were surprised and grieved 
 at seeing him, so lately the most athletic of pedestrians, 
 require the support of a stick. " I could not," he said, 
 "get on without it: my strength seems diminishing 
 hourly." " My dear Effy "—thus he accosted one of the 
 Queen's ladies, the Dowager Countess of Effingham — 
 " you see me all at once an old man ! " 3 
 
 Yet still in some points, at least, the King's active 
 habits were maintained. Mr. Eose reports that "Mr. 
 Pitt saw him at Kew, and was with him three hours and 
 forty minutes, both on their legs the whole time." 4 And 
 this brings us to a peculiarity in the reign of George 
 the Third. It was the invariable, or almost invariable, 
 custom of that Monarch to confer with his Ministers 
 standing, neither himself to sit down nor ask them to 
 be seated. This rule, so highly inconvenient to both 
 parties, was no doubt derived from some of the Conti- 
 nental Courts. 
 
 At this period of October, 1788, the only physician 
 in attendance on the King was Sir George Baker. He 
 states in his evidence before the subsequent Committees 
 that the first time when he conceived any suspicion of 
 a mental malady in the King was in the evening of the 
 22nd of October. Next morning the unfavourable symp- 
 toms which led to that suspicion had wholly disappeared. 
 
 On the 24th, however, the King made an effort beyond 
 
 3 Diary of Miss Burney (Madame 
 d'Arblay), vol. iv. p. 275. 
 
 4 Diaries and Correspondence of 
 the Right Hon. George Rose, vol. i. 
 
 p. 86, ed. I860. See also the Edin- 
 burgh Review for April, 1S56, p. 
 354.
 
 17S8. LIFE OF PITT. 385 
 
 his strength in going to hold a Levee at St. James's. 
 He made that effort, as he wrote to Mr. Pitt, " to stop 
 further lies and any fall of the Stocks." But at the 
 Levee his manner and conversation were such as to 
 cause the most painful uneasiness in several at least of 
 those to whom he spoke. Mr. Pitt, in particular, could 
 not entirely suppress his emotion when he attended the 
 King in his closet after the Levee, which His Majesty 
 observed and noticed with kindness in writing next 
 day to his Minister from Kew. Probably conscious 
 himself, at least in some degree, of his coming malady, 
 he directed Mr. Pitt in the same letter not to allow any 
 political papers to be sent to him before the next en- 
 suing Levee. 
 
 On the 25th the King removed to Windsor Castle. 
 His state appears to have fluctuated from day to day, 
 but there was no lasting improvement in his health. 
 His letters to Mr. Pitt, which I shall give at length 
 in my appendix, bear no tokens of an incoherent 
 mind. They merely manifest some reluctance and 
 anxiety as to the measures which Pitt desired to 
 pursue with regard to the Northern Powers. The last 
 letter of the King before his malady is dated on the 3rd 
 of November. In this His Majesty states that he can 
 now sign warrants in any number without inconve- 
 nience. He adds that he attempts reading the 
 despatches daily, but as yet without success. 
 
 Of the King's real condition at this time by far the best, 
 and indeed, so far as published, the only good account 
 is to be found in the private journal of Miss Frances 
 Burney, the accomplished author of 'Evelina.' That 
 
 vol. i. s
 
 386 LIFE OF PITT. Chap - . XI. 
 
 lady was now a member of the Royal Household, and 
 in daily attendance on the Queen as, under Mrs. Schwel- 
 lenberg, Deputy Keeper of the Robes. Dull and 
 trifling as the earlier volumes of her ' Diary,' I must 
 confess, appear to me, the entries in it now become of 
 lively interest and of sterling value, and are marked by 
 not merely dutiful but warm and affectionate attach- 
 ment to her Royal Mistress. 
 
 By some extracts from her journal my narrative may 
 be best continued : 
 
 "Sunday, November 3. — We are all here in a most 
 uneasy state. The King is better and worse so fre- 
 quently, and changes so daily backward and forward, 
 that everything is to be apprehended if his nerves are 
 not some way quieted. I dreadfully fear he is on the 
 eve of some severe fever. The Queen is almost over- 
 powered with some secret terror. I am affected beyond 
 all expression in her presence to see what struggles she 
 makes to support serenity. To-day she gave up the 
 conflict when I was alone with her, and burst into a 
 violent fit of tears. It was very, very terrible to see ! " 
 
 " Wednesday, November 5. — I found my poor Royal 
 Mistress in the morning sad and sadder still ; some- 
 thing horrible seemed impending ; and I saw her whole 
 resource was in religion. We had talked lately much 
 upon solemn subjects ; and she appeared already 
 preparing herself to be resigned for whatever might 
 happen. 
 
 " At noon the King went out in his chaise with the 
 Princess Royal for an airing. I looked from my 
 window to see him ; he was all smiling benignity, but 
 gave so many orders to the postilions, and got in and 
 out of the carriage twice with such agitation, that 

 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 387 
 
 again my fear of a great fever hanging over hiin grew 
 more and more powerful. Alas ! how little did I 
 imagine I should see him no more for so long — so 
 black a period ! 
 
 " When I went to my poor Queen, I found her spirits 
 
 still worse and worse The Princess Eoyal soon 
 
 returned. She came in cheerfullv, and £ave in German 
 a history of the airing, and one that seemed com- 
 forting. 
 
 " Soon after suddenly arrived the Prince of Wales. 
 He came into the room. He had just quitted Bright- 
 helmstone. Something passing within seemed to 
 render this meeting awfully distant on both sides. 
 She asked if he should not return to Brighthelmstone. 
 He answered ' Yes ; the next day.' He desired to speak 
 with her ; they retired together." 
 
 This day, the 5th of November, of which Miss Burney 
 has thus described the earlier portion, proved to be the 
 crisis of the King's disorder, when its real nature could 
 be no longer mistaken or concealed. For that after- 
 noon the King, at dinner with the Eoyal Family, 
 broke forth into positive delirium ; and the Queen was 
 so overpowered as to fall into violent hysterics. 
 
 Next morning, the 6th, when Miss Burney rose, she 
 found that the Equerries and gentlemen in attendance 
 had sat up next his chamber door all night, and there 
 were likewise all the pages dispersed in the passages and 
 ante-rooms; "and oh," she adds, "what horror in every 
 face I met ! " 
 
 Besides Sir George Baker, who continued in close 
 attendance, a physician of the highest eminence — 
 Dr. Warren — had been sent for by express. When, 
 
 s 2
 
 388 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XL 
 
 however, he came, the King positively refused to see 
 him. " This was terrible," writes Miss Burney. " But 
 the King was never so despotic ; no one dared oppose 
 him. He would not listen to a word, though when 
 unopposed he was still all gentleness and benignity to 
 every one around him. . . . He kept talking unceas- 
 ingly; although his voice was so lost in hoarseness 
 and weakness it was rendered almost inarticulate." 
 
 Expresses had of course gone up also to Mr. Pitt. 
 His grief may be easily imagined. But his anxiety 
 was not less than his grief. He saw at once the diffi- 
 culties that rose before him in the event that the 
 King's reason should continue clouded and yet his life 
 be spared. In such a case there were strong grounds 
 for imposing some restrictions on a Regency. Yet how 
 could such restrictions be imposed unless by Act of 
 Parliament, and how could any Act of Parliament be 
 passed without a King to give it his assent ? Thus in 
 one sense a limited Regency seemed requisite, while in 
 another sense it seemed impossible. 
 
 Pitt, however, applied himself at once to all the 
 measures in his power. That same afternoon he sent 
 expresses to summon the Cabinet Ministers who were 
 absent from town. Here is his letter to the Marquis 
 of Stafford, Lord Privy Seal : 
 
 " Grosvenor Square, Nov. 6, 1788, 6 p.m. 
 
 " My dear Lord, 
 
 " I write from Lord Carmarthen's, having just 
 had an account from Windsor, by which I learn that 
 the King's disorder, which has for some days given us
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 389 
 
 much uneasiness, has within a few hours taken so 
 serious a turn that I think myself obliged to lose no 
 time in apprising your Lordship of it. 
 
 "The accounts are sent under considerable alarm, 
 and therefore do not state the symptoms very pre- 
 cisely ; but from what I learn, there is too much reason 
 to fear that they proceed from a fever which has 
 settled on the brain, and which may produce imme- 
 diate danger to His Majesty's life. You will easily 
 conceive the pain I suffer in being obliged to send 
 your Lordship this intelligence ; but as you may 
 possibly think it right, under such circumstances, to be 
 on the spot as soon as possible, I thought no time 
 should be lost in letting you know the situation. 
 
 " I am, with great regard, &c, 
 
 " W. Pitt." 
 
 On the same day Pitt also wrote to the Bishop of 
 Lincoln at Buckden Palace, and here is the extract 
 from his letter which the Bishop gives : 
 
 "The effect most to be dreaded is on the under- 
 standing. If this lasts beyond a certain time, it will 
 produce the most difficult and delicate crisis imagin- 
 able, in making provision for the Government to 
 go on. It must, however, be yet some weeks before 
 that can require decision ; but the interval will be a 
 truly anxious one. You shall hear again soon ; but if 
 in the course of a few days you could spare the time to 
 come to town, I should be very glad to talk with you, 
 as there will be a thousand particulars you must wish 
 to know, which I cannot write. I shall not stir from 
 hence, except for going to inquire at Windsor." 
 
 The Bishop adds : 
 
 " I went to town immediately, and late at night
 
 390 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 found Mr. Pitt expecting a messenger every moment 
 with the account of the King's death ; but the intelli- 
 gence, which did not arrive till two in the morning, 
 proved more favourable." 
 
 During the night which followed there were many 
 anxious watchers in the apartment next to the Eoyal 
 sufferer's. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, 
 the physicians, and the gentlemen of the Eoyal House- 
 hold, sat on chairs and lay on sofas round the room. 
 All were in dead silence, and amidst the partial dark- 
 ness the two Princes were still to be distinguished by 
 their stars. 
 
 Next day, the 7th of November, towards seven in 
 the morning, when the Queen was already dressed, 
 but Miss Burney was still attending her, the 
 Prince of Wales came hastily into Her Majesty's 
 chamber, and then, in Miss Burney 's presence, gave 
 " a very energetic history " of the preceding night. 
 The King had risen some hours before daylight, and 
 insisted on walking into the next apartment. There 
 he was utterly amazed at finding, instead of the mere 
 solitude which he expected, the large assemblage of 
 his family and household. With some haste he de- 
 manded what they all did there. Sir George Baker 
 was exhorted in whispers by the gentlemen near him, 
 and even, as it would seem, by the Prince of Wales, 
 to lead the King back to his chamber; but he had 
 not courage, and he seems indeed to have well de- 
 served the character which the King presently gave 
 him when His Majesty penned him in a corner and
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 391 
 
 told him he was only an old woman. No one else 
 dared approach His Majesty, and this most painful 
 scene continued a considerable time. At length the 
 Queen's Vice-Chamberlain, Colonel Stephen Digby, an 
 old servant of their Majesties, resolved to act. He 
 went boldly up, and taking the King by the arm, 
 entreated him to go to bed; but finding entreaties in 
 vain, began to draw His Majesty along, and to say he 
 must go. " I will not," cried the King, " I will not ! 
 Who are you ? " "I am Colonel Digby, Sir," he 
 answered, " and your Majesty has been very good to 
 me, and now I am going to be very good to you ; for 
 you must come to bed, Sir — it is necessary to your 
 life." And then, continued the Prince of Wales in 
 his narrative, the King was so surprised that he allowed 
 himself to be drawn along as gently as a child, and 
 thus was he brought back to Ins chamber. 
 
 Here, then, was the turning point. This was the 
 precise moment when ceased the dominion of a Sove- 
 reign over his subjects, and when began, on the con- 
 trary, the dominion of sound minds over an unsound 
 one. Here, then, let History pause. So long as the 
 King continued a public character, it is her right and 
 her duty to record his course ; not so to explore the 
 dismal secrets of his enforced and lonely sick room. 
 
 It may, therefore, suffice to say in general terras 
 that during the next few days the King became greatly 
 worse both in mind and body. Not only seemed his 
 reason lost, but his life in imminent danger. Then, 
 in those hours of suspense and anguish at Windsor, 
 came to light some further revelations of his growing
 
 392 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 malady. The Queen bad sent for Dr. Warren soon 
 after Lis first arrival, and felt it her duty to inform 
 him privately that for some time past she had more 
 than suspected the real situation of the King. The 
 Duke of York had met the King on Monday the 3rd, 
 after His Majesty had been on horseback for some 
 hours, and the King, drawing his son aside, had burst 
 into tears and given utterance to the simple but most 
 affecting words, " I wish to God I might die, for I am 
 going to be mad ! " 5 
 
 The physicians in daily attendance — and within a 
 fortnight their number had been increased to four — 
 were of course guarded and cautious in their expressed 
 opinions. But among the members of the Koyal 
 Household the belief was most strongly prevalent that 
 there was little or no prospect of the King's recovery. 
 The Queen withdrew to her own chamber, and passed 
 the whole day in patient sorrow with her daughters. 
 The entire direction of the household devolved upon 
 the Prince of Wales, and nothing at Windsor was done 
 but by direction of His Eoyal Highness. 
 
 So great and awful an affliction, and so deep a 
 responsibility resulting from it, could not fail to impress 
 even the least earnest minds. 
 
 " The Prince was frightened, and was blooded yester- 
 dav." So writes one of the Grenville cousins who was 
 at Windsor on the 7th. 
 
 The first step of the Prince when called upon to 
 
 3 See the private letters from 
 Captain Payne to Mr. Sheridan, 
 as published in Moore's Life of 
 
 the latter (vol. ii. p. 21-31). Payne 
 was at this time attending the 
 Prince of Wales at Windsor.
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 393 
 
 take the command at Windsor was to send the Duke 
 of York with a message to Lord Loughborough. The 
 Prince said that he should anxiously await the return 
 of Fox from Italy — that meanwhile he should look 
 mainly to Lord Loughborough for counsel — and that 
 Lord Loughborough ought at once to turn over in 
 his mind what steps in so unprecedented an emer- 
 gency it might be best for the Prince to take. Lord 
 Loughborough might well consider his darling object 
 of ambition, the Great Seal, as close in view before 
 him. 
 
 Meanwhile the illness of the King and its real 
 nature could not be kept secret. The tidings of it 
 flew far and wide throughout the country, everywhere 
 exciting the utmost sympathy and sorrow. Then did 
 it become apparent how strong and deeply rooted was 
 in truth at this period the popidarity of George the 
 Third, and how thoroughly had passed away from it 
 the clouds of earlier years. By the Queen's direction 
 Colonel Digby had written to the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, suggesting that there should be offered up 
 public prayers for the King's recovery. A form of 
 prayer was accordingly framed at Lambeth Palace and 
 ordered to be used in all the churches, and the manner 
 in which the various congregations through the king- 
 dom joined in this act of worship clearly evinced the 
 sincerity and the strength of their affliction. 
 
 Other manifestations of the same feeling were not 
 all as commendable. Thus the physicians in attend- 
 ance on the King received every day a number of 
 threatening letters to answer for the safety of their 
 
 s 3
 
 394 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 Monarch, with their lives. On one occasion Sir George 
 Baker was stopped in his carriage by the mob, and 
 required to give an account of the King's state. Poor 
 Sir George faltered out that it was a bad one ; on 
 which there arose a furious cry : " The more shame for 
 you! 
 
 At this crisis the two Ministers on whom most 
 depended were Pitt and Thurlow. But they had little 
 intercourse, and their objects were far asunder. Pitt 
 was thinking how best he could serve his country — 
 Thurlow was thinking how best he could keep his 
 place. So early as the 7th the Prince of Wales sum- 
 moned to his presence the Chancellor, who went down 
 and remained that night at Windsor. The Prince's 
 object was a very proper one — to consult with him as 
 to the care and safe custody of the King's jewels and 
 private papers. On coming back to town on the 
 morning of the 8th, the Chancellor only sent a note 
 to Pitt, stating that the Prince desired to see him at 
 Windsor the next morning at eleven. Pitt went to 
 call upon his colleague, but does not seem to have 
 obtained much further information. He learnt, how- 
 ever, that the immediate business for which His 
 Eoyal Highness had summoned him was to inquire 
 about a paper which the Queen imagined that the King 
 had put into Pitt's hand respecting an arrangement 
 for the younger Princes and Princesses. But this was 
 a misapprehension, for Pitt had no such paper. 
 
 Pitt of course obeyed the Prince's summons. The 
 result is related as follows by Mr. Grenville in a letter 
 the next morning : " I need not tell you the effect
 
 1788. • LIFE OF PITT. 395 
 
 which this dreadful calamity produces. Pitt had yester- 
 day a long conference with the Prince, but it turned 
 chiefly on the situation of the King, and the state and 
 progress of his disorder. Nothing passed from which 
 any conclusion can be drawn as to future measures. He 
 treated him with civility, but nothing more. The gene- 
 ral idea is that they mean to try a negotiation. But 
 whether the Prince means that, and whether Pitt ought 
 in any case to listen to it at all, or in what degree, are 
 questions which it is difficult indeed to decide." 6 
 
 The part of Pitt was promptly taken.. It was, as his 
 part was ever, straightforward and direct. He would 
 listen to no terms for himself. He would consider only 
 his bounden duty to his afflicted King. He would, by 
 the authority of Parliament, impose some restrictions on 
 the Eegency for a limited time, so that the Sovereign 
 might resume his power without difficulty in case his 
 reason were restored. What might be the just limits 
 or the necessary period of such restrictions he had not 
 yet decided, and was still revolving in his mind. But 
 he had never the least idea, as his opponents feared, of 
 a Council of Regency which might impede the Prince 
 in the choice of a new administration. On the contrary, 
 Pitt looked forward to his own immediate dismissal from 
 the public service, and he had determined to return to 
 the practice of his profession at the Bar. 
 
 Far different was the course of Thurlow. Under an 
 appearance of rugged honesty he concealed no small 
 amount of selfish craft. He was ready to grasp at an 
 
 6 Letter to Lord Buckingham, November 9, 1788.
 
 396 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 overture, and it was not long ere an overture came. Two 
 gentlemen in the Prince's confidence — the Comptroller 
 of his Household, Captain Payne, more commonly called 
 Jack Payne, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan — had set 
 their heads together. Was it not to be feared that Pitt 
 would attempt to fetter the coming Regency with some 
 restrictions ? And by whom could that attempt be more 
 effectually prevented than by the statesman holding the 
 Great Seal? How important then if possible to gain 
 him over! 
 
 With these views, and with the Prince's sanction, a 
 secret negotiation with Lord Thurlow was begun. It 
 was proposed to him that he should do his utmost to 
 defeat any restrictions on the Regent, and that in return 
 he should become President of the Council in" the new 
 administration. But the offer of the Presidency was 
 spurned by Thurlow ; he insisted on still retaining the 
 Great Seal. This was a more difficult matter, from the 
 engagements of the Prince, and indeed of the whole 
 Fox party, to Lord Loughborough. Sheridan, however, 
 strongly pressed that Lord Thurlow should be secured 
 upon his own terms. The Prince agreed, and the nego- 
 tiation was continued without Lord Loughborough. 
 The bargain was struck, or all but struck, awaiting only 
 Fox's sanction when he should arrive from Italy. 
 
 The perfidy of Thurlow in this transaction stands 
 little in need of comment. To this day it forms the 
 main blot upon his fame. Nowhere in our recent an- 
 nals shall we readily find any adequate parallel to it, 
 except indeed in the career of his contemporary and his 
 rival, Loughborough.
 
 1788. 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 397 
 
 Lord Thurlow succeeded at first in concealing all 
 knowledge of the scheme from Pitt. In this he was 
 much assisted by the fact that from this time forward 
 the Cabinet Councils were frequently held at Windsor, 
 thus affording him good opportunities for slipping round 
 in secret to the apartments of the Prince of Wales. But 
 a very slight incident brought to light the mystery. 
 His cabals were detected by his own hat. Thus used 
 the story to be told by a late survivor from these times, 
 my lamented friend Mr. Thomas Grenville. One day 
 when a Council was to be held at Windsor, Thurlow had 
 been there some time before any of his colleagues ar- 
 rived. He was to be brought back to London in the 
 carriage of one of them, and the moment of departure 
 being come, the Chancellor's hat was nowhere to be 
 found. After long search one of the pages came run- 
 ning up with the hat in his hand, and saying aloud, 
 " My Lord, I found it in the closet of His Koyal High- 
 ness the Prince of Wales." The other Ministers were 
 still in the hall waiting for their carriages, and the evi- 
 dent confusion of Lord Thurlow corroborated the infer- 
 ence which they drew. 7 
 
 Thus might Pitt suspect, or much more than suspect, 
 the Chancellor's double dealings. But still he had no 
 positive proof of them ; and he might feel as the younger 
 Agrippina, that in many cases the best defence against 
 treachery is to seem unconscious of it. 8 Thus, main- 
 
 7 Lives of the Chancellors, by 
 Lord Campbell, vol. v. p. 591. I 
 have beard the same story told by 
 Mr. Greuville himself. 
 
 8 "Reputans Agrippina solum 
 insidiarum remedium esse si non 
 intelligerentur " (Tacit. Annal. lib. 
 xiv. c. 6.)
 
 •398 LIFE OF PITT. Chap. XI. 
 
 taining his usual lofty calmness, he forbore from all in- 
 quiry, all expostulation. He continued to meet Lord 
 Thurlow as before, but he privately determined to place 
 no part of the Kegency business in Lord Thurlow's 
 hands, and to entrust to Lord Camden the conduct in 
 the House of Lords of all the measures consequent on 
 the Eoyal illness. 
 
 It was no slight aggravation to the embarrassment of 
 Mr. Pitt at this juncture that he was bound to meet 
 Parliament without delay. Parliament had only been 
 prorogued till the 20th of November, and there re- 
 mained no legal power in the State to prorogue it 
 further. The two Houses met therefore on the 20th 
 as a matter of course, when Pitt in the Commons, and 
 Thurlow in the Lords, announced the King's incapacity 
 for business as the cause of meeting. Pitt deprecated 
 any present discussion, suggesting that the House should 
 adjourn till the 4th of December, when he said if the 
 King's disorder should unhappily continue, it would be 
 necessary to consider what measures ought to be adopted. 
 Meanwhile, to give their proceedings all possible so- 
 lemnity, he further proposed that the Speaker should 
 write circular letters to every Member, requiring his 
 attendance on the appointed day. Lord Camden made 
 a similar proposition in the Lords, and these motions 
 passed both Houses without a single observation from 
 any side. Mr. Fox had not yet returned, and during 
 his absence the Opposition were unwilling to commit 
 themselves by comments of any kind. 
 
 Soon afterwards a case of much difficulty arose at 
 Windsor. There was a strong and just desire to re-
 
 1788. LIFE OF TITT. 399 
 
 move His Majesty to Kew. In the first place the dis- 
 tance of Windsor from London was most inconvenient 
 to the physicians in attendance ; secondly, and this was 
 the main if not the only reason put forward by them- 
 selves, it was most essential that the King should have, 
 as he might have at Kew and could not at Windsor, a 
 private garden, where, whenever his health permitted, 
 he might take exercise without being overlooked or 
 observed. But, on the other hand, the King showed 
 the most extreme repugnance to leave Windsor. It 
 was thought that even in his distracted state the advice 
 of his confidential servants would have weight with him, 
 and the necessity of compulsion be thus avoided. Ac- 
 cordingly on the 28th a Privy Council was held at 
 Windsor, when the physicians were formally examined, 
 all agreeing that the removal of His Majesty to Kew 
 was a point of most pressing importance. 
 
 For the scene that followed, as for some of the pre- 
 ceding, I adopt the graphic description of Miss Bumey : 
 "Inexpressible was the alarm of every one lest the 
 King, if he recovered, should bear a lasting resent- 
 ment against the authors and promoters of this journey. 
 To give it therefore every possible sanction, it was 
 decreed that he should be seen both by the Chancellor 
 and Mr. Pitt. The Chancellor went into his presence 
 with a tremor such as before he had been only accus- 
 tomed to inspire, and when he came out he was so 
 extremely affected by the state in which he saw his 
 Royal Master and patron that the tears ran down his 
 cheeks, and his feet had difficulty to support him. 
 Mr. Pitt was more composed, but expressed his grief
 
 400 LIFE OP PITT. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 with so much respect and attachment, that it added 
 new weight to the universal admiration with which he 
 is here beheld." 
 
 But whatever may have passed at these most painful 
 interviews, it was found that they had not surmounted 
 the morbid aversion of the King to the change 
 required. " In what a situation was the house ! " 
 exclaims Miss Bumey : " Princes, Equerries, Physi- 
 cians, Pages, — all conferring, whispering, plotting, and 
 caballing how to induce the King to set off!" Ke- 
 course was now had to a no less painful stratagem. 
 The King had for some time been most earnestly 
 pressing to see the Queen and the Princesses, but this 
 the physicians had deemed it necessary to refuse him. 
 It was then decided that the Boyal ladies should 
 proceed early next morning to Kew; that the King 
 should be informed of their departure by the physi- 
 cians ; and that if, as they expected, he should doubt 
 their assertion, he might be suffered to go through the 
 apartments and ascertain the fact for himself. Next 
 a promise was to be made His Majesty that on rejoin- 
 ing the members of his family at Kew he should be 
 permitted to see them. On this promise George the 
 Third did consent to the journey, and it did take place. 
 But on coming to Kew the promise under which he 
 had acted was not fulfilled ; and the result — as might 
 surely have been foreseen— was that same night a 
 paroxysm of much increased severity. 
 
 Meanwhile an express had been sent to Fox in Italy 
 with the tidings of the Boyal illness, and with a press- 
 ing summons for his immediate return. The messen-
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 401 
 
 ger found the travelling statesman at Bologna, on 
 Ins way to Rome. He forthwith set out on his jour- 
 ney homewards, and proceeded with so much expe- 
 dition as even in that wintry season to perform a 
 journey of more than eight hundred miles in nine days. 
 So great, indeed, was the despatch he used, and so 
 rough the roads over which he travelled, that he 
 severely suffered in his health for some time after his 
 return. With all his diligence, however, he could not 
 arrive in England until the 24th of this month. It is 
 striking to compare these details with another unlooked 
 for summons and another rapid return from Italy — I 
 mean Sir Eobert Peel's, in November 1835. Each 
 of these statesmen came back with the expectation 
 of being made Prime Minister, but the hope proved 
 as fleeting in the one case as did the hold of office in 
 the other. 
 
 No sooner was Fox in London than he was apprised 
 of the negotiation with Lord Thurlow. Fox had no 
 taste at all for this underhand intrigue. But he felt 
 himself bound by the Prince's word which had already 
 passed. His own feelings of distress are best evinced 
 by some expressions in a note to Sheridan : " I have 
 swallowed the pill — a most bitter one it was — and have 
 written to Lord Loughborough, whose answer of course 
 must be consent. What is to be done next? Should 
 the Prince himself, you or I, or Warren, be the person 
 to speak to the Chancellor ? Pray tell me what is to 
 be done. I do not remember ever feeling so uneasy 
 about any political thing I ever did in my life. Call if 
 you can."
 
 402 
 
 LIFE OF PITT. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 Besides this one " political thing," another of still 
 higher public moment was now submitted to Fox. 
 Lord Loughborough had been devising a bold scheme, 
 for, in fact, a Coup d'Etat. He had suggested that the 
 Prince of Wales might, as next heir, seize the Eegency 
 by his own act, and without any authority from Parlia- 
 ment. This scheme he had embodied in a note which 
 is written with his own hand in pencil. It still remains 
 among the Eosslyn Papers, and it has been published 
 by Lord Campbell in his ' Lives of the Chancellors.' 9 
 
 But the sturdy hand of Fox brushed this cobweb 
 aside. He was prepared, as we shall presently see, to 
 go great lengths in asserting the inherent prerogative 
 of the Prince of Wales. But he never dreamt of 
 dispensing with the votes of Parliament. Under such 
 circumstances, Lord Loughborough of course yielded to 
 his leader ; and with his pencil note safely locked up 
 within his desk, his Lordship a few weeks later, when 
 speaking in the House of Peers, thought himself justi- 
 fied in solemnly disclaiming or denying that he held 
 the unconstitutional doctrine which that note expressed. 
 — Were not Loughborough and Thurlow worthy 
 rivals ? 
 
 It appears however from some Beminiscences which 
 Lord Carmarthen the Secretary of State drew up, and 
 subsequently as Duke of Leeds read to a young friend, 
 
 9 See vol. vi. p. 195. In the 
 biography of Lord Loughborough 
 are many other valuable papers. 
 But in arranging them Lord Camp- 
 bell has not always shown suffi- 
 cient care. Thus, for instance, at 
 
 page 205, the two notes of Fox 
 which Lord Campbell refers to 
 this period of 1788, belong most 
 certainly to 1783, as is plain at 
 once from their date of Downing 
 Street.
 
 1788. LIFE OF PITT. 403 
 
 that the Ministers of 1788 had soon become apprised 
 of Lord Loughborough's perilous project. Had he per- 
 sisted in it, they had designed to arrest him for High 
 Treason and send him to the Tower. 1 
 
 On the 3rd of December, the day before the re- 
 assembling of Parliament, a Privy Council was held at 
 Whitehall. By Pitt's direction a summons had been 
 addressed to every Member, of whatever politics, the 
 object being to impart in the most authentic form 
 accurate intelligence on the situation of the King. Of 
 54 Members who came accordingly, it was calculated at 
 the time that 24 were from the Opposition side. The 
 five physicians who had been attending His Majesty 
 being called in and examined upon oath, deposed as to 
 his present incapacity for business. They added that 
 there was a fair prospect of his recovery, but that 
 they were wholly unable to fix or foretell the time. 
 They had known cases of this kind last only for six 
 weeks — they had known them last as long as two 
 years. 
 
 Such then was the position of affairs when on the 
 4th of December Parliament met for business, and 
 when the two great party rivals were again in presence 
 of each other. 
 
 1 Diary of Mr. Charles Abbot (Lord Colchester), January 24, 1790, 
 as published in 1861.
 
 APPENDIX.
 

 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LETTERS AND EXTRACTS OF LETTERS FROM KING 
 GEORGE THE THIRD TO MR. PITT. 
 
 [Where in these copies the whole of the King's letter 
 is given, " dr. E.," his usual signature in this cor- 
 respondence, is added at the end. Where it is omitted 
 the reader will understand that only an extract is 
 inserted, and that the remainder is in general of no 
 public interest.] 
 
 Queen's House, March 23, 1783, 8-50 a.m 
 
 desired to come 
 as soon as convenient to him. 
 
 Mr. Pitt is desired to come here in his morning dress 
 
 G. E. 
 
 St. James's, March 23, 1783, 11-55 a.m. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, I have seen Lord North, and sent him to the 
 Duke of Portland to desire the plan of arrangements 
 may be instantly sent to me, as I must coolly examine 
 it before I can give any answer, and as I expect to have 
 the whole finally decided before to-morrow's debate in 
 the House of Commons. This seems to answer the idea 
 I have just received from Mr. Pitt. 
 
 G.R 
 
 I desire Mr. Pitt will be here after the Drawing 
 Room.
 
 ii APPENDIX. 
 
 Queen's House, March 24, 1783, 11-10 a.m. 
 
 Mr. Pitt's idea of having nothing announced till the 
 debate of to-day meets with my thorough approbation. 
 I have just seen the Lord Chancellor, who thinks that if 
 Mr. Pitt should say, towards the close of the debate, 
 that after such conduct as the Coalition has held, that 
 every man attached to this Constitution must stand 
 forth on tins occasion, and that as such he is determined 
 to keep the situation devolved on him, that he will meet 
 with an applause that cannot fiiil to give him every 
 encouragement. 
 
 I shall not expect Mr. Pitt till the Levee is over. 
 
 Gr. R. 
 
 Windsor, March 24, 1783, 5-12 p.m. 
 
 I am not surprised, as the debate has proved desul- 
 tory, that Mr. Pitt has not been able to write more fully 
 on this occasion. After the manner I have been per- 
 sonally treated by both the Duke of Portland and Lord 
 North, it is impossible I can ever admit either of them 
 into my service : I therefore trust that Mr. Pitt will 
 exert himself to-morrow to plan his mode of filling up 
 the offices that will be vacant, so as to be able on 
 Wednesday morning to accept the situation his charac- 
 ter and talents fit him to hold, when I shall be in town 
 before twelve ready to receive him. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 Mr. Pitt to the King. 
 
 March 25, 1783. 
 
 Mr. Pitt received, this morning, the honour of your 
 Majesty's gracious commands. With infinite pain he 
 feels himself under the necessity of humbly expressing 
 to your Majesty, that with every sentiment of dutiful
 
 LETTERS OF THE KING. Ill 
 
 attachment to your Majesty and zealous desire to con- 
 tribute to the public service, it is utterly impossible for 
 him, after the fullest consideration of the situation in 
 which thing's stand, and of what passed yesterday in the 
 House of Commons, to think of undertaking, under such 
 circumstances, the situation which your Majesty has 
 had the condescension and goodness to propose to 
 him. 
 
 As what he now presumes to write is the final result 
 of his best reflection, he should think himself criminal 
 if, by delaying till to-morrow humbly to lay it before 
 your Majesty, he should be the cause of your Majesty's 
 not immediately turning your Royal mind to such a 
 plan of arrangement as the exigency of the present 
 circumstances may, in your Majesty's wisdom, seem to 
 require. 
 
 Windsor, March 25, 4-35 p.m. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, I am much hurt to find you are determined 
 to decline at an hour when those who have any regard 
 for the Constitution as established by law ought to stand 
 forth against the most daring and unprincipled faction 
 that the annals of this kingdom ever produced. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 December 23, 1783, 10-46 a.m. 
 
 To one on the edge of a precipice every ray of hope 
 must be pleasing. I therefore place confidence in the 
 Duke of Richmond, Lord Gower, Lord Thurlow, and 
 Mr. Pitt bringing forward some names to fill up an 
 arrangement ; which if they cannot, they already know 
 my determination. One will be an hour perfectly 
 agreeable to me. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 IV APPENDIX. 
 
 Windsor, January 13, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Pitt cannot but suppose that I received his com- 
 munication of the two divisions in the long debate which 
 ended this morning with much uneasiness, as it shows 
 the House of Commons much more willing to enter into 
 any intemperate resolutions of desperate men than I 
 could have imagined. As to myself, I am perfectly 
 composed, as I have the self-satisfaction of feeling I 
 have done my duty. 
 
 Though I think Mr. Pitt's day will be fully taken up 
 in considering, with the other Ministers, what measures 
 are best to be proposed in the present crisis, yet that 
 no delay may arise from my absence I will dine in town, 
 and consequently be ready to see him in the evening, if 
 he shall find that will be of utility. At all events, I am 
 ready to take any step that may be proposed to oppose 
 this faction, and to struggle to the last period of my 
 life ; but I can never submit to throw myself into its 
 power. If they in the end succeed, my line is a clear 
 one, and to which I have fortitude enough to submit. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 January 24, 1784, 9-17 a.m. 
 
 I own I cannot see any reason, if the thing is practi- 
 cable, that a Dissolution should not be effected ; if not, 
 I fear the Constitution of this country cannot subsist. 
 
 January 24, 1784, 6'25 p.m. 
 
 I desire Mr. Pitt will assemble the confidential Ministers 
 this evening, that he may state what has passed this day. 
 I should think it cannot give any reason for preventing 
 a Dissolution on Monday ; but if it should, he must be 
 armed with the opinion of the other Ministers. I fear 
 Mr. Powys's candour has drawn him into a trap ; delay 
 
 *
 
 LETTEES OF THE KING. V 
 
 must be of the worst of consequences, and the Opposi- 
 tion cannot but be glad he should be the author of it. 
 If Mr. Pitt can come after the meeting before eleven 
 this night, I shall be ready to see him ; if not, as early- 
 to-morrow morning as may suit him. 
 
 Gr. 1\. 
 
 January 25, 1784. 
 
 Though indecision is the most painful of all situations 
 to a firm mind, I by no means wish Mr. Pitt should 
 come to me till he has, with his brother Ministers, gone 
 through the various objects the present crisis affords. I 
 should hope by half an hour past nine he may be able 
 to lay before me the result of their deliberations. 
 
 The Opposition will certainly throw every difficulty 
 
 in our way, but we must be men ; and if we mean to 
 
 save the country, we must cut those threads that cannot 
 
 be unravelled. Half-measures are ever puerile, and often 
 
 destructive. 
 
 G.B. 
 
 January 26, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Pitt's language in the House of Commons this 
 
 day seems to have been most proper. The idea of 
 
 Ministers resigning, and consequently leaving every 
 
 thing in confusion, was worthy of the mouth from 
 
 whence it came, but cannot meet with the approbation 
 
 of the sober-minded. 
 
 G. E. 
 
 January 30, 1784. 
 
 The account of what passed in the House of Commons 
 yesterday, which I suppose by reading the various news- 
 papers may be pretty nearly collected, gives every 
 reason for commending Mr. Pitt's language and for 
 
 t 2
 
 VI APPENDIX. 
 
 reprobating that of Mr. Fox and his follower, Lord 
 North ; and shows that their principles must ever pre- 
 vent that kind of union to which alone I can ever 
 consent. 
 
 I shall certainly not object to Mr. Pitt's making him- 
 self master, if possible, of what the Duke of Portland 
 means, though I cannot suggest the mode. I cannot say 
 the meeting; of the gentlemen at the St. Alban's Tavern 
 seem as yet to have taken the only step which ought to 
 occur to them : the co-operating in preventing a despe- 
 rate faction from completing the ruin of the most 
 perfect of all human formations — the British Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 G. E. 
 
 February 4, 1784. 
 
 I trust the House of Lords will this day feel that the 
 hour is come for which the wisdom of our ancestors 
 established that respectable corps in the State, to pre- 
 vent either the Crown or the Commons from encroach- 
 ing on the rights of each other. Indeed, should not the 
 Lords stand boldly forth, this Constitution must soon 
 be changed ; for, if the two only remaining privileges 
 of the Crown are infringed — that of negativing Bills 
 which have passed both Houses of Parliament, and that 
 of naming the Ministers to be employed — I cannot but 
 feel, as far as regards my person, that I can be no 
 longer of any utility to this country, nor can with 
 honour continue in this island. 
 
 February 15, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Pitt is so well apprized of the mortification I feel 
 at any possibility of ever again seeing the heads of 
 Opposition in public employments, and more particu- 
 larly Mr. Fox, whose conduct has not been more
 
 LETTERS OF THE KING. Vli 
 
 marked against my station in the Empire than against 
 my person, that he must attribute my want of perspi- 
 cuity in my conversation last night to that foundation ; 
 yet I should imagine it must be an ease to his mind, in 
 conferring with the other confidential Ministers this 
 morning, to have on paper my sentiments, which are 
 the result of unremitted consideration since he left me 
 last night, and which he has my consent to communi- 
 cate, if he judges it right, to the above respectable 
 persons. 
 
 My present situation is perhaps the most singular that 
 ever occurred, either in the annals of this or any other 
 country ; for the House of Lords, by not a less majority 
 than near two to one, have declared in my favour ; and 
 my subjects at large, in a much more considerable pro- 
 portion, are not less decided ; to combat which, Opposi- 
 tion have only a majority of twenty or at most of thirty 
 in the House of Commons, who, I am sorry to add, seem 
 as yet willing to prevent the public supplies. Though 
 I certainly have never much valued popularity, yet I do 
 not think it is to be despised when arising from a 
 rectitude of conduct, and when it is to be retained by 
 following the same respectable path which conviction 
 makes me esteem that of duty, as calculated to prevent 
 one branch of the legislature from annihilating the other 
 two, and seizing also the executive power to which it 
 has no claim. 
 
 I confess I have not yet seen the smallest appearance 
 of sincerity in the leaders of Opposition, to come into 
 the only mode by which I could tolerate them in my 
 service, their giving up the idea of having the adminis- 
 tration in their hands, and coming in as a respectable 
 part of one on a broad basis ; and therefore I, with a 
 jealous eye, look on any words dropped by them, either 
 in Parliament or to the gentlemen of the St. Alban's
 
 Vlil APPENDIX. 
 
 Tavern, as meant only to gain those gentlemen, or, if 
 carrying further views, to draw Mr. Pitt, by a negotia- 
 tion, into some difficulty. 
 
 Should the Ministers, after discussing this, still think 
 it advisable that an attempt should be made to try 
 whether an administration can be formed on a real, not 
 a nominal wide basis, and that Mr. Pitt having repeatedly 
 and as fruitlessly found it impossible to get even an 
 interview on what Opposition pretends to admit is a 
 necessary measure, I will, though reluctantly, go per- 
 sonally so far as to authorize a message to be carried in 
 my name to the Duke of Portland, expressing a desire 
 that he and Mr. Pitt may meet to confer on the means 
 of forming an administration on a wide basis, as the 
 only means of entirely healing the divisions which stop 
 the business of the nation. The only person I can think, 
 from his office as well as personal character, proper to 
 be sent by me, is Lord Sydney ; but should the Duke of 
 Portland, when required by me, refuse to meet Mr. Pitt, 
 more especially upon the strange plea he has as yet 
 held forth, I must here declare that I shall not deem 
 it right for me ever to address rnyself again to him. 
 
 The message must be drawn on paper, as must 
 everything in such a negotiation, as far as my name is 
 concerned ; and I trust, when I next see Mr. Pitt, if 
 under the present circumstances the other Ministers 
 shall agree with him in thinking such a proposition 
 advisable, that he will bring a sketch of such a message 
 for my inspection. 
 
 Gr. R. 
 
 February 18, 1784. 
 
 As Mr. Pitt's letter seems to suppose the House of 
 Commons will this day come to some resolution either 
 consonant to that proposed the last night, though warned
 
 LETTERS OF THE KING. IX 
 
 by Mr. Powys, or to an Address, I should think Mr. 
 Pitt, instead of coming to Court this day, had better 
 employ part of the time in seeing such Members of that 
 House who may be thought proper to take an active 
 part in the debate, and also consult with the Cabinet, in 
 case the House should come into either of those violent 
 measures, as to the steps then necessary to be taken. 
 He may depend on my being heartily ready to adopt 
 the most vigorous ones, as I think the struggle is really 
 no less than my being called upon to stand forth in de- 
 fence of the Constitution against a most desperate and 
 unprincipled faction. Mr. Pitt being then prepared, 
 he may see me as soon as he pleases after this debate is 
 over. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 February 22, 1784. 
 
 I am not surprised that the Ministers should wish to 
 have all the possible time for consideration on any steps 
 that the Address of the House of Commons and the 
 answer to it may draw on, and therefore that it is 
 wished I should not receive the Commons till Wednes- 
 day. I very willingly consent to fixing on that clay for 
 the reception of it ; and trust that while the answer is 
 drawn up with civility, it will be a clear support of my 
 own rights, which the Addresses from all parts of the 
 kingdom show me the people feel essential to their 
 liberties. 
 
 Gr. R. 
 
 February 29, 1784. 
 
 I was much hurt at hearing since the Drawing Room 1 
 of the outrage committed the last night under the 
 
 1 Held on the same day, a Sunday, according to the custom at that 
 time.
 
 X APPENDIX. 
 
 auspices of Brooks's against Mr. Pitt on his return from 
 the City, but am very happy to find he escaped without 
 injury. I trust every means will be employed to find 
 out the abettors of this, which I should hope may be 
 got at. 
 
 As I suppose to-morrow will be a late day at the 
 House of Commons, and consequently that I cannot be 
 wanted on Tuesday, I mean to-morrow after Court to 
 go to Windsor for the sake of hunting that day. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 Windsor, March 9, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Pitt's letter is undoubtedly the most satisfactory 
 I have received for many months. An avowal on the 
 outset that the proposition held forth is not intended to 
 go further lengths than a kind of manifesto ; and then 
 carrying it by the majority only of one, and the day 
 concluding with an avowal that all negotiation is at an 
 end, gives me every reason to hope that by a firm and 
 proper conduct this faction will by degrees be deserted 
 by many, and at length be forgot. I shall ever with 
 pleasure consider that by the prudence as well as recti- 
 tude of one person in the House of Commons this great 
 change has been effected, and that he will be ever able 
 to reflect with satisfaction that in having supported me 
 he has saved the Constitution, the most perfect of 
 human formations. 
 
 Mr. Pitt will consider of the declaration, that my 
 answer may meet every assertion, as I trust it will be 
 the last visit on this unpleasant business. 
 
 (jr. E.
 
 LETTEES OF THE KING. xi 
 
 Windsor, March 10, 1784. 
 
 It is with infinite satisfaction I learn from Mr. Pitt's 
 note the event of the Mutiny Bill having yesterday 
 gone through the Committee without any opposition, 
 which may with reason be called a great victory, it 
 having been more than once avowed in the House that 
 it would be passed only for a month. I am sorry my 
 time was spent in talking of so impracticable a scheme 
 and so absurd a letter as that of the Duke of Portland ; 
 but if it has shown the impossibility of further negotia- 
 tion, I hope it has proved not quite useless. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 March 23, 1784. 
 
 This instant I have received Mr. Pitt's letters, and 
 a draft of the Speech, which entirely meets with my 
 ideas : I therefore desire the proper copy may be 
 prepared for to-morrow. I have, in consequence of 
 Mr. Pitt's intimation that the Bills will be ready for 
 my assent, sent orders for the equipages to be at 
 St. James's to-morrow at half hour past two. I desire 
 notice may be given that I may be expected a quarter 
 before three at Westminster, that those necessary to 
 attend may be there. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 March 28, 1784. 
 
 Though Mr. Pitt must agree with me that Mr. Scott 
 would have been the fittest person for Solicitor-General, 
 yet considering the situation of Lord Gower, and the 
 very early decided part Mr. Macdonald has taken, the 
 latter gentleman cannot be passed by ; therefore the 
 offering it to him without delay seems right. 
 
 t 3
 
 xii APPENDIX. 
 
 April 5, 1784. 
 
 I cannot refrain from the pleasure of expressing to 
 Mr. Pitt how much his success at Cambridge has made 
 me rejoice, as he is the highest on the return, and that 
 Lord Euston is his colleague. This renders his election 
 for the University a real honour, and reconciles me to 
 his having declined Bath. 
 
 I shall only add that as yet the returns are more 
 favourable than the most sanguine could have expected. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 May 26, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Pitt's note on the decision of the House of 
 Commons by so large a majority to hear the petition 
 on the Bedfordshire election on an early day is very 
 pleasing, as also that the petition of Mr. Fox is to be 
 examined by the whole House on Friday. I cannot 
 conclude without expressing my fullest approbation of 
 the conduct of Mr. Pitt on Monday : in particular his 
 employing only a razor against his antagonists, and 
 never condescending to run into that rudeness which, 
 though common in that House, certainly never becomes 
 a gentleman. If he proceeds in this mode of oratory, 
 he will bring debates into a shape more creditable, and 
 correct that, and I trust many other evils, which time 
 and temper can only effect. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 Kew, July 1, 1784. 
 
 It is with infinite satisfaction that I learn from 
 Mr. Pitt's letter that the various Resolutions proposed 
 yesterday to the House of Commons on the subjects of 
 the loan, the subscription for the unfunded debt, and
 
 LETTERS OF THE KING. Xlll 
 
 the taxes, were unanimously agreed to. Nothing is 
 more natural than that, such heavy charges requiring 
 many new taxes, those particularly affected by some 
 will from that selfish motive, though conscious of the 
 necessity of new burthens, attempt to place them on 
 others rather than on themselves. Mr. Fox's mode- 
 ration and candour will cease if any strong oppo- 
 sition to particular taxes should arise ; but I trust 
 Mr. Pitt will be able to carry all of them. It seemed 
 to be an opinion yesterday that the brick tax was 
 the one most likely to be opposed, but Mr. Pitt 
 not having mentioned it, I suppose that branch 
 of trade has not so many friends in the House as the 
 coal pits, which are the property of more considerable 
 persons, and therefore more clamorous, though not less 
 able to support a new charge on their profits. 
 
 Gr. R. 
 
 Windsor, July 17, 1784. 
 
 It is with infinite pleasure I have received Mr. Pitt's 
 note containing the agreeable account of the Committee 
 on the East India Bill having been opened by the 
 decision of so very decided a majority. I trust this 
 will prevent much trouble being given in its farther 
 progress, and that this measure may lay a foundation 
 for, by degrees, correcting those shocking enormities in 
 India that disgrace human nature, and, if not put a stop 
 to, threaten the expulsion of the Company out of that 
 wealthy region. I have the more confidence of success 
 from knowing Mr. Pitt's good sense, which will make 
 him not expect that the present experiment shall at 
 once prove perfect ; but that by an attentive eye, and 
 an inclination to do only what is right, he will, as occa-
 
 XIV APPENDIX. 
 
 sions arise, be willing to make such improvements as 
 may by degrees bring this arduous work into some 
 degree of perfection. 
 
 G. E. 
 
 September 10, 1784. 
 
 I am not surprised that Mr. Orde's informations on 
 the supposed plot reach Sir Edward Newenham as 
 well as Lord Bristol ; but such heads, as Mr. Pitt very 
 well observes, are not likely to form well-regulated 
 plans. Yet they ought to be well watched, for they 
 may be desperate ones. 
 
 February 18, 1785. 
 
 Great as my surprise is at the Castle having acted 
 entirely contrary to the most direct instructions from 
 hence in the Kesolutions for finally settling the commer- 
 cial regulations between Great Britain and Ireland, 
 yet it is, if possible, exceeded by Mr. Orde in his letter 
 to Mr. Pitt seeming to expect that Britain can consent 
 to them so entirely changed. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 February 22, 1785. 
 
 I am glad precedents authorize the Eesolutions of 
 the Irish Parliament being communicated to the two 
 Houses without any message on the occasion, as I could 
 by no means show approbation to them in their present 
 shape, and I do not see any reason for giving an opinion 
 till the Parliament of this Kingdom has, by the en- 
 closed draft of a Resolution, decided the line to be held, 
 which, as it has legislative considerations, ought to com- 
 mence with them. 
 
 G. R. 

 
 LETTERS OF THE KING. XV 
 
 March 4, 1785. 
 
 From what Mr. Pitt has heard me say on the conti- 
 nuation of the Westminster Scrutiny, he will not be 
 surprised that an end being put to it is not a subject of 
 great inquietude, though I do not the less feel that it 
 has been effected by many friends voting with the Coa- 
 lition, which is not a pleasant reflection ; but one must 
 hope they will not in future allow themselves to follow 
 so improper an example. I should hope Mr. Fox rather 
 hurt his cause by taking so strong a step as proposing 
 to expunge from the Journals the several Resolutions 
 which have been made relative to the Scrutiny : he 
 having at length postponed the consideration of it till 
 Wednesdav seems to authorize this opinion. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 March 20, 1785. 
 
 I have received Mr. Pitt's paper containing the heads 
 of his plan for a Parliamentary Reform, which I look 
 on as a mark of attention. I should have delayed ac- 
 knowledging the receipt of it till I saw him on Monday, 
 had not his letter expressed that there is but one issue 
 of the business he could look upon as fatal : that is, the 
 possibility of the measure being rejected by the weight 
 of those who are supposed to be connected with Govern- 
 ment. Mr. Pitt must recollect that though I have 
 thought it unfortunate that he had early engaged him- 
 self in this measure, yet that I have ever said that as 
 he was clear of the propriety of the measure, he ought 
 to lay his thoughts before the House ; that out of per- 
 sonal regard to him, I should avoid giving any opinion 
 to any one on the opening of the door to Parliamentary 
 Reform except to him : therefore I am certain Mr. Pitt 
 cannot suspect my having influenced any one on the
 
 XVI APPENDIX. 
 
 occasion ; if others choose for base ends to impute such 
 a conduct to me, I must bear it as former false surges- 
 
 7 Do 
 
 tions. Indeed on a question of such magnitude, I should 
 tliink very ill of any man who took a part on either side 
 without the maturest consideration, and who would 
 suffer his civility to any one to make him vote contrary 
 to his own opinion. The conduct of some of Mr. Pitt's 
 most intimate friends on the Westminster Scrutiny shows 
 there are questions men will not by friendship be biassed 
 to adopt. 
 
 (jr. R. 
 
 March 24, 1785. 
 
 This morning I received the enclosed note from Lord 
 Southampton, on which I appointed him to be at St. 
 James's when I returned from the House of Peers. He 
 there delivered to me the letter from the Prince of 
 Wales. All I could collect further from him was that 
 the idea is that I call for explanations and retrench- 
 ments as a mode of declining engaging to pay the debts ; 
 that there are many sums that it cannot be honourable 
 to explain ; that Lord Southampton has reason to believe 
 they have not been incurred for political purposes ; that 
 he thinks the going abroad is now finally resolved on ; 
 that perhaps the champion of the Opposition has been 
 consulted on the letter now sent. I therefore once more 
 send all that has passed to Mr. Pitt, and hope to have 
 in the course of to-morrow from him what answer ought 
 to be sent to this extraordinary epistle, which, though 
 respectful in terms, is in direct defiance of my whole 
 correspondence. I suppose Mr. Pitt will choose to con- 
 sult the Chancellor. 
 
 G.R.
 
 LETTEES OF THE KING. XV11 
 
 March 25, 1785. 
 
 Mr. Pitt need not make any excuse for not having 
 returned the papers this day, as his punctuality is too 
 well known to give any room for suspicion, and the 
 good Chancellor is rather famous for loving delay ; there- 
 fore it sits on the present occasion most justly on his 
 shoulders. Considering he had the papers so long in 
 his hands within these three weeks, I should not have 
 supposed they would require a fresh perusal. Not having 
 heard anything this day, I should suppose that no in- 
 convenience can arise from not hearing from Mr. Pitt 
 on this subject till to-morrow. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 April 19, 1785. 
 
 Mr. Pitt's note contains so many speakers on the 
 question that he proposed yesterday in the House* of 
 Commons, that I am not surprised the debate continued 
 to so late an hour ; I trust the adjournment till to-mor- 
 row will make him not the worse for the fatigue that 
 it must have occasioned. I understand that Lord 
 Camden, who never before heard Mr. Pitt in Parliament, 
 expressed at the Ancient Concert last night great com- 
 mendation at his masterly performance. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 Windsor, August 7, 1785. 
 
 I have this instant received Mr. Pitt's letter enclosing 
 the one brought him by Count Woronzow's secretary 
 and the paper that accompanied it, which is a copy of 
 the one given on Friday to Lord Carmarthen. Count 
 Woronzow also visited Lord Sydney and insisted a 
 council was to be held the next day to give him an
 
 XV111 APPENDIX. 
 
 answer whether I would break the treaty I have in my 
 Electoral capacity finally concluded with the King of 
 Prussia and the Elector of Saxony to prevent all mea- 
 sures contrary to the Germanic Constitution. If no 
 one has such dangerous views, this association cannot 
 give umbrage ; but the time certainly required this 
 precaution. My only difficulty in giving any answer to 
 the Empress of Russia is that her declaration bears so 
 strongly the shape of a command that it requires a 
 strong one. 
 
 St. James's, August 10, 1785. 
 
 On arriving in town I have received the three papers 
 I proposed transmitting to Mr. Pitt. I cannot say that 
 the time that has elapsed since last I wrote has dimi- 
 nished my surprise or cooled my feelings on the haughty 
 step the Empress of Russia has taken ; but I trust I 
 have too much regard to my own dignity to wish any 
 heat should appear in the answer that may next week 
 be given to Count Woronzow, though she must know 
 that when steps are taken from principle they are not 
 to be retrograded. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 February 28, 1786. 
 
 Mr. Pitt's moving an approbation of the plan of for- 
 tifications previous to the Speaker's leaving the Chair 
 was undoubtedly the most likely method of gaining 
 consent to the measure ; but the postponing the consi- 
 deration from last Session to this, though it arose from 
 candour, had the appearance of avoiding the decision, 
 and certainly gave time to the enemies of the fortifica- 
 tions to gain more strength. I do not in the least look 
 on the event as any want of confidence in Mr. Pitt from
 
 LETTERS OF THE KING. XIX 
 
 the Members of the House of Commons, but their at- 
 tachment to old prejudices and some disinclination to 
 the projector of the fortifications. 
 
 G. K. 
 
 March 30, 1780. 
 
 Considering Mr. Pitt has had the unpleasant office of 
 providing for the expenses incurred by the last war, it 
 is but just he should have the full merit he deserves of 
 having the public know and feel that he has now pro- 
 posed a measure that will render the nation again re- 
 spectable, if she has the sense to remain quiet some 
 years, and not by wanting to take a showy part in the 
 transactions of Europe again become the dupe of other 
 Powers, and from ideal greatness draw herself into last- 
 ing distress. The old English saying is applicable to 
 our situation : " England must cut her coat according to 
 her cloth." 
 
 June 14, 178(3. 
 
 Mr. Pitt would have conducted himself yesterday very 
 unlike what my mind ever expects of him if, as he thinks 
 Mr. Hastings's conduct towards the Kajah was too severe, 
 he had not taken the part he did, though it made him 
 coincide with (the) adverse party. As to myself, I own 
 I do not think it possible in that country to carry on 
 business with the same moderation that is suitable to 
 an European civilized nation. 
 
 Gr. xv. 
 
 Windsor, July 3, 1786. 
 
 The draft of a message to the Prince of Wales which 
 Mr. Pitt sent to me on Saturday evening met so tho-
 
 XX APPENDIX. 
 
 roughly with my ideas, that I have verbatim copied it, 
 and sent it through the channel of Lord Southampton. 
 
 I return also the two letters from Mendiola, and ap- 
 prove the disclaiming in the strongest manner all idea 
 of interfering in the discontents of the inhabitants of 
 the Spanish settlements in South America. As I ever 
 thought the conduct of France in North America un- 
 justifiable, I certainly can never copy so faithless an 
 example. 
 
 G. XV. 
 
 Mr. Pitt to the King. 
 
 January 22, 1787. 
 
 Mr. Pitt humbly begs leave to acquaint your Majesty 
 that he has seen the Bishop of Peterborough, who wishes 
 to decline the Deanery of St. Paul's, appearing at the 
 same time very thankful for the offer, and begging to 
 be laid at your Majesty's feet with every expression of 
 duty and gratitude. Under these circumstances Mr. 
 Pitt takes the liberty to submit to your Majesty Ins 
 earnest wish that the Deanery of St. Paul's may still be 
 held with the Bishopric of Lincoln, on Dr. Pretyman's 
 giving up his prebend and living. As the preferment 
 was held with two others in addition to it by the present 
 Bishop, Mr. Pitt flatters himself there can be nothing 
 objectionable in its being now given witli the Bishopric, 
 and he sees neither any arrangement of importance nor 
 any pressing claim with which it can interfere. 
 
 Mr. Pitt will only presume to add that he can request 
 nothing from your Majesty's goodness which he has 
 more anxiously and personally at heart.
 
 LETTERS OF THE KING. XXI 
 
 January 22, 1787. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, By your note which met me as I was riding 
 to town, I find the Bishop of Peterborough declines the 
 Deanery of St. Paul's, and that this has made you re- 
 new your application for Dr. Pretyman. I see you 
 have it so much at heart that I cannot let my reason 
 guide me against my inclination to oblige you. I there- 
 fore consent to his having this Deanery with the Bishop- 
 ric of Lincoln, though I am confident it will be, by all 
 but those concerned, thought very unreasonable, and I 
 should fear will serve as a precedent to the like appli- 
 cations. While desires increase, the means of satisfying 
 people have been much diminished. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 May 26, 1787. 
 
 Had Lord Carmarthen's letter, accompanied by a 
 Minute of Cabinet, not been also by Mr. Pitt's letter, 
 I should certainly have declined consenting to risk the 
 advancing 70,000Z. to the Stadtholder's party in the 
 United Provinces ; and though I now reluctantly con- 
 sent to it from the fatal experience of having fed the 
 Corsican cause, and Ministry never having, as they 
 had promised, found means of its being refunded to 
 me, which made me consequently afterwards appear 
 in an extravagant light to Parliament, yet I trust to 
 Mr. Pitt's honour that he will take such arrangements 
 on this occasion as shall prevent postponing the re- 
 gular payments of the Civil List, and that Parliament 
 shall make good the payment the next winter without 
 supposing that the demand arises from any extrava- 
 gance on my part. 
 
 G. R.
 
 XX11 APPENDIX. 
 
 July 17, 1787. 
 
 My reason for suggesting the idea that though the 
 King of Prussia can never coincide with the Emperor's 
 views in Germany, they might agree as to the Nether- 
 lands, arose from thinking that in politics as well as 
 private life, when nothing but what is fair is meant, it 
 obviates suspicion to speak clearly, and that less open- 
 ness often causes mischief. 
 
 October 12, 1787. 
 
 I cannot return to the Secretary of State's Office 
 the very material papers on the plans of France with 
 regard to India without sending Mr. Pitt a few lines. 
 I should hope he will acquaint the Cabinet to-morrow 
 that I am forming four regiments for that service, and 
 that he will push on a negotiation with M. Boers to 
 make the two Companies understand one another, and 
 take efficient measures to secure us against our in- 
 sidious neighbour. Perhaps no part of the change in 
 Holland is so material to this country as the gaining 
 that Republic as an ally in India. I recommend that 
 no time should be lost in bringing this to bear, and 
 our Company ought to be liberal in its offers to 
 effect it. 
 
 Gr. P. 
 
 March 6, 1788, 
 
 I have delayed acknowledging the receipt of Mr. 
 Pitt's note informino- me of the division in the House 
 of Commons this morning, lest he might have been 
 disturbed when it would have been highly incon- 
 venient. It is amazing how, on a subject that could
 
 LETTERS OP THE KING. XX111 
 
 be reduced into so small a compass, the House 
 would hear such long speaking. The object of Oppo- 
 sition was evidently to oblige the old and infirm 
 Members to give up the attendance, which is reason 
 sufficient for the friends of Government to speak 
 merely to the point in future, and try to shorten 
 debates, and bring, if possible, the present bad mode of 
 mechanical oratory into discredit. 
 
 G.K. 
 
 March 8, 1788. 
 
 Mr. Pitt having had so long an attendance again 
 yesterday in the House of Commons, I did not choose 
 to acknowledge the receipt of his note this morning. 
 I am sure Mr. Pitt has acted very properly in pro- 
 posing the recommitment of the Explanatory Bill, that 
 a clause may be added disclaiming any view of patron- 
 age ; but I cannot call those gentlemen sincere friends 
 that have harboured unjust suspicions on that head. 
 I fear it is come of the leaven of former Oppositions, 
 who now support Government, but are not void of 
 sentiments more calculated for their former than present 
 line of conduct. I own I am not quite cool on this 
 subject ; for where suggestions are unfounded, they can- 
 not be the offspring of real friends. 
 
 G. R. 
 
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