1761. PITT RESIGNS. 241 that he would not remain in a situation which made him responsible for measures he was no longer allowed to guide. The President of the Council, the veteran Earl Granville, replied to him nearly as follows: "I find the gentleman "is determined to leave us, nor can I say I am sorry "for it, since he would otherwise have certainly compelled 66 us to leave him. But if he be resolved to assume the "right of advising His Majesty, and directing the opera"tions of the war, to what purpose are we called to this "Council? When he talks of being responsible to the people he talks the language of the House of Commons, "and forgets that at this Board he is only responsible to "the King. However, though he may possibly have "convinced himself of his infallibility, still it remains that "we should be equally convinced before we can resign "our understandings to his direction, or join with him "in the measures he proposes." * 66 Pitt adhering to his first opinion, and having delivered his reasons in writing, on the 5th of October resigned his employment. In this course he was followed by Lord Temple. When on the same day he waited on his Sovereign to give up the Seals, he found the demeanour of the young King most kind and gracious. His Majesty expressed his concern at the loss of so able a servant, and offered him any reward in the power of the Crown to bestow, but declared that his own judgment was adverse to the sudden declaration of war, adding, that if even his Cabinet had been unanimous for it he should have felt the greatest difficulty in consenting. Pitt, who appears to have anticipated a different reception, was deeply touched by the King's cordiality of manner and expression. "I confess, Sir," said he, "I "had but too much reason to expect your Majesty's *These expressions of Granville, and those of Pitt before him, in the same Council, are reported in the Annual Register, 1761, part i. p. 43. It is to be remembered, that, though published at the time, neither Granville nor Pitt ever denied their authenticity, and that Burke, who supplied them, being then private Secretary to the Secretary for Ireland, had excellent means of information. VOL. IV. R "displeasure. I did not come prepared for this exceed"ing goodness. Pardon me, Sir; it overpowers, it 66 oppresses me.' And he burst into tears. Such then was the close of Pitt's justly renowned administration. Even amidst the full blaze of its glory there arose some murmurs at its vast expense;—the only objection of any weight, I think, that has ever been urged against it. Yet, as a shrewd observer writes at the time, "It has cost us a great deal, it is true, but then we have "had success and honour for our money. Before Mr. Pitt "came in we spent vast sums only to purchase disgrace "and infamy."-What number, I would ask, of pounds, of shillings, or of pence, could fairly represent the value of rousing the national spirit, and retrieving the national honour? Is it gold that can measure the interval between the lowest pitch of despondency and the pinnacle of triumph,-between the England of 1756 and the England of 1761? Let me add, that in the closing act of this administration, in proposing an immediate declaration of war against Spain, -Pitt did not urge any immature or illconsidered scheme. His preparations were already made to strike more than one heavy blow upon his enemy, to capture the returning galleons, and to take possession of the isthmus of Panama, thus securing a port in the Pacific, and cutting off all communication between the Spanish provinces of Mexico and Peru. Nor did his designs end here: these points once accomplished, -as they might have been with little difficulty, he had planned an expedition against the Havanna, and another, on a smaller scale, against the Philippine islands. none of these places could the means of resistance be compared to those of the French in Canada, while the means of aggression from England would be the same. Yet a few months, and the most precious provinces of Spain in the New World,-the brightest gems of her colonial empire,-might not improbably have decked the British Crown. In reviewing designs so vast, pursued by a spirit so lofty, I can only find a parallel from amongst that nation which Pitt sought to humble ;—I *Lady Hervey to Mr. Morris; Chevening, October 21. 1761. In 1761. PARALLEL WITH CARDINAL XIMENES. 243 can only point to Cardinal Ximenes. This resemblance would be the less surprising, since Pitt, at the outset of his administration, had once, in conversation with Fox, talked much of Ximenes, who, he owned, was his favourite character in History.* *Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 214. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE retirement of Pitt from the administration left a complete and undisputed ascendency to Bute. It was now his Lordship's object to strengthen himself by large and powerful connections. The Privy Seal was kept in reserve for the Duke of Bedford, while the Seals of Secretary were bestowed upon the Earl of Egremont, who had been intended for plenipotentiary at the Congress of Augsburg, but who was chiefly remarkable as the son of Sir William Wyndham.-In public life I have seen full as many men promoted for their fathers' talents as for their own. But the most pressing object with Lord Bute was to avert or soften the resentment which the removal of the Great Commoner might probably excite in the nation. As he writes to his friend Dodington at this juncture: "Indeed, my good Lord, my situation, at all times peri"lous, is become much more so, for I am no stranger to "the language held in this great city. Our darling's ""resignation is owing to Lord Bute, who might have ""prevented it with the King, and he must answer for "all the consequences; '—which is, in other words, for "the miscarriage of another's system, that he (Pitt) him"self could not have prevented.” * Concurring with this motive in Lord Bute's own mind there was also, I doubt not, in the Royal breast a sincere anxiety to reward distinguished merit. Under these circumstances, on the very day after Pitt's resignation, Bute addressed a letter to him by the King's commands, declaring that His Majesty was desirous, nay, "impatient," to confer on him some mark of his Royal favour. His Majesty, continued Bute, requests some insight into Mr. Pitt's own views and wishes, and meanwhile proposes to him either *To Lord Melcombe, October 8. 1761, printed in the Appendix to Mr. Adolphus's History of England. 1761. BARONESS CHATHAM. 245 the government of Canada, combined with residence in England, and a salary of 5,000l. a year, or the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, with as much of emolument and nearly as little of business. The reply of Pitt, after a profusion of obsequious thanks, -states himself"too proud to receive any mark of the King's coun"tenance and favour, but, above all, doubly happy could "I see those dearer to me than myself comprehended "in that monument of Royal approbation and goodness "with which His Majesty shall condescend to distinguish 66 me. In compliance with the hint thus given, a peerage was conferred on Lady Hester, by the title of Baroness Chatham, with remainder to her issue male, and a pension of 3,000l. a year was granted to Pitt for three lives; namely, his own, Lady Chatham's, and their eldest son's.* -- For receiving such favours upon his resignation Pitt has been often and severely blamed. We should, however, recollect that they did not in any degree fetter his freedom, nor restrain him from censuring,-whenever he thought fit to censure, the measures of the administration; they were rewards for services past, not retainers for services to come. Nor does it appear on what ground either peerages or pensions could be defended if those men most worthy of them are to be held debarred from their acceptance. But the same sincerity which inclines me to vindicate the transaction itself, compels me to say that I think Pitt's own letters on this subject, which have been of late made public, unduly pompous in their language, and yet, at the same time, unduly humble in their tone. Another step of Pitt on his resignation, which seems wanting in good taste, was his public announcement of his seven coach-horses for sale. His acknowledged public integrity did not require, and should rather have disdained, that ostentatious proof. The bestowal of the title and the pension on the retiring Minister fully attained the object which Lord Bute had in view. He was enabled in the same Gazette to insert, first, the resignation, next, the honours and re * The five letters on this subject are printed in the Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 146-153. |