1755. 66 66 NEWCASTLE AND PITT. 51 fulsome embraces, empty compliments, and hysterical tears. He entreated his support in Parliament of the Hessian and Russian Subsidies. He offered him a seat in the Cabinet, he promised a most gracious reception by the King at Court, -he hinted a prospect of the Seals whenever a vacancy should happen. Pitt at once declined to take his seat in the Cabinet, or to give his support to the treaties. With manly firmness he stood up for the dignity and independence of the House of Commons, and condemned the Duke's attempts to lead it by deputy. "Your Grace's system," said he, "of carrying on the "business of the House, I believe, will not do, and while "I have life and breath to utter I will oppose it. There "must be men of efficiency and authority in the House, a Secretary and a Chancellor of the Exchequer at least, "who should have access to the Crown, habitual, frequent, "familiar access, I mean, that they may tell their own story, to do themselves and their friends justice, and "not be the victims of a whisper. . . . For my part, if "the Ministry ask nothing of me I ask nothing of them. ". . . As to foreign matters there is no doubt of my 66 concurrence to carry on the war, as it is a national war; and I think that regard ought to be had to Hanover, if it should be attacked on our account. . . . We "should never lay down our arms without procuring "satisfaction for any damage they may receive on our 66 account. But we could not find money to defend it by "subsidies, and if we could that is not the way to defend "it."-The Duke still pleaded for the treaties, and muttered that the King's honour was engaged to Hesse. -Pitt replied with professions of the highest loyalty and attachment to His Majesty. If it were a particular compliment to the King, and if security were given against its being drawn into a precedent, he and his friends might perhaps be brought to sanction this single treaty.— "Well, and the Russian Subsidy," said Newcastle. "No, no," rejoined Pitt hastily, "not a system of sub"sidies." Thus the conference broke up without result.* 66 66 ... * The details of this remarkable conference are to be gathered partly from Lord Orford's Memoirs, (vol. i. p. 399.), and partly from Dodington's Diary (September 3. 1755), on the relation of Pitt himself. In the entry of the previous day are several expressions and There seems little doubt-considering the pressure upon Newcastle at this period-that had Pitt shown any readiness to support the treaties he might at once have obtained the Seals of Secretary. But though he desired high office, he desired it only for high and generous ends. He did not seek it for patronage like Newcastle, or for lucre like Fox. Glory was the bright star that ever shone before his eyes, and ever guided him onwards;—his country's glory and his own. My Lord," he once exclaimed to the Duke of Devonshire, "I am sure that I can save "this country, and that nobody else can!"* 66 His rival was found more pliant. The King having returned from Hanover, a few days afterwards, towards the middle of September, His Majesty's consent was obtained to a new negotiation with Fox. It was agreed that Fox should receive the Seals of Secretary with efficient powers, and the lead in the House of Commons. On the other hand, he undertook to smother his own disapprobation of the treaties, and support them to the utmost of his energies in Parliament. Sir Thomas Robinson received a pension of 2,000l. a year on the Irish establishment, and reverted to his former office,-"Master "of the Great Wardrobe," an office to which (as in justice to him I am bound to acknowledge) his abilities were found fully equal.† Although this arrangement was completed several weeks before the meeting of Parliament, its execution was postponed until two days after, that Fox might retain his scat and be able to speak for the Address. It promised some further increase of numbers to the Ministerial ranks, arguments of Pitt to Hardwicke, which he appears to have repeated in his subsequent interview with Newcastle. * Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 271. See also an article in the North American Review for October 1842, p. 388. It is gratifying thus to find the literature of the New country afford valuable contributions to the history of the Old. (1844.) This note was written without any suspicion of the authorship; but the article in question is now commonly ascribed to Charles Francis Adams, Esq., the accomplished editor of his grandfather, John Adams's, Works. (1853.) †The reader will, perhaps, be reminded of Monsieur Coquenet, and his application for an office, in Scribe's clever comedy La Calomnie: "Cela ne rapporte que quinze mille francs; mais en revanche on "n'a rien à faire-place honorable qui irait à mes goûts et à mes "moyens." (Act 1. scene 6.) 1755. THE DUCHESS OF BRUNSWICK. 53 since Fox drew with him to a great extent the House of Bedford. Yet far-sighted observers could already discern in it the tokens of approaching dissolution. When Lord Chesterfield was told of it, he exclaimed, that the Duke of Newcastle had turned out every body else, and now had turned out himself!* But the ill-timed journey of the King last summer had been fruitful, not merely of Ministerial dissensions, but of Court cabals. While at Hanover the Duchess of Brunswick with her two daughters paid His Majesty a visit; the King was charmed with the beauty, merit, and understanding of the elder Princess, and designed her as a suitable consort to the young Prince of Wales. He had no object apparently but his grandson's happiness, whom he desired to see settled before he died,—and no wish to force the Prince's inclinations should he find them averse to the match. But the Princess Dowager in England took alarm at the first rumours of the scheme. The domestic virtues of which her son gave early promise convinced her that he would soon become devoted to his bride,— above all to a bride so accomplished and so amiable; and she feared that her influence over him would decline in the same degree. These are the motives ascribed to her by several writers at the time, but it must be owned, on the other hand, that the King was not infallible in his predilections, and that the early youth of the Prince of Wales (only seventeen) might also suggest to an affectionate mother adequate grounds of objection. Certain it is that under her influence Prince George speedily imbibed the utmost aversion to the proposed alliance. Her conversation at this time with Dodington, next to Bute one of her most trusted friends, throws great light upon her feelings, while it also incidentally reveals her real opinion of her son. "The young woman is said to be handsome, and to have all good qualities, but if she "takes after her mother she will never do here."-" Pray "Madam," asked Dodington, "what is her mother? as I "know nothing at all about her?"-" Why," replied the Princess Dowager, "her mother is the most intriguing, “meddling, and also the most satirical, sarcastical person 66 *H. Walpole to Sir H. Mann, Sept. 29. 1755. "in the world, and will always make mischief wherever "she comes. Such a character would not do with George; "it would not only hurt him in his public but make him 66 uneasy in his private situation. He is not a wild dissipated boy, but good-natured and cheerful, with a "serious cast upon the whole. Those about him know "him no more than if they had never seen him. His "education has given me much pain; his book-learning "I am no judge of, though I suppose it small or useless, "but I hope he may have been instructed in the general "understanding of things. I once desired Mr. "Stone to inform the Prince about the Constitution, but "he declined it to avoid giving jealousy to the Bishop of "Norwich. I mentioned it again, but he still declined it as not being his province." Pray Madam," said Dodington, "what is his province?"- Her Royal Highness answered, "I do not know, unless it is to go before "the Prince upstairs, to walk with him sometimes, seldomer "to ride with him, and now and then to dine with him.”* Under these impressions the Princess Dowager set herself in direct opposition to the King. All the dutiful submission she had not only professed, but shown, since her husband's death, ceased at once and for ever. Surrendering herself to the guidance of Bute and Dodington, her former caution and prudence appeared to forsake her. She affected to treat with contempt the King's principal Ministers, while Pitt and Pitt's followers were most graciously received; nor did she scruple to connect herself, and, as far as she could prevail, connect her son,— with opposition cabals. Perhaps she flattered herself that these cabals might yet pass undiscovered; but the King had not been a week in England before he was thoroughly informed of every thing she did, and of most things she intended. After a short interval His Majesty sent for the Prince into his closet, not to propose the match, knowing it would be to little purpose, but to sound his grandson's views in reference to Hanover, and to caution him against evil advisers. The result of this interview proved far from satisfactory to the Royal grandsire. The Prince, deeply impressed with filial duty to his mother, heard all the King's representations with dis * Dodington's Diary, August 6. 1755, 1755. MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. 55 trust; he bowed and bowed again, but made scarce any answer. In the opinion of Lord Waldegrave, who, from his post in the Prince's Household, had the best means of judging, and whose high integrity is acknowledged by all parties, His Majesty here committed no small mistake; instead of thus sending for the Prince, he should have spoken firmly to the Dowager Princess, and told her that as she governed her son she should be held as answerable for his conduct. It was at the crisis of such great and jarring interests, a war, though not declared, begun, a people roused from indifference to discontent, — the Heir-Apparent again inclining to the side of Opposition, and a schism breaking forth in the very heart of the Ministry,- that the Parliament met on the 13th of November. It was a day fraught with anxious hopes and fears to millions. The King's Speech and the Addresses moved in answer to it were such as to imply, at least, approbation of the treaties with Russia and Hesse. Against these, the Earls Temple and of Halifax declaimed in the Lords, but, besides Newcastle and Hardwicke, the Duke of Bedford spoke in their support, and no division ensued. In the Commons the debate, which commenced at two in the afternoon, continued till five the next morning, — the longest yet on record, except that upon the Westminster Electon in 1741. Every variety of sentiment, every degree of talent, appeared in their turn. It was on this occasion that William Gerard Hamilton delivered his famous harangue. "He spoke for the first time," says an ear-witness, " and was at once perfection; his "speech was set, and full of antitheses, but these anti"theses were full of argument; indeed his speech was "the most argumentative of the whole day, and he broke "through the regularity of his own composition, answered "other people, and fell into his own track again with the * greatest ease." This high promise of excellence was, however, followed by no further efforts; the young orator was content with this fame, and with some lucrative offices it gained him in Ireland; and became known by the name of Single Speech Hamilton. Yet a volume he 66 * H. Walpole to H. S. Conway, November 15. 1755. |