A FEW 
 
 CURSORY REMARKS 
 
 UPON 
 
 THE STATE OF 
 
 PARTIES, 
 
 DURING 
 
 THE xlDMINISTRATION 
 
 OP 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 MEJVRY ^BJDIJVGTOJV. 
 
 s:<: 
 
 BY A NEAR OBSERVER. 
 
 
 Frodesse qudm placere. 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION, CORRECTED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR J. IIATCHARD, 
 
 (bookseller to her majesty,) 
 
 No. 190, 
 DIRECTLY OPPOSITE ALBANY HOUSE, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1803.
 
 T. Brette.ll, Printer, 
 Great Windriiin Street, Haymarket.
 
 TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 FIRST LORD COMMISSIONER OF THE TREASURY, 
 
 -=3»gg)^-^^^®C» L. I 
 
 Sir, 
 
 / 
 
 If your principal friends and 
 well-wishers have represented your cha- 
 racter with as much truth as ability, and 
 the portrait they have exhibited be not a 
 mere design, without resemblance to na- 
 ture, you will liot consider every man as 
 your enemy, who will not, or cannot flatter 
 you ; nor des])isc, nor resent any attempt to 
 be of service because it is free from servility. 
 
 You
 
 VI 
 
 You must have observed, Mr. Addington, 
 in the conduct of some of your prede- 
 cessors, and yon have doubtless remem- 
 bered to your own advantage, how unpro- 
 fitable and absurd it is to add insolence to 
 power, and to think it a part of greatness 
 to be hated. I understand that vou are 
 happier in your disposition, more manly 
 in your friendships, more generous in your 
 sentiments, and that to the frankness and 
 probity of your public character, you join 
 the virtues and the manners of elegant and 
 domestic life. — May these good qualities of 
 your nature. Sir, be neither corrupted by 
 honours and success, nor soured by dis- 
 appointment and ingratitude ! 
 
 The following reflections are intended 
 with much good-will to you and your ad- 
 ministration ; but I am far from promising 
 that every page shall sooth your vanity, or 
 promote your wishes, or coincide with your 
 opinions. I cannot be your friend and 
 your flatterer too. 
 
 I think.
 
 Vll 
 
 I think, however, that these remarks 
 will, perhaps, do some service ; other- 
 wise, in the present danger and incon- 
 venience of our public circumstances, I 
 should not think it warrantable to inter- 
 fere. 
 
 I have the Honour to be, 
 
 Sir, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 A NEAR OBSERVER. 
 
 London, Sept. b, 
 1803.
 
 A FE\7 
 
 / 
 
 CURSORY REMARKS, 
 
 JL HE surprise and consternation with which 
 the public received intelhgence of the resignation 
 of his Majesty's late Ministers in February 1801, 
 are not yet forgotten. The state of the country 
 at that time, and in consequence of that event, 
 forms ope of the most extraordinary and me- 
 morable epochas of its history. 
 
 Fatigued, discouraged, and almost exhausted 
 with the eiforts, events, and burthens, of nine 
 years of the revolutionary war, it was in vain 
 that the nation endeavoured with straining eyes 
 to gather a ray of hope in that vast horizon 
 where the Sun of Peace seemed set for ever. 
 The flashes of victory itself threw but a trem- 
 bling and meteor light, too feeble to pierce the 
 darkness that seemed to brood over Europe. 
 
 Deserted by every ally (but such as were our 
 burthen and our weakness) we had seen the 
 
 3 subju-
 
 10 
 
 subjugation of the best half of the Continent 
 ratified at Luneville. The strengih, the spirit, 
 and the character of the House of Austria were 
 subdued and broken : and its mutilated power 
 removed as it were by the fabulous spell of an 
 enchanter, from the banks of the Scheldt and 
 Rhine, to the distant shores of the Adriatic. 
 The German Empire, a shapeless and inanimate 
 mass, already mulcted and amerced of some of 
 its fairest principalities, awaited the consumma- 
 tion of its fate at Ratisbon, in the silence of 
 despair ; while the King of Prussia, without a 
 body of nobility, of prelates, or of magistrates, 
 . and appearing only to command his corrupted 
 generals, and jacobin court, was glad to be 
 bribed into a system which he had neither the 
 courage nor the power to resist. So much 
 wiser is it in the present constitution of the 
 world, to seem treacherous, ambitious, profli- 
 gate, any thing — than weak, 
 
 Russia, whose gallant armies had so lately 
 combated, at our side, under the influence of 
 her unhappy Czar, and of the more insane and 
 deranged spirit of commercial-avarice and fraud, 
 now appeared against us at the head of a mighty 
 confederation in the north ; British blood had 
 stained the channel, and the quarrel had been 
 compromised without satisfaction or atonement 
 by an evasive and disgraceful convention, signed 
 at Copenhagen in presence of our fleet ! 
 
 The
 
 11 
 
 The rest of the Continent was France — Spain, 
 Ita]}', Piedmont, Swisserland, the courses of tlie 
 Lower llliine into the ocean, the Seven United 
 Provinces, the Low Countries were absorhed. 
 By treaty or by terror, by influence or by force, 
 they had become members and departments of 
 the great nation; their ships, their soldiers, their 
 commerce, and their revenues, were at her dis- 
 posal; and a power so enormous as was never 3Tt 
 concentrated by any league or confederation of 
 independent sovereigns and states, was now 
 amassed and converged in a single arm ; flushed 
 with victory, goaded by disappointments, and 
 directed by rancour and ambition against the 
 shores of Great Britain. What part of the ci- 
 vilized world was there not in arms against us, 
 or preparing to arm, when the late ministers 
 gave in their resignation? 
 
 Was our domestic state more happy or serene, 
 and our internal position more smooth and 
 favourable for the retreat of ministers, weary, 
 no doubt, of the fatigues of office, and cloyed 
 with the duration of their power ? 1 throw a 
 veil over the malady of our beloved SovereigUj 
 Mho never gave pain to his subjects but A\hen 
 they trembled for his life. But the future his- 
 torian of this eventful era will make it his care 
 to dwell upon a calamity which heightened 
 every terror in our circumstance, and more than 
 redoubled every other calauiity. The arti- 
 fices
 
 / 
 
 fices of part}'', and the unhappy success of so 
 many expensive expeditions, had entirely dis- 
 couraged and indisposed the country towards 
 offensive operations; and the unfortunate or- 
 ders which had caused the violation of the 
 Treaty of Al-Erisch, and (at the expence of the 
 massacre of the Turkish army) detained the 
 conquerors of Egypt in that important pro\ ince,, 
 had created the highest distrust and dissatisfac- 
 tion as to the conduct of the war, and the ca- 
 pacity of the persons entrusted vvith it. The 
 war itself, too, of which the true nature and cha- 
 racter, had been early mistaken *, and of which 
 the principle and objects had so repeatedly ap- 
 peared to change, had now grown unpopular 
 and hopeless; witness the single disappointment 
 received at Ferrol, which caused more discontent 
 and despondency than, at earlier periods of the 
 v/ar, had arisen from all our mistakes and mis- 
 fortunes in St. Domingo, Corsica, Quiberon, and 
 North-Holland. An expedition, indeed, was 
 prepared to retrieve our master-error in Egypt, 
 and a fleet to assist our negotiations with the 
 Northern Powers : but in describing the period 
 I have undertaken, it were unjust to dissemble, 
 that no minister could have been sanguine 
 enough to expect their success. In the Baltic, 
 a fleet had already appeared under the command 
 of Admiral Dickson, to support a demand of sa^ 
 * At Valenciennes aiid Dunkirk, 
 
 tisfactiou
 
 13 
 
 tisfaction for the injury we had received in our 
 own seas, from a Danish frigate (the Freya). 
 That galhint Admiral however had no orders 
 which could save him the pain of witnessing, 
 and Lord Whitworth no instructions which could 
 spare him the necessity of signing a treaty of 
 Adjournment, at the cxpence of some implied 
 and virtual admissions *, which, in happier 
 times, could never have heen extorted from a 
 British Cabinet. As to the recovery of Egypt, 
 even now that it has pleased Providence to bless 
 the valour of his IMajesty's arms with such glo- 
 rious success, it is impossible to deu}'^ the great 
 inadequacy, shall I say ? or the total incompe- 
 tency of that expedition to its object; or to 
 think that it deserved or could have been, 
 crowned with victory, according to human 
 computation and probability f. These remarks 
 are not voluntary, much less designed to mor- 
 tify the vanity of any statesman, or to defeat 
 the political post-liminium, by which the late 
 Government now claims to enter upon the 
 merit of that most happy and stupendous 
 service ; but it is impossible to describe with 
 fidelity the period in question, without record- 
 ing the truth of circumstances, and the just 
 opinion and apprehensions of the time. 1 en- 
 
 * 
 
 See the Convention of Copenhagen, 1800. 
 + Vide Memoirs of the Egyptian Expedition, by Sir Robert 
 Wilson, 
 
 tertain
 
 u 
 
 tertain great respect for the nol)le Lord, Mho 
 w-iis the author of the expedition ; but I liope he 
 will allow me, without offence, to say, with 
 good Crptain Fhiellei. — "Up:^nm3- conscience, 
 God Ahnicrhtv did us some service." 
 
 In this complicated predicament of evil and 
 despondency, v^'ith every part of Europe hostile 
 to- our interests, and preparing to annoy us ; 
 w-Ithout a distinct end or remaining object in 
 the war; our expeditions hopeless; our burthens 
 pressing and severe; our enemy (lushed with 
 insolence and success, and galird by recent in- 
 sult and repulse ; our Sovereign indisj^osed and 
 incapable of administering the affairs of his 
 government; ^hat hope or faint speculation of 
 peace remained, what part of our affairs ap- 
 peared retrievable? Do I overcharge or distort 
 the picture? I appeal to the memory of all th.e 
 countrv, M"ho am mvself a witness of its situa- 
 tion and its despair ! 
 
 It was at such a moment, that his Mnjesty's 
 Irtte IMinisters * thought ])roper to retire from 
 his service; and that he was graciously pleased 
 to call Mr. Addington to his councils. The 
 melancholy event, and the period of doubt, dif- 
 ficulty, and danger which intervened before 
 
 * Messrs. Pitt, Windham, and Dundas; the Lords 
 Grv-nvili.b, Spf.NCER, and (after what his Court, I believe, 
 calls, technically, an Interlocutouy pr tv^)) the l,,ord Chan- 
 cellor KOSSLYX. 
 
 this
 
 15 
 
 this and the other arranii^ements could be com- 
 pletedj are too painful, and too fresh in the me- 
 morv for it to be necessary to relate. It was 
 only upon his Majesty's most happy and provi- 
 dential recovery, that the nation could clearly 
 know who were his servants. 
 
 It quickly appeared, however, that the best 
 understanding prevailed between the seceders 
 and tlieir successors, who were indeed re- 
 proaclied with it as a weakness and a crime; 
 but as the country dreaded nothing so much as 
 falling under the conduct of Messrs. Fox, Grey, 
 and the party of the Opposition, it derived con- 
 solation from the panegyric of the new Minis- 
 ters pronounced by Mr. Pitt, in the Plouse of 
 Commons ; and from the certainty of their being 
 firmly supported by all the zeal, influence, and 
 ability of their predecessors. 
 
 The public felt all the hazard and difficulty 
 of their situation; and the courage and self- 
 devotedness with which they had succeeded 
 to the posts of danger, Mere the topics of admi- 
 ration and applause. As yet no ambition had 
 discovered itself bold enough to envy a situation, 
 which certainly was not a bed of roses and 
 honours which promised to wither before their 
 bloom. The very character which was drawn of 
 Mr. Addington and his colleagues, by the masterly 
 hand of Mr. Pitt, was m no instance so worthy 
 of remark anu appro bi.: ion, as in the strong vir- 
 tual
 
 1^ 
 
 tiial confession it involved, of the difficulties 
 and dangers of the situation in which he had 
 left the government ; and the silent reproaches 
 he was indirectly admitting, in the case that he 
 could he supposed to have been capable of re- 
 tiring at such a moment, without a perfect con- 
 fidence and satisfaction, that the King had been 
 able to supply his place v\'ith a fit and sufii- 
 cient o'overnment. Yet we shall soon find a 
 very different picture, both of the Ministers 
 and the state of the country, exhibited in the 
 House of Commons, by the bosom friend of the 
 right honourable gentleman. 
 
 If the private character of the new Govern- 
 ment, and the great sacrifice of ease, security, 
 and permanent dignity which the principal per- 
 son had not hesitated to make, exempted them 
 from suspicion of vanity or ambition, in the as- 
 sumption of stations of so much responsibility; 
 yet as Ministers their ability was untried. The 
 resignations had taken the nation by surprise, 
 and a general sentiment of doubt and despon- 
 dency prevailed. So long accustomed to look 
 up to Mr. Pitt, they thought that Troy could 
 be defended by no other arm. It was true, 
 indeed, that his popularity had materially suf- 
 fered by abandoning the reins of government in 
 so questionable a manner at so terrible a crisis; 
 but posterity will judge what must have 
 been the attachment and affection of the coun- 
 try
 
 t7 
 
 try for that Minister, what its opinion of his 
 talents and his virtues (while they were entire,) 
 since indignant as it Avas at his retreat, it still 
 regarded his advice as the best hope of the stale, 
 and the new Ministers as firm and secure be- 
 hind the ruins of his reputation ! 
 
 Quanta-^Roma fuit ipsa ruina docet. 
 
 It could not however happen that this friend- 
 ship and support should be entirely advan* 
 tageous without any alloy or diminution. The 
 party of the Old Opposition had taken occasion 
 to treat the government with affected pity 
 and contempt, as the mere creatures or sub- 
 stitutes of their predecessors ; they pretended 
 to consider the administration as in com- 
 mission; and, as far as can be collected from 
 their conduct, they had in truth so little opi- 
 nion of its stability, as to resolve upon giving 
 it a temporary support and assistance, rather 
 than press it too flist, and before they were 
 ready to profit of it, to its inevitable dissolution. 
 Under these auspices, did the King's servants 
 return to Parliament from their elections. They 
 had the confidence of their Sovereign, — the 
 extreme good will and approbation of the public, 
 but depressed by considerable anxiety and 
 doubts of their sufficiency — the support of the 
 resigners — and their own weakness to defend 
 them. 
 
 c Of
 
 18 
 
 Of their own motive, conduct, and principle, 
 it is necessary to say a few, and but a very few 
 words. They had not coveted their employ- 
 ments, they had not intrigued for them, they 
 had not obtained them by parhamentary or 
 popular arts. Their Sovereign, in a crisis of 
 extreme exigency and danger, had claimed 
 their services, and they knew their duty. But, 
 in- obeying the commands of their master, they 
 had felt and were deeply penetrated with the 
 impossibility of serving him and their country 
 in the great necessity of the time, if that vast 
 mass of talents, information, and influence, over 
 which Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville presided, 
 were not only suddenly withdrawn from tlie 
 support of his majesty's government, but con- 
 verted into ail opposing, or even a neutral force. 
 Whatever mav be the difficulty and the deli- 
 cacy, (for they are extreme) of the point I am 
 treating, I think it indispensable to speak with 
 courage and Mith perspicuity ; and I challenge 
 the illustrious persons I have just named to 
 controvert the fact or the spirit of a statement, 
 which it is important to the present, and to 
 future ages, to place beyond controversy and 
 dispute. I must take upon me, therefore, to 
 aver, that his Majesty's most gracious offer of 
 his confidence to Mv. Addington, could not 
 hav€ been, and was xot definitively accepted, 
 until a solemn authentic pledge of honour had 
 
 been
 
 19 
 
 been given by the late Ministers, for their 
 
 *' CONSTANT, ACTIVE, and ZEALOUS SUP- 
 PORT." I do assert that ^Ir. Pitt and Lord 
 Grexville* did sacredly and solemnly enter 
 into this exact engagement, and \n this precise 
 form of words. — You thmk with Hamlet, "the 
 lady promises too much ! . Oh ! but she'll keep 
 her word !" 
 
 It must not be concealed, however, that e"ven 
 at this very moment of inauguration, the 
 public might have discovered some germs and 
 seeds of future difference and dissention. There 
 was something in the very promise of support, 
 and in the character of the parties, which, to a 
 near observer, looked like an implied condition 
 that this support should never cease to he neces- 
 sary, and that ministers should never attempt 
 to stand upon their own ground, and their own 
 merits. Those at least, who could best decy- 
 pher political characters, made use of this key ; 
 by which, reducing the mysterious contract into 
 vulgar letters, they read plainly that the Minis- 
 ters would be supported by their predecessors, 
 hist as long as they could be considered as 
 weak, incapable, and deciduous — as long as 
 they could be hourly displaced they would be 
 hourly upheld and assisted ; but if they should 
 
 * Lord Grenville has been reminded of this promise more 
 than once by the Lords- Pelham and Hobart — but his Lordship 
 
 ■ — ■ leviter curare vldetur 
 
 Quopromissa cadunt et somnia Pythagorsea, 
 
 ^ attempt
 
 20 
 
 attempt to walk without the leading string — • 
 if they should have the presumption to appear 
 qualified for their offices, or to be successful 
 in any of their measures — if they should dare 
 to be firm, prudent, virtuous, or fortunate, or 
 to lay any claim to any merit, or attempt by 
 any means to procure the esteem or confidence 
 of the countr}^, then these acts should cancel 
 the agreement, as contrary to its spirit and true 
 meaning, and they should instantly be treated 
 as rivals and enemies ! * 
 
 The House of Commons, I think, at this 
 time, must be divided into four or five parties. 
 The Ministers were as yet imtried, and had 
 taken their ground with singular modesty, 
 appealing only to the future opinion of the 
 public upon the measures they should pursue, 
 and desiring to be judged of by their actions. 
 The Old Opposition, though bent upon peace, 
 or pacific demonstrations, was now evidently 
 neither unanimous in principle, nor imited in 
 tactics. Messrs. Windham,' Grenville, and their 
 followers, were adverse to peace altogether — 
 Mr. Pitt himself an host, supported Ministers 
 openly, and perhaps officiously — Mr, Pitt's 
 friends without the trouble of a public principle, 
 or rule of conduct, were continually employed 
 in decrying and discrediting the measures of 
 Ministers, sneering at their persons, and fore- 
 boding their dismission. 
 
 In this corner of the House, one continually 
 
 heard,
 
 21 
 
 heard, in loud whispers, of their incapacity 
 and presumption in having taken their situa^ 
 tions, while, from another bench, the}'- were 
 openly branded as the mere puppets and substi- 
 tutes of the persons to whom they had presumed 
 to succeed. 
 
 It appeared as if the friends of the cx-ministry 
 would ha\'e liked better to have left his Majesty 
 altogether without a cabinet, and that for some 
 reason or other, they would have preferred to 
 see the kingdom ungoverned, and the King's 
 sides naked in the anarchy. A painful obscu- 
 rity hung over the motives of the resignations ; 
 the causes assigned were so far from obtaining 
 credit with the public, and were so inadequate 
 to the effect, that a noble Lord, connected with 
 both administrations, and whose principal cha- 
 racteristic and device are political prudence^ 
 had not scrupled to treat of them as "myste- 
 rious," and the temerity of vulgar irresponsible 
 judgments, proceeding upon the hint, had 
 unequivocally ascribed them to despondency 
 and apprehension. 
 
 When they heard the friends of a ministry, 
 whose retreat they attributed to despair, accuse 
 the persons o^ p7'esumptio}2^ who had the courage 
 to assume the guidance of affairs in their place, 
 the public inferred that it must be presumption 
 and audacity to entertain the least hope of 
 saving the country, for they did not believe 
 
 that
 
 22 
 
 that things had of late been so wisel}', or so 
 prosperously conducted, as to render it pre- 
 sumptuous in any set of ministers to hope they 
 should be able to conduct the business of go- 
 vernment M'ith equal prudence, econom}-, or 
 success. 
 
 Had this sentiment been confined to these 
 kingdoms, perhaps, the ministers might have 
 found no great difficulty in recovering the peo- 
 ple from its eifects. But unfortunately the same 
 motives were attributed abroad to the conduct 
 of their predecessors, whose retreat Avas consi- 
 dered, both by the government of France and 
 the neutral powers of the Continent, as a virtual 
 confession of the inabiHty of tlie country to 
 persist in the war, so that they had the misfortune 
 to retire, and the new servants of the Crown to 
 succeed under the imputation that the former 
 possessed no ability of making peace, and the 
 latter no means of continuing the war *. Under 
 these fatal impressions of the public mind, both 
 at home and abroad, was Lord Hawkcsbury 
 obliged to submit the first overtures for a treaty, 
 which appeared to all men almost impossible 
 to be obtained upon any terms short of ruin and 
 disgrace ; but to which we were at length ban- 
 pily conducted by the pacification of the neu- 
 
 * It was even believed that the late ministers had been 
 long divided upon this poinr, an opinion which subsequent 
 events appear to have justified. 
 
 tral
 
 23 
 tral powers in the Baltic, after the glorious bat- 
 tle otf CoPEXHAGEN *, and by the recovery of 
 the Treaty of El-Erisch, which was the con- 
 sequence of a series of unhoped-for victories in 
 
 Egypt t. 
 
 It is not my intention to discuss the merits 
 of the preliminary or definitive treaties J, nor 
 do I otherwise allude to these or anv other 
 public transactions than as I find them con- 
 nected with the conduct or character of parties. 
 It is fresh in the recollection of the public, 
 that upon the peace a diiference of sentiment 
 immediately appeared amongst the late mi- 
 nisters, so serious and important as not only 
 to authorize and confirm the opinion which 
 I have said had prevailed of there having long 
 existed a schism in their cabinet upon that 
 question, but to make it appear for ever impos- 
 sible for them to act together again in any po- 
 litical union whatsoever. No parties, no princi- 
 ples could be more distinct and discordant, than 
 those of Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville, with 
 their several parti zans of the old ministry. 
 The first gave hi« entire approbation and sup- 
 port to the treaty, the latter omitted no species 
 or excess of blame and condemnation. In- 
 deed, in the course of the contention, a fact 
 
 * April 2d. + Alexandria capitulated September 2d, 
 
 i March 25, 1SC>1, gndOft, I, 1801. 
 
 came
 
 24. 
 
 came out of so extraordinary a nature, that al- 
 though not strictly within the period to which 
 I have confined this discourse, it appears to me 
 too much connected with the object of it, and 
 intrinsically of too much curiosity and interest^ 
 to be misplaced here, or any where* 
 
 I have already adverted to the disadvantage 
 under which Ministers had been obliged to open 
 the Treaty. The resignations were interpreted 
 as signals of distress; and the unfortunate 
 negotiations at Lisle, confined and circum- 
 scribed every project or overture they could ha- 
 zard. Could Mr. Addington propose terms less 
 favourable to Bonaparte, than Lord Grenville 
 had offered to Barras and Reubell? Would 
 France, now that one half of the Continent lay 
 prostrate at her foot, by the Treaty of Lune- 
 ville; mistress of Egypt; and stirring up a 
 confederation of Kings from the bosom of the 
 North, accept conditions less glorious or pro- 
 fitable, than we had offered her at the moment 
 of one of her revolutions, * while the powers 
 of Europe weie unbroken, and ready to renew 
 the war at our side? The projet of Lisle, 
 therefore, was a circle, out of which the suc- 
 cessors of Lord Grenville could not tread, and 
 they could no otherwise hope to obtain even 
 those terms in the present predicament of the 
 
 ♦ September 4, 1797, 
 
 country ;
 
 25 
 
 Country ; than as they had been^ demonstrably 
 inferior and inadequate to its condition, at the 
 time they were offered. 
 
 Notwithstanding that so early as the treaty 
 concluded with the Court of St. Petersburgii *, 
 the great talents of Lord Grenville had been em- 
 ployed upon a speech and a pamphlet, in which 
 he endeavoured to oppose, discredit, and stig- 
 matize, with every species of acrimony and con- 
 tempt those Ministers, to whom he had so 
 lately engaged his constant^ zealous, and active 
 support, the public now beheld M'ith some- 
 thing more than astonishment, the same powers 
 of eloquence, the same industry, and the same 
 spirit exerted to induce Parliament to pro- 
 nounce a censure upon a treaty of peace, drawn 
 up upon his own model, and almost copied from 
 his own hand ! During these discussions, Mr. 
 Windham who now took the lead in the oppo- 
 sition in the other House, made the important 
 confession, that he had always disapproved of 
 the project offered by his Lordship to the French 
 Directory ; and had always condemned those ne- 
 gotiations in his mind, to which, as a member of 
 the Cabinet, he had outwardly lent his name, 
 credit, and responsibility, and which he had 
 constantly defended in Parliament. Neither* 
 did this confession appear officious but indis- 
 pensable; for Mr. Windham felt the glaring 
 
 * June 5, 1801, 
 
 D hiQon*
 
 2b 
 
 inconsistency of opposing the peace, and ap- 
 proving of the project. He kne\^ that the basis 
 of the Treaty of Amiens, was traced at Lisle; 
 he knew that it had been made more favour- 
 able for this country, under circumstances more 
 unfavourable ; he knew that his colleagues had 
 not hoped to obtain the whole of their projet; 
 and that in every negotiation something must 
 be abandoned, and something conceded from the 
 conditions of the overture. He knew that if it 
 were contended, that he and his colleagues 
 would not have departed from their projet in a 
 single tittle, it followed that it had not been a 
 project, but an ultimatum ; and that a courier 
 had been more properly charged with it, than a 
 Minister Plenipotentiary. Before, therefore, he 
 "w'ould venture to condemn Lord Cornwallis's 
 Treaty, with just regard to his own character, 
 he took care to disclaim and disavow his part in 
 Lord Malmsbury's Negotiation. Do I con- 
 demn the right lionourable gentleman for this 
 conduct ? not certainly for leaving all the ho- 
 nour of the negotiations at Lisle to Lord Gren- 
 ville ; not certainly for protecting his own repu- 
 tation, although in so doing, he shewed little 
 regard for that of his noble colleague, in the late 
 Cabinet and present Opposition, whose incon- 
 sistency, he was cruelly holding up to derision ; 
 but 1 confess, I am at a loss to conceive, what 
 greater necessity existed now for his censuring 
 
 the
 
 27 
 
 the peace of Amiens, of which the guilt and re- 
 proach (if there were any) did not attacii and 
 were not imputed to him, than he could discover 
 in 1797, when his just portion of the opprobrium 
 of the negotiations at Lisle, was openly fixed upon 
 his head. I have heard this gentleman applauded 
 by his friends to the very echo, for his consist- 
 ency and manliness of conduct. DoubtlesS) by 
 the side -of Lord Grenville, Mr. Windham has 
 some advantage ; but positive qualities are nei- 
 ther dependent upon comparisons nor contrasts, 
 nor is a man therefore a dwarf because he hap- 
 pens to stand by a giant. As Mr. Windham is 
 now at the head of a party, and of a great 
 pohtical principle, it may be fitting to enquire 
 a little into the truth and warrant of a title so 
 high and so rare ! 
 
 Is it consistent (with what is it consistent) to 
 oppose a measure in the Council, and approve it 
 in the House of Commons ? To appear forpe^ce 
 and condemn it; to defend negotiations and 
 lament them : to think war onlv can save the 
 country, and be part of a ministry eternally 
 straining after treaties ? Is it consistent to have 
 been silent at Lisle, and vociferous at Amiens — 
 to be neutral in power, and violent out of it — • 
 toxonceal opinions as a Minister, and promulge 
 them as the head of a party ? — Are these, I ask, 
 the qualities and distinctive marks of a man 
 of place — a man of time — a man of circumstan- 
 ces-—
 
 28 
 
 ces — a man of convenience — or the masculine, 
 firm, consistent, unalterable character of Mr, 
 Windham ? 
 
 In pursuing the subject of these remarks, we 
 shall have the misfortune to see the jight ho- 
 nourable gentleman in full fruition of his vow, 
 and the kingdom replungcd into a war, which 
 no policy, no human prudence, no moderation, 
 no forbearance, could avert. Shall we find him 
 consistent then ? Shall we hear his voice cheer- 
 ing the country, inspiring confidence in the 
 o-overnment, heroic ardour and self-devotedness 
 in the people ? Shall we behold him arraying 
 the forces, balloting the militia, calling out the 
 volunteers? Will he impose silence upon the 
 factions by his eloquence, banishing delays, 
 and conquering obstacles by the vigour of his 
 mind ? Giving the lesson and example of pub- 
 lic virtue, and acting the glorious part of a 
 patriot-statesman, the disciple of Burke ? 
 
 The Ministers were confident of having de- 
 served well ; they had obtained a peace for the 
 country, beyond the hopes of the wisest and 
 the most sanguine of their well-wishers, and 
 they had arrived at it by the gate of victory 
 and success. During the short period of their 
 power, the battles of Algeziras and Copen- 
 hasam had crowned the rostral column, and 
 completed the glorious blazon of our naval en- 
 tcrprize and success, But the recovery of thte 
 
 treaty
 
 29 
 
 treaty of El-Jrisch, in consequence of the de- 
 cided superiority of his jMajesty's troops and 
 commanders over the pretended invincible gene- 
 rals and armies of France, gave a character to 
 the peace, more desirable, more incalculably 
 valuable, than Malta, Trinidad, and Ceylon, 
 or all the territorial acquisitions which could 
 have been obtained by the utmost happiness of 
 diplomatic ingenuity*. 
 
 It has been already observed, that Mr. Fox, 
 and the M'hole of the Old Opposition party, as it 
 is henceforward to be called, thought it their 
 policy to approve unequivocally of the peace. 
 How could they do otherwise? They had uni- 
 formly invoked and demanded peace at every 
 expence and at every sacrifice ; and they had 
 determined besides to s^ive a little encoura2:e- 
 ment to the substitute administration, in the 
 hope that it might open the way to a better 
 understanding in certain cases, and at any rate 
 for the satisfaction of mortifying the resigners, 
 and rendering their promised, but always equi- 
 
 * I should, (with more leisure) have little hesitation in main, 
 taining the paradox, that at Amiens it would have been possible 
 to render back more to the First Consul and his allies, after 
 our victories in Egypt than before them ; because, from hence, 
 forward, our established superiority in the field, as well as 
 upon the ocean, enabled us to risk more without palpable 
 imprudence, to confide more in ourselves, and less in distant 
 fortresses and external ' defence ; and, finally, to try the 
 " Grand Experiment of Peace," with better auspices, and 
 more certain resources in ourselves, 
 ^ vocal
 
 30 
 
 vocal assistance, less important and meritorious.. 
 I do not know that it is necessary to the present 
 subject, forme to occupy much more of the time 
 and reflexion of the public upon the state and 
 politics of parties, at this period. It is possible 
 some individuals* had deeper designs and clearer 
 objects in viev/. But as brevity is a great part 
 of my design, I think this short recapitulation 
 will ^e sufficient. 
 
 Mr. Pitt unequivocally approved the peace — 
 Mr. Windham, the Grenvilles, and their adher- 
 ents, asdecidedly affected to lament and condemn 
 it — while tlie personal friends of Mr. Pitt, and 
 the members most attached and devoted to him 
 by the habits of pri,yate life, took the liberty of 
 disclaiming him for their leader, and indulged 
 in every species of rancour, malice, and hostility, 
 against the person who had had the presumption 
 to fill his vacant place in the Cabinet. Of this 
 party Mr. Canning, if not the founder, had the 
 reputation of being the leader; and as 1 have 
 now arrived at the dissolutionof the last parlia^ 
 
 * Mr. Tierncy has succeeded. Reports have not been 
 wanting, nor do I believe that Mr. Grey and Lord Moira 
 would have proved inexorable if any onjerturei had been made \ 
 but the fact is otherwise, It is to be observed that Mr. 
 Grey, had taken many occasions of distinguishing his parlia- 
 mentary opposition from that of Mr. Fox. With regard to 
 Government, as connected with parties, the friendship of Mr. 
 Pitt, and his return to the Cabinet, were its favourite, and 
 (I imagine) its exclusive reliance and desire. 
 
 ment,
 
 3} 
 
 ment*, I take the opportunity of submitting a 
 few reflexions upon the influence they had upon 
 pubHc opinion, the doubts, anxiety, and spe- 
 culation whicli they nourished and kept alive, 
 and the disagreeable insinuations and suspicions, 
 they originated against the purity of the high 
 character, v/hose wishes and interests they were 
 supposed best to understand, and to whose per- 
 son they were exclusively devoted. 
 
 It appeared from the eager resentments of 
 these zealous partizans, in the first place, that 
 they disapproved of the conduct of their patron 
 in having resigned the seals of his office;— 
 and that with his place he had lost that in- 
 fluence and authority over their minds, mIucIi 
 had hitherto commanded their approbation or 
 acquiescence ; that they chose now to think 
 and speak for themselves, to condemn his ar- 
 rangements, to ridicule his friendships, and to 
 attack the measures, and the men he sup- 
 ported. Then again, as it is the nature of 
 uncertainty, it seemed as if this support could 
 not be perfectly sincere, or very durable, in 
 
 * The differences of opinion upon the peace-establishment 
 arose so implicitly out of those upon the peace, that they nei- 
 ther altered or discovered any thing, that I am aware of, in the 
 state of parties. Mr. Fox and Mr. Bankes would have been 
 contented with the usual degree of force and preparedness. 
 Mr. Windham and the Grenvilles sounded alarm and arma- 
 ment. The Ministers, as usual, took the middle course. 
 
 which 
 
 N
 
 52 
 
 "which the persons most solicitous of his favouf 
 could not be induced to concur : and it was 
 thought incredible that Mr. Canning, in par- 
 ticular, distinguished by his friendship and par- 
 tiality, should rebel against his benefactor ; and, 
 at the moment of his retreat, fall suddenly 
 into mutiny and revolt ! The public could not, 
 therefore, be brought implicitly to believe either 
 that the acceptance of the new Ministers itself, 
 or at any rate the credit and popularity which 
 they had acquired by the late happy events, 
 "were altogether agreeable to Mr. Pitt. 
 
 It was observedj^that at the very outset, his 
 confidential friends, his Pylades and faithful 
 Achates, had felt disappointment in the very 
 circumstance of the King's having been able to 
 find another Minister at all ! But that this 
 Minister should dare to appear worthy of his 
 Majesty's confidence, and to carry on his af- 
 fairs with ability or success, appeared an un- 
 pardonable injury and a crime 1 
 
 If I were as certain of not giving offence, as 
 I am free from intending it, and of being as 
 little suspected of a flattery, as I am incapable 
 of meaning one, I would venture to ask of 
 Mr. Canning himself, for whose agreeable 
 talents and private worth I have as much 
 respect as any man, whether it were possible 
 for these inferences and conclusions to have 
 escaped his own good sense and sagacity ? 
 
 Whether
 
 33 
 
 Whether he did not feel that he was throwing- a 
 suspicion over the candour and sincerity of 
 Mr. Pitt*? and in case that any possihle mea- 
 sures of the present Ministers, at any future 
 time, might compel the conscience of Mr Pitt 
 to withdraw his promised support from them, 
 and to take an active part in opposition to them, 
 whether he did not perceive that he was under- 
 mining and destroying heforehand the convic- 
 tion and credit of the country, in the compul- 
 sion of his right honourable friend's conscience ? 
 Whether he did not perceive that he was ex- 
 posing that late, contingent, constrained, and 
 possible opposition to the suspicion of system, 
 preconcert and policy ? 
 
 I would ask of Mr. Caistning whether it were 
 not too great a submission of his rare talents and 
 acquirements, to appear a mere partizan and 
 stickler for the House of Grenville ? Whether 
 he can look back with satisfaction hereafter, 
 from the proud eminence to which one day 
 no doubt he aspires in the councils of his 
 country, to the debate of Nov. 23, 1 802, when, 
 blinded by recent hatred and party zeal, he 
 asserted that the '^ State in xvhich the late minis^ 
 ters left the country^ zvas the reverse of calami' 
 tous ?'' " That there never xvas a situation 
 
 * Mr. Pitt has since been exculpated upon this point by Mr. 
 Canning with great eloquence, but imperfect succes*. Vide 
 Pari. Reg. Dec. 8, 1802. 
 
 S, ti;hich
 
 34. 
 
 which afforded more temptation to the wishes 
 or ambition of those xvho were proposed to suc- 
 ceed them ;'' tJiat nothing could be more desira- 
 ble than the succession obtained by the present 
 Minister* f" ^c. S^c. Surely there may come 
 a time 
 
 Magno cum optaA^erlt emptum, 
 
 that all these things had been unsaid, which 
 were contradicted by the conscience of every 
 hearer, and will be eternally disproved by the 
 history of the country. 
 
 I would ask of Mr. Canning, (for wliom I 
 repeat that I entertain a considerable degree of 
 respect and good-will), whether in the difference 
 and distinction with which he has always 
 affected to treat his noble friend, Lord Hawkes- 
 bury, he was pleasing the old ministry ? and 
 whetherhis personalities towards Mr. Addingtoii 
 did not lead him in these civilities to mortify 
 Lord Grenville ? But if his regard for Lord 
 Hawkesbury could conquer the fear of offend- 
 ing Lord Grenville, why might not his regard 
 for Mr. Pitt have overcome his antipathy to 
 Mr. Addington| ? I would ask whether he could 
 feel no repugnance at becoming the instrument, 
 (I will not say the machine) of other persons ? 
 If the delicacy of his feelings were quite satis- 
 fied as to the justice, the honor, or the decency, 
 
 * Vide Parliamentary Register, Nov. 23, 
 + Vide Debates, December 2d, 
 
 of
 
 
 of beino* tlie or2:an of their hatred, their 
 fury, their pride, disappointment, and rancour, 
 against gentlemen with whom he had longUved 
 in habits of poHtical and private intimacy, for 
 whom he had professed friendship and esteem ; 
 against Mr. Addington, the bosom friend of 
 his patron, and against Lord Chatham, his 
 brother ? 
 
 I would ask of Mr. Canning, whether he felt 
 no scruple or compunction for himself, and if 
 he had not discarded all respect and mercy for 
 the feelings of Mr. Pitt, when he consented to 
 become the chief of the satyrists and scoffers 
 of a cabinet, of which Lord Chatham Avas the 
 president ? and I would ask him whether he had 
 been juster to himself, and to his own just pre- 
 tensions and character, than we have seen him 
 to the sensibility of his friend and patron, when 
 he condescended to become a hero of squibs 
 and epigrams, a leader of doggrel and lampoon, 
 a power in the war of abuse and invective, an 
 instrument of Mr. Windham, and an auxiliary 
 of Cobbett ? 
 
 A great part of the summer of 1 802, was taken 
 up with the general election, in which the mi- 
 nisters had formed the singular resolution of 
 using no influence, or interference whatsoever. 
 In the mean time, the First Consul of France 
 was pursuing a course that must have been ex- 
 ceedingly gratifying to Mr. Windham, and the 
 
 band
 
 36 
 
 band of gentleman, whom the Moniieur had 
 pohtely christened the " war-faction." But 
 upon these topics, I permit myself to say no 
 more than I conceive to be necessary to keep 
 up tliQ, thread of the particular subjects under 
 discussion. "When Parliament re-assembled% 
 the aspect of foreign affairs, was far from pro- 
 mising tranquillity. The government in the 
 Thuilleries luid proceeded with violence, and 
 without an attempt at dissimulation in that 
 train of encroachmient, from which, even during 
 the negotiation at Amiens, it had not been 
 able to desist. I need scarcely mention the 
 names of Piedmont, Parma, and Swisserland. 
 The Prench troops had not been withdrawn 
 according to treaty from the territories of the 
 Batavian Republic, and some of the cessions 
 on our part in the Treaty of Amiens remained 
 unexecuted. 
 
 It had also become necessarv for ministers to 
 place in the King's mouth, an assurance that 
 his Majesty would continue to keej) a vigilant 
 eye upon the affairs of the Continent'!".— Tliere 
 
 was 
 
 * Novernber 8, 1802. 
 
 + "In my intercourse with foreign powers, I have beefi ac- 
 tuated by a sincere desire for the maintenance of peace. It is 
 nevertheless impossible for me to lose sight of that establish- 
 ed and wise system of policy, by which the interests of other 
 states are connected with our own ; and I cannot therefore be 
 indifferent to any material change in their relative condition 
 
 and
 
 57 
 
 was, I believe, but one opinion upon this point, 
 that it was a dignified and becoming proceeding; 
 at least it did not appear expedient to any of 
 the parties I have described to find fault Mith it. 
 It was considered as a solemn but a temperate 
 protest again jt the offensive and insulting as- 
 sumption of the Official Paper of the chief magis- 
 trate of France, who was evidently attempting 
 to discredit and dishonour us in the courts of 
 Europe, trying the spirit of the country, and 
 the extent of the patience and forbearance of its 
 government, by avowed and authenticated pre- 
 tensions: asserting that at the late peace we had 
 consented to withdraw ourselves from all conti- 
 nental interference and connexion, and to con- 
 fine and circumscribe our political cares and im- 
 portance to our own island and its dependencies. 
 It may be asked why I have thought it necessary 
 to state this circumstance so particularly, seeing 
 that no division or new discovery of parties was 
 the result of it ? My excuse will be, that this 
 paragraph of his Majesty's Speech is a complete 
 answer to all those paltry and futile accusations 
 which have been preferred against ministers, for 
 having concealed the true state of affairs, during 
 
 and strength. My conduct will invariably be regulated by a 
 due consideration of the actual situation of Europe, and by a 
 watchful solicitude for the permanent welfare of my people." 
 
 His Majesty's Speech, Nov. 3, 1802. 
 
 the
 
 38 
 
 the discussion of the bill for the relief of the 
 Prince of Wales ; upon which occasion they are 
 accused of having g-ivTn a false representation 
 of the probabilities of the permanence of the 
 peace. — The interval between this message and 
 tlie 8th of March, is but three weeks ! the whole 
 complaint and charge are confined to three 
 \v eeks ! But surely government did not encou- 
 rage too sanguine a hope of the duration of 
 peace, when they described it to be "an experi- 
 ment" — when they said it had " left the Con- 
 tinent in an unsatisfactory state" — when they 
 asked for " fifty thousand seamen for the de- 
 fence and security of our own coasts." — Really 
 if there exists an individual who ever did con- 
 jfide in the durati07i of the late peace, I would 
 counsel him to keep his own secret. It will be 
 in vain to charge his drivelling as a crime upon 
 other men. He is Natures fool, and not Mr. 
 Addino'ton's. 
 
 At the opening of the new Parliament, it 
 quickly appeared that the reflections of the re- 
 ceSvS, and the philosophy of the summer had di- 
 minished nothing of those violent passions which 
 had disturbed tlie features of the resignation, 
 and made the voluntary act of the late ministers 
 
 ft/ 
 
 look like constraint and disappointment. Their 
 desire to return into the offices they had quitted, 
 as it now appeared, under some error or miscon- 
 ception, was no longer dissembled, and the 
 
 houses
 
 39 
 
 Louses of parliament seemed to have changed 
 their constitutional character and office for 
 comitia and hustings, where our Peers and repre- 
 sentatives, regardless of the king's prerogative, 
 were occupied in daily canvass for the seats in 
 his cahinct. The Lords Grenville *, Spencer, 
 and Carlisle, without the smallest colour or care 
 of dissimulation, held a language which openly 
 pointed out to the executive government to take 
 back the minister who had resigned in 1801, 
 This was the design of every motion, the bur- 
 then of every amendment, the conclusion of 
 every harangue. For this object, every species 
 of despondency was again carefully spread 
 amongst the people. The finances were decried, 
 and the statements of the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer disputed — even the resources of the 
 country were attacked. For this the conduct 
 of government \ras arraigned in all its foreign in- 
 tercourse, and the crimes of Bonaparte preposte- 
 rously transferred to Mr. Addington. For this, 
 the Admiralty \\as reviled and calumniated, and 
 those just and salutary reforms in the dock- 
 yards, which will carry down the victorious 
 name of St. Vincent to posterity, with exerij 
 character of public virtue and devotion, repre- 
 sented as cruel persecutions. For this, the " in- 
 surrection of jobbers" in the dock-yards was 
 abetted and defended, and the rebellion of 
 
 * Debates, Dec. 2. 
 
 boards
 
 40 
 
 boards and departments encouraged and pro- 
 moted. 
 
 It has been said, that 
 
 Lejour d'un nouveau regnc est lejour des ingrats', 
 
 but it does not appear that the late ministers had 
 any complaints of this nature to prefer. It is 
 true that the mass of poUtical gratitude, which 
 is apt enough to become inert and dull, was here 
 set to work by a proper infusion of hope and 
 speculation, and that the return of the old minis- 
 try, which was still as confidently looked for 
 as it was strenuously attempted, might have no 
 little share in reminding so many honourable 
 members and commissioners of their orio-inal 
 obligations. Perhaps in only one point of view 
 was the position of the Ministry more difficult 
 than it was rendered by this speculative grati- 
 tude, and that was by their own real regard and 
 adherence for some of their predecessors. This 
 sentiment they had allowed to cripple their de- 
 fence in the debate upon the peace of Amiens, 
 and to preclude them from going into the state 
 of the nation, and recording the unhappy cir- 
 cumstances of the country at the time that the 
 care of its affairs devolved upon them ; and this 
 sentiment always led them to hope and desire 
 the return of Mr. Pitt into the Cabinet, and 
 that he would one day form apart of their admi- 
 nistration. It is not, indeed, to be wondered at 
 
 that
 
 41 
 
 tliat this attachment and affection, the habit of 
 all his life, should still prevail in the bosom of 
 Mr. Addington, and it could only be lamented 
 if it were not retained with the same warmth 
 of sincerity and the same constancy of friend* 
 ship. 
 
 The first part of the Session shews us Mr. Pitt 
 courted by both parties, the object of their 
 common worship and desire, severally invited by 
 each to strengthen or overthrow the Ministry 
 which he had himself installed by the strongest 
 eulogium, whose measures he had individually 
 supported, and who had committed the single 
 crime of appearing to justify and deserve the 
 characters he had given of them. 
 
 It were curious to consider what inducements 
 could have been suggested by the eloquence 
 and ingenuity of Lord Grenville, to prevail 
 upon his right honourable relation to abandon 
 them ! It cannot be supposed that he urged to 
 Mr. Pitt the care of consistency and regard to 
 his own reputation ! That he argued that it 
 "was incumbent upon him, or becoming, to de- 
 sert the ministry, because he had promised to 
 support them, or because he had applauded the 
 measures and the principle of their administra- 
 tion. One cannot bring oneself to imagine, that 
 the noble Lord represented to him that he ought 
 to join Mr. Windham and his lordship, because 
 they were bent upon immediate war, while Mr. 
 
 F Pitt
 
 42 
 
 Pitt himself was decided to prolong peace to the 
 last moment of endurance. It is more natural 
 to enquire what arguments his great ahilities 
 could invent to gain over his right honourable 
 cousin, in spite of those circumstances; by what 
 address he could keep ihem out of his eye; by 
 what consummate policy and skill he could lead 
 his mind away from them, while he presented 
 those inducements (whatever they were) private 
 or public, of ambition or consanguinity, by 
 -which he was at last crowned with success in 
 this extraordinary negotiation. I confess that 
 if any single thing could make me regret, at 
 this juncture, the absence of his Lordship from 
 his Majesty's councils, it would be the convic- 
 tion which this circumstance presents of the 
 unparalleled skill and abilit}-, and of the abso- 
 lutely unrivalled powers , of his mind in this 
 science of negotiation. I have not forgotten 
 his lordship's letter to the First Consul of 
 France ; but the diplomatist who could persuade 
 Mr. Pitt upon this occasion, appears to me the 
 sole Minister capable of converting Bonaparte I 
 In the mean time, notwithstanding the open 
 recommendations, or rather dictates for his re- 
 turn to the treasury, which were unremitted in 
 either house of parliament, that right honour- 
 able gentleman, whose health and avocations 
 did not permit his attendance in parliament, 
 continued his assurances of support to the minis 
 
 ters : 
 
 >
 
 43 
 
 eters: but it caused some degree of Surprise 
 that no authority was given in either house of 
 parliament to any gentleman in his confidence 
 to disclaim and deny all part and knowledge in 
 the unconstitutional mention that had been made 
 of his name. It does rather appear as if there had 
 been a little political jilting and flirtation with 
 both suitors; and one caunot help thinking 
 one might have seen 
 
 ilium tereti cervice reflexunj 
 
 Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua. 
 
 So far, however, as I have had opportunity 
 to observe, I think I may venture to assert, 
 that the Ministers maintained their usual good 
 correspondence, and received the usual confir- 
 mations of support and friendship from Mr. 
 Pitt till March last^ and some time rather ad- 
 vanced in that month. Upon her Majesty's birth- 
 day, in January, I have heard that some trifling 
 form and solemnity confirmed the bond, and 
 that Mr. Pitt, who dined with the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, took occasion to declare 
 that he would come to town and give govern- 
 ment his assistance in parliament upon the first 
 question of importance, and upon any which 
 they might think required his support ; but leav- 
 ing been at a distance at that time, and unwilling 
 j)ow to nvdke particular enquiries, I state it only 
 
 as
 
 44 
 
 as report. By stating this report, I do not 
 mean to discredit it : upon the contrary, my 
 observation at another time and place, leads me 
 to vouch for its extreme probabihty. If, after 
 all, there be any error, it is in the date not the 
 truth of the transaction. The frieiidship, how- 
 ever, continued till the period I have assigned. 
 Kor can I state it as having been absolutely re- 
 tracted or dissolved till about the third m eek.- 
 in April, although there remained, in the in- 
 terval, no appearances of its effect or existence. 
 Very early in this month, it is well known, that 
 a plan was in agitation for the admission of that 
 xight honourable gentlemen, and some of his 
 friends, into the Cabinet. As jar as I have ob^ 
 served, this negotiation originated with Lord 
 Melville, and was conducted bv him : nor do I at 
 
 ■J %/ ■' 
 
 all fear being mistaken in stating, that the inten- 
 tions and conduct of that noble Lord were fair, 
 honourable, and impartial. I have great satis- 
 faction in saying so, because 1 know a contrary 
 opinion prevails, and because a subsequent vote 
 of his lordship's has a tendency to maintain and 
 encourage that opinion. Those persons, how- 
 ever, who had the means of near observation, 
 believed that the noble lord was almost as much 
 hurt and disappointed at the extravagant propo- 
 sition upon which the negotiation went off, as 
 the Ministers themselves were. 
 
 The 
 
 o
 
 45 
 
 The A^'ar was now evidently approaching*; 
 and, besides those personal habits of friend- 
 ship, which at all times governed the mind of 
 Mr. Addington, the great talents and popu- 
 larity of Mr. Pitt, amongst the monied persons, 
 must have rendered him a most desirable acqui- 
 sition to any administration in which he would 
 take a part. — I tread here, and I am very sen- 
 sible of it, upon tender ground ; I feel that I may 
 be uttering things better liked in silence, but not 
 better suppressed ; for the public and posterity 
 are interested in the truth, and have a right to it. 
 That 1 shall not much, or materially mislead 
 them, I have no light reason to be satisfied ; but 
 neither do I pretend to have observed every 
 things nor think it quite prudent to set down 
 every thing I may have observed. If I fall into 
 any mistake, or misftate the smallest point of im- 
 portance to the character of any of the distin- 
 guished persons involved in the subject of these 
 Remarks, the error is involuntary : and it is evi- 
 dent that it is so, since there is so much ease 
 and so great an interest in refuting it. It might, 
 perhaps, be thought too much to appeal to 
 Lord Melville for the accuracy of anonymous 
 allegations ; but the pubhc will judge whether, 
 if I am capable of deceiving it, Mr. Pitt and 
 
 * The King's message had been delivered on the 8th of 
 March, and the negotiations for peace were at this period very 
 
 unpromising. 
 
 la. 
 
 Other
 
 46 
 
 other gentlemen are likely to submit to the fol- 
 lowing ?7iw-representations ! 
 
 In the negotiation which his Lordship con- 
 clucted, I think it proper that it should be known, 
 that there was no obstacle upon the part of mi- 
 nistry to his Lordship's return, Avith Mr. Pitt and 
 others of his friends ; I do not say upon a footing 
 of equality with Mr. Addington and others of the 
 present administration, but heijondlt. It is proper 
 that it should be known, that the treaty did not go 
 off (as has been pretended) on account of the want 
 of amessageyro^72 a quarter^ too high to be men- 
 tioned, a communication which would not have 
 been wanting in due time, if the negotiation could 
 have been brought to an issue upon the terms I 
 have mentioned; hut that it broke off upon the 
 positive unalterable demand of Mr. Pitt him- 
 self, to bring back with him the Lords Gren- 
 ville and Spencer, with other noble and ho- 
 nourable persons, who had disapproved of every 
 measure of the government, who were in the ha- 
 bit of personal incivility and disrespect, and 
 who were adverse to the whole spirit and prin- 
 ciple of the administration. 
 
 We have now seen that those recommenda- 
 tions, or rather dictates to the Sovereign, 
 v/ith which the Sessions opened, those loud de- 
 mands for the return of Mr. Pitt to the confi- 
 dence of his Majesty, have been faithfully and 
 
 honourably repaid. 
 
 Lord
 
 Lord Grenville?«;<??Y/^ replace Mr. Pitt in power, 
 and it liad been very ungrateful if Mr. Pitt had 
 foro'otten the oblio-ation. Thus have these illus- 
 trious persons maintained unbroken the bands 
 of their political connexion, in spite of their dif- 
 ference of opinion upon the greatest political oc- 
 currences — and thus has Mr. Addington been 
 deprived of INIr. Pitt's friendship, notwithstand- 
 ing every one of his measures has received his 
 support and approbation ! 
 
 The discussion of this extraordinary transac- 
 tion, has led me somewhat past the period of his 
 Majesty's message of the 8th of March, in which 
 the necessity had been announced of adopting 
 measures of precaution, with regard to Prance; 
 which proceeding of the ministry, and the sub- 
 sequent armament they proposed, so far from 
 producing that unanimity of parties which 
 might have been expected, and M'hich at first it 
 appeared to have effected, only exasperated 
 and laid bare the depth and foulness of their rank 
 and mortified ambition. Will it be believed, that 
 upon this occasion the " war-faction*," (to use 
 the phrase of the First Consul of France) which 
 had treated every moment of peace as a compro- 
 mise of the national honour and security, which 
 had incessantly urged, railed, and attempted to 
 
 * They were styled " Bloodhounds" in a print which is 
 ifl the exclusive interest of Mr. Pitt, 
 
 intimidate
 
 45 
 
 intimidate the government into immediate- war, 
 now turned, suddenly as the Avind, and shifted 
 tlieir principles like a sail? Let us hear 
 the language of the manly, consistent Mr. 
 Windham * ! "He hoped that it would not be 
 supposed that the opposers of the peace would be 
 foremost to propose the renewal of hostilities I 
 the veri/ reverse would be found to be the legi- 
 timate result of the principles they had em- 
 braced : they had chiefly opposed that peace be- 
 cause its terms put the country out of a condition 
 to go to war again ! ! ! There were no persons 
 holding his opinions who could contemplate the 
 renewal of war without serious alarm t !!!" 
 
 Mr. Canning said, " The message had ex- 
 cited throughout the country the greatest an- 
 joiety and alarm^'"' and complained of the "great 
 degree of docility which the people had of late 
 manifested, and of their strong disposition to 
 give Ministers credit, &c J." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Grenville declared that there 
 was no man more ready or more eager to vote 
 
 * In the Debate on the Address, November 23, Mr. Windham 
 said, " Not being in an official situation, I am not sufficiently 
 informed to advise particularly — but I think we should weigh 
 well in what situation we shall be when the war comes upon us, 
 for come it will, and sooner than I wish to say. I think it 
 
 WOULD BE THE WISER WAY TO ANTICIPATE THE BLOW." 
 
 t March 9. Vide Parliamentary Register. Debate upon 
 the Address, 
 + Ibid. 
 
 for
 
 49 
 
 for tlie address, especially if it should be likely 
 to procure peace and tranquillity*! ! ! 
 
 Dr. Lawrence professed, " his wishes were for 
 peace! 1 I He expected it should be proved 
 that the war, if it must now be renewed, was 
 indispensably necessary to the safety and honor 
 of the empire t ! ! !" 
 
 I will not disgust the reader with more of this 
 opprobrious pahnody, nor detain him long from 
 the reflexions it must excite. But it is neces- 
 sary that I should fix his attention upon these 
 miraculous conversions, because he will shortly 
 find that they were so sincere and compunc- 
 tious, and the new reluctance and aversion to 
 hostilities so pious and invincible, as to induce 
 the sect to throw every obstacle in the way of 
 officering the mihtia, to discredit our constitu- 
 tional army altogether, and with the zeal of true 
 proselytism to preach up humiliation and des- 
 pondency, and decry that wicked confidence in 
 our own state, and means of salvation, which 
 political methodists know to be the most infal- 
 lible sign of reprobation. 
 
 It is too recent in recollection for it to he 
 necessary for me to relate with what sentiments 
 the public received this new creed of the most 
 serene and pacific war-faction ; and it might be 
 
 * March 9. Vide Parliamentary Register*^ Debate upon 
 the Address. 
 + Ibid. 
 
 G thought
 
 50 
 
 tliouglit ludicrous and out of the scope of the 
 present topic, to advert to the surprise and 
 astonishment which General Bonaparte is said 
 to have manifested upon discovering the long 
 mistake and mis-apprehension under which he 
 had li\ed with reo-ard to it. 
 
 I cannot, however, pass over this point alto- 
 gether, because I am of opinion that the lan- 
 guage now held by the new opposition had a 
 considerable effect upon the negotiations v/hich 
 were carried on from this period, with encreased 
 activity and interest, and assumed a tone ex- 
 ceedingly categorical and decisive. Doubtless, 
 it is impossible for me, or any other individual, 
 to prove that the First Consul had not origi- 
 nally fixed his resolution, and that he had not 
 been always altogether determined upon war. 
 In this case it must be admitted, that he derived 
 not his first motive from the extraordinary 
 language of Mr. Windliam and his colleagues. 
 But I shall then contend, that this language 
 must have operated to encourage and confirm 
 his intention, which neither Mr. Windham, nor 
 any other person can deny, might possibly have 
 Avavered, or have finally given way. The First 
 Consul, in his memorable ej'pose to the legis- 
 lative body, had expressly stated, that " this 
 country could find no ally upon the Continent, 
 and that without allies, and single-handed, she 
 was unable to sustain a war with France." I 
 
 believe
 
 51 
 
 believe this defiance was received with indio-r.a- 
 tion by every Enghshman, and by Mr. Wind- 
 ham among the rest ; I had once thought, 
 even more than by the rest. I believe too, that 
 it was resented not more for its audacity, than 
 its absohite falsehood, and that there did not 
 exist at that time a single individual who was 
 not prepared to contradict and disprove it. How 
 then must it have satisfied and delighted the first 
 Consul to learn, that as soon as the King's 
 message had taught us to think in earnest upon 
 the subject, and as soon as a distinct appearance 
 and approach of war had become ^'isible in 
 England, even those statesmen who had most 
 invoked and provoked it, were become sudden 
 converts to his opinion, and openly declared, 
 the truth of it ! With what transports must he 
 not have heard M. Otto translate from the 
 debates in the English papers this express 
 statement of Mr. Windham, that " he could 
 not contemplate the renewal of hostilities with- 
 out serious alarm, and that he had chiefly op- 
 
 -posed the peace because it had put the country 
 out of a condition to renezv the rear T' 
 
 One cannot help figuring to oneself the 
 amazement of this august Personage at finding 
 that he had been speaking truth as Moliere's 
 Citizen spoke prose, without suspecting it ; 
 
 . and one fancies all those little tender con- 
 scientious reproaches which he must h4ve 
 
 made
 
 52 
 
 made to his own mind for the injustice he had 
 been guilty of, and the ill-opinion he had enter- 
 tained of the candid, manly, and consistent Mr. 
 Windham ! Certainly had he sooner been made 
 acquainted with the Right Honourable Gentle- 
 man's sentiments upon the peace, and upon the 
 impossibility of this country's going to war 
 again, there had been no occasion for accusing 
 him of complicity with the contrivers of the in- 
 fernal machine ! Could he have foreknown the 
 Right Honourable Gentleman's thoughts of the 
 Militia, and the Army of Reserve, and the 
 training of the country, he would not have 
 been ungrateful enough to consider him as the 
 chief of an atrocious "war- faction, "an implaca- 
 ble enemy of France, and a conspirator against 
 the life of her fir^t maq-istrate ! 
 
 The anxious period whicti intervened between 
 his Majesty's message of the 8th of March, and 
 the return of his Ambassador from Paris, does 
 not appear to me to furnish any thing connected 
 with the state of parties, more interesting than 
 the avowal of these sentiments by Mr. Wind- 
 ham and Mr. W. Elliot, who had been Se- 
 cretaries at War under the late administration. 
 Both these gentlemen were now discovered to 
 be adverse to the system and principle of militia 
 forces altogether ; an opinion which did not so 
 much surprise the admirers of the constitution 
 and of that constitutional force, upon any other 
 
 ground
 
 53 
 
 ground, as because in their official situations, 
 they had severally appeared the most zealous 
 advocates and promoters of this species of army. 
 Mr. Elliot, who now opposed recruiting the 
 Irish militia at four guineas per man, was re- 
 minded by the Attorney General for Ireland, 
 that he himself (Mr, Elliot) had brought in a 
 bill * for recruiting it at six guineas ; and Mr. 
 Windham f was put in mind that during the 
 time he had been in office, the militia in England 
 had been augmented to an unprecedented de- 
 gree, and the militia of both Scotland and Ire- 
 land instituted and begun ! ! Thus it appeared, 
 that it was not in the solitary instance of the ne- 
 gotiations at Lisle, but in great general mea- 
 sures of domestic import, executive govern- 
 ment, and legislation, that the manly, consistent 
 Mr. Windham, had not only lent his name, 
 countenance, and authority, against his opinion, 
 but that he had even condescended to become 
 the official instrument and organ of measures 
 which he disapproved and condemned !! It al- 
 ways remained however to be accounted for, 
 both by this Right Honourable Gentleman and 
 • Mr. Elliot, why they felt themselves more 
 obliged to declare their opposition at one time 
 than at another ; why they could submit their 
 docile conscience to the hand of Mr. Pitt, and 
 shew such a restive spirit of mutiny under the 
 
 * March 15. f March l6. 
 
 guidance
 
 guidance oF his successor ! ! ! It will be said 
 they were in office at one time, and out of it at 
 the other ; but if this is an excuse, it follows 
 thatto.be neutral in 'things a'ou disapprove, is 
 less blameable than to be active in them ; and 
 that you may originate measures you condemn 
 but not suffer them to be promoted by other 
 persons. 
 
 While the artifices, and possibly the hesita- 
 tion of the mind of the First Consul of 
 France protracted the negotiations, the New- 
 Opposition did not fail to urge and goad minis^ 
 ters to a premature disclosure of the intercourse 
 which was taking place between the two govern- 
 ments ; a circumstance which it is necessary to 
 take notice of in this place, because it produced 
 •Lord Grenville in circumstances similar to 
 IVIr. "Windham, and proved that no part of the 
 _Kew Opposition would submit in any shape to 
 be hampered and restrained , by the parts they 
 had acted in the late government, or by a weak 
 and. scrupulous regard to past habits, profes- 
 sions, and character, any more than by their 
 specific engagements, and promises of support. 
 
 Certainly after the manners and tone which 
 the noble Lord had held in ofiice, it was the 
 boldest of all attempts to appear in the part of the 
 chief of an opposition ; and his great abilities, 
 „and the respect which is due to them, are in 
 nothing more evident than that he i^ able to 
 
 sustain
 
 ^5 
 
 sustain it at all: there are So many subjects 
 upon which an ordinary mind would have been 
 precluded from taking part ! To common men, 
 it Mould have appeared almost impossible to 
 move eternally for papers — to require messages 
 and communications from the crown — to com- 
 ])lain of the people being kept in the dark — of 
 ministers shrinking from responsibility — to stop 
 a malt bill — to dispute the prosperity of the re- 
 venue—to censure a treaty of their own drawing 
 tip — in short, to demand Avhatever they had re- 
 fused — to condemn whatever conduct they had 
 pursued — to attack where they had promised to 
 support— and to be in complete uniform vari- 
 ance and hostility with the whole tenour of their 
 -life, character, and principles. 
 
 It would not be doing even the little justice 
 I am able, to the subject I am treating of, if I 
 were to omit, that the style and language of 
 opposition was much degenerated in the new 
 hands to which it had transferred itself. The late 
 minority, thousih it had been treated as a low 
 •contemptible faction of levellers and jacobins, 
 never dealt in abuse and incivility so largely as 
 the great aristocracy which had now succeeded 
 to their place. Absurd, incapable, and grosser 
 epithets were liberally applied to his Majesty's 
 councils and ministers, and by no member of 
 either house more frequently than by the noble 
 Lord, who, wiiuQ a minister was not very tole- 
 rant
 
 66 
 
 rant in debate, not very apt to forgive even a 
 question or an allusion ! It has been said, that 
 
 Honores mutant mores, 
 
 but the converse of the proposition was now 
 established to be true. I will not say of 
 the noble Lord, that none but himself could 
 be his parallel, but that none but himself 
 could be so perfectly and entirely the op- 
 posite and converse of himself. It is an old 
 axiom that things alike cannot be the same ; 
 but that identity cannot be destroyed by the 
 most perfect antithesis and distinct dissimila- 
 rity, we have Lord Grenville for a demonstra- 
 tion ! 
 
 In order the better to prick and goad the mi- 
 nisters to a discovery of the state of the negotia- 
 tions, and to shake the public confidence in their 
 talents and premanence in office, notice was now 
 given of a motion of enquiry and censure by Mr. 
 Patten, orgnne, upon this occasion, of Mr. 
 Windham, and the ex-war-party. Whether 
 by the force employed, it was intended to give a 
 mortifying estimate of the supposed strength 
 and ability of ministers to resist, or whether the 
 public M^ere guilty of injustice towards the 
 abilities and consequence of the honourable 
 gentleman, I am not disposed to enquire. The 
 motion was often put off, and it was not without 
 some astonishment that the House found it seri- 
 ously
 
 57 
 
 ously brought on for discussion, after the return 
 of the King's Ambassador, and the publication 
 of his Majesty's declaration, together with the 
 papers presented by his command to both Houses 
 of Parliament, upon the 18th of May. Those, 
 however, who had near opportunities of observ- 
 ing, "waited for this motion with an impatience 
 of curiosity not greater than it deserved, as it 
 was destined to clear up the long mystery of 
 Mr. Pitt's absence from his parliamentary duty, 
 to make known his opinion of the state of pub- 
 lic affairs, and to declare what effect his late 
 unsuccessful negotiation had operated upon 
 his public feelings, principles, and engagementSi 
 Upon the question of the Address * to his 
 Majesty, Mr. Pitt had made his first appearance 
 in the House of Commons during the present 
 parliament. But owing to a circumstance f of 
 no very great importance, and foreign to the 
 object of these remarks^ the public were but very 
 imperfectly in possession of the sentiments he 
 had deliveredj and of the sense in which they 
 were to be received, as connected with parties, 
 and political obligations. In the speech which 
 preceded the vote which the right honourable 
 gentleman gaveybr the Address, a near observer 
 could not mistake or overlook a very mar]<:ed 
 coldness, and studied personal indifference to- 
 wards the ministers, and the first minister ia 
 
 * 
 
 May 23d. + Exclusion of the Reporters. 
 
 H particular
 
 '58 
 
 particular. Not one expression of tegard, not 
 even the form and habit of his right honourable 
 Jrknd, escaped the reserved and cautious lips of 
 the most constant, active, and zealous 
 supporter of Mr. Addington ! According to 
 the new religion of the party which Mr. Pitt 
 had lately insisted upon bringing back with him 
 into the King's councils, his conscience enabled 
 him to support the measures without commend- 
 ing the men. — Content, however, for the mo- 
 ment with the effect of his cold, repulsive neu- 
 trality ; having alarmed one part of his hearers, 
 afflicted another, and perplexed all ; the house 
 saw him pleased to divide with the right 
 honourable gentleman, whose credit and influ- 
 ence, not indeed every word that he had uttered, 
 but every tone and gesture he had used, had been 
 calculated to discourage and discredit 
 
 I 
 
 The Address thus activel}^, constantly, and 
 zealously supported, Avas carried in the House 
 of Commons by a majority of 331, against an 
 amendment proposed by Mr. Grey *. 
 
 Upon this occasion it is necessary to observe 
 that Mr. Fox delivered a speech of the utmost 
 eloquence, but stigmatized both by ministers and 
 by the New Opposition as singularly danger- 
 
 • * For the Address, . - - 398 
 
 Against it, ... - - 67 
 
 OUS 
 
 >
 
 59 
 
 ©us, and calculated only to unnerve and relax 
 the spirit and efforts of the country. Tlie pur- 
 port of the amendment^, and of the motive as- 
 signed by its supporters was, that the govern- 
 ment had not been sincere in its endeavours to 
 continue the peace. That government which 
 had been uniformly reproached by the New 
 Opposition ; with having acted tamely, submis- 
 sively, and I know not what, in the vain and 
 sanguine hope of prolonging the peace, was now 
 taxed by the Old Opposition with never having 
 wished to maintain it at all, and with having 
 taken the first, and that a needless opportunity 
 of breaking it ! ! Upon one side of the 
 speaker's cliair, the ministers heard themselves 
 accused of having caused the war by their tem- 
 porizing and spiritless policy ; upon the other, 
 by their violence and insincerity. Here, they 
 ought to have declared war for the first aggres- 
 sion ; tliere, not even for the last. 
 
 It is evident that these attacks must have 
 frustrated and disarmed each other, and that no 
 defence could be necessary for a system of con- 
 duct which was arraigned upon such opposite 
 and hostile grounds. The ministry had now 
 the satisfaction to find themselves tuily pos- 
 sessed of the public confidence and opinion, 
 
 * In the House of Lords the minority divided only ten 
 upon a similar amendment, moved by Lord King. 
 
 which
 
 60 
 
 whl:'h always lies between the extremes of con^ 
 tending parties. The war itself was an irresist- 
 ible proof that they would not compromise 
 \vith the honour or essential interests of the 
 empire, and the papers which were before the 
 House and the public, evinced, not only the 
 sincerest disposition to avoid a rupture, but a 
 degree of forbearance and moderation, which 
 being accompanied by great firmness and reso- 
 lution, most wonderfully coincided with the 
 sentiments and the characteristic temper of the 
 people. 
 
 Both Oppositions were now reduced to a very 
 singular and embarrassing dilemma, for with 
 the weakness and dependence of ministers had 
 perished all the motive of the old and all the ob- 
 ligation of the new to support them*. To attack 
 them however was difficult, not merely because 
 it was flying in the face of public opinion very 
 strongly pronounced, but because thty were, 
 in point of fact, forced to combat each other, 
 v'hile the ministers remained invulnerable in 
 the middle. Upon the other hand, the still- 
 growing popularity of the ministers was a 
 common grievance, and they were urged by 
 reciprocal interests, to make, before it should 
 be too late, some effort to shake or to stop it. 
 We shall now see the effect of these councils 
 upon Mr. Patten's motion, which (as it oftei^ 
 
 * Vide p. 17. ' 
 
 pleases.
 
 61 
 
 pleases fortune to bring forth the greatest ef- 
 fects from the most trifling causes) M^as destined 
 to lay bare the secret mind of Air, Pitt, to 
 justify the sagacity of ]\Ir. Canning, and to 
 be the last grand comment upon ambitious 
 friendships and political consciences. 
 
 It will not be expected of me to say more 
 of a motion so recent,* and so strongly en- 
 graven upon the public mind, than that Mr. Pitt, 
 not being able in his conscience to exculpate the 
 ministers of the crimes they M'ere charged with, 
 gave his vote for deferring their arraignment. 
 He proposed that the accusation, and the cen- 
 sure and punishment which were to follow it, 
 should be left hanging from day to day over 
 their heads, to be renewed and enforced the 
 first time it should please Mr. Patten to pray the 
 judgment of the house upon these unacquitted, 
 uncondemned, but respited delinquents, to whom 
 his Majesty had confided his government, and 
 to whose guidance the nation looked up for 
 the sole chance of escaping from the dreadful 
 predicament into which it had relapsed by the 
 perfidy and ambition of the French government. 
 It is painful for me to record that fifty-five 
 members of the House of Commons were found 
 
 * Mr. Patten's motion concluded with asserting, " that 
 by their conduct the King's ministers had proved themselves 
 to be unworthy of the confidence of the House, and unfit to 
 conduct the affairs of the nation." — June 3d, 
 
 of
 
 6a 
 
 of the same sentiments as Mr. Pitt, and that 
 Mr. Canning * still dissented from him as 
 thinking his vote too lenient and favourable to 
 Mr. Addington and his colleagues. 
 
 It is here the place for me to submit a few 
 reflections, if without any impeachment of the 
 reverence I bear for the talents of Mr. Pitt 
 and the virtues of ]\Ir. Canning, they may be 
 permitted me. They shall at any rate be short 
 and immediately relevant to the subject. Cer- 
 tainly I am not the only person (who has had 
 opportunities of observing,) that has asked him^ 
 self what greater degree of hostility, what species 
 of more aggressive and unrelenting opposition, 
 Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville (for they are not to 
 be separated since the failure of their negotiation 
 in April,) could have exercised, if ministers, in- 
 stead of being the objects of their primary pane- 
 gyric and recommendation, instead of having 
 their pledge of support, instead of having acted 
 M'ith vigour and with temper, and instead of being 
 crowned with success in the great part of their 
 measures, and with applause, even where the 
 crimes of the French government had disap- 
 
 * Mr. Canning declared that he should give his vote 
 freely and comcientiously for the censure. 
 
 Mr Pitt found himself in the minority, the votes, being. 
 For his motion ----- t6 
 Against it ZZ^ 
 
 ' 277 . 
 
 pointed
 
 63 
 
 pointed tlielr endeavours ; I sayj in the case 
 that My. Addington had been the greatest 
 enemy Mr. Pitt had ever known, if he had proved 
 the weakest, most incapable, unfortunate, and 
 M^icked Minister that had ever existed, what 
 possible asperity, malevolence, and rancour of 
 attack, could he have experienced which he did 
 not no\r sustain from the party of his prede- 
 cessors, who were pledged to give him their zeal* 
 ous, constant, and active support ? Not that I 
 suspect or impugn the motives of Mr. Pitt: it is 
 evident they were imperious, compulsory, and 
 irresistible. 
 
 Who that sees Lord Chatham in the cabinet, 
 which Mr. Patten would impeach, but must 
 admire the stern Roman virtue of Mr. Pitt, 
 which could not bend to give a vote of acquit- 
 tal even to a brother ? The country may well 
 congratulate itself upon possessing so rigid a 
 patriot in these pliant times, when so many 
 public duties are daily sacrificed to ambition 
 and connexion. 
 
 I know, indeed, that to Mr. Canning, Mr. 
 Pitt has not appeared to have acted with suffi- 
 cient energy and character in this memorable 
 vote. He expected, from the inflexible fortitude 
 of his right honourable friend, that he would 
 have declared for the impeachment of his brother 
 and his friend. — But such severity was, even 
 by the Romans themselves, thought above 
 
 prooi^
 
 64, 
 
 proof, atirl extreme ; and they gave tlie distinct 
 appellation of Manlian virtues, Manlian com- 
 mands, and Manlian duties, to all those great acts 
 of self-devotedness which were exerted at the ex- 
 penceof the ties of blood, and the tender relations 
 of private life. Mr. Canning's indignation has 
 carried him so far, that he has scarcely since made 
 his appearance in the House ; but I hope, he 
 will foro-ive the zveakness of his right honour- 
 able friend, and return — His infirmity is human, 
 
 Frater est, Pamphile, difficile est j 
 
 Mr. Addington, too, was the friend of his 
 whole life, from early infancy to the hour at 
 least in which he became his successor, if not 
 to that in which the negotiation broke off I 
 
 The history of parties, has now been brought 
 down to a period, since which I confess, 
 that I look upon the attachment and defer- 
 ence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for 
 Mr. Pitt as a weakness, the only one I have dis- 
 covered in his character, and which, as a near 
 observer, I know 1 do not mistake, in attribut- 
 ing to the most amiable and purest source. Still 
 it must be permitted me to doubt, whether, after 
 all that has passed, it be not a very great dis- 
 couragement to the real friends of government 
 and of the country, to think they see too 
 much respect and deference for an opinion, 
 which they do not consider to be altogether 
 
 free
 
 free from party, and even hostile views ? Ko* 
 thing can do Mr. Addington more honouf, 
 than the readiness I will not call it, but the 
 eagerness he has always discovered to replace 
 Mr. Pitt in the confidence of his Sovereign. 
 I am convinced, that whoever has had an op- 
 portunity of observing, will believe, that even 
 at this moment he is as strongly inclined to 
 comply with every just and honourable wish 
 of Mr. Pitt, as he was found to be in the 
 late negotiation. Nor do I blame this dis- 
 interested disposition. Much, howevel', as I 
 respect the motive of this conduct, it appears 
 impossible to approve its tendency and effect. 
 First of all, because, as long as Mr. Pitt 
 makes it a sine qua non, to bring back Lord 
 Grenville with him into the cabinet, I have 
 observed, that every negotiation will fail. 
 There is an obstacle, if appearances are not 
 very deceitful, even higher than Mr. Adding- 
 ton's reluctance, who is compelled by honour 
 not to admit into the council with him, a man 
 -who has uniformly and undistinguishingly con- 
 demned and opposed every measure of his ad- 
 ministration, not without personal incivility and 
 marked disrespect. 
 
 Secondly, because the parliamentary conduct 
 of Mr. Pitt, (notwithstanding some vacillation 
 since the ill-success of his previous questlo7i) 
 appears decidedly hostile, and calculated in a 
 
 I particular
 
 66 
 
 particular manner to embarrass the administra- 
 tion of the finances *. I need scarcely point 
 out the debates f upon this subject, in which 
 that right honourable gentleman has taken a 
 part, nor the effect of his interference, which 
 has been to cut off about a million and a quarter 
 from the resources of the year ; and to raise a 
 cry that the faith of gov^ernn^ent was violated 
 by including the Stockholder in the Income. 
 Tax, with every other species of proprietor. 
 Although it is not altogether within the scope- 
 of this discourse to discuss public measures, yet 
 it is often impossible to explain the state of par- 
 ties, without some examination of the questions 
 which discover their character and motives. 
 And I am compelled, as a near observer, to re- 
 mark upon this occasion, that the arguments 
 of ]\Ir. Pitt did not appear to have so much 
 >veight, as his authority, in obtaining exemp- 
 
 * So early as the 2.5th of February, LordGrenville had dis- 
 puted Lord Auckhind's statement of the finances, asserting,: 
 that instead of a surplus of nine millions in the revenue, there 
 was a deficit of four. 0;n the 26th of July, however, the whole 
 ofthe six millions and a half surplus of the consolidated fund were 
 voted for the supplies of the year, upon the motion of Mr. Ad- 
 dington, m the presence of Mr. Pitt, who made no objection 
 to the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; nor has 
 any motion been made by Mr. Gregor, who had given no- 
 tice — ■ — If these gentlemen are acting properly at present, as I 
 do not deny, how will they justify their previous conduct ? 
 
 + jKly 9th. 13th. I5ih, 
 
 tions
 
 tlons for the indolent capital of the Stock-holder, 
 while every other species of annual Income is lia- 
 ble to the just exigency of the State. I do there- 
 fore think the deference of -iovernment for Mr. 
 Pitt has been prejudicial to the country in this' 
 instance* in particular; and it appears to me, 
 that the inconvenience will be shortly acknow- 
 ledged when they shall have to replace the con- 
 tribution of the Stock-holder by new taxes upon 
 the generality of other property and consump- 
 tion. Mr. Pitt's complicated proposition f for 
 taking the aggregate of rent, tithes, and poor- 
 rates, as the basis of the Income-tax, if it was 
 friendly in intention, had the misfortune to be 
 delivered intones of hostility and defiance, and 
 it must be submitted, whether it be not very dis- 
 couraging to the real friends of ministers, to hear 
 them told without reserve by any member of the 
 House, that, " if theyare hostile to his plans, they 
 set themselves against the best modeof raising the 
 
 * No person can be plainly absurd enoigh to contend, 
 that an hundred pounds in a man's pocket is not equally con- 
 tributabie, whether he has received them from his Steward or 
 his Stock-broker. The only question therefore is, whether it 
 be a breach oi faith to take the tax without expence and in- 
 convenience at the Bank, instead of running after the public 
 creditor when he has carried his dividend to his closet. This 
 cry, however, of Mr. Pitt's, has cost us one million and a 
 quarter from the annual resources of the war. 
 
 Et dubitamus adhuc virtutem extcndere factis ? 
 
 + Debate, July 15th. 
 
 stipplies,
 
 6S ' 
 
 supplies, &c." Not tliat anybody has a greater 
 respect for his plans (in the department of reve- 
 iiue) than myself; but that I cannot conceive 
 wliy the House or the Ministers are to entertain 
 the species of deference exacted from them for 
 his plans, without his responsibility; or in 
 vhat constitutional point of view it can be 
 pretended, that the members who have lately 
 seen more than a million per annum surrendered 
 in conformity to his plans, are blindly to con* 
 sider every man as hostile to the revenue, who 
 ■will not vote for his plans, in opposition to the 
 propositions of the executive government. 
 
 Nothing, I confess, would give me more satis- 
 faction in this extreme difficulty and most 
 arduous crisis of our state, than to hear Mr, 
 Pitt firmly and zealously giving his support to 
 the King's servants. His financial skill, his 
 commanding eloquence, and his still great 
 influence in the country, would be a tower of 
 strength to his Majesty's government. The 
 public would be well satisfied, I have no reason 
 to doubt, if the right honourable gentleman 
 would accept a seat in the Cabinet; but it M'ill 
 not endure, I believe, that the prerogative 
 should be broken down, or his Majesty's free 
 choice and judgment interfered with, by any 
 species of dictation or preliminary condition. 
 It is evident, from experience, that Mr. Pitt 
 cannot force the Grenville's back into power 
 
 with
 
 €9 
 
 with him. The question therefore is, whether 
 any private ohligitions or engagements to that 
 party ought to deprive the empire of his ser- 
 vices at this moment ? and whether he has 
 not amply acquitted his faith towards them 
 by breaking off the late negotiation? This 
 point I will not dare to examine, more especially 
 because I have not the faculty to discover what 
 engagements or wliat bond of honour he can 
 have entered into with those gentlemen, more 
 sacred, solemn, and inviolable, than the pledge 
 of active, zealous, and constant support he gave 
 to Mr. Addino'ton in Fcbruarv 1801. Neither 
 should I expect from the known virtues and 
 disinterestedness of Lord Grenville that he 
 would not be satisfied with the late efforts of 
 Mr. Pitt in his favour, or refuse to release him 
 from an unprofitable contract, which militates 
 with the essential interests of the empire, which 
 the great abilities of that Financier are so well 
 calculated to sustain. 
 
 If, however^ there exist circumstances which 
 have escaped my observation, or are secret and 
 unknown, and it is in point of fact impracticable 
 for Mr. Pitt to take a share in his Majesty's go- 
 vernment, or to give his servants sincere and ef- 
 fectual support at this crisis (which were exceed- 
 ingly to be lamented) then I have no scruple to 
 express my conviction, that the more direct and 
 open are his hostilities, and the less respect and 
 
 deference
 
 70 
 
 deference are exhibited for his authority, tlieless 
 distraction, embarrassment, and discredit, will 
 be in the power of his adherents to create or dis- 
 seminate. It is not clear, that Mr. Pitt will be 
 able to acquit himself as the chief of a party with 
 the same eclat and success, as in the robes of 
 office. His vote upon Mr. Patten's motion, is 
 generally considered as a false step ; its effects 
 have been more fatal to his credit and po- 
 pularity, than any measure he could have taken ; 
 and are scarcely less injurious to his public cha- 
 racter, than his unaccounted-for and unaccount- 
 able resignation in 1801. 
 
 He is therefore, by no means as much to be 
 dreaded as an opponent, as he is to be desired for 
 a friend. His habits and his talents, his passions, 
 and even his tones and gestures, are calculated 
 ibr office and authority. Neither do the public 
 at this moment entertain that unqualified admi- 
 ration of the mere gift of eloquence, as to pre- 
 fer it to judgment, knowledge, firmness, equa- 
 nimity, and other qualities of a minister, 
 which they have lately learned to esteem and 
 applaud ; nor can any opposition be seri- 
 ously formidable as long as ministers pursue 
 the same temperate, but vigorous course, which 
 has enabled them to triumph over every possi- 
 ble obstacle and impediment. * 
 
 Considering 
 
 * Since I am upon this subject of opposition, I cannot resist 
 the temptation of expressing the desire which I have lately en- 
 tertained.
 
 ft 
 
 Considerlno: indeed the circumstances of tliC 
 state, and the unparalleled dangers which 
 approach us, one would naturally have looked 
 for implicit unanimity, and co-operation from 
 every part of the empire. Amongst the sacri- 
 fices we are called upon to make for our de- 
 fence and preservation, the very foremost is 
 that of our interested, unjust, and amhitious 
 passions. The first offering'; upon the altar of 
 our country, should be private rivalries, and 
 party-hatreds. To destroy the confidence of 
 the people in their rulers, in their armies, or in. 
 
 tertained, for the translation of Mr. Pitt »nd his party to the 
 9pposite side of the House. A great deal of perplexity arises 
 
 Armoram facie & graiarum errore Jubarum. 
 
 One cannot accustom one's ears to hear the measures of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer arraigned or impeded by his 
 Right Honourahle Friends behind him. He ought to be' able to 
 see his opponents and they to look him in the face. Perhaps 
 too, the Speaker himself would like a little topographical hint 
 upon ixjhich side of the Debate those gentlemen meant to speak, 
 for of late they have always -voted with the Minister, and spoken 
 against him. This comes very naturally from the new moral 
 doctrine of " Men, not Measures ;" but I confess I like the old 
 customs best. Mr, Addington's situation is really very dange- 
 rous and perplexing, particularly in the Council: of War, where 
 the heaviest battery is often opened upon his rear, and his 
 flanks are very much exposed to the attack of his honorable. 
 Friends, who fight upon his side against him. In the name of 
 Candour, what have Mr.' Pitt and Mr. Canning to do behind 
 theTreasurj Bench? ** A plugufi on you! Do you call this 
 backing of your Friends i'[ 
 
 their
 
 72 
 
 their resources, were the very worst species of 
 treason. At such a time, every man's know- 
 ledge, experience, and talent, is the property 
 of the State ; there ought to be no sides of the 
 house, no opposition. Can it be endured then 
 to see all the experience acquired in the pubhc 
 service, all the weight and authority of past 
 office and employment, directed to spread alarm 
 and discouragement, or to impede and embarrass 
 the public service ? One thinks one sees altar 
 against altar, and government against govern- 
 ment, when the parts of an opposition are 
 so distributed and sustained, as that the per- 
 sons, who hav^ been secretaries at war, oppose 
 the recruiting of the militia; secretaries of 
 state, attack state papers and negotiations ; and 
 chancellors of the exchequer, the taxes *. And 
 when one observes senators, and statesmen, 
 who have scarce turned their bd'cks on the 
 King's Cabinet, opposing and contradicting, 
 and thwarting their own measures and the prin- 
 ciples of their own administration, one thinks 
 
 * It is singular that even those reforms in the naval de- 
 partments, which have been so much opposed by the adher- 
 ents and partizaiis of the late admiralty-board, are its owa 
 offspring — that it had presented the abuses, frauds, and 
 peculations, and was pledged to bring forward the enquiry. 
 They were stated, in the administrauon of Lord Spencer, tO 
 amount to 3 millions annually.
 
 73 
 
 one beholds a faction more profoundly and 
 essentially corrupt and perfidious than' there is 
 any mention of in the history of nations. 
 . Thus we see that after official deaths the same 
 cares and employments do not survive in the po- 
 litical shades, as in the poetical — We cannot say, 
 
 • Quae gratia currum 
 
 Armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentes 
 Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos ; 
 
 but, on the contrary, we find them tormented 
 "with remorse and aversion for all their priot 
 studies and pursuits, and haunted with the an- 
 tipathy of every former passion and delight. 
 
 I know that I have made use of strong words, 
 but I know that they are not stronger than the 
 truth warrants, and the occasion demands. But 
 if I seem to any person to use harsher terms than 
 might have been found, and to brand m ith more 
 ignominy than is necessary, the profligacy I de- 
 plore, I would ask if these are times to govern 
 phrases, to frame sentences, and observe eti- 
 quettes and punctilios ! What, when Lord Tem- 
 ple demands places for his family*, (insatiable 
 
 family !) 
 
 * Mr. Thcmas Grenville has not attended for a consider- 
 able time in his place. It is beneath his great importance to 
 promote or assent to a single measure for the defence of his 
 country under ministers not nominated by his family. — The 
 Army of Reserve, the Bill for the general arming and train- 
 ing of his majesty's subjects, the great measures of finance, 
 have all been deprived of his assistance and authority, even of 
 bis countenance! He will not grace the benches of oppositioa 
 
 K wheu
 
 74 
 
 family!) when his family Insist upon naming the 
 King's Minister ; when Mr. Pitt refuses to serve 
 his Sovereign, unless he can force into the cabi- 
 net the Grenvilles who are forcing him. into it; 
 •when Mr. Windham will only vote pro for md 
 for military law and the suspension of the Habeas* 
 Corpus act, upon the burst of Irish Rebellion, 
 and the massacre of the chief criminal judge * ; 
 ■when Mr. Canning avows f that " his oppo- 
 sition is not to measures but to men ;" that " the 
 men are every thing, and the measures no- 
 thing;" when the whole system and anti-princi- 
 ple (if I may hazard such a word) of the late 
 administration, is to vilify and discredit the 
 
 when he dares not to oppose. He will not lend even his 
 presence and neutrality to the plans for arnaing the country, 
 doubtless because it cannot now be saved, by any men but 
 those who abandoned it the year before the last ! 
 
 I am persuaded, however, that the country will very deeply 
 resent the conduct of every one of its representatives who acts 
 like Mr. T. Grenville. These absences are perverse, pee- 
 vish, and, perhaps, unconstitutional : they act, however, in a 
 contrary sense to what is intended. If ever there were a case 
 where silence inferred consent, it is here : for it cannot be sus- 
 pected, that with a possibility of opposing, we should have 
 lost the benefit of Mr. Grenville's opinion and eloquence. 
 Where I to hazard a conjecture, it would be this, that the 
 Right Honourable Gentleman is preparing a very alarming 
 speech for the last day of the Session, a speech of effect, whick 
 tvill send a portion of the House home panic-struck, to spread 
 proper sentiments among their constituents. 
 
 * July 28. + Pad. Reg. Dec. 8. 
 
 govern-
 
 IS 
 
 government, of whose measures they dare not 
 but approve ; when Mr. Canning would im- 
 peach, and Mr. Pitt would keep impeachment 
 hanging over the heads of those ministers, whose 
 conduct in every individual instance he has de- 
 fended or applauded ; when popular and factious 
 cries are adopted to intercept the resources of 
 the exchequer, when the militia is decried and 
 discredited, not by jacobins and traitors, but by 
 ex-secretaries at war, and ex-ministers of the 
 finances ; when discouragement and despondency 
 are spread among the people by great military 
 characters, and \\t are warned of the capture of 
 the capital, and the surrender of the country ! 
 when I see the House of Commons transmuted 
 into a council of war*, shall I call it, or a council 
 of alarm, discouragement, and trepidation ! when 
 every cry, and every artifice is adopted to discredit 
 the measures of government, and destroy the con- 
 fidence of the country — I ask if this be a mo- 
 ment to stop for nice and deliberate expressions? 
 and whether these gentlemen are entitled to so 
 much deference from others, who are so careless 
 of their own character and reputation, as to be 
 not only at variance, but in direct hostility and 
 
 * With the highest degree of respect and consideration for 
 Mr. Abbot, I must venture to say, as an observer, that it 
 would have given satisfaction, if he had thought himself war- 
 ranted to interrupt these discussions. 
 
 antithesis
 
 76 
 
 ianti thesis with their own principles and mea- 
 sures, with their characters, and their whole 
 lives ? 
 
 The ministers certainly could not be con- 
 fronted by a minority of more abilities, of more 
 personal weiglit in the country, from connex- 
 ion and property, and of more influence from 
 the mass of former obligation, which during 
 seventeen years they have conferred with no 
 sparing hand. The utter want, however, of 
 principle, and even of pretext for their opposi- 
 tion, and the too great confidence in their own 
 talents and importance, which has led to very 
 extraordinary confessions, has deprived this 
 party of every thing which could render it po- 
 pular or formidable ; besides which, I have 
 observed a very general apprehension to prevail 
 in the case that they were to be once more 
 entrusted with the guidance of affairs, lest upon 
 the approach of any great danger or calamity 
 which might threaten the country, they should 
 again abandon their posts, with as much preci- 
 pitation as they did in 1801. 
 
 As far as public opinion is concerned, this 
 sentiment must long be fatal to their return to 
 power, and it may be added, that no small pro- 
 portion of those persons mIio most strenuously 
 supported them, Mill never pardon the resigna- 
 tion, because they certainly did give their votc-s 
 xuujualificd, and assented to measures they did 
 
 not
 
 not always approve of, upon the supposition, 
 that they had no choice but to strengthen a 
 government which they considered as bound 
 and pledged to abide the fate of the country. 
 These persons consider themselves as having- 
 been cheated out of their former support upon 
 false pretences, and they will no doubt insist 
 upon a fidl and satisfactory explanation of the 
 real causes of these resignations, before they 
 will give their confidence a second time. In- 
 deed, what would be the situation of the country 
 (at this crisis of foreign danger, internal diffi- 
 culty, and Irish Rebellion) under a ministry 
 whom it would be in tlie power of the most 
 insignificant member of the House to displace 
 at any moment, by simply bringing forward the 
 Irish Catholic question ? 
 
 I am not aware of more than one case in 
 which Mr. Fox and his minority could be con- 
 sidered as a possible administration, and that is 
 the success of the invasion, or some other great 
 disaster which should lay us at the feet of 
 France. He might, perhaps, be the vice-presi- 
 dent of the Britannic Republic, but there is 
 little prospect of his ever being the minister of 
 an English King. 
 
 Of the ministers it will be permitted me to 
 say, that I think they have hitherto deserved 
 well of the country ; and that they have been 
 called to act under circumstances in which it 
 
 was
 
 ' 78 
 
 was impossible to have done so, without pos- 
 sessing great ability, great prudence, and great 
 fortitude. They have certainly had to contend 
 against the greatest ability, and as they have 
 not been worsted in the contest, it seems to be 
 but an ill compliment to their enemies to re- 
 proach them with incapability. Such vague and 
 general incivihties (for they are not charges) 
 shew only ill-temper and disappointment ; 
 and as proof has repeatedly been called for in 
 vain, and there is so much proof upon the other 
 hand, to persevere in it argues little sensibiHty 
 to the shame of being refuted. 
 
 Tlie great business of the country is its de- 
 fence; and I am very much mistaken if that 
 can be promoted by indifference to measures, 
 and partiality to men. I think a great deal too 
 much has been said about individuals, too much 
 about Mr. Addington and Mr. Pitt. I protest 
 I cannot adopt this novel heresy, and I hope 
 it will never form an article in our political 
 creed. In this fearful crisis of our country, I 
 hope, that we have no other cause, no interest 
 but hers ! that mc contend not for patrons, but 
 for duties ; not for parties, but for the state ; and 
 that we all rally round our Sovereign and his 
 ministers, /z/6' lieutenants, and his generals, round 
 all who have his confidence and conmiission. 
 I am sure this is the faith of the constitution, 
 and that by this alone we can be saved ! I I 
 
 A verv
 
 79 
 
 A very few words will now bring these hasty 
 remarks to a conckision. The Pitt and Gren- 
 ville party, with all their experience and abi- 
 lity, and the great services which they have 
 sometimes rendered the country, by some fa- 
 tality or other have never understood its cha- 
 racter nor enjoyed its affection. 
 
 History does not shew so gross an instance 
 of credulous self-love and infatuated vanity, 
 as the opinion they daily manifest, that their 
 absence from the King's councils is regretted by 
 the public ; that the people desire their return 
 to power; that the King has made an unpopu- 
 lar use of his prerogative in the present selec- 
 tion of his counsellors ! 
 
 I am far from denying the talents or the 
 vrrtues of their House ; I do not even vindicate 
 the country from some degree of ingratitude; 
 but, as truth, I am compelled to acknowledge 
 that they never were beloveel nor endeared to it. 
 Like the Claudian Family in Rome, (than whiclv 
 none was more fruitful of great and celebrated 
 men) they do not coalesce and assimilate with 
 the genius and temper of their country. To 
 the catalogue of all their merits, and the praises 
 to which they have an undoubted claim, we 
 must add 
 
 Nisi in Libera Civitate nati essent. 
 
 The present ministers, I think, have this 
 advantage, this happiness, over them, that they 
 
 fail
 
 80 
 
 fall in with the character of the nation. I 
 distinguish nothing personal in their sway ; the 
 men are not vibible in the acts of their autho- 
 rity ; they seem to be the servants, not the 
 masters of the public ; the nation governs it- 
 self more under them, and for them. Con- 
 vinced, persuaded, and prepared, the people 
 demand those laws and measures which used to 
 he imposed upon them ; they require those levies 
 and taxes which were so lately felt as burthens 
 and hardships. They identify themselves with 
 a government which confides in them. The 
 late ministry were often urged by their most 
 strenuous supporters to place more reliance upon 
 the people, but they never, as I have observed, 
 understood their character, their temper, or 
 their spirit. One of the first acts of their suc- 
 cessors was, to restore the Habeas Corpus Act, 
 and to repeal the Bills against Sedition. The 
 trials of Despard and his accomplices were con- 
 ducted in the ordinary course, like simple fe- 
 lonies, without alarm, without secret com- 
 mittees, without demonstrations of jealousy and 
 mistrust. They now reap the fruit of their tem- 
 per or their policy, for I have little scruple to 
 assert, that without an appearance of force or 
 power, without the reluctance of a single sub- 
 ject, by the confidence and affection of the 
 people alone, they have been able to carry the 
 greatest measures, of which there is either 
 
 record
 
 "illiriilllll 
 
 AA 000 564 030 
 81 
 
 record or tradition in the history of the em- 
 pire. 
 
 Upon the 18th of ]\fay, Lord Whitworth's 
 return from Paris M'as announced to parliament. 
 — Little more than two months have elapsed, 
 and the Militia, the Supplementary Militia, the 
 Army of Reserve, amounting together to one 
 hundred and sixty thousand men, have been 
 added to the regiments of the line, and a Bill 
 has received the Royal assent for arming the 
 •whole population of the island. It is true, Mr. 
 Pitt and the Grenvilles think a great deal more 
 might have been done and a great deal quicker 
 — quicker than two months ; more than all. — • 
 But this is the characteristic failing and misfor- 
 tune of their family. For they would have had 
 it their measure, and not the nation's; it would 
 have been called their act, and now it is the 
 people's ! For effect and greatness, all must have 
 been voted at once, the operation of each im- 
 peded by the others, and the Avhole imposed 
 as la\v and authority, blamed, eluded, or re- 
 sisted. I cannot think that an act of legisla- 
 tion can create a public spirit ; but such an act 
 as the general levy of the population of an em- 
 pire, if it precede a public spirit, were a dan- 
 gerous insurrection, the immediate precursor 
 and instrument of its fall. As to tlie reproach 
 of tardiness, therefore, it can have no other 
 source than ignorance, or detraction ; igno- 
 
 L ranee
 
 82 
 
 ranee profound and pitiable, if its authors think 
 the Ministers could have brouglit in the bill till 
 the people called for it ; rancorous and base de- 
 traction, if they have the smallest knowledge 
 of the history of men, or the most common ru- 
 diments of the science of government. 
 
 I have now completed a most ungracious and 
 unpleasant task, to which I have submitted only 
 from a sense of public duty, and a desire to 
 render some service to the country. Parties are 
 the natural disease of a free and popular consti- 
 tution ; and in mixed governments, they are 
 perhaps necessary to represent and defend the 
 respective powers and principles of the system. 
 
 This at least is their true use and action ; 
 and thus applied, their collisions have often 
 produced those salutary crisises, which have re- 
 novated and invigorated States, forcing them 
 back, as it were, to the fountains of their pros- 
 perit}^, and to the principles and auspices from 
 which they departed. It were a vain parade of 
 learning to enumerate those parties, which repre- 
 senting and struggling for a particular princi- 
 ple of government, the rights of a family, or 
 the dogmas of religion, have filled the pages 
 of history with great and interesting transac- 
 tions — the annals of our country abound with 
 instances M-hich we cannot alwavs call to mind 
 Avithout sorrow and confusion; but never till the 
 present moment, did a party arise without the 
 
 pretence
 
 '^ zt 
 
 83 
 
 pretence at least, of some public principle and 
 some national object, to dignify or disguise 
 it. "The church was in danger ;" " the succes- 
 sion was in danger ;" " the constitution was in- 
 vaded;" "a war was wanton and unnecessary;" 
 but some pretence, some decent shred of hypo- 
 crisy has ever hitherto been spread over the 
 nakedness of ambition. — It remained for our 
 own times to present the spectacle of a family- 
 compact, and a combination of wealth and in- 
 fluence, openly claiming the first offices of the 
 State as their right, insisting upon nominating 
 each other in their turn for the King's Cabinet, 
 and professing their disregard of measures and 
 their attachments and antipathy to men. • 
 
 Certainly I have nothing exaggerated, I have 
 set down nothing in malice. But I do deeply 
 feel and tremble at the profligacy I am describ- 
 ing. When I consider the state of the empire, 
 and the imminent perils which threaten our 
 existence, I think a scramble for place is little 
 different from the pillage of a wreck ; and to em- 
 barrass or desert the common safety and defence 
 for private objects of avarice and ambition, ap- 
 pears the foulest act of Treason and Parricide 
 which can be committed. 
 
 I confess I think his Majesty's Ministers have 
 a right to all our support, co-operation, and as- 
 sistance. I should not dare, for light and tri\ial 
 motives, at this terrible hour, to encrease their 
 
 difiticulties
 
 84 
 
 difficulties, diminish their credit, or shake the 
 confidence of the people; I do not know that 
 one ought to hring forward serious causes of 
 complaint (if they existed) at a time when una- 
 nimity alone can preserve the empire. I con- 
 sider them abstractedly as the King's ser- 
 vants : faithful, able, vigorous, and fortunate, 
 they have liitherto proved, and, I trust, will con- 
 tinue. But at all events, under them we must 
 iight for all that is dear and sacred to humanity. 
 By their side we shall conquer or lie down. I 
 think there is no other party for us to take, and 
 I am sure there is no duty more imperious and 
 binding. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Sept. 5th, 1805. 
 
 J. Brettell, Printer, Great WindmiiKStrect, Haymark«t«