Peace I desire most fervently: no person in the country, I 1802. am sure, desires it more than I do; and few have had such opportunities of knowing how necessary it is to us. But then I am confident that there is no hope of peace for Europe, or for England, but by raising up some sufficient barrier against Bonaparte's ambition, which aims at universal empire, not in the figurative, but in the most literal acceptation of those terms. This great work, I have long been convinced, could not be accomplished but by the union of the three great continental Powers. That the insolence of France would ultimately produce this union, I firmly believed; and until it took place I was always averse to wasting the resources of this country in separate and therefore ineffectual exertions. But now that this union is formed, and that these Powers seem really convinced that they are fighting their own cause, not ours alone, it would, I think, be no less impolitic than disgraceful for this country to be the first to hold such language, or to take such steps as may lead to the separation of the alliance. I am not so sanguine as many are in my hopes of success, because I well know how much there is to do; but God forbid that I should persuade this country to desert the cause of Europe so long as there is any chance—and such there certainly now is -that Europe will fight for its own independence.1 On the other hand, Mr. Fox, in November 1802, about nine months after the signature of the Definitive Treaty, expresses an opinion that Bonaparte will do everything that he can to avoid war; 22 and in the following month 6 he My notion about Bonaparte's politics is this-that when I first went to Paris he was foolishly sore about our newspapers, but 1 Courts and Cabinets, vol. iii. p. 331. 2 To Lord Lauderdale, Nov. 12, 1802. Mem. of Fox, vol. iii. p. 372. 3 To Mr. Grey, Dec. 12, 1802, ibid. p. 384. 1820. not ill disposed to the Ministers, and still less to the country. At this time he was out of humour with Austria, and determined, as I suspect, not to give way a little to her. Afterwards, when he suspected (whether truly or falsely) that we should interfere, he began to be terribly afraid of a war, which might in France be imputed to his rashness. In consequence of this fear, he did make concessions by no means inconsiderable to Austria, and immediately felt bitter against us who were the cause of his making them. But as that bitterness (according to my hypothesis) arises principally from the fear he has of our driving him into an unpopular war, I do not think it will for the present prevent peace; nor indeed, if pacific counsels and language are used here, that it is at all likely [not?] to be lasting. Whatever ridicule may be attempted to be thrown upon the title of pacificator, you may be sure that whatever hold he has (perhaps no great matter neither) upon the people of France, arises from the opinion that he alone could make the peace, and that he will be the best able to maintain it.1 Mr. Horner has the following entry in his journal, under the date of January 1806 : Mr. Fox was of opinion, before the commencement of the present war, that the real intentions and wishes of Bonaparte, however hostile he was to this country, were to make his subjects a commercial people; to keep his own power, of course, as absolute as possible; but to reduce the military spirit and system to which he originally owed it.2 During the session of 1802, Mr. Pitt absented himself from Parliament.3 Though, on the whole, he approved of 1 To Mr. Grey, Dec. 1802, ibid. pp. 381-2. Mr. Fox went to France in July 1802, and came back to England in November. He returns to his idea of Bonaparte's pacific disposition in Sept. 1805: 'I feel quite sure that Bonaparte would like peace if we would give way in anything' (ibid. vol. iv. p. 116). 2 Life of Horner, vol. i. p. 323. Mr. Fox, in a letter of Dec. 19, 1802, says, that although Pitt is supposed to be friendly to peace, the war-party are constantly calling for his return to power; and 'therefore he will find himself obliged, after Christmas, to say means. the peace, he was dissatisfied with the general course of 1802. the administration; and he reconciled his two feelings by maintaining a neutral station; he discontinued his active support to the Government, but did not commence a declared opposition to its measures. The ambiguous state of his mind was known to his friends: and accordingly, near the end of the year (November 1802), an attempt was made by some of the more eager of his followers to force or induce Addington to resign, in order that Pitt might succeed to his place. A paper was drawn up by Mr. Canning, for presentation to Mr. Addington, the object of which was to bring about this substitution by voluntary Both Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville were now prepared to abstain from pressing the Catholic question upon the King, and to accept office without making this measure an indispensable condition. Pitt himself thought the change desirable; but would not consent to any active steps being taken by his friends, or any canvass being made: he deprecated anything which could bear the appearance of a plot or cabal; maintained that if he stood aloof, an alteration in his opinions would be inferred, and if there was a general wish to restore him to office, it would soon be manifested. The result of this discouragement was that Mr. Canning's paper was suppressed,1 and that no active movement for Pitt's restoration to power had been made when the session for the ensuing year commenced in November 1802. Pitt absolutely rejected any attempt to force him upon the King through a parlia something pretty decisive, or to make his retirement (for a time at least) a complete secession' (Mem. of Fox, vol. iii. p. 206). 1 See Lord Malmesbury's Diaries, vol. iv. pp. 80–127. [On this attempt of Canning's compare Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, v. iii. pp. 408-410. Pitt, however, declined to give advice to the Government. Lord Grenville, in his speech on the address, pointed to Pitt as the only minister fit for the crisis (ibid. pp. 411-412).—ED.] 1802. mentary motion; and in this view Mr. Canning himself concurred.1 The Opposition at this time consisted of two sections, the old and the new. The old Opposition, composed of Mr. Fox and his few remaining followers, had strongly supported the peace; the new Opposition, formed of the Grenville party, had as strongly condemned it. The restlessness of Bonaparte, and the improbability of maintaining pacific relations with France, began now to manifest themselves; and public opinion gradually inclined towards the new Opposition, who had from the commencement censured the treaty, and predicted its failure. For the same reason, the general feeling pointed to Mr. Pitt's resumption of office. The chief title of the Addington administration to confidence and support was the peace: if the peace should prove a failure, their principal hold on the good wishes of the public was gone: and if vigour and ability for the prosecution of war were needed, the superiority of Pitt seemed undeniable. These considerations did not fail to present themselves, in some form or 1 Lord Malmesbury, ibid. pp. 117, 145. There is in Mr. Fox's Correspondence a letter to Mr. Adair, dated simply 1802, in which allusion is made to some offer to Pitt with the King's consent; the report resting on the authority of the Prince of Wales, but having been heard by Fox from other quarters (Mem. of Fox, vol. iii. p. 383). There is no trace of any such offer in Lord Malmesbury's Diaries, although he was in intimate and frequent communication with Mr. Canning and Mr. Pitt himself at this time. It is highly improbable that any proposal should have been made by Addington to Pitt to join his Government, either with or without the King's consent, in the course of 1802. In a letter to Mr. Grey of Dec. 12, 1802, Mr. Fox says: 'The King is supposed to be full as unwilling to restore Pitt as ever; and indeed, from his nature, I am sure it must be so ' (ibid. p. 386). [In February 1802, after an attack by Tierney on the late administration, Pitt addressed an indignant letter to Addington, as if he thought that the ministry had failed to repel the censure cast on himself. This letter and Addington's answer will be found in Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, vol. iii. pp. 369–370. After this (June 26, 1802) he corrected the draft of the King's speech (ibid. p. 382). ED.] other, to the mind of Mr. Addington; and they soon produced a negotiation for strengthening the Ministry by the incorporation of his predecessor. Mr. Pitt, in his way from Bath to London in December, 1802, visited Lord Malmesbury at Park Place, and Lord Grenville at Dropmore. At the former house, in answer to the remonstrances of Lord Malmesbury with respect to his inaction, he declared himself in favour of a pacific policy; he thought that the great question then under deliberation was, how to bear and to forbear: if peace could be preserved for four or five years, our revenues would be so far improved that we might again face such a war as was just ended; and that nothing but a gross national insult, or an open act of hostility, or such an attempt at aggrandisement on the part of France as would in effect comprise both, ought to divert us from this course.1 The result of Mr. Pitt's visit to Dropmore is preserved in a letter from Lord Grenville to his brother.2 He was better in health and spirits; his opinions were more alienated from the Government: although disposed to treat them with the utmost tenderness, he was prepared to attend Parliament after the Christmas recess, and to make his sentiments known to the world. On his way through London to Walmer, Mr. Pitt (much to Mr. Canning's annoyance) made two visits to Addington, at his house in Richmond Park. The conversation which passed between Pitt and Addington at this time was considered by the latter 'extremely comfortable and satisfactory.' Addington 1 Lord Malmesbury, ibid. pp. 152-57. 2 Courts and Cabinets, vol. iii. p. 242. The dates and places are mistaken by the editor, p. 241, who represents Pitt as visiting Lord Grenville after he had been to Addington. 3 This was the White Lodge, to which, after it had been conferred on Addington by the King, Mr. Canning gave the name of the Villa Medici.' Lord Sidmouth retained it till his death in 1844. ૨ 1802. |