and Vergennes. There was once a time,' he said, 'when 'a cannon-shot could not be fired in Europe without the 'consent of France and England, but now the Northern Powers aspire to act independently of us. Thus by our 'determination to injure one another, we have both lost our 'position. Let us change principles so erroneous; let us unite; let us agree; and we shall dictate terms to the rest of 'Europe.' Rayneval went away charmed with the result of his mission, and advised his Court to place confidence in the sincerity and friendship of the English Minister. Vaughan also was equally satisfied. Shelburne at once consented to the Americans' request, that the new commission to Oswald should describe their territory not as Colonies and Plantations, but as the thirteen United States of America.' We need not follow the negotiation through all its varying fortunes. The triumphant defence of Gibraltar, which was accomplished soon after the conversations with Rayneval above referred to, had almost caused the treaty to be broken off. The English warparty, represented in the Cabinet by the Duke of Richmond and Lord Keppel, and supported by the King, insisted on demanding better terms; while the war-party in France was with difficulty restrained by Vergennes and Rayneval. A serious obstacle to the settlement with America arose from the claims of the loyalists to indemnity and compensation claims; which the British Government were bound in justice and honour to press, but which the American commissioners, with equal reason, refused to admit. The matter was at length settled by the Americans undertaking that no further confiscation of the property of the loyalists should take place, and that Congress should recommend to the Provincial Legislatures the grant of an amnesty and restitution of confiscated estates. The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States of America was signed at Paris on November 30, 1782, and on January 28, 1783, separate treaties with France and Spain. were likewise concluded.

Amongst the loose charges brought against Lord Shelburne, one is that he was in favour of the surrender of Gibraltar to Spain; and so strongly was this impressed on the mind of William IV. that on the formation of Lord Grey's Cabinet in 1830, that sovereign insisted on a declaration from Lord Lansdowne that he had no intention to renew Lord Shelburne's proposition to cede Gibraltar. It now turns out, that it was not Lord Lansdowne's father but King William's father who would have ceded Gibraltar ! On December 11, 1782, George III. addressed to Lord Shelburne a letter in which

VOL. CXLV. NO. CCXCVII.

the following passage occurs: I should wish if possible to get rid of Gibraltar, and to have as much possessions in the West Indies as possible; for it has been my wish ever since peace has been on the carpet to get rid of ideal advantages for ' those that, by a good administration, may form solid ones to this country.

While Shelburne was engaged in the completion of this great work, a plot was matured for putting an end to his Administration. The pretext was to be the condemnation of the treaties, the terms of which were not yet settled. But any pretext would have served the purpose of a combination the most shameless that the history of faction has recorded. The reconciliation of political foes is a common occurrence; unless consistency is to be ranked among the highest of public virtues, it would be absurd to condemn public men to a life of perpetual hostility; and it is possible to imagine circumstances in which the coalition of 1783 would have been excusable and even patriotic. The people of this country, while preferring consistency as a rule, have never been hasty to censure the occasional co-operation of political opponents; but a coalition for the purpose of dividing place and power is an outrage upon public morality. Fox and North, when they united their forces, and gathered up all the floating elements of discontent and corruption to be found in Parliament, believed that their victory was assured. It never occurred to them to take account of that public opinion which is more powerful than courts and parties and Parliament combined, and which visited their offence with a swift and exemplary retribution. For nearly fifty years the Whigs were banished from office; in the school of adversity they studied the interests, and relied on the support of the people; and thus when they were recalled to power by the unanimous voice of the nation, they relied less on party connexion than on those principles of freedom and progress which, after a long period of discredit, were at length adopted, and have ever since been maintained as the true principles of government and legislation.

The united parliamentary forces of Fox and North were not strong enough of themselves to overthrow the Ministry; but they were aided by circumstances which turned the scale in their favour. Shelburne had undertaken a task which is generally thankless, always perilous. He had planned extensive schemes of economy, and was bent upon a thorough reform of the public departments. This raised against him a host

Life of Shelburne,' vol. iii. p. 313.

of enemies, with influential connexions both social and political, while no equivalent support was obtained. Neither the Court nor the Ministers desired to see patronage curtailed, while the taxpayers regarded with indifference a relief which would produce no sensible effect upon their burdens; and there were not wanting the usual cries, familiar to the ears of economical reformers, of 'parsimony and cheese-paring,' and of 'sacrificing efficiency to economy.' Not content with plans of retrenchment, Shelburne had intimated a design of extinguishing a number of nomination boroughs for the purpose of adding one hundred members to the county representation; a measure similar to that which Chatham had recommended, and which Pitt had proposed the year before when Rockingham was Minister. Both Whig and Tory were united in resisting a scheme which went to deprive so many parliamentary potentates of their control over the gifts of the Crown and the government of the country. By this menace, therefore, Shelburne alarmed and disgusted another powerful interest. Some of the loose unattached members of the House of Commons who called themselves, or were called, King's Friends, inquired what consideration they were to receive for their support; but they were told that the proceedings of 1763 were not to be repeated, and that the peace must rest on its own merits for the approbation of Parliament. We have here shown sufficient causes of discontent to endanger a powerful and united Administration backed by the support of the Crown. But Shelburne, far from being the head of a united Administration, was deserted by some of his principal colleagues, and had to seek for new connexions. The King, with his usual duplicity in dealing with his Whig Ministers, gave Shelburne full authority to treat in any question, on the one condition that he himself should remain at the head of the Government; a condition, which his Majesty, who knew the state of parties better than any man in his kingdom, probably thought impracticable. Shelburne, after an overture to some of the followers of North which met with no encouragement, made a distinct proposal through Pitt to Fox and his friends; but Fox positively refused to belong to any Administration of which Shelburne was the head. Shelburne then sounded North, but North said, it was too late.' In fact the Coalition had already been agreed upon, and the plan of action was settled. The treaties were of course the ground of attack. The Government moved an Address of approval in measured and even diffident terms; to which an Amendment, leaving out all the words of approval, and substituting words of evasion and re

serve, was moved in both Houses. The treaties were powerfully defended by Shelburne in the Lords, and by Pitt in the Commons. In reply to those orators who expressed the opinion then prevalent that the prosperity of the country depended on commercial monopoly, Shelburne, educated in the new school of the Economists, did not hesitate to avow his belief that

'Monopolies, some way or other, are ever justly punished. They forbid rivalry, and rivalry is of the very essence of the well-being of trade. This seems to be the era of Protestantism in trade. All Europe appears enlightened, and eager to throw off the vile shackles of oppressive and ignorant monopoly; that unmanly and illiberal principle, which is at once ungenerous and deceitful. A few interested Canadian merchants may complain; for merchants always love monopoly, without taking a moment's time to think whether it is for their interest or not. I avow that monopoly is always unwise; but if there is any nation under heaven which ought to be first to reject monopoly, it is the English. Situated as we are between the old world and the new, and between southern and northern Europe, all we ought to covet upon earth is free trade, and fair equality. With more industry, with more enterprise, with more capital than any trading nation upon earth, it ought to be our constant cry, let every market be open, let us meet our rivals fairly, and we ask no more.' (Vol. iii. p. 348.)

The Address was carried in the Lords by the narrow majority of 13; but in the Commons the Government were beaten by a majority of 16. Many of Shelburne's friends urged him to appeal to the country; and arguing from the signal success of the dissolution in the following year, it is possible that this step promptly taken might have dispersed the Coalition. But we agree with Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice that a dissolution at that moment would have been premature and inopportune. The country, though tired of the war, was not yet reconciled to the peace; and there was a prevalent opinion, inflamed by the speeches and pamphlets of the Opposition, that too much had been conceded both to the revolted Colonies and to the foreign enemy. Shelburne himself had none of the personal popularity which counts for so much at a general election. He was indeed the most unpopular of the statesmen who had made a prominent figure since Bute. persistent course of slander had fixed upon his name the stain of duplicity; and at best he was considered one of those proud exclusive Whigs whose rivalries and dissensions had long been regarded by the nation with impatience and disgust. Shelburne perfectly understood his position; he knew that he had no following in the country, and he had reason to think he was not supported by the King. The ground of this suspicion was

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that the Court contingent, which had played such an important part during the present reign in making and unmaking Ministers, had voted with the Opposition in the recent division. He imparted his suspicions to Pitt, and it was agreed that if the King's friends should support a motion condemning the treaty in express terms, of which Lord John Cavendish had given notice, the resignation of Lord Shelburne should be signified to the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As soon as the House assembled on the evening of February 21, it became known that Cavendish's motion was to be carried; and Pitt, recognising the fact that the Ministry and not the treaties were on their trial, expanded his speech into a general defence of their policy; and alluding to the event which was imminent, he concluded with a fine passage, which, though often quoted, will bear repetition :-

'I repeat, then, that it is not this treaty, it is the Earl of Shelburne alone whom the movers of this question are desirous to wound. This is the object which has raised this storm of faction; this is the aim of the unnatural coalition to which I have alluded. If, however, the baneful alliance is not already formed, if this ill-omened marriage is not already solemnised, I know a just and lawful impediment, and, in the name of the public safety, I here forbid the banns.' (Parliamentary History, vol. xxiii. p. 550.)

Two days after this decisive vote, Shelburne resigned; and after various attempts to patch up the Government, the Coalition Ministry was formed, with the Duke of Portland at its head, and Lord North and Fox Secretaries of State.

Lord Shelburne's Administration lasted scarcely a twelvemonth. Its principal act was to put an end to the protracted war, which had been wantonly begun and feebly conducted by a former Government. Two British armies had capitulated in America; French and Spanish fleets had appeared in the Channel. The Northern Powers had entered into a league to cripple the naval force of England. There had never been a concurrence of circumstances in the history of this country so unfavourable to the conclusion of an honourable peace. Yet Shelburne, by consummate skill, prudence, and temper, through many difficulties, not the least of which arose from his own colleagues, at length succeeded in obtaining treaties which made no substantial concession to the Continental Powers, and emancipated America without humiliation to the mother country.

En effet,' says the American historian to whom we have already referred, 'le traité du 30 Novembre ne fut pas un compromis ni un accord imposé par la force; ce fut une solution libre et parfaite, un

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